TheAppWhisperer

Mobile Photography & Art – Flickr/Instagram Group Showcase – 26 January 2020

2020-01-26 by Joanne Carter

“Genuinely, I couldn’t give a damn about wrinkles, or middle age or putting on weight or my first grey hairs or reading specs – these are reasons to celebrate”, said Dr Rachel Clarke, a palliative care doctor in her new moving memoir entitled ‘Dear Life’. These are very similar words that I heard from our dear friend and artist Carolyn Hall Young, who stayed with all of us until her passing. Books by doctors have become extremely popular over the past few years, they bring the reader closer to worlds they may have indeed been a part of but on the other side of the fence. My eldest son Jake, when he wishes to buy me a present and he’s the sweetest, knows that a good Dr book will keep me willingly distracted and rested until I’ve devoured it in its entirety, which doesn’t take long. Although, I do find myself, still annoyingly, being frustrated about wrinkles, middle age, reading specs and in my case weight loss, there’s a depth to my annoyance which more than covers my gratitude to still actually being here, with you all. In the UK we have a belief that we call and provide ‘cradle to grave care’ sadly due to NHS underfunding, this has become a fallacy. And I could give you all sorts of depressing statics about it but really, we don’t actually need to know. What we do here and now, with every immensely precious moment that we have together, is what really matters. What you all do best is to create the most stunning mobile photography and art, the greatest actually and with each creation an artist makes within our community, each one I view, I silently call a MasterPeace. In light of this, I have created a new style of interview entitled Mobile MasterPeace and intend to publish those in the coming weeks, for now though, bask with us in this weeks absolute glory of a showcase of Mobile MasterPeace.

I hope you all love this weeks mobile photography and art showcase as much as I do. Thank you to all the talented artists for submitting your works to our showcase this week. If you would like your work to be considered for entry in to our weekly Mobile Photography and Art Flickr Group, please submit it to our dedicated group, here. You can also submit images to our Instagram tag for this section #theappwhisperer.

Many congratulations to the following featured artists this week including:

@wemarriage_goddess, @marshadraws, @ja_graham, @cardinphotography, @before.1st.light – Jane Schultz, Diane Neubauer, Paul Suicu, Janis Brandenburg, Dina Alfai, Eliza Badoiu, Nico Brons, Christine Mignon, @sodium_light22 – Jenny Pieters, Laila Bakker, @klimtt – M. Cecilia Sao Thiago, Mimi Svanberg, @pause.and.breathe – Susan Latty, Rita Colantonio, Juta Jazz, Jennifer Bracewell, Hanni K, Jeremy Cassell, Lorenka Campos, P.A. Hamel, Clint Cline, Debara Splendorio, Susan Maxwell Schmidt, Oola Cristina, Gianluca Ricoveri, Milly M, Deborah McMillion, Jill Lian, Manfred Majer.

Mobile Photography & Art – Flickr/Instagram Group Showcase – 29 September 2019

2019-09-292019-09-29 by Joanne Carter

Susan lived “in constant terror that [her mother] would withdraw suddenly and arbitrarily.” […] In the house she grew up in, love was not given unconditionally. Instead, it was extended temporarily, only to be dropped at will: a winnerless game whose rules the girl learned far too well. I am currently reviewing new literature by Benjamin Moser, a heavy tome of a book, entitled “Sontag: Her Life and Work”, sent to me by Allen Lane the publishers and a subsidiary of Penguin Books. I’ve not finished this book, not by a long way (yet). This week has been a tough one personally, not least with the resurgence of early years’ abuse, which actually coincided while I was reading the beginning chapters of this book and I’ve been staggered at some of the similarities with my own early life, as it pushed me back. I experienced much the same but was also berated for it and when it returned again this week, out of the blue, I struggled to climb out of the misery I felt. Fortunately or unfortunately I had other more pressing distressing problems to cope with and these took priority and I think that helped, funny how things work out. Of course, I will publish the full review of this book, in due course, but it will require two or three reads first. What I would say is Sontag was a controversial figure, but I have always truly admired her work. Unlike Sontag, I do know exactly what my feelings are and in respect of mobile photography and art, my perspective is demonstrated brilliantly in this weeks showcase. Enjoy!

