Take Photo: Painterly Mobile Art

Showing posts with label Painterly Mobile Art. Show all posts

Monday, November 30, 2015

New Page Added for Painterly Mobile Art

You can now view the latest entries to our Painterly Mobile Art Flickr Group without ever leaving the Art of Mob site by clicking on the icon just added to the blog sidebar.

It links to the slideshow as shown below. I will still be posting the Painterly Mobile Art Monday features, but if you would like to see what's being added on a daily basis, you'll have access to it whenever you like!

Featured Mobile Photographer - Nico Brons

Chances are if you are reading this interview, it is because you are an iPhoneography buff. Whether you are just beginning, or an advanced artist, this form of expression has captured your attention. One of the people who ignited that interest for me is Nico Brons. It is therefore a huge honor for me to present this feature which explores his work and process.

Help Me Feel Alright © Nico Brons

G: What is your name and where do you live?

N: My name is Nico Brons and I live in Amersfoort, the Netherlands. Amersfoort is a nice town in the middle of the country. On Instagram you can see some images from this beautiful city with hashtag #amersfoort_nico.

G: How did you get started with mobile photography?

N: In early 2009, I saw some websites (flickr) with incredible images. I could not believe they were made by an iPhone. But they were! From that moment on I wanted to make such images too. I bought an iPhone 3Gs and started with smartphone photography. You can also make calls with it, but I used it more for photography!

Back to Black © Nico Brons

Children of the Night © Nico Brons

G: What device do you use?

N: I started with an iPhone 3Gs, but since December 2012 I work with an iPhone 5.

G: Do you have a traditional photography or art background?

N: I started with photography when I was about 17 years old. I lived near a military airfield and I was photographing airplanes. Nothing spectacular or with art in mind. Later on, I used my camera mostly for holidays and family. In 2004, came a great change in my photography and in my life. I bought a little digital camera, an HP 935. From that moment on I could manipulate my images in an easy way and I discovered a completely new world. Later I upgraded to a Nikon D70, D80 and I now work with a Nikon D700.

I have no art background, but it looks I had some little talent. Now I’am a professional photographer and I work for companies and individuals. My mainstream is photographing people. In February 2011, I begun studying photography at the photo academy in Amsterdam and hope to graduate in December 2013. For some assignments at the academy I used my iPhone and they were well received by the teachers. It is the image what counts and not the equipment.

Egg Mania © Nico Brons

Pacific Standard © Nico Brons

G: Who or what inspires your work?

N: I get inspired by many things, but mostly by music, books, movies, painters and other artists. I will mention some examples:

Music; Tom Waits, Black Keys, Nick Cave, Rammstein and many many others.

Books: for example Marvel Comics and other comic books.

Movies: Science Fiction and animation movies. (like Pixar movies)

Painters and artists: Salvador Dali, Rene Margritte, James Ensor, Max Ernst, Picaso and others.

Photographers: Joel Peter Witkin, Roger Ballen, Ed van der Elsken, Robert Frank, Robert Mapplethorpe, Anton Corbijn and many others.

Inemokh © Nico Brons

Nobody Knows 01 © Nico Brons

Nobody Knows 02 © Nico Brons

Nobody Knows 03 © Nico Brons

G: Do you shoot with the native camera app on your phone?

N: I shoot a lot with the native camera. For a few months I have also been shooting with an Olloclip. In addition, I use Hipstamatic, SlowShutter, Kitcam. Mostly the native camera is enough for me and my second choice is Hipstamatic.

G: Do you plan your shoots with a specific idea in mind?

N: Sometimes yes, sometimes no. If I work on a series, then I do have a specific idea. Also for individual images I sometimes have a plan in mind. The best ideas I get at night when I cannot sleep. But I love to experiment and then I let myself be guided by the moment of time and place. I let go and edit what comes to mind. Often I work intuitively. I can work for hours or even days at one image. It must be perfect for me and there I fail a lot. I try everything out, which keeps me inspired.

Pim © Nico Brons

Still Life - Vase © Nico Brons

G: Your work includes everything from rich, textured landscapes to abstract portraits. Is there a particular style you prefer?

N: That’s a little problem, I do sometimes do too many different things. At the photo academy in Amsterdam, the teachers warned me about this. I am drawn to many styles. But I love photographing people the most and for my iPhone work I focus mainly on abstract portraits.. As said earlier: my mainstream is photographing people.

G: Do you begin editing a piece with the end in mind or does it evolve as you work with it?

N: I love to experiment and let my intuition do the work. Most of the time I let my subconscious mind guide me. Sometimes it's have and half. For example, the project “The Eye” is partly idea and partly experiment and intuition Sometimes I have a end result in mind, but the finished piece can be very different from my original idea.

The Eye © Nico Brons

The Big Mouth © Nico Brons

G: What are you favorite apps for editing or shooting?

