Take Photo: Geri Centonze

Showing posts with label Geri Centonze. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 24, 2015

There's Still Time to Join the Instagram Fall Challenge

What do you think of when you think of the word "FALL"? Does it bring to mind autumn and the vibrant colors, a fall from grace, the physical act of falling - or something else? There's still time to tag your Fall mobile photos with the hashtag #aom_fall on Instagram. I'll be selecting images from the hashtag to showcase here on Sunday.

Need some inspiration? Here are a few of my interpretations of the theme.

Falling Apart

Above image edited using Decim8 and Snapseed - I shot the original photo of my television screen while watching the series "Forever".

Free Fall

Edited with Circular+, AntiCrop, Adobe Photoshop Express, TouchRetouch and Effexy

Fall Grunge

Edited with Snapseed and Stackables

Labor Day

Edited with Snapseed and Stackables

Apps Mentioned:

Decim8
Snapseed
Circular+
AntiCrop
Adobe Photoshop Express
TouchRetouch
Effexy
Stackables

TrueView Interview at The App Whisperer

In case you haven't visited The App Whisperer lately, there is a wonderful series of interviews with mobile photographers all answering the question, "What does your work say about mobile art?". Joanne Carter has invited many from our community to answer the question.

I was asked but very hesitant to film myself due to my own insecurities, so I found a work around and donned a Sia-like white wig and managed to get through it.

You can visit The App Whisperer to see my TrueView Interview. Thank you Joanne for inviting me.

The Whole Story - Photo by Geri Centonze and a Challenge!

The beauty of having your own blog, is that every once in a while you can get away with featuring yourself! Interested in submitting a smartphone photo of your own for a chance to be featured? Get more information here.

The Photograph

The Whole Story

As I was looking through my Instagram feed this morning, I came across a post by @kelbelle110. Kelly had just received a handwritten letter from her daughter and she was over the moon. There's something magical about snail mail. Immediately my mind went back to the time when my father was alive. We had difficulty communicating verbally sometimes but whenever either one of us had something we wanted the other to "hear" we would write it down. I have several memories of incidents that were resolved through letters. Once, as a teenager, I pulled up too close to the curb on an outing with my Mom, and scratched my Dad's cherished hubcaps! My mom's advice was to say nothing, but the guilt got to me so that night I slipped a note under my parents' bedroom door with all of the money I had (which was only about eleven dollars and some change). I told him that I would repay him as soon as I had enough money. When I got up the next morning, the note was slipped back under my door, along with the money and it said "Your honesty means more to me than a scratched hubcap. Love, Dad".

The photo above is of one of the many letters Dad wrote to me when I was living in the Cayman Islands. In 1984, he and my Mom were packing up to relocate and he must have had a moment of nostalgia as he sorted through the "stuff" they had collected along their life's journey. I still cherish this letter and every once in awhile I read it. In part it said:

"While sorting through the items we want to sell during our garage and moving sale, I came across your little tap dance shoes, Geri. I looked at these shoes and immediately my thoughts rolled back to the slap, back, step, routine you and Diane use (sic) to do in the front entry marble with those little tapeshoes. My eyes filled with tears for just a moment. Now you have two boys of your own."

Almost 30 years later those two boys are now grown up and married. One has two daughters and the other has a new baby on the way. Time is moving at breakneck speed! Today I challenge you to handwrite a letter to someone you love. Put a stamp on it and send it through the mail - you will be surprised at the big impact of this small gesture.

The Photographer

Geri Centonze - You probably know a bit about me if you're a regular reader of this blog, but if it's your first visit, I am a former sketch card artist turned mobile photographer. I have been totally consumed by this new mode of expression and started this blog to chronicle the journey. It turns out that I'm just as passionate about sharing the work of others, so this space also features artist interviews that highlight some of the very talented men and women I've met through social sites like Instagram and Flickr.

Find Geri: Instagram / Twitter / Flickr / iPhoneArt / Pinterest / iPhoneLife

IPA Quarterly Exhibit Extended Through December 14th

Due to the popularity of the IPA Quarterly exhibit, the gallery extended the stay of the installation until December 14th. If you are in or near the Los Angeles area, you still have time to visit the Santa Monica Art Studios.

