Featured Mobile Photographer - Todd Leban

Todd Leban's work is unlike any that I've seen in any online gallery. It is not only unique, it is of the highest caliber. In fact, Todd recently received an Honorable Mention in the Mobile Photography Awards 2013 in the category of Still Life (no surprise to me!) Here is the latest installment in the Featured Mobile Photographer series.

Image below received Honorable Mention in the MPA 2013 - Still Life.

I'm a loner, dottie, a rebel © Todd Leban

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

Todd:  My name is Todd Leban and I live in the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois.

Geri:  When did you get your start in mobile photography and what device do you use?

Todd:  I began to focus more seriously on mobile photography roughly two years ago with an iPhone 4. My early shots were very scatterbrained, as I was testing apps and subjects. I progressed to an iPhone 4S and purchased my first Olloclip and magnetic attachment lenses. I am currently using an iPhone 5S.

crank it © Todd Leban

stick it © Todd Leban

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

Todd:  I have a bachelor’s degree in art, more specifically in art education, and am currently teaching at the middle school level. I’ve always been interested in photography, but due to my concentration on metalsmithing for several semesters in college, I did not have time to study it.

the scream © Todd Leban

Geri:  Who or what inspires you?

My wife Jenny, a fearless creator and artist, inspires me. I'm a classic over-thinker, and she pulls me out of my own head long enough to see the big picture. She’s subjected to viewing all of my images before I post, and does so with honest feedback and without complaint.

I credit a lot of my early mobile enthusiasm to the discovery of work by Markus Rivera @earlybirdninja. He really pushes the limits of what can be accomplished on a mobile device. When I saw the types of images he was creating, I knew I had to try my hand in the same medium. Although my recent work does not utilize heavy editing and blending, I still use some of the same techniques I picked up early on, and have an affinity for the surreal.

With the modern social aspect of photo sharing, I think it’s hard for any of us to not be inspired in some way by the vast amounts of imagery being placed before our eyes daily, or that we choose to view on our feeds. Whether you’re finding techniques that you want to learn, or are discovering styles that don’t appeal to you, it still serves to inform you about your own work.

the walker © Todd Leban

this is something, this is nothing © Todd Leban

Geri:  I love your style, I don't think I've seen anyone who shoots subjects quite like you do. How did that evolve?

Thank you Geri, that means a lot to me. It took a while to really find my voice. I went through phases of experimentation with a lot of apps. I wasn’t very discriminating at first and was open to trying all different types from cartoon effects, to montage, to hipstamatic or HDR. No matter what app I used though, I consciously worked on my composition, and really let that be the most important part of the image. It is a classic case of overdoing it when you start out, and then learning to dial it back as your skill set and experience progress.

Over time, I began embracing that I am a collector, and started to explore my world through the objects that I keep or acquire. Art is about ideas, and I discovered that I could use objects to say something, the same way a portrait artist would.

if found, please return to...© Todd Leban

borrowed, quiet, preparing © Todd Leban

Geri:  How do you formulate your ideas for staging a shoot?

It all starts with the object. I have a shelf in my “studio”, which is really just a tool or workroom, that houses objects I have already shot, or am waiting to shoot. And I’m always looking for something new at antique shops, etc. My setup is very primitive. I don’t use fancy lighting, or expensive backdrops. I don’t use a tripod. I like to be free to float and interact with the subject.

I rely on the element of “play” to see where the image takes me. I’ll rearrange objects, and explore the limits of space and shape within the composition. That comes first. I know that I can adjust the color and other visual details during the editing process.

I don’t like restrictions, and I don’t force an image. I’m very picky, and would rather abandon a shoot than post something I’m not totally happy with. Although the solution was simple, it took me a month and over 200 shots to really solidify the idea and materials for my image with the 9 volt battery and lightning bolt cutout. I’m always in flux between objects and ideas, and I wait for the two to line up. This is why my image posts are sporadic. To have to post daily would ruin it for me. Besides, sometimes what my eye sees and what the camera sees are two different things.

