A Day in the Life Ali Jardine – An Incredibly Creative iPhone Photographer & Artist
Welcome to our very exciting column on theappwhisperer.com. This section entitled “A Day in the Life of…” is where we take a look at some hugely influential, interesting and accomplished individuals in the mobile photography world… people that we think you will love to learn more about.
This is our eighty fourth installment of the series. If you have missed our previous interviews, please go here. Today we are featuring Ali Jardine. From the moment Ali got her first iPhone in 2009, she knew that Phone photography and art was her passion.
Today she shoots and edits using her iPhone 5. It is a challenge that constantly pushes her to think in new ways and keeps her eyes open to the world around her. She has been featured in numerous blogs and publications, including National Geographic online, Leveled Magazine, KIOSK magazine and Le Nouvel Observateur. She has had work hung in Animazing Gallery in SoHo, NYC in March 2012, at the LA-MAF in Santa Monica Art Gallery, and was part of the Digital gallery at Macworld in San Francisco January 31-February 2, 2013. Her photo, Summer’s End; was recently named runner up in the Mobile Photography Awards. She also received honorable mentions on five other images. All were shown at the SOHO Gallery for Digital Art February 22-28 2013, and Summer’s End is currently on the Mobile Photography Awards gallery tour.
Links to all apps mentioned in this interview are at the end. (If you would like to be interviewed for our new ‘A Day in the Life of…’ section, just send an email to [email protected], and we’ll get it set up.
Ali Jardine
©Ali Jardine
Joanne – Let’ s start at the beginning of the day, how does your day start?
Ali – I am up early with my kids getting them ready for school, gulping coffee, and then off to Bikram yoga (unless it is a foggy day, and then I go straight to the forest after I drop my kids off at school.)
©Ali Jardine – ‘Oh, To Dream’ apps used: Tiny Planets, Juxtaposer
Joanne – Do you like to head out and take photographs early on?
Ali – Morning is my favorite time to be outside taking photographs. There is nothing in the world I love more than to wander trails before anyone else is up. Everything is sparkling with dew and the sun hasn’t burned the morning chill off yet. I think the iPhone shoots better in the magic hours of the day, all of my outdoor shots are taken when the sun is low.
©Ali Jardine – ‘Release’ – apps used: Juxtaposer, Filter Mania
Joanne – How did the transition from traditional photographer to iPhoneographer develop? (pardon the pun)
Ali – I have always taken photos, but never had any special gear to do a great job with it. I’ve never had a fancy camera or software, so it could be disappointing at times when my “vision” didn’t exactly match the end result. Just before I got my first iPhone I started making TtVs, and that was the most satisfying art through photography I had made up to that point. Becoming an iPhoneographer pretty much happened as soon as I got my first iPhone.
©Ali Jardine – ‘Seeking Advice and Understanding’ – Apps used: Tiny Planets, Camera+, Juxtaposer
Joanne – Do you like to download new iPhoneography apps regularly?
Ali – I download anything that I hear about that sounds even remotely interesting. Apps are something that I don’t hesitate buying. I constantly check my favorite IPhoneography sites like The App Whisperer for the latest news on apps.
©Ali Jardine – ‘On a String’ – Apps used: Lens Light, Juxtaposer, Gradgram
Joanne – How often do you update your existing apps?
Ali – I update as soon as an update is available.
©Ali Jardine – Apps used: Image Blender, Snapseed
Joanne – Where’s your favorite place in the world for a shoot?
Ali – A foggy forest can’t be beat for shooting. I like to get there right after sunrise when everything is quiet and all you can hear are the birds waking up.
©Ali Jardine – ‘Set Free’ Apps used: Lens Light, Flowpaper, Juxtaposer
Joanne – Do you also use iPhoneography tool apps, such as The Photographer’s Ephemeris?
Ali – No, that sounds pretty technical.
©Ali Jardine – Apps used: Flowpaper, AltPhoto, Image Blender
Joanne – What are your favorite, at the moment, iPhoneography apps?
Ali – My all-time favorites are Image Blender,Tiny Planet Photos, Filterstorm, and Juxtaposer. I love Pro HDR for lowlight shots and Gradgram and Deco Sketch are new favorites.
©Ali Jardine – Apps used: Image Blender, Scratchcam
Joanne – Where do you like to upload your photographs? Flickr, Instagram?
Ali – I post everywhere: Instagram, iphoneart.com, Twitter, Flickr, EyeEm, Facebook, and I’ve just started a blog on WordPress. Each site/app offers something a little different, but my favorites are Instagram, the place where it all started for me, and iphoneart.com, which has a wonderful caring community and is the brainchild of Nate Park and Daria Polichetti, amazing people who care about the art and the artists that they provide a platform for.
©Ali Jardine – ‘Taking the Plunge’ apps used: Tiny Planets, Juxtaposer
Joanne – Do you take photographs with your iPhone everyday?
