What Apps Are We Using This Month? with Sonia Bridekirk
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 notable Mobile Artist Sonia Bridekirk.
My name is Sonia Bridekirk. I am fortunate enough to live on the beautiful Northern Beaches of Sydney, Australia, also known by many as ‘God’s Country.’ I am 51 years old and am married to a beautiful man who adores me and I have one very special 8-year-old daughter who is often my muse. Up until her birth, I was a passionate high school teacher who enjoyed teaching Ancient History to my students.
I always had an interest in photography but was always disappointed with the photos I took. Inspired by a neighbour whose photos I enjoyed viewing, I did an online mobile photography course in 2020. It was in this course that I was introduced to Snapseed. This is a fabulous free app which I use to fine-tune an image using Tune Image, Details, Crop and Rotate to start. Then, often, I will return at the end of an edit to make final adjustments using Selective and Brushes. I was also introduced by others doing the course to a range of apps which I began to explore.
The main apps I currently use to create my images include iColorama and Mextures and occasionally DistressedFx. These are my staples. From time to time I might use Lens Distortions.
I love iColorama even though I know I only use a small amount of what this fabulous app can do. This is where I spend most of my time with my images using the Tone filters, making adjustments and masking, blending images at times, adding paper textures and/or overlays like dust and using painterly type effects if I feel the call to do so. Then if the need to add more texture arises that I cannot get to work in IColorama I will head to Mextures and/or DistressedFx. There are so many filter options available to lift an image a bit further.
Very rarely do I accept filters as presented, there are so many personal adjustments to be made in the sliders that are accessible within all apps allowing you to relate to your heart’s content. At times, when learning a new app it can feel like you are going down a rabbit hole but once you get a feel for it there will be certain preferences you quickly know you like and can jump into and things you know you don’t want and side step. I nearly always have a vision of where I want an image to end up before I start, but sometimes the image takes me on a journey and that can be a magical process! The most important thing is to have fun with the apps and explore what’s possible!
To read our other interviews in this series, please go here.
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Joanne Carter
Joanne Carter is a British photographer, photography journalist, editor and curator and the founder and editorial director of TheAppWhisperer.com, an independent international photography publication established in 2009.Her journalism, criticism and commentary have appeared in The Times, The Sunday Times, The Guardian, Financial Times, BBC, Vogue Italia, LensCulture, Popular Photography, Android Magazine, NikonPro, DPReview, Which Digital Camera and Which Camera. She has lectured internationally on photography and mobile art, served as a juror for international photography awards, and exhibited her own photographic work across the UK, Europe, South Korea and the United States.Alongside her editorial work, Joanne's photographic and postgraduate research explores death, grief, memory, representation and social inequality through contemporary photography, participatory practice and visual research methods, with the longer-term aim of developing this work through doctoral research.Through TheAppWhisperer, she continues to publish independent photography journalism spanning contemporary photographic practice, mobile imaging, photographic apps, computational photography and emerging imaging technologies.Joanne is available for editorial commissions, photography projects, judging, curatorial work, speaking engagements, consultancy and selected collaborations.
