What Apps Are We Using This Month? with Sarah Bichachi
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, Sarah Bichachi.
First of all, I would like to thank Joanne Carter for this invitation to be featured in this prestigious website. I’m Sarah Bichachi, 66 years old, residing in Surprise, Arizona, an art lover and a performing artist… a jazz vocal to be exact who works as Merchandising Assistant in retail regularly and do gigs during day offs. I used to dance ballet in my younger years, but I still play the piano today. When I was diagnosed with cancer seven years ago, chemotherapy temporarily debilitated my activities. But it opened a new door to my artistic path… a path that led me to a new art form we call Mobile Art.
Apps are very interesting tools in Mobile Art. Although the apps I use vary depending on the ideas my imagination concoct, I have two basic apps that come as constants in my editing equation. First and foremost is Icolorama. This app comes in handy with editing raw images because it has almost all the tools necessary in enhancing photographs, balancing light and dark, denoising, toning and the like. Icolorama makes a good starter in my editing process before adding anything else to my primary subject.
Then, I go to Procreate. I find Procreate very convenient for color infusions because it has a tool that localizes areas in your image for coloring or superimposing other images into your primary layer without fear of it smearing outside your margins. It has a layering technology that can make you add anything you desire as much as you want to your edit without destroying your primary image, not to mention its library of awesome brushes to paint into your layers if you wish to do so as well.
Then, after Procreate is the time I will escalate my usage of apps depending on what my imagination dictates. I like to use Carbon for black and white toning. It also has a wonderful combination of grains and noises. There is Elasticam to disfigure images, Distressed FX+ for colorful grunge, Metabrush and Glaze for painterly effects, Formulas for blurry duotones. Because I love portraits, I use LightXExpress’ awesome variations of lighting and shade adjustments, filters and editing tools to set the mood and character of my subject. In Mextures, I can create and save my own textures. It is simply amazing! The list goes on and on.
This month, I was working on one of my Efflorescence series which required several blendings for a perfect collage of my face evolving into a flower. iColorama is the perfect app for interlacing two images with a fading opacity, Metabrush for the painterly effect on my face, Distressed FX+ for the grunge and LightXExpress for toning with a slight touch of a Mexture emulsion.
In my work ‘A Poem She Wrote’, almost everything was drawn and colored in Procreate. The checkered floor I tweaked in Elasticam and the final blending for the pencil and my selfies was done in iColorama.
In Monochromatic Dream, I first shaded my face in Procreate, blended the other images in iColorama, used Carbon black and white filters and toning presets then added the stars and clouds back in Procreate.
To read our other interviews in this series, please go here.
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Joanne Carter
Joanne Carter is a British photography journalist, editor, curator, and the founder of *TheAppWhisperer.com*, one of the world’s leading platforms dedicated to mobile photography and art. Since its launch in 2009, TheAppWhisperer has become an international hub for artists of all levels to discover, learn, exhibit, and engage with contemporary photographic practice.Built on principles of inclusivity, accessibility, and artistic excellence, Joanne has spent almost two decades championing mobile photography as a serious artistic medium. Through interviews, critical essays, exhibitions, competitions, and education, she has helped shape and document the evolution of mobile art on a global scale.Her work has taken her internationally, lecturing on photography and mobile art at institutions and events including the Museum of Art in Seoul, South Korea, alongside appearances in the UK and Europe. She has served as a juror for international photography and mobile art awards across Portugal, Canada, the United States, South Korea, Italy, and the UK.Joanne is also the founder of *TheAppWhispererPrintSales.com*, one of the first online galleries dedicated exclusively to collectible mobile art, connecting artists with collectors across Europe, the United States, and Asia.Before founding TheAppWhisperer, Joanne worked extensively in print journalism and photographic publishing, including roles at a paparazzi photo agency and as deputy editor of a leading photography magazine. Her freelance journalism, criticism, and commentary have been published widely in both the UK and the US, with bylines in *The Times*, *The Sunday Times*, *The Guardian*, *Popular Photography*, *NikonPro*, *DPReview*, *Which?*, *Vogue Italia*, *LensCulture*, the *BBC*, and more recently, the *Financial Times*, where her published letters on photography continue to contribute to wider conversations around the medium.Alongside her editorial and curatorial work, Joanne’s own photographic practice has been exhibited internationally across the UK, Europe, South Korea, and the United States. Her work increasingly explores themes of grief, loss, death, memory, and the body.Her current research interests centre on grief, death, and poverty, with forthcoming postgraduate study leading towards doctoral research in these areas.Joanne is currently developing new long-form writing and photographic projects and is available for commissions, editorial projects, speaking engagements, and collaborations.Contact: joannetheappwhisperer@gmail.com)