Ali – Yes, lots. I brake for photo ops! If I see anything interesting, I will stop to shoot it, I wouldn’t want to regret missing something amazing.
©Ali Jardine – ‘Attached’ apps used: Juxtaposer, Scratchcam
Joanne – What are your favorite subjects?
Ali – The forest and my daughter, Pippin. Both subjects tug at my heartstrings and deep connection to your subject speaks through your work.
©Ali Jardine – ‘Speaking of Love’ apps used: Image Blender, Flowpaper, juxtaposer, altphoto
Joanne – What are you top five tips for iPhone photography?
Ali – 1. Have fun. Shoot things that you enjoy in places that you want to be. Don’t take everything too seriously, or it will show up in your work. 2. Don’t let anybody make you feel bad about what you do creatively. If you put yourself out there with your work, there will be people who don’t like it, and that’s okay. 3. Try shooting and editing using your intuition. Don’t think so much, feel instead. 4. Don’t let people dictate how you do things. There are a lot of opinionated people out there writing about rules for editing, posting, what kind of device to use, etc. I believe the rule with anything creative is that there should be no rules. 5. Pay attention to the light you’re shooting in and keep your lens clean!
©Ali Jardine – Midnight Sail’ apps used: juxtaposer, lenslight, pixlromatic+, tangledFX
Joanne – Do you edit images on your iPhone or do you prefer to do that on a desktop/laptop?
Ali – I only edit on my iPhone. It’s handy, I have lots of apps, and it’s fun!
©Ali Jardine – Apps used: Tiny Planets, Image Blender, Wowfx
Joanne – Do you enjoy videography with your iPhone?
Ali – I only shoot videos of my kids. Anyone who has watched one of my videos will tell you that if you are susceptible to motion sickness my videos are not something you should partake in.
©Ali Jardine – Apps used: wowfx, scratchcam
Joanne Where do you see the future of iPhone photography?
Ali – The sky is the limit for iPhone photography. The community is incredible, energetic, creative, and determined to show that shooting with an iPhone is a legitimate art form. Thanks to people like Nate and Daria of iphoneart.com’s iPhone Art Awards, Daniel Berman, creator of Mobile Photography Awards, Kenan Aktulun of the iIPPAwards, and Knox Bronson, founder of P1xels, iPhone photographers and mobile artists are being seen in galleries by normal people who are changing their minds about what “real art” is. Also, sites focused on iPhone photography are key in helping change society’s perception of shooting with an iPhone vs. a “real camera” I have many favorites, not least of course – theappwhisperer.com.
©Ali Jardine – ‘Cloud Flying’ apps used: juxtaposer, wowfx, distressedFX, altphoto
Joanne – What do you think is the most popular area of iPhone photography?
Ali – I think that iPhone photography spans the gamut, there is something for everyone.
©Ali Jardine – ‘Soar’ apps used: juxtaposer, color lake, picshop
Joanne – Do you think it’s country specific, are some nations more clued up?
Ali – One of the first things that made me fall in love with Instagram was the ability to travel virtually through my Instagram followings. I could instantly be transported to India, Russia, China, Japan, Israel. iPhone photography is taking over the world!
©Ali Jardine – Apps used: blender, colorlake
Joanne – What are your first impressions of the iPhone 5?
Ali – I got an iPhone 5 for Christmas, and I couldn’t be happier with it. I like the new display size, and it is way better shooting in lower light than my 4S. My favorite difference is how it feels in my hand. It is much lighter and less clunky than the 4, and the weight reminds me of the 3G, which is still my favorite size iPhone.
©Ali Jardine – Apps used: wowfx, scrachcam, blender
Joanne – What do you think of Joanne and theappwhisperer.com?
Ali – I think Joanne and theappwhisperer.com are amazing! I check the site several times a day and Joanne is always on top of all of the latest iPhone photography news, new apps, wonderful artist and so much more. Thank you, Joanne!
Links To All Apps Mentioned In This Interview
‘Runaway’ – ©Ali Jardine
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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]
14 Comments
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Tracy Mitchell Griggs
I especially like images of your daughter – nice gallery
Maryjane Sarvis
Very exiting interview and truly delightful, wonderful work! I’m going to be sure to keep up with this amazing artist.
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Janine Graf
Wonderful interview Ali! I’m such a fan of your dreamy style!
Ali Jardine
Thank you, ladies!
Wayman
Awesome interview Ali…love your work
Nick
I love all your pictures! Also I have a question: Do you make all the sillouettes yourself or do you get them somewhere? Thanks, Nick! 😀
Ali Jardine
Thank you, Wayman, love your work too!
Ali Jardine
Hi Nick, thank you! Yes, I make my silhouettes:)
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richard gold
Ali, 10-17-17
Are any of the iPhone apps you use available on Android hardware?