It was quite a thrill for me to see my photo, "The Recital" exhibited along with the works of many of my friends.

Me and The Recital © Geri Centonze

Gateway by David Ingraham

Leaves of Grey by Stefanie Le Pape (Top)
Sans Souci by Stefanie Le Pape (Bottom)

Channeling Atget #7 by Michelle Robinson

w o n d e r m e n t by Catherine Restivo

The road to Mrs. Johnson by Nico Brons

Wheat Road by Cecily Mariece Caceu

Longing by Lola Mitchell

The Exhibit

Anatomy of an Edit No. 5

Another quick tutorial showing my workflow for a painterly edit.

Apps used in this tutorial:
Paper Artist
Sketch Club
Stackables
Snapseed
Photo fx Ultra

Shoot Image - iPhone 6 native camera used

Using Paper Artist I selected the Oils Clean Preset and painted over the image (you can find this preset under the tab showing a bird)

Next using Paper Artist again I took the ORIGINAL image and painted over it using the Oils Rough preset.

The next step is to bring the original and both the Oils Clean and Oils Rough into Sketch Club and layer them using the Original as the base image and the other two on the next two layers. I adjusted the opacity of the two upper layers to blend them together.

Next I brought this blended image into Snapseed and adjusted the Brightness, Ambiance, Details Saturation and Warmth.

On to Stackables where I used one of my custom formulas to add texture.

I ran the above image through Stackables again to get a bit more texture - this time using "Inferno" which was rotated.

Finally, I wanted the sky to be a bit more blue, so I brought the above image into Photo fx Ultra and selected Grads/Tints. Under this category I chose Cyan and adjusted the "Amount" down just a bit and bumped up the setting "Preserve Highlights". Below is the final image.

Apps, Artists, Accessories and More Favorites for 2013

Okay, first the disclaimer! This in no way includes ALL of my favorites. This was just a fun exercise and you may want to play along. When you read the subtitles below, what comes to mind first? That's how I made my lists. If these lists were complete there would be MANY more in each category.

If you'd like to share some of your answers, I'd love to read them in the comments.

10 Mobile Photographers Who Inspire Me

Alain Vincent

Bret Pemelton

Erika Brothers

Jane Fiala

Paula Gardener

Patrick St. Hilaire

Sarah Jarrett

Jun Yamaguchi

Susan Tuttle

Cristian Margarita

10 Favorite Apps

4 Favorite iPhone/iPad Gadgets or Accessories

Wacom Bamboo Stylus

Moshi VersaCover Origami Case for iPad

Wally Case for iPhone

Olloclip 3-in-1 Lens for iPhone

11 Photos I'm Most Proud of

Ships that pass in the night © Geri Centonze

7 Favorite Mobile Photography Publications / Books / Courses

Mobiography Magazine

The Art of iPhone Photography

AppAlchemy

iPhone Artistry

creativeLIVE iPhoneography with Jack Davis

iPhone Photography Secrets with Chet Davis

Discover the Creative Possibilities of Snapseed

*Note some of the links to recommended products will provide a small affiliate commission which helps support Art of Mob

What's in a Name? Do you Title Your Images?

Although I love editing images, the difficult part for me comes when I try to think of a title. There is no hard and fast rule that says you have to title your work, but it does add something to an image, especially when you are submitting a piece for a possible inclusion in an exhibit.

My titles are usually boring, like "Portrait of a Man" or "Portrait of a Young Woman". There are a few photographers I consider masters when it comes to titling an image and one is certainly the brilliant Susan Tuttle. I recently asked Susan if she had any suggestions for coming up with a title and she offered this advice, "Just close your eyes and wait patiently. Don't think. Then the words come."

Hmmm...I wondered if it would work, so I gave it a try with a few recent images and to my surprise, the words did come! Thank You, Susan!

The Flower Whisperer

Ships That Pass in the Night

The Thinker

You can read more about Susan Tuttle in the interview I conducted with her here.

Do you title your images? If so, I would love to hear how you come up with them.

Take Photo