Needless to say, I take a lot of pictures before I get the right one. My iPhoto is riddled with failures. I think that’s the key to getting better. You have to know what doesn’t work.

power up © Todd Leban

store it, slice it, stick it © Todd Leban

gestalt © Todd Leban

Geri:  Do you have a typical workflow (favorite apps) that you use on your edits?

I have grown accustomed to using ProCamera 7 by Cocologics, or 645Pro from Jag.gr for the initial shots. The quality of the output image as well as the ability to set separate focus and exposure are unparalleled in my opinion. I still like to use Actual Pixels, or more recently Photo Quality Check to assess the overall size and quality of each image. I think those details help me to be a more informed shooter, especially as I consider what each image might look like in print.

All of my images are adjusted first in Snapseed. For me, it is the best quick editor and has an incredibly intuitive interface. However, I like to use MullerPhoto and Pixlr Express from time to time. Sometimes you just need one little element to unify the whole image. A carefully selected filter can do just that, and they offer a great variety.

Another technique I use is to create a few different versions of an image with Snapseed, and either use Image Blender or Superimpose to merge my favorite parts of each edit, usually to create depth or contrast. I also really like the suite of Pixiteapps and will turn to them for a final graphic element to balance out the positive/negative space and create a path for the viewer through the image.

fix me © Todd Leban

musing © Todd Leban

Geri:  Have you ever exhibited your work?  If not, any plans to do so?

I was very fortunate to have one of my images exhibited at the AMPt/JUXT “JOINT” show on the walls of La Tentacion TJ SD Tijuana in June of 2013. I was very honored to be exhibited alongside many great mobile artists. I’d love to continue exhibiting, but I don’t currently have the time to devote to it. It is one of my future goals.

Geri:  What advice would you give to someone starting out with mobile photography?

Think big, start small. Be a kid, and just play.

bzzztt © Todd Leban

Geri:  Is there anything else you'd like to add?

Yes. I’d love to say a few thank you’s, as I have not gotten where I am by myself.

Victoria Palmer - One of, if not my first, IG friends, and a talented photographer. We connected over our photos of our pets, and I thoroughly enjoyed her landscape and rural shots. It’s been a while since we have talked and I hope she is doing well. Thank you Victoria.

Nei Cruz - Thank you for your neverending support. When I first started on IG, your likes, comments, and encouragement gave me hope that I was doing something right. I will be forever grateful.

Frank Mathews - Thank you for your passion & vision for mobile, for creating AMPt, the AMPt Community, and for inviting me to be a part of it. I have grown exponentially as a result, and have met and worked with some amazing and talented people.

Josh St. Germain - Can’t wait to sit down and crack a beer with you brother. Hard to believe we’ve only been friends for just over a year, cuz it feels like so much longer. I thank you for your infectious passion for mobile, and for the brain that we share. \m/. .\m/

Anna Cox - When stumbling to find my photographic voice, I found a home in your still life lounge, past and present, where I could grow and develop. Thank you and Jen for providing that creative venue.

My friends on the AMPtLeadership Team - I’m floored by the diversity of talent that is shared, developed, and implemented to provide a safe, creative environment to support the mobile movement. Thank you for your friendship, passion, and dedication.

Chuck Rose - So glad to share this crazy ride alongside you. You are one of the most positive people I know, and I am thankful for our friendship and for the time we’ve spent working together. We are the most productive team of procrastinators that I know:)

Geri Centonze - Thank you for your support of my work and for asking me to do this interview. You have given me the opportunity to think about things that I don’t normally, and it has been incredibly valuable.

Find Todd:  AMPt / EyeEm / Facebook / Instagram / Ink361 Shop / Twitter / Website

The Emotional Art of Alex Visage

It has been a while since I posted a featured full interview with a mobile photographer, but I'm sure you will agree when you see the work of Alex Visage that is was well worth the wait!

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

Alex:  My name is Alex Visage (Alex Drozhin). I live in Moscow, Russia.

Geri:  How did you get started in mobile photography?