N: My favorite shooting apps are the native camera with Olloclip and Hipstamatic. Besides them I use some other apps - SlowShutter and some others. When it comes to editing, well that's another story! I mix many apps together. I try them all in a manner of speaking. There are a lot of photographic apps on my iPhone. But there are a few workhorses to mention:

Filterstorm
Snapseed
DynamicLight
Image Blender
Moku HD
Photocopier
Mextures

The Road to Mrs. Johnson © Nico Brons

The Woman With...© Nico Brons

G: I discovered your work while visiting The Mobile Arts Festival Los Angeles in 2012. The particular piece that caught my eye was "Rosa". Have you exhibited your work elsewhere?

N: “Rosa” is a real woman and many people like the editing I have done on that piece. I feel honored you like the image too. I had four pieces at the Mobile Arts Festival in Los Angeles. I got good reviews on “The Ballerina”, also part of the exhibition. I have had exhibitions with iPhone Art in the Netherlands and Belgium. In my hometown, Amersfoort in 2012 there was a great photo festival and I was there with 50 iPhone images for a few weeks. I am pleased to say that it was a great success. In 2013, I had an exhibition in Ieper, Belgium. At this moment I have ten iPhone works on A2 format in a design shop in my hometown.

Rosa © Nico Brons

Ballerina © Nico Brons

G: I am honored that you would give us an exclusive first look at your new series The End (below). What is the meaning behind this series?

N: It is about a vision of the End of the World after an atomic bomb. All buildings are destroyed and there are no people anymore. It is a view of a nightmare from me. I hate war and violence. It scares me. There is a lot of misery int he world right now - many people are very intolerant of one another. My worries and fears are the influence behind this series. There are a total of six images - three are shown here.

The End 01 © Nico Brons

The End 02 © Nico Brons

The End 03 © Nico Brons

G: Anything else you'd like to add?

N: I want to thank all the lovely people who visit my work on the internet and I want to thank you all for all the lovely comments and likes. From my side I see a lot of great great work from other iPhone artists. I can not mention them all as there are too many and I would not forgive myself if I forgot to mention one! And finally I will thank Geri Centonze for asking me to do this interview.

Find Nico: iPhone Work / Non iPhone Work / Instagram / Facebook / Twitter / iphoneart / Flickr / pixelsatanexhibition (search Nico Brons)

All images in this feature are copyrighted property of Nico Brons published on iART CHRONiCLES with the consent of the artist.

Mob Paint Monday No. 39

"Beauty of whatever kind, in its supreme development, invariably excites the sensitive soul to tears." - Edgar Allan Poe

I'm very pleased to share some of the work from our Mob Paint Flickr Group. Today is the 39th showcase. Please join us and submit your painterly mobile photo art. To all those participating, please add the apps used if at all possible when posting to the group.

eyes turned inwardly © Susan Tuttle
Apps Used: Camera+, FocalLab, Mextures, PicFX, Filsterstorm Neu, Image Blender

Don't Ever Give Up © Lanie Heller

Fall is Upon Us © Cyndy Johnson

Caught Between Two Worlds © Michael Beresin
Apps Used: Snapseed, iColorama

Wishes for Kisses © Petyr Campos
Percolator, Camera+, Photo Studio, Mextures

Michaela © Susanne

Angie Stover Johnson © Carolyn Hall Young

One, Two, Buckle My Shoe © Angie Johnson

Painterly Mobile Artist - Wayne Greer

Today I have the pleasure of introducing you to Wayne Greer. When I contacted Wayne for this feature, he humbly said he is just a beginner and felt he had a lot more to learn than to share. Well, if this is what Wayne has created when he's just starting out, I can't wait to see how his work evolves!

The Painterly Mobile Art Flickr group is now at 156 members and growing each week. Everyone who visits has commented on the high caliber of work being submitted through this group. I hope you'll take time to explore Wayne's work as well as the other members - I'm certain you'll be inspired!

The Work

The Artist - Wayne Greer

My wife and I live in Wichita Kansas. I actually have no background in art or photography. I bought an iPhone back in December and took snapshots here and there, but didn't use an app on a photo until March of this year. I saw some photographs by Gianluca Ricoveri and was blown away not only by his talent but by what was possible with the iPhone Since then I've worked to improve. I really love landscapes and try to find subjects and effects that aren't simply "pretty", but are emotive on some level. I love that the iPhone has made photography accessible to "average Joes" like me.

Wayne's Commentary

I shot this in a roadside ditch in east Wichita. I used 645 Pro, K11 film with warm #81 filter. It was my first time using anything other than the stock iPhone 5 camera and I was impressed with how good the raw image looked. I then used Snapseed to adjust sharpness and structure. Then I went to Laminar Pro to crop and adjust lighting. I then played around with Mextures until it looked right.

Find Wayne: iphoneart / Instagram / Art & Frame / Flickr

Links to apps mentioned:
645 Pro
Snapseed
Laminar Pro
Mextures

Take Photo

Monday, November 30, 2015

New Page Added for Painterly Mobile Art

Thursday, November 26, 2015

Featured Mobile Photographer - Nico Brons

Mob Paint Monday No. 39

Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Painterly Mobile Artist - Wayne Greer