Mobilni Exhibition Opens in Poznan September 21st - Where We Live is the Stage of Our Creativity

Being of Polish heritage I was pleased to connect with some Polish iPhoneographers recently.  Little did I know there was a very active Polish mobile photography community - Mobilni! This weekend the Bookarest bookstore in the Old Brewery in Poznan, Poland will host the "Mobile City" exhibition - the first mobile exhibition in Poland!  This is also the first collective project organised by members of Mobile Photography Enthusiasts' Group "Mobilni". 

The theme of the exhibition is a city space - that where we live our lives is the stage of our creativity. There will be over 100 photos displayed by - Joanna Lemańska - Małgorzata Radziszewska - Łukasz Gurbiel - Kamil Kawczyński - Michał Koralewski - Damian Nowosadzki - Wojtek Papaj - Rafał Piotrzkowski 

Below are just some of the stunning images that will be on display. 

Going to work (Paris, iPhone 4s), photo by Joanna Lemańska

The Doors (Poznan, iPhone 3Gs), photo by Małgorzata Radziszewska 

Krakow (Samsung Galaxy SIII), photo by Łukasz Gurbiel

Warsaw. New World (HTC Desire HD), photo by Kamil Kawczyński

How to feed a giraffe (Emmen iPhone 4S), photo by Michał Koralewski

Dancing in the moonlight (Cieszyn, iPhone 4), photo by Damian Nowosadzki 

NS innerspace I (Nowy Sacz, Nokia Lumia 800), photo by Wojtek Papaj 

Untitled IV (Paris, iPhone 5), photo by Rafał Piotrzkowski 

To find out more about the exhibit or the individual photographers, visit the Mobilni website. 

Use Instacommentor and Make Your Mother Proud

My Mom was big on manners...you know, "please" and "thank you"and saying "excuse me" even if someone bumped into ME! Keeping up with the comments left on your Instagram photos can be a difficult task, because if you're not checking several times a day, the comments drop off of your News feed and there's no way to retrieve them unless you scroll through and check each photo. Wouldn't it be nice if you could find those comments you missed? Well, there's an app for that and it's called Instacommentor ($0.99)

Here's how it works:

Open Instacommentor (you'll have to add you Instagram account to use the app). Click on My Posts and wait for it to refresh.

When you get to the next screen click on the orange arrows in the top right corner.  You'll then see a list of posts that have unanswered comments.  On the first image shown I have 5 Not replied and on the second image there are 3.  

Click the number under "Not replied" and you'll be taken to another screen where you can either answer the comments individually or as a group (up to five usernames per reply).  In the example below, click on the Reply balloon to the right to compose your response.

Type in your reply and hit Send. Your Instagram account will be automatically updated! Every once in a while the app gets a little buggy and you end up replying twice, but hey, Mom would be the first to say you can't be too polite!

So, go make your Mom proud and be a polite Instagrammer - next on your list, how about helping an elderly person cross the road?

Baby, It's Cold Outside - The Whole Story by Vincenzo Di Carmine

Photos tell a story, but sometimes we don't know everything just by looking, which is why I started this blog feature.  It's all about those photos that beg the question, "What is going on here?" Keep reading to get The Whole Story about this image by Vincenzo Di Carmine.

Interested in submitting a smartphone photo of your own for a chance to be featured? Get more information here. 


The Photograph

Chilled to the Bone, Naples © Vincenzo Di Carmine

The Whole Story

That day the weather changed from sunny to rainy and temperatures dropped in a very short time. This little girl sheltered against the Naples Royal Palace wall when the shower started. I noted also that she had a kind of dispute with a group of young friends that were waiting for the rain to calm down a few meters far from her. It seems she was feeling both cold and lonely.

The photo was taken with an iPhone 4 using OGGL (the new Hipstamatic app and photo sharing software). I like a lot their black and white vintage looking films. On this shot I choose the BlacKeys BW film and Tinto 1884 lenses to emphasize the sad and delicate face of the girl.

The Photographer

My name is Vincenzo Di Carmine. I was born in Le Mans, a lovely small French town, 45 years ago and I’m now living in Naples, Italy, for more than twenty years. I have been capturing and sharing the poetic touch that I see in the common people and familiar places around me with an iPhone since November 2012. I also started to use a plain vanilla camera one month ago.

