Showing posts with label The Whole Story. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Whole Story. Show all posts
Saturday, November 28, 2015
The Whole Story - Photo by Jeremy Willingham
Recently I had to think about discontinuing my blog due to business and family commitments, but after some encouragement from my readers, I decided to keep going while cutting back a bit on the frequency of the posts.
Here with another installment of The Whole Story is a photo by Jeremy Willingham. What lies beneath? Keep reading to find out! If you'd like to submit your own photo to be featured, you can find the details here.
The Whole Story
This photo was taken as a memorial to document the passing of my right hand man, my iPhone4. As a predominantly nature photographer who works on or near the beach, I am drawn to places like this. The ocean was not as rough as seen in this photo the day of his demise, so I figured I'd try to capture a few splash shots. After a few shots that weren't satisfying enough for me, I decided to venture out a little further on to the rocks. They looked dry to the eye but I soon learned the age old lesson that looks can be deceiving. As I stepped across the gap between the rocks, my left foot went out in front of me like a cartoon character stepping on a banana peel. In my attempt to break my fall I let go of my phone and watched it go flying and smash onto the rocks, which sent it hurdling in the air again before landing in the bottom of the rocks as another wave came and swept it away. I yelled at myself as there was nothing I could do to save my friend and I will carry the guilt with me for letting him go. The only solace I find in this is that he died doing what we loved to do together. Capturing the beauty of the world around us. Rest in peace my friend.
The Photographer
Find Jeremy: 500px / iPhoneArt / Facebook / ViewBug / Tadaa / Streamzoo
Jeremy Willingham - I live on the south shore of the eastern end of Long Island, NY with three awesome kids and the love of my life. Being just minutes away from the Atlantic ocean and my job as a land surveyor I spend a great deal of time at the beach. As can be seen through my Instagram account.
My passion for photography started when I became involved with Instagram. After discovering what amazing work was being created with the same iPhone I was holding in my hand everything changed. It got me to truly open my eyes to the beautiful world around me instead of taking it all for granted. I'll be forever grateful to Instagram for bringing this new found passion into my life.
Find Jeremy: 500px / iPhoneArt / Facebook / ViewBug / Tadaa / Streamzoo
Friday, November 27, 2015
The Whole Story - Photo by Dionisis Kosmatos
This week in the U.S. we are celebrating Thanksgiving. This is a holiday that tends to focus around food, family and football. Since family plays a HUGE part of this holiday, I think it's appropriate to feature this wonderful image by Dionisis Kosmatos and share The Whole Story behind it.
For a chance to be featured just tag your Instagram mobile photos with the hashtag #the_whole_story.
The Photograph
The Whole Story by Dionisis Kosmatos
This is my mother in the kitchen of my family house. She suffers from Parkinson's disease and because of this, it is very difficult for her to move. The only thing she does everyday for the whole day is knitting. And she does it with persistence and patience as it's very difficult to make the fine moves that knitting needs. It hurts me when I look at her because she was a very strong and active woman, the person that could solve every problem in short time and effectively. And now she struggles to do things that we take for granted such as to speak or eat. When I look at her I am thinking what she thinks, what she feels, how much patience she has.....
The Photographer
Apps Mentioned:
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For a chance to be featured just tag your Instagram mobile photos with the hashtag #the_whole_story.
The Photograph
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| © Dionisis Kosmatos |
All I know is that she is my hero because despite all these difficulties she struggles to do the only thing that maybe reminds her of the good old days.
The Photographer
Dionisis Kosmatos- I was born in Kefalonia in 1971, a small Greek island but now I live in Athens, where I work in a hospital. I study interior architecture and design by distance learning. I love cinema, reading, painting and of course photography, especially black and white.
As regards to my relationship with photography, I have always liked it. I still remember when my father gave me my first camera which he had found, and wanted to learn more. So around 2003, I took lessons in black and white photography for 8 months, of course I'm talking about analogue photography. The most important thing I learned wasn't the technical issues but the fact I was introduced to the masters of photography such as Henri Cartier-Bresson, Arbus, Atget, Evans, Frank, Kertesz, Lange, Winogrand and so many others. After the end of lessons, I used to take pictures with a Pentax camera but the cost of development was too high and I stopped until I bought my iPhone4 two years ago. All photos are taken on iPhone and edited with Snapseed.
Apps Mentioned:
Monday, November 23, 2015
The Whole Story - Photo by Peter Bryenton
Timing is everything. For those of us who love photography, we are familiar with the act of waiting it out to get the perfect shot. Read The Whole Story to learn more about Peter Bryenton and his dedication to his craft. Befriending Peter through Instagram has really enhanced my life - he is so knowledgeable on so many subjects I find myself googling what he comments about just to learn more!
