TheAppWhisperer

Mobile Photography/Art Pic of the Day (1,196) via Instagram

2020-02-18 by Joanne Carter

Here’s day one thousand, one hundred and ninety six of our mobile photography/art Pic of the Day section via Instagram. Each day we select one image a day for our Pic of the Day section on Instagram, with this hashtag #theappwhisperer.

Today, we congratulate @patragraphy with this image entitled ‘quiet side of dahlia’.

Follow her Instagram account here

Mobile Photography & Art – Flickr/Instagram Group Showcase – 9 February 2020

2020-02-092020-02-09 by Joanne Carter

“I’m with Edvard Munch, who said photography can’t compete with painting, because it can’t deal with heaven or hell”, said David Hockney in today’s Sunday Times. I’m inclined to disagree with this and of course, I can point to this weeks showcase to support my case. Our musical choice matches perfectly, love, loss and the nature of reality. Heaven and hell? Oh yes, having lived full lives, if we cannot cure mortality, should we at least die trying…? The one thing humans have to save them of the depths of despair is humour and like many I have a strong one, Hockney does too “Do you know why laughter is important?” he asks, “It’s the only time as human beings that our fight-or-flight response is turned off. It’s good for you.” I couldn’t agree more…

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:

Jill Lian, Platohedron, Lorenka Campos, Rita Colantonio, Cintia, Fleur Schim, Sailisa Li, Laila, Paul Suciu – @rain.is.poetry, Marsha Estes, Rodolfo Alcaraz, Lee Atwell, @amopassicos, Nichole Christophe. @imagomimago – Mimi Svanberg, M. Cecilia Sao Thiago, @bortolinimassimo, @withflowersinherphone, soul_engine, Milly M, Jane Schultz, Jill Lian, Enio Godoy, Catherine Caddigan, p.a. hamel, Judy Wahlberg, Gianluca Ricoveri, Erik Viggh, Rosalie Heller, Linda Hollier, Susan Latty, Mary Modale – Dale, Robin Robertis, kats_eye_phone, Robyn Mencher, patragraphy, Alexis Rotella, clau_clara.

Music this week, another of my favourites ‘Never Let Me Go’ by Florence & The Machine

Mobile Photography & Art – Flickr/Instagram Group Showcase – 24 November 2019 –

2019-11-252019-11-24 by Joanne Carter

I live in a built up area, as you might imagine, but when I stopped off at a petrol station, in the dark and pouring rain, to fill my car up this week, I was silenced into hushed awe. I lined up a pump, got out and opened the filler cap, whilst the blond captivating man, not disimilar in looks to the iconic Kurt Cobain, in the oposite pump was reaching a crescendo as he squeezed his pump into the fill spout. As first it was an unnerving experience, all the punters filling up their cars were hushed, as if in a theatre, all polite, near silence, no one stopped him, no one spoke to him (this is England) but everyone smiled at him and he grinned and stared at me. He unleashed a crystal clear voice before shaking the drips off his pump and hanging it back with a sway in his hips and an ‘I don’t give a **** attitude. His anarchic spirit undercut the atmosphere and his voice did the heavy lifting with a thrilling sense of scope and ambition. I’ve never had such a memorable experience at a petrol station. As he drove away, I yearned to be resuscitated, silently shouting ‘where are you? Art is all around us none more so evident than in this weeks showcase, enjoy!

Oola Cristina, Laila, Peter Wilkin, Yasuo Furue, Alexey Amelyushkin, Clint Cline, TheiPhoneArtGirl – Meri Walker, Susan Rennie, Jane Schultz, jilllian2 – Jill Lian, Jun Yamaguchi, klimtt – Cecilia Sao Thiago, Vadim Demjianov, Shelly MacNeil Conway, Paul Toussaint, Peter Wilkin, Francesco Sambati, Rita Colantonio, Cintia Malhotra, borisbschulz2009, Lorenka Campos, Gianluca Ricoveri, Eliza Badoiu, _soulkitchen_ Valeria Cam…, @colourcooker – Barbara Banthau, @mitrydate, @chehalishegner- Chehalis Hegner, @schwitter.li – Liliana Schwitter, @imagomimago – Mimi Svanberg, @lindahollier – Linda Hollier, @pause.and.breathe – Susan Latty, @patragraphy, Christine Mignon, @le_brab – Pascal, @filizakart – Filiz Ak, @jenburnett, @ijanrm, @comizi – Cozi Koji, @tatsmosc -Maria Moscoso, @alice1280 – Ann.

