Life in LoFi: iPhoneography | iPhone Photo News, Showcases, App Reviews

Fort Worth, Texas
January 9, 2010

Meadowbrook Drive-In

Toolbox: ProCamera, TiltShift Generator

There’s a giant, dirty, old screen just west of downtown Fort Worth. There used to be two more screens nearby. Weeds and bushes had reclaimed the parking areas. The trees had overgrown the screens. The once-white screens were dingy and filled with rust stains. None of the screens were even worth tearing down.

Hidden in the trees and the brush off Riverside Drive, the Meadowbrook Drive-In marquee still stands. The lights long dimmed and broken out. Even the last pain has peeled off, revealing the original theater sign underneath. An old bicycle has been rigged to the top. The drive-in behind is now a parking lot for trash dumpsters.

No parking. No trespassing. No movies. The one remaining screen west of downtown now stands silently in the trees.

=M=

Fort Worth, Texas
The Stockyards
January 9, 2010

The Stairwell

Toolbox: MonoPhix Lite

It’s winter in North Texas, but there were still leaves on the trees until a couple of weeks ago. The Stockyards were brisk and the winter shadows were long as we roamed Main and Exchange with our cameras, fighting daylight and the lingering Golden Hour.

=M=

Friday, January 8, 2010, the Chicago Art Department hosted an exhibition that was the culmination of a several week program to explore and push the boundaries of art created with iPhones. With an emphasis that included several media not just iPhoneography, iPhone therefore iArt presented outstanding works from local Chicago artists, as well as submissions by other artists from around the globe.

iPhone therefore iArt. Photo by mARTa Sasinowska

If you weren’t able to attend the Chicago exhibit, here’s the Chicago Art Department Flickr set with pictures of the event and some of the art. iPhoneographer Kay Frederick was there as well and has posted her photos of the event here.

=M=

Maybe it’s just winter, but there are times when I find myself doing this — either getting in a photography rut or just putting off taking pictures. Sometimes life gets in the way. At other times, it might be less urgent distractions (Twitter? Facebook?). Here’s a link to a post on the MCP Actions blog with a dozen tips to break your photography rut. It’s aimed at professionals and photographers who shoot with rigs, but it still has some good, usable tips for breaking an iPhoneography rut as well.

As iPhoneographers, we have an advantage that others don’t and I’d like to add Tip #13 (#12B if you’re superstitious….).

TIP: Download that cool new photography app you’ve been eyeing. Experiment with it. Learn its quirks. For a dollar or two, it’s like getting a whole new camera. How many professional photographers get to say that?

Click here for 12 Tips to Break Your Photography Rut on MCP Actions >>>

=M=

In and around Decatur, Texas
January 2, 2010

Toolbox: HipstaMatic

"When In Rhome"

"A Good Day on US 287 3"

"A Good Day on US 287 2"

"A Good Day on US 287 1"

I love to drive the old Federal highways — the ones with the police badge-shaped highway markers. They’re no longer the best way to get there fast. The routes are usually less direct, but more often I find myself just wanting to stop and photograph the cool relics from past times that still dot the roadsides of the old US highway system — the mom & pop traveler’s hotels, old gas stations, cool signs.

Some of them are remarkably well maintained considering that the world now passes them by one mile to the west. Others are beautiful yet sad in their decay. Especially in this part of Texas, where the towns are spaced about a half a day’s ride by horse, some of the main streets are still alive and preserved. The pace of life is much slower than at the Burger King nearby at the exit off the interstate.

There are lines and curves and color and texture and history in the old architecture. The newer metal-framed, steel-sided buildings by the interstate will be old someday as well, but I doubt they’ll have the charm the old towns still have.

The weather was crisp, but the sky was beautiful. The golden hour brought out the warmth of the often faded colors. It was a good day on old US Highway 287.