The Photograph
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I practically always carry my smartphone with me, using its camera at any opportunity as a scratchpad or a notebook, trying out ideas, seeing what works and what doesn't. It's a really great way to keep my "eye for a picture" in good health. I compose at the taking stage, a technique endorsed by British master photographer John Blakemore, who once told me in one of his master classes "Use what the camera gives you, Peter". It was excellent advice which broke my almost compulsive approach to over-cropping my prints (which habit had actually been editing out many subtle and worthwhile details). Another influential mentor, British darkroom guru and fine monochrome worker Les MacLean stopped me "taking" photos and started me "making" pictures. There's a world of difference between the two.
THE BOOT
This image was made during a ten-minute wait while my partner Jane was shopping. I sat on a bench in a busy arcade, observing how the feet of approaching passers-by landed, momentarily stationary on the floor tiles, level with me, before moving past. I thought it would be interesting to see how I could convey an impression this complex motion in a single picture (video wouldn't have done so) by using an app called SlowShutter, which simulates a long exposure time (i.e. a slow shutter speed). I chose settings which suited both the pace of the movement and the low available light levels. I compensated for the time delay (lag) in the iPhone camera's "shutter mechanism" by visually fixing a point just out of frame, chosen so that when a person arrived there, releasing the taking button would eventually capture their foot when it landed where I predicted.
I made several manual exposures, reviewing each one, before luck placed this boot correctly for me. As Minor White once famously said "No matter how slow the film, Spirit always stands still long enough for the photographer it has chosen.” Louis Pasteur said that chance favours the prepared mind. You get the idea: make your own luck.
I edited the final version on my iPad because I prefer its larger screen. I used my go-to picture quality editor (Snapseed) to "pull up" the underexposed and low-contrast camera original. Finally I chose to remove the colour, because I felt that the wide range of random brown hues in the marble flooring was overwhelming the black boot.
The Photographer
My life-long passion for photography has earned me professional qualifications. I studied the subject in depth for three years Art College, where I was a technically competent but artistically impoverished student, outshone by some really talented people. I hadn't then discovered the artist within me. But my love of the medium gained me entry to jobs in print labs, darkrooms and studios. It furthered a completely absorbing career in BBC Television (specialising in lighting). It rewarded me with a gold medal for portraiture from the Photographic Association of Great Britain. It produced a winner in a Kodak Print Salon and, above everything else, photography has always provided me with a reliable focus (literally) for that essential balance in life between work and play. My most rewarding and successful recent photographic challenge has been teaching photography to blind children, but that's another story.
As a boy I used to read classic Science Fiction stories about heroes who used handheld communications devices. Now, that old fiction has become fact, and I think smartphones are unbelievably brilliant picture-making tools. I am in constant awe of the latest technology, where mobile devices and low-cost apps offer photographic artists seemingly endless opportunities to make pictures. I can't wait to see what's next.
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.
The Whole Story - Photo by Mansi Bhatia
The Photograph
The Whole Story
I am not curvy
or lady-like
in physical appearance
or mannerisms.
I am ambitious
and have a strong
sense of self-worth.
I snore
I hate shopping
I don't like socializing.
I hate doing the
laundry
and the dishes
and am no
fan of keeping
things organized
I like hanging out
with the guys
And can argue
Until the moon
goes to bed.
I am judgmental
and opinionated
and you've heard
me fart.
I am obsessed
with planning
and usually have
a Plan C and D
ready in case
A and B fail.
I prefer my space
and want you
to have yours.
I nag at times
and complain
that you give away
"my" unused things
to those who
need 'em.
I am selfish
and clingy
sometimes both at
the same time.
I don' like
sharing you
with anyone...
not even your mom.
I am not patient
or wise
and I'm a
sore loser.
I keep grudges
and it's hard for
me to let go
even when I know
I should.
I am strongly opinionated
and will not
take advantage of
the perks that come
with "being a woman."
I am self-critical
and confused
about where I want to be
and what I want to do.
I lie at times
when I think it's
the reasonable thing to do
but also sometimes
because it's easier.
I dig my nose
and my ears
and will not wax
my armpits until
I absolutely have to.
I make excuses
for little things
when I don't need to
but still have the
urge to.
I recognize
all my "flaws"
and know that
perfection is but
a myth
a mirage
a non-attainable
ideal.
It doesn't mean
I don't try to
become a
better person,
more tolerant
less critical
more accepting
less disparaging.
