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News,  What Apps Are We Using This Month?

What Apps Are We Using This Month? with Karen Axelrad

Welcome to TheAppWhisperer’s new section, “what apps are we using this month” series, where we discover which apps you are particularly enjoying. Kicking us off today is non-other than Award Winning Mobile Artist, Karen Axelrad.

My name is Karen Axelrad. I’m an American retired architect living in Berlin, Germany. I have two grown sons and two granddaughters. I use many apps, but I will concentrate on the ones I have been using recently that perhaps others haven’t talked as much about. I shoot with an iPhone 13 Pro and process with the iPad Pro. I use Hipstamatic a lot using the setting that gives me the original photo as well as the processed one. I love taking double-exposures with Hipstamatic when I’m in an art museum, double-exposing a painting with a person.
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‘Mall of Berlin’. Hipstamatic with Mark Lens & BlacKeys Supergrain Film ©Karen Axelrad

 

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‘Guide Double-exposed with Richter Painting’. Hipstamatic with Loftus Lens and Otto Film ©Karen Axelrad

 

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‘Self-portrait Double-exposed with Richter Painting’. Hipstamatic with Tinto 1884 Lens and Hackney Film ©Karen Axelrad

The second app I have been using lately is Reeflex (or sometimes Slow Shutter) to impart a painterly quality by taking long exposures of people. These photos are often sent to iColorama for color and texture editing, and sometimes into a painting app like Brushstroke or Acquarella. Then I might add a bit of texture with Distressedfx sometimes using my own textures. Often, if I have several versions of a photo, I will blend them in SuperimposeX. SuperimposeX is also excellent for masking.

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‘Visitors at an Exhibition’. Long exposure shot with Reeflex and processed with iColorama, Pixlr, and blended in SuperimposeX ©Karen Axelrad

 

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‘Waiting for U-Bahn’. Long exposure shot with Reeflex and processed in Hipstamatic using Anne-Marie Lens and Alfred Infrared Film ©Karen Axelrad

The third app which I have been using lately is You Gotta See This. It’s a free app and is sometimes referred to as David Hockney style.

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‘Arnold Dreyblatt Opening. Shot with YouGottaSeeThis’ Processed in iColorama and DistressedFX apps ©Karen Axelrad

 

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‘Gallery From Above. Shot with YouGottaSeeThis’ Processed in DistressedFX and Mextures apps’ ©Karen Axelrad

When I teach a workshop, I use Snapseed for hands-on sessions because it is free, works on all platforms, and is very versatile. I also frequently use Procreate.

And finally, I am dipping into experimenting with AI. I hope to one day merge my own photos with AI. Wombo Dream is an easy way to start, but I have also tried Midjourney and am Beta-testing Adobe’s Firefly.

To read our other interviews in this series, please go here.

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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]