Thank you to all the talented artists for submitting your works to our showcase this week. If you would like your work to be considered for entry in to our weekly Mobile Photography and Art Flickr Group, please submit it to our dedicated group, here. You can also submit images to our Instagram tag for this section #theappwhisperer.

@pause.and.breathe – Susan Latty, @ringuin – Dieter Gaebel, @elizabadoiu – Eliza Badoiu, @patragraphy, schwitter.li – Liliana Schwitter, @christinemignon – Christine Mignon, @mitrydate – , @clixit2020 – Clint Cline, @loveanalogcollage1 – Jen, jilllian2 – Jill Lian, Deborah McMillion, Cintia Malhotra, Sergiy Beliayev, Lorenka Campos, Hanni K, Sheldon Serkin, Jun Yamaguchi, Russ Merz, Robin Robertis, Rita Colantonio, Jeremy Cassell, Sherrianne100, Karen Axelrad, Lindy Ginn, Laila, Ginaluca Ricoveri, Judy Wahlberg, p.a.hamel, Susan Rennie, Rob Pearson-Wright, Clint Cline, Linda Hollier, @imaco57 – Isabel Afonso, Sandra Martins – Violet, Clarisse Debout, @berleyart – Kim Clayton, Sukru Mehmet Omur, ja_graham – Jennifer Graham, clau_clara, @harkinjoyce – Joyce Harkin, @rkreationsmi, Ilise Harris, hedgehogstudio – Julie Denning, @wallopart.

Music this week is by Laura Doggett entitled ‘Old Faces’

Mobile Photography & Art – Flickr/Instagram Group Showcase – 8 September 2019

2019-09-08 by Joanne Carter

This week, I’d like to talk with you about courage and it’s scary, being creative is a path for the brave. If you lose courage, you lose creativity. Each one of you has hidden treasures within you, as do I and we need to bring them to light and it takes a lot of faith and hard work, not least devotion. It’s important to say ‘no’ at times, I suppose, not that I’m one for that, it’s easy to say ‘no’, you’re off the hook but if you say ‘yes’ then what happens? It’s showtime! There are times, when you might need to lay low, as I have this week, many will notice my work output has slowed, I’ve been very unwell but that’s ok and do you know, why I know it’s ok? Because I have fierce trust in myself, I know I am a success with what I do, I believe in myself, I have had to and I know that I have so much more to do and so much further to go. The one thing you must never do, as a creative, is turn around and walk out. You show up, you do what you can in the time you’ve been allotted and you do it to the best of your ability and that’s what I’ve done today, with this weeks magical mobile photography and art showcase, I have tried my best to put this together, for all of us, although I am still unwell. You invited me to this party and I’m here to stay. Enjoy!

Tuba Korhan, Laila, before.1st.light – Jane Schultz, woltarise, borisbschulz2009, Clint Cline, Deborah McMillion, Susan Rennie, Paul Yan, Judy Wahlberg, TheiPhoneArtGirl – Meri Walker, Tomaso Belloni, Rita Colantonio, Jeremy Cassell, soul_engine, Enio Godoy, Catherine Caddigan, Manuela Basaldella, Linda Hollier, Peter Wilkin, Jun Yamaguchi, Chris Feichtner, anandamoy chatterji, Tricia Dewey, coeiphoneart – Gerry Coe, jdalerobertson – Dale Robertson, tanja_houwerzijl – Tanja Houwerzijl, sodium_light22 – Jenny Pieters, raveninnyc – Lori, effe5 – dinalf – Dina Alfasi, kathyc2136 – Kathy Clay, nicolechristophe – Nicole Christophe, joe.legrande61 – Joe LeGrand, ja_graham – Jenifer Graham, klimtt – M. Cecilia Sao Thiago, remintrustions, Sarah Bichachi, vadqcooper – Vicki Cooper, clau_clara, iwo.ska, ringuin, ullahauer – Ulla Hauer, elizabadoiu – Eliza Badoiu.

Music this week, is another of my favourite bands – Cigarettes after Sex, with their track ‘Keep on Loving You’ – I always, keep on loving you all, even when I’m unwell, perhaps more so, then.