It doesn't mean
I don't strive
to improve
upon my shortcomings
All it means
is recognizing
that perfection
isn't a standard
by which to judge
ourselves or fellow
human beings.
I am not perfect.
But my imperfections
make me the
unique person
I am.
They make me
the real me
not the person
I want to be
or pretend to be
but the person I am.
I am me.
Self-portrait shot with Hipstamatic and edited in Procreate, Filterstorm, Scratchcam, Image Blender and FlowPaper.
The Photographer
Surprisingly, these very things converged to introduce art back into my life. Creating photography-based art on the iPhone has allowed me to explore something new: the freedom to make art anywhere, at any moment, without the need for extra space, materials or planning.
iPhoneography introduced pause in my life and I hope that, through my work, you may find a new appreciation for the convergence of technology and art.
Find Mansi: Facebook / Twitter / iPhoneArt / Instagram / EyeEm
Sunday, November 22, 2015
The Whole Story by Nick Nowak
This edition of The Whole Story features a very special photographer, my son Nick Nowak. Nick has always had a creative side, so it is no surprise to me that he also has a great photographic eye. I'm honored to showcase his work here.
The Photograph
The Whole Story by Nick Nowak
The Photographer
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The Photograph
The Whole Story by Nick Nowak
My job takes me to some very interesting places throughout the Caribbean and Central America. On a recent trip to Belize I had a half-day free so I decided to take a road trip out to the ruins of Altun Ha north of Belize City. On the way out, my friend and driver, Greg, was in search of a spot for us to grab some lunch and we stumbled upon a roadside “restaurant” in a small village next to the ruins. The owner was a Belizean woman who I would guess was in her late 30’s. Greg was quick to order us a dozen “garnachas” which are a simple Mexican dish made from whole fried tortillas, beans and salsa. I counted a total of 5 children playing around the restaurant, I would guess their ages were 2-8. I assumed they were all siblings as they looked very much alike, a fact later confirmed by Greg. Two of the kids (the ones in the photo) were so quiet that I didn’t notice them until I sat down at one of the small tables and was directly facing them. Recognizing how photogenic the pair was I walked up to them, squatted down and asked if I could take their photo. The mom could see me from the kitchen as she was frying the tortillas and I looked up at her and she gave me a nod of approval. I took out my phone and snapped a few shots, this was the first one.
I edited the photo using Snapseed. I like the edit because the two kids were such old souls. Looking into their big brown eyes I felt like they had already been through so much at such a young age and their surroundings with the old car seat, the chipped paint and rustic floor complimented this perfectly.
The Photographer
A native of the Cayman Islands, Nick's background is in Business Administration and Marketing. He has over 13 years of commercial and residential real estate development experience in the Caribbean and is the President & CEO of the Coral Beach Village development on the island of Utila, Honduras. Nick lives northeast of Philadelphia with his wife and 2 daughters. He is an avid diver and fisherman and an amateur photographer.
Find Nick: Instagram / Coral Beach Village
Apps Mentioned:
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Saturday, November 21, 2015
The Whole Story - Photo by Tomas Frid
The Photograph
The Whole Story
One day some girls on my street got hold of chalks and started writing on the paving stones in the backyard. Then one of them must have come up with the bright idea to number all of the stones. And probably - just to finish the job - they wrote the only sentence they know in English: "I love you".
The Photographer - Tomas Frid
The Whole Story - Photo by James Neame
James Neame is one of my favorite street photographers on Instagram, in fact he contributed to "Tips From Ten - Street Photography" earlier this year. Keep reading to find out The Whole Story of "The Lady and the Tramp and the Baby".
For a chance to be featured just tag your Instagram mobile photos with the hashtag #the_whole_story.
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| The Lady and the Tramp and the Baby © James Neame |
As for editing, I try to keep it minimal these days; I want the photo to work because of the composition and subject, rather than how it's been post-processed. I generally don't wander outside of Snapseed - crop to square, tweak the brightness, contrast and saturation if required. Maybe lay a vignette in the corners and sometimes one of the vintage filters works to accentuate the image, but that's about it!
The Photographer
James Neame - I've been interested in photography for about six years now, the usual attempts at landscapes, sunsets and some architectural compositions. It was only when I downloaded Instagram that I started to get into the whole street photography genre. This was a new and fascinating world to me, and once I'd started following the likes of Ian (@iangarrington), Dilshad (@italianbrother) and Patrick (@candidcameraman) I realized this was the style I wanted to pursue. Various books and other research duly followed!