Alex:  I have been taking photos since 2008, when the first iPhone appeared in my life. In those days camera capabilities were modest and I had to process photos on my computer. Nowadays, thanks to modern technologies we have unlimited possibilities, so you can take pictures, immediately do post-processing on your gadget and then upload photos on the internet. It makes things easier and all depends on your imagination.

Tommy © Alex Visage

Tanya © Alex Visage

Geri:  What device do you use?

Alex:  I use iPhone 4S and iPhone 5S at the moment. Also I have the Olloclip 3-in-1, 4-in-1 and telephoto. It helps me to do new experiments in art of iPhoneography.

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

Alex:  Actually, I don’t have any art degree, although I have been drawing since childhood. Also I had private lessons in drawing when I was a student. My father was an artist and that is why I always have had the opportunity to learn something new in art. My father taught me how to take pictures when I was a child. My first camera was a Zenit and I printed black and white photographs myself. Although I have a professional camera Canon 5D with multiple lenses L-series, I prefer to take and process photos with my iPhone.

A Paris...© Alex Visage

Lady "No Name" III © Alex Visage

Geri:  How would you describe your style?

Alex:  I don’t know exactly what to call my style as I like to do my pictures in various styles. I would call it "emotional art" as it is more about my soul than technical issues. The main task for me is not to leave people indifferent when they see my photos. I get great pleasure not only when I make the photos but also when I can see the end result of my work.

The Girl and Balloon © Alex Visage

The Loneliness © Alex Visage

Geri:  Who or what inspires you?

Alex:  I am inspired by life itself, people I meet and what people create with their own hands and intellect. I am inspired by painting, architecture, design. I often go to Paris, my favorite city. I'm planning to do a project dedicated to Paris, which will reflect my emotions and attitudes towards this wonderful city. I have many friends among iPhoneographers. I am grateful to Paul Brown, whom I consider as my teacher and the best photographer.

Femme D'automne © Alex Visage

Lady "Dior" © Alex Visage

Lady "No Name" VI © Alex Visage

Geri:  What is your favorite subject to shoot?

Alex:  I love taking photos of people. There are a lot of fates, sentiments, characters and emotions. I also like taking photos of mannequins animating them in my photos to make a special visual effect. When I travel I shoot a lot of photos of different streets and cities. I have a series of abstract and fantasy works. You can see these works in my gallery on Flickr or Instagram.

Prague I © Alex Visage

Mini World © Alex Visage

Geri:  I like the series that includes The Lemon Dance - what inspired that?

Alex:  The Lemon Dance… I always wanted to work with composition and with objects in space. I was thinking what "thing" I could put in space and what I could do with it. The idea of ​​the lemon came and due to my stay in Prague, I remembered about puppets that come to life thanks to the threads. The idea of a dancing lemon appeared.

The Lemon Dance © Alex Visage

The Cat's Cradle © Alex Visage

Geri:  Do you have any favorite apps that you use regularly?  

Alex:  I have 300 applications in my iPhone. Some favorites are Snapseed, Photoshop Touch, Filterstorm, Repix, Mextures, PhotoForge, Image Blender, TouchRetouch, Distressed FX, iColorama S, Photogene, Facetune, Handy Photo, LensLight, Camera360, Laminar Pro, VSCO Cam, Squaready, Superimpose, Impression, Over.

The most important thing is to learn to use multiple apps simultaneously. I usually do a photo on the main camera and then work with different apps. I also like to use Hipstamatic. I work only with my iPhone and don’t use any computers. That is important for me.

The Fashion Show © Alex Visage

The White Rose © Alex Visage

When Love is Gone © Alex Visage

Geri:  Have you ever exhibited your work?  If not, any plans to do so?

Alex:  I have not had any exhibitions but I am thinking about this constantly. I have a great desire to show my works. I am collecting material for the exhibition at the moment, I have a lot of thematic works which I can share with others.