=M=

Pixels at an Exhibition
Deadline for submissions: January 15
Voting begins on January 15 through January 20
Reception and show opening January 30, 4-8 PM

Giorgi Gallery
2911 Claremont Blvd.
Berkeley, CA
www.giorgigallery.com

Exhibit: January 30 – February 27, 2010

Details at iphontography.org

200 images will be printed and displayed in the gallery for the month of February 2010, and will be sold as individual works of art. A book will be published that will include all of the images along with names and a short bio of each iPhoneographer.

Deadline for submissions: January 10. Voting begins on January 15 through January 20. Reception and show opening January 30. There is no submission fee, but each iPhoneographer is limited to 5 images.

Register at iphontography.org and read the submission guidelines to start.

Note from =M=: Another deadline for a brick-and-mortar iPhoneography exhibition looms, this one on the west coast at the Giorgi Gallery in Berkeley. I’m submitting my 5 images to this exhibit and I’m looking forward to seeing what organizer Knox Bronson has in store for the overall project. I like the idea of a book — the catalog — of the exhibition, and the opportunity it gives for the permanence of print.

Images that have been submitted for this exhibition are currently on display at iphontography.org.

iPhone therefore iArt
Chicago Art Department

Exhibition @CAD East Gallery
1837 South Halsted, Chicago
Friday, January 8, 2010, 6-10pm

Email mike@chicagoartdepartment.org for questions.

iPhone therefore iArt at the CAD (Image created by Mike Nourse, Jon Satrom, Carl Sweets, and Melissa Porter. Apps: Satromizer, Collage, Juxtaposer, and Swissmaker.)

Chicago Art Department is pleased to present 25 artists from around the world, all exploring the iPhone as creative tool.

iPhone Therefore iArt is the culmination of a class led by Chicago artist Mike Nourse, offered by the Chicago Art Department which features ten local artists who met weekly, working towards a completed project in areas such as photo, digital sketching (finger painting), animation, sound, and video. In addition to local artists, CAD program coordinator Mike Nourse brought in national and international iPhone artists from as far away as Russia, Norway,  Spain, France, and Germany. The end-result is a comprehensive look at this digital tool and some of its artistic possibilities.

Read the rest of this entry →

iPhoneographer Dixon Hamby is hosting an iPhone Image Collaboration. Since December 30, 2009, over 50 artists have participated and the project has gotten a lot of buzz on Twitter.

The concept is simple. Download this image, manipulate it on your iPhone and send your concept of the image to dixon@idixon.com. Include your Twitter nick in the email for credit. Your image will be posted with a photocredit in a slide show on the site. There is no submission fee.

Click here to view the gallery of images. It’s worth a look. It’s a rare opportunity to see dozens of photographer’s view of the same image.

For more information, visit Dixon Hamby’s tumblr site.

=M=

January 1, 2010
Fort Worth, Texas

My Ten Favorite Images of 2009

2009 was a good year for photography for me. I think I grew creatively, which in turn helped me solve creative challenges for my graphic design studio. I was more likely to stop and wait for the image that I want. I challenged myself creatively with several concepts and ongoing projects over the year. I think my “signal-to-noise ratio” improved dramatically.

I’m looking forward to photography in 2010. Just when I think I’ll have mastered the limitations of the iPhone camera, it’ll be time to upgrade to a new one. Mastered, not accepted. I’m looking forward to new apps which will allow us to capture and process better photos this year. I’m looking forward to sharing my images with you and discovering the images that you choose to share with the community-at-large.

Behind the link, in no particular order, are my ten favorite images that I took in 2009, collected in a Flickr set. They were chosen from a final batch of only 19 images narrowed down from the thousands that I shot throughout the year (okay, a lot of those were safety shots…). Many of the images you may have seen here, others you haven’t. They all may not be what I consider the best images I took in 2009. They are my ten personal favorites.

Click here for My 10 Favorite Photos from 2009

=M=

January 1, 2010
Fort Worth, Texas

"Convergence"

Toolbox: HipstaMatic

=M=