Wednesday, November 4, 2015
Featured Mobile Photographer - Shane Martin
It's been quite some time since I first asked Shane Martin if I could feature his work. Our schedules never quite meshed but I'm happy to finally be able to present this featured interview with a most talented iPhone photographer.
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| Foothills © Shane Martin |
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| Small Town © Shane Martin |
Shane: I was born and raised in Calgary, Canada. I lived in Vancouver for a number of years and then in Europe before returning to the place of my birth.
Shane: Quite by accident. I had an iPhone for a couple of years and used it strictly as a phone and internet device. I was reading an article in The New York Times about the best 10 apps, kind of thing. One of the apps listed was a pinhole camera app. I had grown up with pinhole cameras so I thought I'd give it a try. After that I was hooked. iPhoneography quickly became a bit of an obsession. What attracted my to it was its ease and convenience. I had taken numerous Photoshop classes over the years and always found digital imaging very daunting. That all changed with the iPhone and its apps.
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| Vintage © Shane Martin |
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| Sun Bathing © Shane Martin |
What device do you use?
Shane: I'm currently using an iPhone 4 for taking photos and some processing and an iPad for most processing.
Shane: I have alway been a hobby photographer. For many years I had a darkroom in various basements, doing mostly B&W prints (some Cibachrome as well). I have never had any "formal" training. Weekend courses here and there and lots of reading and watching. I've always has a "creative" side.
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| Chinatown © Shane Martin |
Shane: Loaded question - everything. I'm inspired by the awesome work of the many, many talented iPhone artists I have discovered as part of this journey. I don't want to list any because the list would be too long and I would be bound to forget someone important. More traditional photographers who have inspired me include: Saul Leiter; Alfred Stieglitz; Edward Weston; William Allard; Henri Cartier-Bresson; André Kertész; Fred Herzog, etc. I also find inspiration in music, I'm a huge music lover. Favorites would include: Nick Cave; Tom Waits; John Coltrane; Miles Davis; Radiohead; Howe Gelb; Grimes, Charles Lloyd, etc.
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| Renata © Shane Martin |
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| The Morning Paper © Shane Martin |
Shane: My style, or lack thereof - I would have to say recently that I have gravitated towards landscapes. I am lucky to live in a part of the world with amazing scenery, Rocky Mountains to the West, prairiescapes to the east, all within an hour's drive of my house. I am very drawn to the wide open spaces of the prairies as well as their sense of desolation and emptiness. That said, I love to shoot when I travel, which I do a lot. My beautiful wife is a source of inspiration. The photography I admire the most seems to be "street photography". It also seems to be the most difficult, for me at least, but I do like to try it out now and then. I do like to try new things all the time and, as mentioned, I'm inspired by my fellow iPhone artists. I often see an amazing image and think I've got to try that out. This probably results in my lack of a personal style. I don't lose too much sleep over it though!
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| Blue © Shane Martin |
When shooting, do you use your native camera or do you prefer a specialty camera app like 645 Pro or ProCamera?
Shane: I tend to use ProCamera because its most like a traditional SLR in terms of the control it gives. I tend to avoid cameras like Hipstamatic because I like to do my processing from a "straight" image.
Shane: The list is long and seems to change all the time. Some constants include: Snapseed, Filterstorm, BlurFx, Dynamic Light, PhotoCopier, PhotoToaster, Pixlr-o-matic, ShockMyPic, Artist's Touch, Image Blender.
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| The Day Dreamer © Shane Martin |
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| Watching you, watching her, watching me © Shane Martin |
Do you do all of your editing on your iPhone, or do you prefer a tablet?
Shane: Both, but as age continues to ravage my eyesight, more and more on the iPad.
Please share a bit about your editing process.
Shane: The image itself will usually dictate my editing process but generally I will almost always first run my images through Dynamic Light to try and add a bit of pop. Next into Snapseed for light adjustments, sharpness, cropping, straightening etc. Any cloning or erasing I need to do I generally do in Filterstorm. After dealing with the "basics" I will start applying filters. For landscapes I almost always run the image through a very light treatment in Shock and then blend the resulting image back with the original. I almost always finish up in Photocopier. I love the variety of tones available and the fact that it provides you with a fair amount of controls.
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| Into the Light © Shane Martin |
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| Defiant © Shane Martin |
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| Retired © Shane Martin |
Have you ever exhibited your work? If not, any plans to do so?
Shane: My work has been exhibited as part of the various shows P1xels has put on over the years, as well as the iPhoneArt show in LA a couple years ago. At one point I had works showing in LA and NY at the same time - that was quite exciting! My work has been featured quite frequently on the various mobile photography sites for which I am very grateful.
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| Hay! © Shane Martin |
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| Winter Walk © Shane Martin |
Is there anything else you'd like to add?
Shane: Thanks to you Geri, and the many others out there who continue to work to promote mobile photography.
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| Light in a Bottle © Shane Martin |
Find Shane: Flickr, EyeEm, Instagram
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