‘Brought To Light’ – Mobile Photography / Art Interview with Lynette Sheppard from Hoolehua, Hawaii, US
Our ‘Brought to Light‘ interview section explores the mobile photographers and mobile artists behind their art. Each question has been carefully crafted and is designed to allow us to get to know them a little more intimately. To view others that we have published in this series, please go here.
Today we are featuring Lynette Sheppard, from Hoolehua, Hawaii, United States. Sheppard is an experienced mobile artist with an endearing spiritual quality to her images. Her art evokes introspection and in many ways reflects an overall predisposition to life. Rich colours play their part as we tune in to listen to the spiritual narratives. Sheppard has defined a way of cultivating and concentrating with transcendence directed to a connection, perhaps beyond ourselves. The stories that she presents within each image, make a difference, representing the universal landscape of art.
To view more of her work, please go here.
This body of work drew us to Lynette Sheppard…
All photos ©Lynette Sheppard
Describe a moment that changed your life
When I walked into the San Francisco Art Institute for the first time. The smell was so creative, a mix of turpentine, oil paint, clay, and developer, it just gobsmacked me. I knew I had to go there. It lived up to that smell and I loved every minute I spent there.
Describe a childhood photographic/art memory
My whole family was good at drawing and painting. I was the lone “uncreative” one. I was always so sure of that. One day, in art class, I forgot myself and just painted. My teacher praised it, held it up to the class, and chose it for an art show. She let me know that I actually was creative and I never doubted it again. Well, almost never. Ok, less often.
Describe your mobile studio
My mobile studio is wherever I am – it can be wandering the High Sierra or standing in line at the grocery store. That’s the beauty of mobile art – you can create anywhere.
What do you like to think about whilst creating images?
I don’t usually “think” because I like to be surprised by where an image takes me. I will usually begin processing with a favorite app and then try to sense what feeling emanates from it. I then choose apps that enhance that feeling. I love Knox Bronson’s quote “App the B*tch Til It Sings”. That said, it’s important that I know when a piece is finished and not take it too far.
Share one mobile photography/art tip
Try new apps or combinations so you don’t get stuck in a creative rut. It’s all too easy to continue that which has worked in the past and when I do that, I run the risk of becoming stale. I sometimes play with a new app or one I’ve rarely used just to explore – inevitably I will find something to use in a later image purposefully. I have over 200 apps so it’s easy to find one I’ve missed or forgotten. Thank heavens for the 250 Gb storage Apple now offers.
What or who ignited your passion for mobile photography/art?
Well, first I’d have to credit Steve Jobs – the iPhone literally changed my photographic life. That passion grew exponentially as a result of a closed Facebook group of forty professional photographers. We shared all we were learning in those early mobile photography days – our enthusiasm created an amazing synergy and spurred the passion for all of us.
What is the most unusual subject you have photographed/painted?
Hmmm – maybe an abandoned woodcarver’s home in the rain forest of Molokai, Hawaii. As it melts into the landscape, details of the buildings become abstract pieces. It’s different every time I visit.
What are your favourite mobile photography accessories?
My Mophie Juice Pak and my Pop Socket for my iPhone 7+. My iPad and the Adonit stylus. Watershot Pro housing for my iPhone 5S (I kept it specifically for underwater shoots.).
Describe your dream photography assignment
These days, I am most interested in self-assignments. Actually, it feels like a co-creation with the Great Mystery – a subject will capture me and I will realized that it needs to be a series. I’m currently working on three self-assignments: Urban Butterflies, Portals, and Peekaboo Flowers.
What does mobile photography/art mean to you?
It means no limits to creativity. It means inspiration and exploration every day. it means joyfully climbing down a rabbit hole that leads me closer to that Great Mystery. And it means sharing all of that with my mobile photography students and watching them surpass their teacher.
Many thanks, Joanne, for all you do to promote and showcase mobile art photography.
Contact Details
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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]