Find Vincenzo: Instagram / EyeEm / AMPt / Flickr

Painterly Mobile Artist - Wojtek Papaj

One of the things I love most about photo sharing communities is the ability to connect with people around the world.  Today I highlight the work of Wojtek Papaj, a member of the Painterly Mobile Art Flickr Group.  My heritage is Polish so it's interesting to meet someone who may have been a neighbor had my ancestors stayed in Poland!

As part of this ongoing series, I asked Wojtek to select one of his favorite images and tell us a little more about it. Please visit the group to see more of his work along with that of all of the artists. If you are a mobile photographer, we'd love to have you join.


The Artist 

Wojtek Papaj - I was born 44 years ago in Cracow, Poland; For 20 years I have lived with my wife and 3 children in Nowy Sącz (small town in the south of the country, at the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains). I prefer to be surrounded by great heritage of culture and nature rather than unspectacular spaces in the middle of nowhere and objects not possessing any uniqueness. I try to find meaning in subjects that seem non-essential, always with tender memory of their heritage and tradition. I am a member of the Polish Group of Mobile Photography Enthusiasts "mobilni".

The Work

Bottles © Wojtek Papaj

Wojtek's Commentary
The original photo I took with Nokia (R.I.P.) Lumia 800 during the Festival of Crafts. A bunch of colourful bottles in a square table just courted for an exceptional perspective and a painterly edition.
I used Fhotoroom for basic editing and then SuperPhoto for painterly effect ("cubism" brush - not a very appropriate name for this rather impressionistic tool). Next step was merging the original photo with that "impressionistic"version with MultiExpose app (MaxSat method). Finally I've added one of my favourite frames with the Lomogram app.

Find Wojtek: Flickr / AMPT / Instagram / EyeEm / mobilni

Links to apps mentioned:

Fhotoroom
SuperPhoto
MultiExpose
Lomogram

What will you be doing at 12:01 a.m. on September 20th?

If you're in the Pacific Daylight Time Zone, you may be on your phone or online hoping to order the iPhone 5S.  You may even be camping out already in front of your local Apple Store!

Still on the fence about the iPhone 5S?    Do you want to know what other iPhoneographers have to say about the new iSight camera specs?

Visit iPhone Photography School's iPhone 5S: Upgrade Advice From Top iPhoneographers.

WEBSITE COUNTDOWN

Mobiography Interview

It was so nice to "chat" with Andy Butler about my favorite subject - iPhoneography!  Andy runs a great site over at Mobiography.net and also produces the beautiful bimonthly magazine Mobiography available for the iPhone and iPad.

Hopefully I'll be able to chat with Andy again soon with the focus on his work and all he's doing for the mobile photography communitiy! Thank you Andy for this wonderful feature.

Click on the image below to read the interview.

The Whole Story - Photo by Mark Peterson

Curiosity may have killed the cat, but luckily I'm not of the feline species because I was very curious to know what was going on in this photo. Luckily I got The Whole Story from photographer Mark Peterson. After reading Mark's bio I would love to hear stories about his father's experience as a Navy combat photographer!

Interested in submitting a smartphone photo of your own for a chance to be featured? Get more information here. 

The Photograph

© Mark Peterson

The Whole Story
"I shot this photo last fall in San Antonio, Texas at Mission Concepción. A hole in the arched hallway ceiling caught the attention of our three wonderful kids. I was lucky to snap this photo at just the right moment with my iPhone 4S. I later edited the photo with Snapseed, putting it into a black and white format and adding a slight amount of tilt-shift to keep the focus on the kids.

I discovered the missions while visiting San Antonio 15 years ago and immediately found myself drawn to them. In my opinion they are jewels of Texas and so breathtaking in person."


The Photographer

Mark Peterson - Photography began for me at the age of 5 when my dad allowed me to shoot a roll of black & white film with his Rolleiflex camera. My father was a Navy combat photographer for the United States Navy during the Korean War and preferred black & white film because he said it was "timeless. I have to agree with him and today black & white photography is still my choice of a finished photo.

I manage a collectable firearms department for a large retail chain in the Austin, Texas area.  On my free time I enjoy experimenting with digital photography using my iPhone 4S.  I primarily focus on old farm properties and architectural details that catch my eye.  I have found photography to be so calming after a rough day in the retail world and take my iPhone with me everywhere.  I am always in awe of what I can do with my iPhone and have many other photos I share with others on EyeEm under the account "Peterson_Photo".

Find Mark: EyeEm