Music this week is another of my favourites, Mahalia with ‘Back up Plan’

Mobile Photography & Art – Flickr/Instagram Group Showcase – 10 November 2019

2019-11-152019-11-10 by Joanne Carter

Many people write to me each week and I love it. Sometimes, I am asked for advice, sometimes I’m asked about me. This week a few times, it was mostly the latter. I was asked, ‘how do you keep coming up with ideas?’, ‘where do they generate from?‘ and then ‘how do you deal with a creative rut?‘. I think the latter was the hardest because the first two I answered with ‘I’m constantly gathering ideas, things that I see each day, people I meet, observations that I make, judgements (I hate to say), but they all encapsulate and become the images and ideas that I’ve been having for the past ten years and I amalgamate them’. To answer, ‘how do you deal with a creative rut?‘, was a lot tougher. I love writing but sometimes I get stuck, as I am with one project now, that has pained me for too many tortuous months. I don’t have a solid process, sometimes I surprise myself that anything gets written at all. But sometimes, I get an idea and find the angle I need and write the whole thing up in no time, wtf. When I get stuck, when I hit a creative rut, I have to take myself out of all of the usual things that I do. So, I’ll pick up a book for example, that might have absolutely nothing to do with creativity, if I can say that, because the fact that it’s been written is a sign of creativity isn’t it? – yes, I frequently argue with myself. Anyway, if you haven’t read Naomi Wolf’s book, Vagina, then you should, specifically the paragraph on the creative power of the orgasm, it really helped me to formulate my next project and reminded me of a quote within the main tome that I am currently re-reading, Sontag by Benjamin Moser, chapter 12, when Sontag has an affair with ‘Irene’ who was by all accounts totally luscious and Sontag was quoted as saying ‘she could make a rock come‘, how glorious! Writing can be a lonely occupation but sometimes ideas flow out of me like a goddam fountain climaxing. I would say, as I have often repeated, resilience is key, and remember when you were 20 and looking forward, never back? As you get older, when the going gets tough, people look back, why do that? I don’t do that. Life is still in front of you and it’s that that needs to be treasured. Keep going…

rain.is.poetry – Paul Suciu, _soulkitchen_ – Valaria Cammari, @iameirkabrown – Erika Brown, @eslieber – Erik Lieber, @ilemusi – Ile Mont, Nichole Christophe, Jana Curcio, @chalktiger, Eliza Badoiu, @jorgeolaveriveros, @ja_graham, @accidental_artist, Rosalie Heller, @thelma.penteado, @josephineduson, @marshadraws – Marsha Estes, @iphotami – Karen Axelrad, pause.and.breathe – Susan Latty, @luison_street – Lrh A, @patragraphy, @mitrydate, @velvet_iris_photography, Peter Wilkin, @schwitter.li, Laila, Jun Yamaguchi, woltarise, Yasuo Furue, Clint Cline, Hanni K, Rita Colantonio, Linda Hollier, Gianluca Ricoveri, Susan Rennie, Sheldon Serkin, Judy Wahlberg, Andy Alexandre, @nini_nini-, Allyson Marie, @before.1st.light – Jane Schultz,

Music this week is Nina Simone – Feeling Good (Avicii Remix)