Until recently I was playing around with the composition of basically two-dimensional pictures, with a lone figure properly placed to add to the overall effect (the well practiced "peoplewalkingpast....." tags started, as far as I know, with my #peoplewalkingpastdoors). These days I'm more interested in trying to capture a story-telling moment, although I think this is a very difficult thing to do. Hopefully practice will make it easier! I really admire those who can portray humour, sadness or really any distinct emotion in their photography; Bryan Stoke (@bstoke) and Elizabeth Huey (@elizabeth_huey) spring immediately to mind as newer discoveries for me.
Apps Mentioned:
Friday, November 20, 2015
The Whole Story - Photo by Caroline MacMoran
The Photograph
The Whole Story
This is my grandmother's flapper dress from 1927. Many years before she died, she gave it to me along with her gorgeous wedding dress. I have always loved it, and it makes me feel close to my grandmother. It is pink and beige with black and white beads. A real stunner of a dress; I can only imagine how beautiful my grandmother looked. I love to put it on and spin around--it also makes me feel like I can connect with a time in my grandmother's life that was even before the birth of my mother. I don't wear the dress much anymore--the material is so fine and it is beginning to deteriorate, but I love to just look at it!
Workflow - I don't entirely remember the process of editing this shot, but I know I used Snapseed and Scratchcam.
Find Caroline: iphoneart / Flickr / Instagram
The Whole Story by Roxi Hardegree
The Photograph
The Whole Story by Roxi Hardegree
I took this photo downtown on a Saturday night. I was across the street from a tattoo parlor and by myself. No one was in sight the whole three minutes I spent there. I grabbed a few shots with my phone and my Canon and got out of there as fast as I could, because I could hear yelling about a block away. The added girl was from an art gallery shot just a few blocks from there. It could just as well be me. The "GO EXPLORE" word art is from the Rhonna Designs app. This may be as close to art journaling as I get.
Apps used:
AndifTouch: Straighten perspective
Snapseed: Tuning and vintage filter
Strut Type: Filter and lighting effects
iColorama: Outline of figure
Image Blender: To blend the figure and her outline
Rhonna Designs: Word art
The Photographer
She was given her first camera in the 7th grade, a Polaroid Land Camera. All her life, cameras were never too far out of reach. In 2009 bravery stepped up and a DSLR was purchased. Photoshop had also been a passion, but after discovering Instagram in late 2012, the passion began to shift. All because of doing a 365 project with her iPhone, a new love had stolen her heart. Her favorite apps include Snapseed, Camera+, iColorama, Distressed FX, Repix, Waterlogue and Brushstroke. Her real job is hairstyling at her own salon in Lubbock, Texas.
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The Whole Story - Photo by Rebecca Bayer
What a beautiful scene in today's Whole Story photograph by Rebecca Bayer. When you're done reading be sure to visit Rebecca's Instagram gallery for more of her stunning work! If you'd like a chance to be featured, just tag your mobile photos with the hashtag #the_whole_story on Instagram.
The Photograph
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| © Rebecca Bayer |
The Whole Story by Rebecca Bayer
The photo I shot here was one I took on my way to shoot an old homestead that I'd been intending to get a photo of for the past 5 years! Yes, it took me that long to get back around to this spot...a spot I thought I'd see again much sooner than 5 years! Lesson to be learned here is to stop and take the picture! Don't just let it go! Because you never know how long it will take to get back there! Anyhow, this rise was where my brother, Travis, stopped for me! We were waiting on my husband who was lagging behind us in the car on the hill to the right! From TX and wasn't used to seeing snow flurries!
This picture didn't take a whole lot of editing compared to lots of others I've done. It was edited in a few steps; Lightroom first, just to bring up the exposure in the shadows and clear it up a little. Then, the clouds needed some contrast, so I boosted that a bit. I imported into Snapseed to add a little overall drama before finishing it off with a couple of touches of light. I always save to the largest image size available to keep the quality. Some apps will reduce your image size when you save it, which sometimes creates bad pixelation. Lesson learned - check the app settings and set it to maximize your output!
The Photographer
Born and raised on the coast of Mendocino County in Northern California. I shoveled concrete with my dad's construction company crew when I was 15. I was a wild land firefighter once upon a time in my early 20's, working for CDF, stationed in Covelo, Mendocino County. I became interested in the art world in a more serious way in my 30's where I developed wholesale framed art for the likes of LazyBoy, Star Furniture and Bed Bath & Beyond. Currently, I own my own wholesale framing company, designing and manufacturing exclusively for Bed Bath & Beyond.