Mobile Photography & Art – Flickr/Instagram Group Showcase – 1 September 2019

2019-09-032019-09-01 by Joanne Carter

It hasn’t happened many times to me, but the strength of desire was too strong to ignore, irresistible actually. I had to return to the beginning of The Parisan and start all over again and this time, when I reached the end, the feeling to begin again and was even stronger than the first time. This is a masterful debut novel by Isabella Hammad, it’s historical fiction. A young man, a Palestinian is sent by his father to study medicine in France at the beginning of the First World War. He spends several years in France, liberating and transformative years before returning to Palestine. Along the way, he falls in love, perhaps it could be said, more than once, haven’t we all? The prose is exquisite and Hammad’s ability to paint a scene is as exquisite as the artists in this weeks mobile photography and art showcase, literally have. Their work is as complex as this novel, closely observed, elegantly created, assured and captivating. Enjoy!

J A Graham, Eliza Badoiu, Ile Mont, Laurence Bouchard, Liliana Schwitter, Maritte Schrijiver, accidental_artist3 – Ransom Candice, theartofmayte, hipstanitaelle – Anita Elle, carlosrpaz, realityfragments, etienne.serville, Emilio Nadales, mitrydate, Sarah Bichachi, klimtt – M. Cecilia Sao Thiago, Dina Alfasi, soul_engine, Rita Colantonio, Russ Merz, Jeremy Cassell, Deborah Field, Anastasia Potekhina, Lorenka Campos, Paul Toussaint, Jun Yamaguchi, Debara Splendorio, Enio Godoy, Clint Cline, Peter Wilkin, duran6687, Oola Cristina, Catherine Caddigan, TSOriginaux, Jim Yoksimovich, Paul Yan, Gianluca Ricoveri, Judy Wahlberg, Susan Rennie, Ray Harrop, Michael Beresin, before.1st.light – Jane Schultz, Francesco Sambati, Jill Lian, Rob Pearson-Wright, p.a.hamel, TheiPhoneGirl – Meri Walker, Tomaso Belloni,

Music this week is another of my favourite bands, British group, London Grammar with their live track ‘Rooting for You’ – I’m rooting for all of you, always x

Mobile Photography & Art – Flickr/Instagram Group Showcase – 25 August 2019

2019-08-252019-08-25 by Joanne Carter

“Everything was calm. The sun was shining. I was swimming in the deep. And then, when I surfaced twenty years later, I discovered there was a storm, a whirlpool, a blasting gale lifting the waves over my head. At first I wasn’t sure I’d make it back to the boat and then I realised I didn’t want to make it back to the boat. Chaos is supposed to be what we most fear but I have come to believe it might be what we most want. If we don’t believe in the future we are planning, the house we are mortgaged to, the person who sleeps by our side, it is possible that a tempest (long lurking in the clouds) might bring us closer to how we want to be in the world…Life falls apart. We try to get a grip and hold it together. And then we realise we don’t want to hold it together.” The Cost of Living, by Deborah Levy a book I have been engrossed within this week. This was part of an autobiographical project by Levy, something she calls ‘a working autobiography‘, it’s a mediation on marriage, death and writing. Levy is a woman of our times, she confides in the reader, giving an account of her internal life, which to many, is so much more interesting than their external life. This is a book that hits hard and fast, in some ways, not so much a memoir as an eloquent manifesto or what Levy describes ‘a new way of living‘ and thus mobile photography and art, represents ‘a new way of seeing‘ and this is as clearly apparent in this weeks showcase as it is in the post-familial world. Enjoy!

