Soar Like An Eagle
BP’s Introduction
When I first stumbled upon the #idroid challenge there wasn’t many entries on the tag. It was one image in particular though, that blew me away. I loved the creativity behind it. I loved how from the grid it grabbed me by the ears and made me look further into the artists individual feeds. THEN bam, I was blown away some more. Atle and Tom’s feeds were amazing. I am late I know. They have a great following already and sure had the respect from their peers. Again I am late. Better late than never. So I asked them for the breakdown of the “Moose” and proceeded to tell them that the both of them needed to have their individual features on Juxt.
So with that, let me introduce Atle.
B: BP A: Atle
B: Please introduce yourself to our readers: Who are you? What do you do?
A: I’m an amateur mobile photographer from Oslo, Norway. I’m 35 and got a lovely wife and daughter. I look at myself as a quite ordinary man: Working, spend time with my friends and family and travel as much as I can. The perfect weekend for me is just relax at home or in our family cabin up in the mountains, with a glass of wine and some good food. I have always spent time photographing, primarily Nikon SLR until I discovered Instagram and got my Samsung Galaxy S3. Nearly used my SLR since then.
B: Can you describe in more detail where you are from; its people, the culture, and the scenery? How does this help in your creative process? Does it influence your work?
A: Nature is my thing – I have always enjoyed exploring new places, smell the fresh air but also the special smell of heather and shrubs. Viewing the vast and unknown wilderness really amazes me and I get the feeling of living. I consider myself lucky living in an environment with seasons. That makes photography very interesting but also challenging. Specially this time of the year where it’s dark in the mornings and it’s dark again by the time I get home from work.
B: What do you shoot in? Do you use a 3rd party app? Do you shoot in native? Can you give us a breakdown of what’s in your “camera bag” and also let us know why you like those apps?
A: My mobile phone have always been crucial to me as a working device. It’s part of my body! It keep me connected to the word, e-mail, news and now also photography. For the last couple of years I have wrote and responded to more e-mails on my smart phone than my PC. My work demands me to be online beyond normal working hours. To be honest I’m not sure why I chose Android based device for shooting. Maybe I just wanted to go in an opposite direction, chose the challenge of the lack of good Android apps, or the reason might be justified by good integration with Google services. I’m very pleased with my Samsung Galaxy S3. It’s quick and the screen is brilliant. I also like how Android give a lot of flexibility in menu options and settings. I more or less always use the native camera app and Photo Editor, PicSay Pro and Snapseed are among my favorite editing apps. The arrival of Snapseed is really great for the Android world – it’s a good app and have features we have been missing. For me the value of the photo rises if I’m able to photograph people or animals. My daughter who just turned 10 years old is of course my most featured model, but sometimes I’m not able to get family members along. Tripod and timer then come in handy.
B: Do you use any other camera/s? If so, what do you use? Also if so, what do you use your mobile phone for vs your big camera?
A: I of course use my SLR occasionally as the quality still is superior but the main reason for my switch from SLR to mobile phone is the ability to edit the photo straight away. Editing options combined with social integration makes mobile photography attractive and addictive.
B: Why do you love mobile photography?
A: Main reason is what I already have mention: The mobile is part of my body. I got it with me everywhere due to my work and social interests. Being addicted to mobile photography have made me looking for photo opportunities and with the phone I’m able to shoot straight away. Social communities such as Instagram have connected me to people with the same interest. I have met extraordinary people and I’m very sure that I eventually will meet some of them real-life. I get inspired and learn something new everyday. Some of my inspiration sources are Tom Nußbaum, Koshi Nishijima, Balqi Firman, and Tori Millar. All extremely skilled photographers and artists.
B: What would you like to tell someone who just realized what they can do with their mobile device?
A: Everyone have different goals. I would say it’s most important to have fun! Don’t be afraid to try something new. It’s amazing what you can do with a good crop and an Instagram filter. It’s doesn’t have to be advanced. Personally many of my photos are kept minimal edited. Why edit just for the edit… Next step I would say is understanding curves and try to adjust the color tone on the photo in a certain direction. With a simple touch the crop, curves and Instagram filter stands out compared to a lot photos out there and it doesn’t take a lot of time editing. Image Horizon The photo was taken this fall when I was at our family cabin in Telemark, Norway. It was freezing cold and the first 5 cm snow had fallen during the night. I drove my car up to the top, a location around 1200 m.a.s.l. and walked the last part. I don’t blame my family members for not coming with me. Photo shot with tripod & timer.

Horizon
Editing details: This is is a quite simple edit where I brought the image into Snapseed, added drama filter ‘Bright 1’ followed by ‘Center focus’. I also used ‘Selective adjust’ to bring down brightness on myself. Save. Next I opened the image in Photo Editor and used curves to adjust the tone until I was pleased with the result. Done. Image Soar like an Eagle Photo taken from one of my journeys through the fog here in Oslo. I took a lot of photos in the same area and that forced me to be creative. I got help from Tom Nußbaum on a couple of them and the result is the “Moose [mose]” collaboration. This concrete image I worked on at the same time. My goal was to put some drawing into the mix and see if I were able to do everything on my phone.
Editing details: First I draw the silhouette eagle on white background in Sketchbook and exported it as .png. Sketchbook got layers and I’m told this is the closest I get to ArtStudio on Android (still far off though…). I opened the background photo in Fotor and adding the filter ‘HK Film’ (60 %). Save. Next I brought the background into PicShop where I post processed it by adjusting saturation, contrast and brightness. Save. Then I blended in the eagle using mode ‘multiply’ (this removes the white background) and added a mexture using blending mode ‘normal’ (opacity around 20 %). Save. I wasn’t pleased with the eagle sticking out – it was too black, so I opened the image in Snapseed and adjusted contrast and brightness on the bird with ‘Selective adjust’. Save. Finally I added typography in Phonto. Done.