Mobile Photography & Art – Flickr/Instagram Group Showcase – 3 November 2019

2019-11-032019-11-03 by Joanne Carter

“Romantic love is an obsession, it possesses you“, said Dr Helen Fisher, an anthropologist in her book ‘Why we Love‘ and it’s true. It’s incredibly distracting, falling in love and yet it is perhaps the greatest natural high there is. When you mix Oxytocin – the love hormone with a good amount of Dopamine (the pleasure hormone), you get a very heady mix, perhaps you could say, it makes us insane but what if you’re not looking to fall in love and it creeps up on you when you least expect it…then that’s not walking on air, that’s flying by the seat of your pants… Can falling in love be diagnosed? I asked myself this week and I found the answer, according to Freud, yes, pretty much and there’s even a genuine condition called ‘broken-heart syndrome‘ when/if/usually things head west – and even knowing that that happens and it’s basically awful, we still crave the primary high. When you fall in love, everything looks better, the rain becomes gentle kissing drops on your face, as opposed to wet, cold, ghastly drops. A traffic jam becomes another excuse to dream of your loved one, as opposed to a delay for an appointment that’s going to cost you dearly. Actually, falling in love is getting into a beautiful trap set up by nature, a natural occurence that’s very hard to fight. The term ‘love is blind’, I feel is fitting, because you never know when your brain will encounter love. It’s a natural muse, one that will leave you puzzled and in deep thought…possessed even and ultimately exhausted…

Kathy Clay – @kathyc2136, Catherine Caddigan, @setanua – Seta Nua, Anca.balaj, Susan Latty, luison – Lrh Aquietco, ja_graham, @winter_lines, @imagomimago – Mimi Svanberg, jproudman.art – Joan Proudman, Filiz Ak, MaryJane Rosenfeld, @berleyart – Kim, clau_clara, @xxfromneptune – Aylin Argun, @patragraphy, mitrydate, effe5 – Guido Colla, Annette Armitage – @aaoffie, @hipstanitaelle – Anita Elle, Karen Axelrad, Cindy Buske, Hanni K, Jane Schultz, Deborah McMillion, Susan Rennie, p.a. hamel, Judy Wahlberg, Gianluca Ricoveri, Manuela Basaldella, Vadim Demjianov, Qingxian Guo, Susan Blase, Cintia Malhotra, Paul Toussaint, Arko Rayhan, Rita Colantonio, Andy Alexandre, Jun Yamaguchi, Michael Beresin.

This weeks’ music is by London Grammar, entitled ‘Wicked Game’ a very fitting song this week.

Mobile Photography & Art – Flickr/Instagram Group Showcase – 20 October 2019

2019-10-202019-10-18 by Joanne Carter

This week it was my husband’s birthday (and excuse me but I have to interject within this sentence as ‘husband’ just sounds such a formal a title to give to a man who has and continues to sustain our romantic union on the basis of deep mutual trust and desire, so forever and into the future when I mention him, I will refer to him as the ‘brunette’; it amazes me, like his mother, despite the gravity of time, he has not one grey hair, so my brunette he is), and as with each recurring birthday year, at least for the past 24, it almost always coincides with Lee Child’s latest novel being released. Child is so systematic with his writing schedule, that each October he drops another. I haven’t purchased it this year, our eldest son has pre-ordered it for him and will continue the tradition as I’ve stepped up to offer other gifts. But, no matter what I give, I know, the brunette loves nothing more than settling down, very close to me, one hand on my thigh, the other holding Lee Child’s latest novel. I think it’s Jack Reacher’s 6ft 5in, 250lb former US army military policeman that offers him all the fantasy he needs, or so it appears. Reacher is a loner, a wanderer, after leaving the army, he’s never settled into a normal life. There are similarities I can see, there’s no one that would ever accuse us of living a ‘normal’ life, it’s just not. But, saying that, I have to say the brunette normally carries more than a toothbrush when he lives the house. It has been said that there are many women that love Child’s books too, including leading academics. It’s interesting to me, to ponder what they crave, apparently, for some, it is his formal passages. Simple words but strung with a real mastery of rhythm, nothing complicated. His landscape visions in dusty American nowhere-towns also get some women swooning. Of course, we can’t be forgetting that Reacher is the perfect archetypal hero, the handsome stranger in town that avenges the wrongs. This years offering ‘Blue Moon’ apparently turns on male agression towards women and sexual exploitation, it’s seen as a female revenge drama. ( I’ve picked up that cue in the song title to this weeks mobile photography and art showcase, you’ll hear me, listen closely) . So, I’ll be reading it as soon as my guy hands it over. And despite Jack Reacher being a female sexual fantasy so…I’ve heard, I think I’ll stick with the real thing, the birthday boy does it for me…

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.