Find Alex: Facebook / Flickr / Flipboard / Instagram / iPhoneart

Investigating the Abandoned with thelongsilence

I'm a big fan of reality shows especially ones that feature singers, dancers, etc. I have noticed a recurring theme. If the person auditioning thinks they're REALLY great, they usually aren't and those that have tremendous talent are normally very humble. Such is the case with the artist I interviewed for this feature. Richard, aka @thelongsilence on Instagram didn't believe me when I told him that HE was one of the reasons I started taking Instagram seriously as a platform for sharing photographic art. He was one of the first people I encountered who didn't take only selfies, food shots and pictures of feet! His gallery inspired me to have a second look at the potential of smartphone photography. 

Please enjoy this very candid interview with a fabulous mobile photographer.

5-Star Accommodations © thelongsilence 

Geri:  Please share a bit about yourself.

Richard:  My name is Richard, and I am a Kiwi. I live in the capital, Wellington, and am a database administrator for the revenue gathering arm of the government, Inland Revenue. The equivalent of your IRS. (Yes, feel free to hate me, I'm used to it.) I am married to a very tolerant wife, Justine, and have 4 boys - 10, 7, 5 and 3 - which leave me poor in time and money, but rich where it matters. When I'm not family bound, I will be out somewhere, phone in hand...making a dick of myself taking photos of feet*. My goal is to one day own a DSLR. (*Geri's Note: The feet photo comment is surely a dig at me from Richard, since I told him I don't like all the photos of feet I find on Instagram).

4225 © thelongsilence

Am I in Tunes? © thelongsilence

Geri:  Is there a special significance to your Instagram name, "the long silence"?

Richard: thelongsilence…You know, I have no idea at all where that came from. I was changing internet service providers at the time and was thinking about new email addresses. I went through several (captainduckpoo, horsemanure - yes it is a theme, I talk a lot of shit) on the way to ending up right back where I started. On the way however, the.longest.silence was one of the addresses and I guess it stuck. As for the meaning of it, I was once asked if it meant death..."the eternal sleep"...and I guess it could. That's what I tell people now anyway. On Instagram I am thelongsilence as thelongestsilence was too long. Shame.

Barbed Wool © thelongsilence

Flaky © thelongsilence

Geri:  When did you get started with mobile photography?

Richard:  From the first phone with a camera I had, a Motorola V9. My first photo was of Cohen, the day he started playing soccer, age 4. Since then it's something I have always enjoyed. The V9 was replaced by my first smartphone, a Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 mini pro and that is when I really started playing around with images. From there I went through a Samsung S1 (which went for a swim) before my current S2. I started on Instagram the day it became available on the Android platform (April 12, 2012), my first photo being of my socks on our washing line. I'm all class.

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

Richard:  No, I do not have art or photography in my past. In fact, I sucked at art all through school. My elder sister is a photographer though, so maybe it rubbed off somewhat.

Blue Reprise © thelongsilence

Electrical © thelongsilence

Geri:  Who or what inspires you?

Richard:  Clever people. I look at images on  Instagram and think, "man, that’s cool. How can I do that?". I guess this is my way of admitting that I have never had an original thought. Everything I do is all copied from people far smarter than me.

Geri:  When I view your work it conjures up for me feelings of isolation, abandonment and a certain dark mood.  Is this intentional?

Richard:  Definitely. Although I will photograph anything, anyone, I really enjoy the dead and forgotten places that exist everywhere. I suppose I identify with them. They are secreted all about the place and your eyes slide past without ever realizing that there is something before you that has passed its best before date. They all have stories to tell, and I like to make up details of what they could have been through and what might have happened to them that resulted in them becoming what they are today. In my way, I'm preserving them just that little bit more.

Holy © thelongsilence

Parked by My Wife © thelongsilence

Geri:  You rarely photograph people. What attracts you to the subjects you photograph? 

Richard:  People never stand still. A house that has been empty for 30 years...that stands still. I found one down Happy Valley Road that has been up on piles for over 30 years. It still has a feel about it that makes you think it could have been something special if only someone had taken better care of it. There is also the thrill of being where you are not allowed. Most abandoned places are behind a fence, through someone else's property, behind a locked door etc. The heart always thunders a little louder when you finally make it inside.

