1000 Words IPA February 2013 part 1

We Are Juxt believes that a picture is worth a thousand words, we tell stories through our photos, and sometimes a photo can say more than a whole book ever could. These folks I’ve picked to showcase today are from the site iPhoneArt.com ( IPA ) which has some of the most fascinating and beautiful galleries of work I’ve ever seen in one place. It is a small community, but everyone there is a true artist in every way. These are a few that submitted to the 1000 words group, we will try and do this on a once or twice a month bases, it all depends on the number of submissions we get. Please visit the site and these artists galleries, there’s plenty more where they came from. To see more from this beautiful gallery go here.

Curated by Mike H. 

To see previous 1000 Words from Flickr click here.
To see previous 1000 Words from IPA click here.

Juxt thanks you for your contributions!

Leave Me, O Love by Bob Weil
IPA / Website / Tutorial

Most of my work is what I like to call conceptual in nature. Conceptual photography is more like narrative filmmaking than it is like street photography – the goal is to express a story conceived in the mind of the photographer and not necessarily to reproduce what the lens sees. The process more closely resembles painting if the original image is only the substrate for a series of composited layers that completely redefine the scene.

I often look at images in my Camera Roll to see where a story may arise by inference (post processing decisions, image titling, etc.) or by reconstruction from the ground up (compositing or collage of new elements into a scene).

In this case, I had just managed to get a picture of a scraggly looking bird who was sitting at the end of the table where I was eating lunch, and a picture of the building under construction next to the high rise I work in. I wanted to burn the building in effigy (the sound of construction could be deafening during the work day), so I used a little-known effect in Pixlr-o-matic that allowed me to add a series of small fires to the image. I also had this wonderful picture of a woman show had suddenly turned around to see who was behind her, and another few shots of a woman holding up her hand to catch something in mid air, and a young girl carrying her school books in a Starbucks.

In all, 10 different images pressed into service for this one collage, not including the background (which itself is a blending of probably 5 different images of crumpled paper, cement, paint and ink splotches, etc.).

What sorts of ideas did I set hope to convey? Well, to be honest, they accumulated as I added new elements to the image. Love, gained and lost, the fire of passion, burning fiercely and extinguished. Seeing things in hindsight – and imagining what they might be in the future (the child in the lower left carrying a miniature version of the building that passion built – her future?). The crossed-out lines from a letter on the left, the hand-written words in French, reading: “The Love Letter to my Neighbor”. The hacksaw blade, symbolizing the tortures of love – the raven, the end that awaits us all. The beautiful figure at right – the graces and rewards of love.

“Leave me, O Love, which reachest but to dust”

“Leave me, O Love, which reachest but to dust;
And thou, my mind, aspire to higher things;

Grow rich in that which never taketh rust;
What ever fades, but fading pleasure brings.

Draw in thy beames, and humble all thy might
To that sweet yoke where lasting freedomes be;

Which breakes the clowdes, and opens forth the light.
That doth both shine, and give us sight to see.

O take fast hold; let that light be thy guide
In this small course which birth drawes out to death,

And think how evil becommeth him to slide,
Who seeketh heav’n, and comes of heavenly breath.

Then farewell, world; thy uttermost I see:
Eternall Love maintaine thy life in me.”

from “Astrophel & Stella; wherein the excellence of sweet poesy is concluded” by Sir Philip Sydney.
AD 1591

Urban Angel by Andrea Koerner
IPA / Flickr

The location of the image inspired the apping of the image. It was taken in a hospital in the city hence the title Urban Angel as in Angel of Mercy or Angel of Death. My husband was very sick over the summer, thankfully he is making a full recovery, but we have spent a lot of time in hospitals and during our last visit recently we were there for over 8 hours. Ones mind tends to wander while waiting and this image was created.

I used Hipstamatic to take the picture and MonoVu, ScratchCam and WowFX HD to edit it.

The Eye Of The Unicorn by Marie Matthews
IPA / Flickr / IG / Eye’Em: @kaphinga

I always admire iPhone photographers who explore the world of dreams and the surreal.  I wish I could say that I made up this image in some flight of fancy.  Instead, this was pretty much what I saw — a guy with the head of a unicorn, drinking a Pabst Blue Ribbon beer. Welcome to my world.  I shot this photo about two blocks from my house.

Except for rearranging the background with Superimpose and Juxtaposer, the main change to the image was that I repainted the eye with ProCreate.  The original eye was a plastic thing that appeared to have come straight out of a cheap toy store, and I wanted to give more of an illusion of a real eye. Hence, the title: The Eye of the Unicorn.

