Mobile Photography Intimate Interview with Rosalie Heller from Baltimore, Maryland, United States
Our seventy ninth interview in this series of intimate interviews is with talented mobile photographer and artist Rosalie Heller from Baltimore, Maryland, United States. This is an absorbing account of a mobile photographer with great powers of observation and expression, I loved it. Enjoy!
To read the other published interviews in this series including artists, Adria Ellis, Rino Rossi, Mehmet Duyulmus, Alexis Rotella, Lou Ann Sanford Donahue, Irene Oleksiuk, Kerry Mitchell, Filiz Ak, Dale Botha, Lisa Mitchell, M. Cecilia Sao Thiago, Deborah McMillion, Rita Colantonio, Amy Ecenbarger, Jane Schultz, Anca Balaj, Joyce Harkin, Armineh Hovanesian, Kate Zari Roberts, Vicki Cooper, Peter Wilkin, Barbara Braman, Becky Menzies, Sukru Mehmet Omur, Sarah Bichachi, Michel Pretterklieber, Alon Goldsmith, Judy Lurie Whalberg, Andrea Bigiarini, Sean Hayes, Oola Cristina, Kathleen Magner-Rios, Linda Toki, Deb Field, Emilo Nadales, Lydia Cassatt, David Hayes, Jean Hutter, Frederic Deschênes, Mark Schnidman, Fatma Korkut, Fleur Schim, Rob Pearson-Wright, Dieter Gaebel, James Ellis, Marco P Prado, Jeronimo Sanz, Manuela Matos Monteiro, Bleu Chemiko, Manuela Basaldella, Stefania Piccioni, Luis Rodríguez, Marilisa Andriani (@mitrydate) Mayte Balcells (@artofmayte), Nicole Christophe, Jennifer Graham, Cathrine Halsør, Paul Toussaint, Carol Wiebe, Julie Denning, Kim Clayton (@berleyart), Karen Messick, Serap Utaş , MaryJane Rosenfeld, Paul Suciu, Susan Latty (@pause.and.breathe), John Nieto, Phyllis Shenny, Joy Barry, Max Lies Derdonk, Rita Tipunina, Violet Martins, Nizzar Ben Chekroune, Lynette Sheppard, Paul-André Hamel, Rejane Rubino, Susan Detroy and myself, go here.
All images ©Rosalie Heller
What was your childhood or earliest ambition?
I thought I would love to teach young children. I also wished there were a profession for day dreamers and cloud watchers.
First Recognition?
My first recognition was in 4th grade. My 4th grade teacher was the first person ever in my childhood to validate me. She told me I had an innate talent and encouraged me to pursue art. I loved her.
First Job?
My first job was babysitting.
Private or State school?
Public grade school.
University or Work?
I sold antiques, worked in a museum, was a local tour guide, had a massage practice..whatever paid the bills so I could support my children.
I attended Towson State University when my children started school and transferred to the Maryland Institute of Art to study photography under Richard Kirstel. I never graduated for lack of funds.
Who was or is still is your mentor?
I had two mentors. One was a dear friend Bruce Decker, an exceptionally talented and sensitive photographer and printer. My other great influence, and still to this day, Edward Weston. I got lost in his images and learned a great deal about light and shadow.
I also spent a lot of time at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore to cure bouts of depression that followed me around during my teens.
How physically fit are you?
I wish I had more energy. I’m always tired.
Ambition or talent: What matters more to success?
I value talent above all else but I think you also need lots of courage to promote your work. I struggle with the word ambition.
How politically committed are you?
I am intensely interested and vocal about todays’ political environment. I took part in the Womens’ March in Washington DC. It was the most the most exhilarating experience!
What would you like to own that you don’t currently possess?
Plane tickets to revisit India, and an iMac.
What’s your biggest extravagance?
My biggest extravagance was botox ( don’t tell).
In what places are you happiest?
Being among trees in the forest or among the red rock buttes in the American Southwest. India is a close second.
What ambitions do you still have?
I would love to exhibit in a gallery and to publish a soft cover of my work.
What drives you on?
I just can’t stop shooting and editing. It’s my life line.
What is the greatest achievement of your life so far?
My greatest achievement is having raised two remarkably strong and generous daughters.
What do you find most irritating in other people?
I have no patience for people who aren’t curious about the world and other cultures.
If your 20-year-old self could see you now, what would she think?
Look at you kid! You found your passion!
Which object that you’ve lost do you wish you still had?
The items that my mom left to me. They were taken when my house was burglarised.
What is the greatest challenge of our time?
The warming of our planet and learning to live together on this planet.
Do you believe in an afterlife?
I believe that we live many lives.
If you had to rate your satisfaction with your life so far, out of 10, what would you score?
8 working towards 9.
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Joanne Carter
Joanne Carter, creator of the world’s most popular mobile photography and art website— TheAppWhisperer.com— TheAppWhisperer platform has been a pivotal cyberspace for mobile artists of all abilities to learn about, to explore, to celebrate and to share mobile artworks. Joanne’s compassion, inclusivity, and humility are hallmarks in all that she does, and is particularly evident in the platform she has built. In her words, “We all have the potential to remove ourselves from the centre of any circle and to expand a sphere of compassion outward; to include everyone interested in mobile art, ensuring every artist is within reach”, she has said. Promotion of mobile artists and the art form as a primary medium in today’s art world, has become her life’s focus. She has presented lectures bolstering mobile artists and their art from as far away as the Museum of Art in Seoul, South Korea to closer to her home in the UK at Focus on Imaging. Her experience as a jurist for mobile art competitions includes: Portugal, Canada, US, S Korea, UK and Italy. And her travels pioneering the breadth of mobile art includes key events in: Frankfurt, Naples, Amalfi Coast, Paris, Brazil, London. Pioneering the world’s first mobile art online gallery - TheAppWhispererPrintSales.com has extended her reach even further, shipping from London, UK to clients in the US, Europe and The Far East to a global group of collectors looking for exclusive art to hang in their homes and offices. The online gallery specialises in prints for discerning collectors of unique, previously unseen signed limited edition art. Her journey towards becoming The App Whisperer, includes (but is not limited to) working for a paparazzi photo agency for several years and as a deputy editor for a photo print magazine. Her own freelance photographic journalistic work is also widely acclaimed. She has been published extensively both within the UK and the US in national and international titles. These include The Times, The Sunday Times, The Guardian, Popular Photography & Imaging, dpreview, NikonPro, Which? and more recently with the BBC as a Contributor, Columnist at Vogue Italia and Contributing Editor at LensCulture. Her professional photography has also been widely exhibited throughout Europe, including Italy, Portugal and the UK. She is currently writing several books, all related to mobile art and is always open to requests for new commissions for either writing or photography projects or a combination of both. Please contact her at: [email protected]
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