Cohen © thelongsilence

Geri:  Do you plan your shoots with a certain idea in mind or just capture what you encounter in your daily life?

Richard:  I never plan anything if I can possibly avoid it. In fact, I got married so that I do not have to plan anything ever. When I get a day off (rare!!) I usually have a place in mind where I want to go, but other than that, I go where my whims and fancies take me. The other morning I was heading for an empty house and on the way there I fell into a river. I ended up miles away taking photographs of a cemetery instead while I waited for my jeans to dry. C'est la vie.

Red © thelongsilence

Rose © thelongsilence

Geri:  I'm excited to interview an Android photographer because I know nothing about your world.  Please share a little bit about your editing process and some of the apps you prefer for getting your "grunge" look.  

Richard:  I have dipped a finger into the world of iOS...and then withdrew without knowing what it was I had been doing. Over here in Android land we have the 'share' button. You can open the gallery (equivalent of your camera roll) and then 'share' an image with a program. After making the required changes, you can then share THAT image with another program and so on. Before you know it you are down in the 15th level of inception and it takes 20 minutes of hitting the back button (we have three buttons, not just one) before you get back to the home screen. You are left with pretty awesome images though. My most used are HandyPhoto, Photo Editor, PicsArt, PicSay Pro, PicsPlay, PixlrExpress, PS Touch, Touch Retouch, Snapseed and #Square.  I have more, but these ones tend to be used more often. This being said....I do use Rays on my son’s iPod. I cannot find an equivalent on the Android platform.

Row Forest © thelongsilence

Storage © thelongsilence

Geri: Do you have any interesting stories about any of the places you've photographed?  (Some of them look a bit eerie to me!)

Richard:  Erskine College was interesting. It is a girls' Catholic School that was built in 1905-06 by the Society of the Sacred Heart and closed in 1984. Since then it has been inhabited by pigeons. I walked in one day and asked a groundskeeper if I could go in and take some photos, as you do. His response was, "Sure, as long as you know it is an earthquake risk." Like that was going to stop me. In through a broken window, up and down the four stories of echoing silence, out on the third floor balcony and down an external fire escape. It was a freaky place...it was dark, dank and dripping in some areas; beautifully lit in others through floor to ceiling windows that were still intact and completely covered in pigeon shit. And dead pigeons. And live pigeons, that sound exactly like someone in boots who is trying to creep up on you. Majestic and morose all in one.

Pack o' Pigeons © thelongsilence

Geri:  On Instagram you're listed as a proud member of the Royal Snapping Artists?  Who started the group, and what is the common denominator for the members?

Richard:  Royal Snapping Artists is a collection of groups that specialize in particular areas. I’m part of Precious Junk and Dark whose themes are abandoned / forgotten / derelict and dark respectively.  It's a bit of an honor for me as it recognizes you have a talent in a particular area and that there are other people interested in showcasing your work. There are some amazing people in the Royal Snapping Artist families. Personally I don't feel qualified to be a member, but I am. As well as that, I'm a Nexus Soldier, the Nexus Army being an equivalent group to the RSA,primarily focused on the abandoned and derelict.

Embarrassed © thelongsilence

Sunshine Yellow © thelongsilence

Geri:  Have you ever exhibited your work?  If not, any plans to do so?

Richard:  Yes!  Right now in fact. I was asked by Leon Williams (@apped_as) if I would submit a couple of head/shoulder shots for a portraits exhibition he is holding. So I did! It’s currently running here in Wellington (if you make it over, I can put you up for a couple of days). I have no idea how many people are going to see it, probably not many, but that doesn't worry me at all. It’s a victory just to be asked to participate.

Geri:  Is there anything you'd like to add?

Richard:  Not really, other than thank you for choosing to interview me. There are millions of Instagram users out there that you could (should) have chosen, each of them very good in their fields. Me? I am just a bit player.

Stairway to Heaven © thelongsilence

Find Richard: Instagram

All images in this feature are copyrighted property of Richard @thelongsilence published on Art of Mob with the consent of the artist. 

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