I was a snapshot sort of photographer until I was in my twenties when I got a "real camera" and became a semi-serious amateur photographer wanna-be! My collection of good shots was spotty at best! I think I hit my stride with the digital age! Ahhh yes, it was a much more instant gratification!
Find Rebecca: Instagram
Thursday, November 19, 2015
The Whole Story - Photo by Joel Adam
This week's image is by the very talented Joel Adam. This is Joel's second Whole Story feature. His first can be viewed here.
For a chance to be featured just tag your Instagram mobile photos with the hashtag #the_whole_story.
The Photograph
-resized.jpg "I'm Not Sleepy © Joel Adam") |
| I'm not sleepy © Joel Adam |
The Whole Story by Joel Adam
This photo was taken with ProCamera using it's timer feature. I took two shots with me in different positions and masked/layered through Image Blender. I then used iColorama's Shatter brush #33 to paint across the head and neck. Snapseed was used for the "grunge", and Mextures' grain layer "1970". Finally the image was made black and white using VSCO Cam's "X3" preset, along with some slight sharpening, and fading. After completion it reminded me of someone who just crossed paths with The Headless Horseman, hence the title "I'm not sleepy". Kind of a play on words with my Instagram username "asleepundercolumnsovlight".
The Photographer
I'm originally from Illinois but now reside in Louisiana with my wife and son. By day I'm a logistics coordinator for the US Army, and a mobile arts enthusiast the rest of the time. I've always been in touch with the arts in one form or another, mostly culinary and music, but it wasn't until I purchased an iPhone that I really developed a passion for mobile artistry. My work has been featured on many curated mobile photography sites and I was fortunate enough to have it displayed in the 2012 LA Mobile Arts Festival.
Find Joel: Flickr / iphoneart / AMPt / Backspaces / EyeEm / We Are JUXT
Apps Mentioned:
Wednesday, November 18, 2015
The Whole Story by Coy Townson
The Photograph
The Whole Story
The Photographer - Coy Townson
Read more »
The Whole Story
This image is from a series of which the theme was inspired by Joni Sternbach’s “Surfland”. I originally set out to shoot only in a tintype style using Hipstamatic to mimic wet plate photography. While shooting, I found some great light as we moved around the area. This particular site consisting of a six lane bridge crossing a river near my house has been a great place to shoot due to the changing light throughout the day. The photo was taken just before sundown on a very hot, but clear summer day. While I was switching through apps, as I normally do to cover one scene with my iPhone, I noticed the extra contrast with my setup in KitCamera (Vignette Lens / Kathryn Film). I tend to be drawn to this type of look due to the drama created by the heavy contrast. I love how this image turned out, encompassing many elements of design; strong negative space, balance in texture, bi-directional vanishing points...straight from the camera with no editing other than a small crop. Personally, I really like the spot of light falling on her nose, giving shape to the dark shadow that covers her face.
PHOTOGRAPHIC INSPIRATIONS
Joni Sternbach, Greg Gorman, Dana Fineman, Ed Ross, Robb Kendrick, Roger Clay, Alan Hess
So I draw, take pictures and cut and paste. I'm lucky enough though that being creative not only consumes my life, but also my career. I reside in California where the fruits of my labor range from commercial design and wedding photography to monolith size murals for the largest beer maker in the world. As for photography, I started playing with cameras while studying art in college, but didn't take it serious until the late 1990's. I had to fill my need for commercial photos while working as a designer - what it was actually doing was filling the void of drawing which I had no time or patience for anymore. Since then I've found that I enjoy shooting single subject black and white portraits most of all. I think the face is the most telling of the human story. Strip away the environment and all that surrounds us and focus only on the human element.
Recently I’ve been exploring a tintype style that lends itself to individual portraiture. The camera alone has undergone a drastic evolution in its short life amongst modern technology, the biggest change taking place in the last twenty years with the advent of digital photography. Within that time technology also changed the way we communicate with each other. Our telephone, mail, music, television and now cameras come packaged in a nifty little all-in-one device called the cell phone. Seeing the fun in this pocket sized gadget, I embraced the cell phone camera from the beginning. I used every mobile device I could get my hands on. The limitations challenged the creativity as it did in the early days of photography. Once smart phones with camera apps became available, I realized the medium had come full circle and we're now back to adjusting the camera prior to capturing the image. So, what we see is what we get with instant gratification. For me, it’s brought enjoyment back to the act of taking pictures. Luckily, I’ve got three wonderful children who love playing guinea pig for my experiments. The photo in question is of my daughter Grace just before her tenth birthday.
Find Coy: Facebook / Instagram 1/ Instagram 2 / Flickr
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