Thursday, November 19, 2015
Yannick Brice - Featured Mobile Photographer
Yannick Brice said his wife describes him as mysterious. I am so happy that despite his preference to be discreet, he has agreed to this interview. It took a bit of back and forth because as I've mentioned before I'm limited to knowing only one language, English fluently, and that doesn't happen to be Yannick's native tongue. It's a good thing that Yannick's English is more proficient than my French!
Geri: What is your name and where do you live?
Yannick: My name is Yannick Brice, I was born in Bar le Duc in Lorraine (East of France). I am a 42 year old fireman, married to Gaetana. We are parents of 4 children.
 |
| Touches me © Yannick Brice |
Geri: How did you get started in mobile photography? What device to you use?
Yannick: I started mobile photography two years ago using my wife's smartphone. I photograph and edit with an iPhone 4 with iOS 7. I also edit on an iPad.
 |
| G in love © Yannick Brice |
Geri: Do you have a traditional photography or art background?
Yannick: My experience with traditional photography really began at 40 years of age with the purchase of a Canon EOS 500D. I started testing my camera to learn about focal length, aperture, depth of field, exposure, bokeh, etc. I have no art background but I do love literature, museums and jazz.
 |
| Dreams of Future © Yannick Brice |
Geri: Who or what inspires you?
Yannick: My inspiration is in the books highlighting the work of photographers such as Helmut Newton, JR, Guy Bourdin, Sarah Moon, Liliroze, Patrick Demarchelier, Man Ray, Araki Nobuyochi, Klavdij Sluban, Rodney Smith, Thomas Chéné and most recently Josh Adamski. I love the abstract art of sculptor and painter Pierre Soulage and the graphic works of Keith Haring. But today, my inspiration is also in photography and mobile art. I love the street photography of Jeanette Vasqueze and Maktub Street Dog, abstracts of Roger Guetta, Kaaren Malcom, Andrea Bigiarini, the creative universe of Natali Prosvetova and Lanie Heller, the geometric compositions of Cat Morris, the black and white of Lee Atwell and the conceptual universe of Cedric Blanchon.
 |
| "Where are you?" © Yannick Brice |
Geri: Is there a reason you use the name "inneremotion" as your username on social networks?
Yannick: Inneremotion is my second nickname on photographic social networks. It is significant to what I am. I am a self-taught artist and my life experiences are always lived with a lot of inner intensity. My photos reflect my life, my tension, my pain, my questions, my amorous quests, my discovery of women and their complexity and therefore, my sentimental wounds. I grow through these moments of life to pass them on - convey my state of mind, my doubts, my revolts and my passion for the complexity of human kind.
 |
| "To be or not to be an artist" © Yannick Brice |
Geri: Your images include abstract artwork created with various subjects. How did your style evolve?
Yannick: I still have a lot of trouble defining my style. Nevertheless, I can isolate two trends. First, a taste for research and experimentation based on using the multitude of applications dedicated to mobile photography and mobile art. And a more intimate work, stronger in feelings that are generally modified very little, almost in a raw format.
My first editions posted on Instagram were mainly abstract. I used Decim8 to deconstruct photos of monuments, landscapes and scenes at the bend of a path. The magic of the iPhone is the ease which we can shoot a moment we may have missed on a conventional camera. The street photography craze testifies to this simple statement.
 |
| The monolith © Yannick Brice |
 |
| The Black Kiss © Yannick Brice |
Yannick: She is the woman who shares my life. She supports me always. When I meet periods of doubt, she reassures me and gives me the desire to continue. She is also the source of inspiration for many of my photographs or editions.
 |
| "Tiredness" ("Nostalgia" Series) © Yannick Brice |
-resized.jpg "Black and Milk #1 © Yannick Brice") |
| Black and Milk #1 © Yannick Brice |
Geri: Do you take your photos with an end in mind or does each piece develop as you work on it?
Yannick: Only my series like "Black Angel" and "Nostalgia" were thought with a final outcome in mind. I see my iPhone as a test laboratory. Most of the time, I randomly discover and use the applications allowing for improvisation and imagination.
I as well practice "digital" painting (Glaze, Aquarella, iColorama, PhotoRibbons, Fracture, Repix), the deconstruction and recombining of images (Decim8, Fragment, Part), the geometrical addition of figures (Deco Sketch, Tangent), the color application of an image (Geló, Satur8, Popsicolor), symmetries (Mirrorgram, Pixelinout) and the composition of images (Image Blender, Green Screen, InstaFusion, layrs). Lately I have been interested in pixilation of photos with Pixelinout, Polypic, Pixels4Every1. I am also interested in video applications and apps which allow an interaction with music (Speak, Bubble Harp, APT, Thicket).
I often edit older photos by using the latest apps which gives my photographs a longer life.
 |
| A spark in my darkness © Yannick Brice |
Geri: Can you share a bit about your workflow?
Yannick: Here is the workflow for "Painting Wave on New York City" (below)
The original image was taken with an iPhone on top of the Empire State Building (April 2013)
To extend the size of the buildings, I created bands superimposed on the buildings with Tangent (save and retangent several times)
Then I applied texture using ScratchCam and Pixlr Express.
The photo was converted to black and white and turned into a painting with the Glass filter in iColorama.
The painting was superimposed on the original with InstaFusion merging only the right part of the photo.
The scrub of the boundary between the two parts was done with the Explode brush in iColorama.
Finally I created a negative of the picture and worked on the brightness to bleach the photo.
 |
| Painting Wave on New York City © Yannick Brice |
Geri: Have you ever exhibited your work? If not, any plans to do so?
Yannick: I exhibited my work for the first time in London in Unit 24 Gallery an abstract red edit which was noticed by AKwamarina (@iphonehipsta on Instagram, curator of @mobilepixation) on Pinterest.
Ten of my photographs have been the subject of an exhibition in The Alexander Brest Museum, a small university museum of Jacksonville under the initiative of Jack Turnock (Associate Professor of Art and Director of Alexander Brest Museum) who used them to educate students about photos and editions made with smartphones.
 |
| Quiet G © Yannick Brice |
In December 2013, I went to Prague for an exhibition dedicated to mobile photography organized by Marcela Boryskova and the Rush Society. I exhibited alongside international artists: Lanie Heller, Susan Tuttle, Michelle Robinson, Michal Bulir, Maktub Street Dog and I had the pleasure of sharing an evening with Andrew Proudlove, talking mobile photography over a good steak and big beer!
Most recently I had two of my photos win honorable mention in the 2013 Mobile Photography Awards in the categories of Black and White and The Darkness. I think these photos will be exhibited by Dan Marcolina.
-resized.jpg "A tree under the moon © Yannick Brice") |
| A tree under the moon © Yannick Brice |
Geri: Is there anything else you'd like to add?
Yannick: "I am an absolute beginner with eyes fully open looking for the absolute".
Today the New Era Museum (founded by the the most popular mobile photographer, administered and curated by Andrea Bigiarini) and the group "Appstract" created by Roger Guetta on Facebook have allowed me to share my visions and my edits.
I met recently Erick Beck (@Beckibecko) on Facebook (one of the founders of Montreal Art Mobile (MAM) with Sven (@pixetoile) and Isabelle (@misspixels) Carré). Erick gives his own vision of abstract art, and mobile art in general. He stimulates our imagination and provokes our emotions by reinterpreting the world around us. I will continue in this way using this new digital media to give my own vision of the "art of mobile".
 |
| Flowers Power Series #1 © Yannick Brice |
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment