While at Fotofest I met a wonderful photographer,
Lori Pond, who was showing some of her iphone photographs. I did not see anyone else (in the 4th session) showing work created with the iphone. Many of us carry around iphones but few have been as creative as Lori. Along with the images, Lori has generously shared how she created each image.
Enjoy!
Steps: This image was made at the Self-Realization Fellowship Center in Encinitas, California. Founder Paramahansa Yogananda built a pool overlooking the ocean that he used for his daily exercise. After his death, the pool was drained. I used the Plastic Bullet app for light streaking and moody color palette.
Lights: I was eating dinner outside in Encinitas, California on a balmy night last summer. I looked up and saw these lights and wanted to remember the experience. I used Plastic Bullet for the color streaking, star filter look, and saturation.
L1: At an artist walk years ago, I bought a beautiful ivory carving of a woman's hand, complete with carved mehndi designs on the back of the hand. It was made into a necklace, and I loved wearing it. One day the little finger broke off at the first joint, so it felt weird to wear the necklace after that. So, I kept it in front of my computer with the palm up. I decided to make a kind of still life self-portrait out of it, so I put an L Scrabble tile in its palm, then photographed that with the iPhone. I made another image of my arm with the iPhone. I blended the two images together to make my self-portrait. I used the app Big Lens to create the special effects around the sides of the image.
Ironing: This is a view of my laundry room, which I've seen thousands of times since I moved into my current house in 1994. It never occurred to me until I was carrying my iPhone everywhere to make an image of of this room. I think I make a lot more varied images now, because I DO carry my iPhone everywhere. An oft-repeated saying goes something like this: "The best camera is the one you have with you."
The vignette comes from Big Lens, which also provided the Lomo filter, bringing a 70s look to the image.
Canelo: This is Bill Steen's backyard in Canelo, Arizona. He builds straw bale housing and holds workshops on how to build them. I was taken by the light at dusk on his property. Everything turned gold. I used Vintage Scene to put some texture into the image, and Photoforge to enhance texture/contrast/brightness of varying parts of the image.
El Profeta: While in Mexico for Dan's workshop last December, I noticed while driving around the state of Sonora that there were a ton of roadside shrines. Shrines to family members who had died in traffic accidents, shrines to the Virgen de Guadalupe, you name it. I started to look out for them, as some of them are quite striking. I used Big Lens to create selective blurring in the image, and King Camera to create the texture overlay.
Watch Out For Clouds: I saw this fisheye mirror on the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank, where I work on the "Conan" show. These mirrors aid the many truck drivers who deliver sets, lighting, wardrobe etc. to various parts of the lot. (There are many narrow alleyways and vision is very obscured.) I was walking by this mirror at lunch one day, and saw the reflection of the sky in it. Since I had my trusty iPhone, I couldn't pass up this photo op! I used Photoforge to emphasize brightness in certain areas of the image, and to create a vignette around the edges.
Underwater: This is my most recent image, using the front camera to take a self-portrait. I had just downloaded an app called Power Cam, which I used to create the texture on my skin and take away color. I also used Power Cam to create the water ripple effect over the face. Power Cam actually plays this water ripple effect almost like a movie, and you simply stop the movie when enough ripple has accumulated. I've worked in TV graphics for 25 years, so to see this on my PHONE just blows me away. It used to take a whole room of computer equipment to make something like this happen!
Self Portrait: With the Slow Shutter app, I can create light trails with my iPhone. For this image, I layered an in-focus exposure over an exposure using Slow Shutter to create my hand movement. I also used Dramatic B&W to de-saturate and grunge up the image a little.
Pogo: I recently collaborated with abstract painter Barbara Nathanson on a piece called "Nothing in the Entire Universe is Hidden." It was shown in January as part of exhibit "VS." at Gallery 825 in Los Angeles. One day, while standing in her studio, I glanced down and saw her 14-year-old dog peacefully napping. I used Photoforge to create the bicolor wash over the image, and Pic Grunger for the texture/frame.
Overhead: When I flew to Mexico last December on my way to an iPhone Artistry workshop with Dan Burkholder, I went crazy making images of my view outside the plane's window. I used Photoforge to enhance the contrast of the image and to put a bicolor wash over the image.
So impressive! If anyone has favorite iphone pix you would like to share, I would be happy to post. Thanks, Lori, for your inspiration!