Clarrise Debout, Eliza Badoiu, Aanca Balaj, Oola Cristina, @talesbytully – Tully Chant, @not218.808, Wemarriage_goddes – Bridget Robertson, @ja_graham, @rain.is.poetry, @after.1st.illumination – Jane Schultz, Manuela Matos Monteiro, Marshadraws – Marsha Estes, kmartist – Kathleen Magner Rios, elaineofyork – Elaine Taylor, john_nieto – John Nieto, cresting_wave – Paul Yan, eilisrealize – elis, @mariette_schrijver -Mariette Schrijver, filizakart – , @janisbrandenbury – Janis Brandenburg, cpatrickphoto – Cindy Patrick, emilio.nadales – Emilio Nadales, marian.rubin – Marian Rubin, aqua_libra – Max Lies …, Anne Highfield, Arko Rayhan, columnsovsleep, Charlie Little, Candice Railton, Karen Axelrad, Linda Hollier, Paul Toussaint, Oola Cristina, Jun Yamaguchi, Vadim Demjianov, Lorenka Campos, Albion Harrison-Naish, Sebastian Burczyk, Clint Cline, Salwa Afef, woltarise, Susan Rennie, Laura Peischl, Hanni K, Deborah Field, zananiro, Judy Wahlberg, Gianaluca Ricoveri, jilllian2 – Jill Lian, Barbara Braman, TheiPhoneArtGirl – Meri Walker, Rob Pearson-Wright, Sina, Tuba, p.a.hamel, Deborah McMillion, Jeremy Cassell, Rita Colantonio, Sergiy Beliayev, Catherine Caddigan.

Music this week is by one of my favourite British performers, Rhodes with his live track ‘Close Your Eyes’ at Burberry Menswear Spring/Summer Runway Show

Mobile Photography & Art – Flickr/Instagram Group Showcase – 4 August 2019

2019-08-042019-08-04 by Joanne Carter

Sleepy, exhilarated and refreshed, having spent time with talented mobile artist and dear friend, Linda Toki from the United States in Kew Gardens yesterday. What joy! To me, there’s nothing quite like ‘sealing the deal‘ of a ‘social media‘ friendship, with meeting in person. Our intellectual circles overlap, our mutual interests conincide and our views of the world chime together. Supple, incisive with infectious warmth and humour, what a gift of intuitive turns and juxtapositions yesterday turned out to be. My body felt so stuffed with good luck, I almost woke up this morning choking on it. My advice, to anyone who doubts the relevance of true online friendship, is stay open because life only gets richer as it unfolds.

This weeks searing showcase of kaleidoscopic mobile photography and art is a masterclass in tempo, tone and character. Apoplexy ebbs to stunned disbelief, as you contemplate each one of these images has been created from artists throughout the world on their mobile phones. Enjoy!

Meri Walker, Rita Colantonio, Vadim Demjianov, Jun Yamaguchi, Fleur Schim, Karen Axelrad, Kat McClelland, Paul Toussaint, Hanni K, woltarise, Jeremy Cassell, Russ Merz, Linda Hollier, Susan Blase, Klaudi Cechini, Kathy Clay, jillian2 – Jill Lian, Yasuo Furue, Peter Wilkin, Barbara Braman, aka Tman, Catherine Caddigan, Rob Pearson-Wright, Susan Maxwell Schmidt, Marina Sergeevna, Gianluca Ricoveri, Judy Wahlberg, before.1st.night – Jane Schultz, David DeNagel, Susan Maxwell Schmidt, Susan Rennie, Clint Cline, Dina Alfasi, titika.vision, rain.is.poetry – Paul Suciu, j.a.graham, theartofmayte, effe5, Sandra B Martins, Anca Balja, Edith Meier, mazetman, reneviolence – Rene Valencia, Diane Neubauer, Nicole Christophe, rklika, Fiona Christian, Eliza Badoiu.

Mobile Photography & Art – Flickr/Instagram Group Showcase – 7 July 2019

2019-07-072019-07-07 by Joanne Carter

“I told you I was ill‘, my favourite black comedy quote, written by Spike Milligan, engraved into gravestone. For many, health anxiety is a compartment of life – a dark cell – usually totally separate from their day-to-day self. Of course, there’s a lot to be anxious about in the world today and this phenomena shows no sigh of shrinking. Psychoanalyst Michael Currie notes that we rarely deal with the causes of anxiety – job insecurity for example, or social isolation – when trying to treat it. Writing in The Monthly, he says: “Anxiety-as-disease is treated much like an infection, as if the symptoms were a bacterium that should be eradicated.” The novelist William Boyd identifies the human condition as walking a tightrope between happiness and unhappiness. As glib as it sounds, I have always appreciated most of all the state of happiness, and never more so than when with my family and friends. And I was lucky enough to feel its power this morning at 4.20 am when my eighteen year old son returned home from a weeks holiday in Cyprus with friends, he came in and hugged me really hard, having missed me, I could feel the strength of his body, as I felt so small enveloped into him. Sigh, the sleepless week was worth it…(I tell myself). Anxiety can be crippling and next week when I am forced to stop and lay down on a hospital bed for day surgery, I will be thinking of this fabulous showcase that I have had the privilege to create with your art. The greatest stress buster, in my opinion, is art and each one of these artists knows that only too well. Enjoy!