rain.is.poetry, Lydia Cassatt, Filiz Ak, Anca Balaj, Anastasia Potekhina – @nassavva, @ja_graham – Jennifer Graham, Peter Wilkin, @marshadraws, @kimmartinodiaz – Kim Martino, @ipiotrxs, Ile Mont, @john_nieto, @berlewenjolixor, @to_be – Tuba, Emilio Nadales, Laurie Amerson – @laamerson, @pause.and.breathe – Susan Latty, @patragraphy, @clau_clara, @theartofmayte – Mayte artist, @schwitter.li – Liliana Schwitter, @lorenka – Lorenka Campos, @sandralbmartins – Violet Martins, @effe5, @jenvoigt – Jenny, @marymodale, Jane Schultz – @before.1st.light, Sukru Mehmet Omur, Robin Robertis, @tatteredphotograph, @hipstanitaelle, @klimtt – M. Cecilia Sao Thiago, Deborah McMillion, Clint Cline, Catherine Caddigan, Rita Colantonio, Andy Alexandre, Judy Wahlberg, Damian De Souza, Susan Blase, Linda Hollier, Tomaso Belloni, jilllian2 – Jill Lian.

Music this week is ‘Read all about it’ by Emile Sande – another of my favourite British singer/songwriters

Mobile Photography & Art – Flickr/Instagram Group Showcase – 6 October 2019

2019-10-182019-10-06 by Joanne Carter

One of the treatments I have commenced at hospital this week, is to take part in a six week course of Chi Kung and I’ve been practising it at home ever since, much to the amusement of those who I share my life with. Chi is considered to be the flow of energy through the universe. It is said to flow through channels in the human body and if blocked can lead to poor health. Chi kung involves performing movements that stimulate the flow of chi through the body. As such, it is often referred to as “meditation in motion”. You don’t need to be fit or athletic to do it, it can be adapted to your physical prowess. Chi Kung is very gentle on the body and arguably the most important thing to do when practising this ancient Chinese art is to relax, physically and mentally. To relax, you need to hold a position and take some deep breaths through your nose and breathe out through your mouth. In today’s society where we check our phones every 12 minutes, the lost art of concentration and relaxation is a concern. We need to switch off, as creatives, in order to create, make love, at least I do. When overwhelmed with mental stimulation, I have a few techniques up my sleeve, that I can call upon, these include, music – especially the music of Sade and I have included one of her tracks in this weeks showcase, this song speaks for me, another is photography, of course, I also read avidly, and particularly, when overwhelmed with physical pain, I love to descend into a very warm solitary bath and now I also have Chi Kung.

Whilst creating this weeks showcase, I have viewed all of the art through a Chi Kung lens and with each and every inspiring image, I have created a meditation, of your art. Feel the rhythm, the surging uplift, as we fall into mutual devoted freedom….

@pause.and.breathe – Susan Latty, Eliza Eliza Tsitsimeaua-Badoiu, clau_clara, Nicole Christophe, @mitrydate, Kerry Mitchell, @dunga_brook, @rejanerubino, @sandralbmartins – Violet Martins, @impro_visions, sunflowerof21_365 – Elaine Taylor, @patragraphy, @marymodale – Dale Bradshaw Botha, @marianne.rieter Marianne Rieter, Jane Schultz, @marian.rubin – Marian Said Marian Seid Rubin, @ilemusi – Ile Mont, @janisbrandenburg Janis Brandenburg Lee, accidental_artist3 – Ransom Candice, @fichristian – Fiona Christian, @clarisse_debout – Clarisse Debout, @schwitter.li – Liliana Schwitter, @ange_ombre – Ro Lannes, @klimtt – M. Cecilia Sao M. Cecilia São Thiago, ja_graham – Jennifer Graham, @peterwilkin1 – Peter Wilkin, @remintrusions – Damian De Souza, Susan Maxwell Schmidt, Jill Lian, Karen Axelrad, Yasuo Furue, Rita Colantonio, Gianluca Ricoveri, Catherine Catherine Schell Caddigan, Clint Cline, p.a.hamel, Susan Rennie, TheiPhoneArtGirl – Meri Walker, Lorenka Campos, Rob Pearson-Wright, Paul Yan, Mark Walton1.

Music this week, another of my favourites – Sade with ‘Somebody already broke my heart’ (lovers live)

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!

@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’