A Perfectly Poised Ballerina Balances En Pointe When You Open This Charming Jewelry Box by Susan Tuttle
IPA / Flickr / Website/Blog / IG / Eye’Em, Starmatic: @SusanTuttle

This particular piece has countless versions, all of which did not feel “just right” to me. They sat in waiting on my iPhone’s camera roll for months, and on several occasions were almost booted into the virtual trash, saved only by a feeling that there was something worthy in the portrait that needed to come out. I’ve learned to not give up on pieces like this, as they hold the potential to work; maybe even evolve into a visual gem through the magical, mystical powers of the creative process. I vaguely remember the moment that this piece finally ‘clicked.’ During the wee hours of the night, when my lids were starting to feel heavy, I brought it into Focal Lab for the umpteenth time. I ‘motion-blurred’ the heck out of it and by happenstance swiped just the right angle with my finger. I got that ‘I think I nailed it feeling’ in my gut just seconds before I dropped the phone next to my pillow and dozed off. I was actually surprised to see it the next morning, only half remembering that I had done it. I noticed the blur application cinched the figure’s waist, reminding me of one of those jewelry box ballerinas — thus the title. The point is, hold on to and keep at those pieces you think have some potential, even if they are a real struggle. Creativity just might work its magical ways with them, when you least expect it. I used the apps Camera+, Focal Lab, Photo Wizard, VSCO Cam (and probably more)

Lessons To Be Learned by David Rondeau
IPA / Flickr / Instagram

I went to the Boston Museum of Science with my family to see “A Day in Pompeii”.  It was a traveling exhibit that told the story of Pompeii, which most of you probably know was a Roman city buried by the sudden eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.  On display were fascinating ancient artifacts excavated from the site. Of these, the most powerful and moving were the casts made of people who died while hiding or trying to flee. They were covered in up to 20 feet of ash and only an imprint of their bodies remained.

The experience was profoundly moving and quite disturbing. I stood transfixed, trying to understand what these people experienced in their final moments. I could imagine the fear and panic as catastrophe struck. It left me feeling sad and vulnerable.

I was so moved by the experience, I knew I had to take some photographs and try to capture the moment. I quickly realized that my iPhone’s camera captured only what I saw. The photographs were just a literal recording of the exhibit, they didn’t reflect the deep thoughts and raw emotions that I experienced from being there. The unedited photos felt like the kind of bland tourist photo that people take just to prove they went somewhere. This deserved more. The people of Pompeii deserved more.

The exhibit made me think deeply about my own mortality, about the very real fact that catastrophe could also strike us at any moment—with no warning. We weren’t really any different than these ancient people. I stood there feeling uncomfortable and a bit like a voyeur, as I tried to understand the lessons being taught.

I found an image of spectators to add into the photo and used Filterstorm to adjust curves on both images to make them more red. I combined the images in Superimpose and used Image Blender to add a texture to the background. In Snapseed, I sharpened the detail and made some selective adjustments. For the final touch, I used PhotoWizard to apply a subtle vignette.

Lady Beatrice, The Bunny by Allison Pistohl
IPA / Flickr

“Lady Beatrice, The Bunny” is part of a series titled, “Last Of The Paper Dolls” which came about after I discovered an envelope of paper dolls that had belonged to my mother as a child.

I was fascinated by their delicacy and the “properness” that each of the dolls possessed.  The women especially, dressed in their 1950’s frocks and matching pearls, were a symbol of the times and the role in which the “ideal” woman was supposed to play.

When I photographed them I had no idea how I was going to process them, but as I edited, a story emerged.

I stripped them of their proper clothes and replaced their smiling faces, next I reshaped their forms and gave each an object that they loved.  The end result is a series of images that are full of fantasy and curiosity.   Currently there are 9 images in the series and with each one the story develops into something new.

Apps Used: Camera+, Juxtaposer, Superimpose, ArtRage, Decim8, Blender, Snapseed, MonoVu, Glaze

The Little Death by Paul Sheen
IPA / Flickr

The title comes from the French expression “La Petite Mort” that literally translates as “The Little Death” or “The Small Death”.  I’m sure some of you reading this will know that the phrase  is commonly known as an euphemism for the moment of sexual release in an orgasm but I think (being a know it all fool that dropped out of French in my first year of high school), I think it can also be used as a term for when something happens to a person that affects them in such a strong manner that a small part of them dies. I just thought that this girl & this snapshot portrait was just so beautiful that I could call it a “little death” and also with me being a moody melancholic guy I decided at some point that this photo was itself a little moment of dying. After all: every breath we take is one that we’re never going to breath again. She’d never be as young as she was then.

She’s still face achingly gorgeous though.

Apps used (possibly in the order that I used them… It’s an oldie)
Taken with  ttv camera
Post processed with Pictureshow (Multiexposureblack filter + Lens flare fx) and Scratchcam.
Blended multiple post-processed versions with Juxtaposer
Framed with squaready