Lydia Cassatt, Elaine Taylor, Mieke Elzinga @elzingamieke, Laura Peisch @isnob, Deb Field, Raul Barrios – @raulbar, @raveninnyc – Lori, @before.1st.light – Jane Schultz, Lou Ann Donahue – @Imgdonahue, @klmitt – M. Cecilia Sao Thiago, @elizabadoiu – Eliza Badoiu, Jun Yamaguchi, Andy Alexandre, Eloi Batista Fotografo, Giancarlo Beltrame, Jeremy Cassell, Lorenka Campos, Joseph Cyr, Linda Hollier, Tomaso Belloni, Fleur Schim, Gianluca Ricoveri, Susan Rennie, Deborah McMillion, Poetic Medium, Catherine Caddigan, Hanni K, Judy Wahlberg, p.a. hamel, Nick Kenrick, Paul Yan, Ian Clarke, David DeNagel.

Mobile Photography & Art – Flickr/Instagram Group Showcase – 30 June 2019

2019-06-30 by Joanne Carter

Her body is “like a car that you park in the projects, you don’t leave anything valuable in it ’cause you can’t keep it from being broken into,” a frustrating but all to realistic quote from ‘Baise-moi’ (1993) a novel by Virginie Despentes. The quote calmly describes her friend who was gang-raped, she reasons, ‘at least they left her alive‘. The book itself is about two young women on a revenge sex and killing spree following the gang rape. The author, Despentes, herself was gang raped at 17 and had a knife in her pocket at the time but was too terrified to use it. She writes in her memoir ‘King Kong Theory’, 2006, “I am furious with a society that has educated me without ever teaching me to injure a man if he pulls my thighs apart against my will, when that same society has taught me that this is a crime from which I will never recover,”. I am not trying to set the scene for a rant here, merely frustratingly mentioning that living a life as a man is a wholly different experience to living life as a woman. Art, for so many is a sanctuary and a necessity and I fiercely guard everyone’s entitlement to it. Some artists get distracted with soul-sucking tasks to make money, it’s a necessary evil. What I see here every single week, are the heftiest and most fascinating inspirational artists. I make this statement not with empty braggadocio but without falsity. This weeks showcase results in an allegory that feels elevated. This is multi-dimensional story telling, of real people because this is what is required, so we can luxuriate in the crevices of our emotional rational irrationality. Enjoy!

Anca Balaj, Clarisse Debout, klimtt – M. Cecilia Sao Thiago, Jane Schultz, Mazetman – Monsieur Georges, berleyart – Kim, Niels Brunelli – @niels_b, acciental_artist3 – Ransom Candice, Rosa Perry, Loulou Buntbein, Rita Colantonio, Linda Hollier, Deborah McMillion, Jun Yamaguchi, Lorenka Campos, Albion Harrison-Naish, Damian De Souza, Fleur Schim, David DeNagel, Peter Wilkin, Sheldon Serkin, Alexey Amelyushkin, Jeremy Cassell, Karen Axelrad, Susan Detroy, Clint Cline, woltarise, Rob Pearson-Wright, Yasuo Furue, Laila, Judy Wahlberg, Susan Rennie, Gianluca Ricoveri, TheiPhoneArtGirl – Meri Walker, jilllian2 – Jill Lian, Deborah Field.

Music this week is ‘True Intimacy’ by Leah West

Mobile Photography & Art – Flickr/Instagram Group Showcase – 23 June 2019

2019-06-23 by Joanne Carter

This weeks thrilling and thoughtful Mobile Photography and Art showcase projects a sense of artists maintaining their fidelity to the human race, whilst all around many are losing faith, it is at the heart of everything. Each work of art chosen here has a stake in our world. There are counterweights and balances as joy emerges in the work here. This storytelling is far more alive to the possibility of hope, of relationships, uncomplicated love and connections, each representing the intimacy of the long years of support that our community brings to one another. Enjoy.

Anca Balaj, Candice Ransom – @accidental_artist3, Deborah Field, p.a. hamel, Oola Cristina, Fleur Schim, jilllian2 – Jill Lian, Gianluca Ricoveri, Tomaso Belloni, Marina Sergeevna, Kerry Mitchell, Sergiy Beliayev, Jun Yamaguchi, Laila, Deborah McMillion, Karen Axelrad, Poetic Medium, Jeremy Cassell, Beate, Juta Jazz, Enio Godoy, ArrrRT eDUarD, Paul Yan, irene Oleksiuk, Lorenka Campos, Susan Rennie, Susan Maxwell Schmidt, Clint Cline, Judy Wahlberg, @ange_ombre – Ro Lannes, @raulbar – Raul Barrios, Lydia Cassatt, @one.fine.eye.phone – Kate Zari Roberts, @raveninnyc – Lori, Clarisse Debout, @mariatbellotti – Mariateresa Bellotti, Sarah Bichachi,

Music this week is ‘China Moon’ (instrumental) – Angels of Venice

Mobile Photography & Art – Flickr/Instagram Group Showcase – 2 June 2019

2019-06-032019-06-02 by Joanne Carter

As humans, we have the unique ability of utilising our skill of habit, to our own disadvantage. We can fail to take note of what is always around us. Thus, we suffer emotionally because we lose sight of the value of what we have and then yearn for imagined attractions elsewhere. We live on auto pilot. As an example, if you think back, to when first learning to ride a bicycle, we become hyper aware of everything, as we sit on the saddle and place one foot on a pedal and the other on the ground, to steady us. As we try to push off and bring up the other foot to its pedal, we are acutely conscious of everything that is going on, we’re highly alert to sound, light, movement, balance and speed. But, after years of practice, we then jump on a bicycle and it’s possible to ride and ride without thinking consciously about changing gears, balancing, breaking or indicating. Our actions become a part of subconsciousness. And it is this autopilot being that can become our misfortune because, we begin to hardly register the important things. So instead of editing out the lesser things, enabling us to concentrate on the road, which is crucial in my example, we end up editing out elements of the world that have so much to offer us. But it is art that can bring us back to a more accurate assessment of what is valuable by working against our habit of autopilot and inviting us to recalibrate what we admire or love. This is called, Appreciation. When an artist creates an image, of an everyday item, objects that we encounter on a daily basis, when we view this image of those same items in a gallery, or look at them in a photograph, our attention is arrested and directed, we start to pay more attention to their shape, design, colour, we see them, as if for the first time. And despite this modest example, in time, we learn to look with kinder and more alert eyes at the world around us. One of the powers of Art is that it enables us to reawaken and value the merit of lives we live.

You’ll see plenty of examples in this weeks Mobile Photography and Art Showcase, as each artists utilises art as a re-sensitisation tool and helps us recover our own sensitivity by finding new ways to view the old. Enjoy!

Poetic Medium, Sheldon Serkin, before.1st.light – Jane Schultz, Gianluca Ricoveri, Clare Pickett, Ian Clarke, Catherine Caddigan, Oola Cristina, Jun Yamaguchi, Enoi Godoy, Eduardo Mueses, Lorenka Campos, Laila, Deborah McMillion, Jeremy Cassell, Jormain Cady, Song Hui, Anastasia Potekhina, Clint Cline, Rita Colantonio, jillian2 – Jill Lian, TheiPhoneArtGirl – Meri Walker, Damian De Souza, Kathy Clay, Judy Wahlberg, Susan Rennie, Michael Hamments, Kate Zari Roberts, Filiz Ak, Amy Ecenbarger, M. Cecilia Sao Thiago, Becky Menzies, Carol Wiebe, Peter Wilkin.

Music this week is ‘A Love Song’ by Xenia Dunford