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Mobile photographer makes high art of self-portraits

Erin Lodi | Published: Jan 25, 2013 at 16:44:24 UTC

“Don’t coming with you, not yet!!!” by Aylin Argun. Using B&W Lab, Snapseed and ArtRage apps.

Instagram is full of self-portraits, or "selfies," as they're affectionately known, but often these quick snapshots of ourselves have about as much artistic value as that poorly lit photo of last night's dinner.

Turkish mobile artist Aylin Argun takes the art of the iPhone self-portrait to a new level when she turns her smartphone on herself.

Using a variety of apps, Argun, who uses the handle xxfromneptune, shoots and edits exclusively on her iPhone 4. The results are often haunting black and white portraits with an artistic bent.

You can read more about Argun and her work in an interview with The App Whisperer.

“Invisible Walls” by Aylin Argun using Camera+, Grunge, ArtRage and Snapseed apps.

“Back to Black” by Aylin Argun using Camera+, Snapseed and ArtRage apps.

“I Will Not Obey” by Aylin Argun using Camera+ and Image Blender apps.

Comments

Total comments: 25

Well now ... I think of the mobile photography trend as a big joke, because most of what we see is retread boring slag that is only interesting (to some) because it was shot on a phone.

But here we have someone who has a truly artistic eye and who knows how to realize a vision. The fact that she does it all on an iPhone is totally irrelevant in my opinion. She'd be this good or perhaps even better with any camera or photo application.

0 upvotes

A belated congratulations to Aylin Argun. Wonderfully images and a fine, fine accomplishment at the MPAs.

1 upvote

Hi guys, your names are unknown to me and I would love to see YOUR photographic work. Are u displaying it somewhere? And, in my opinion, the beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.

2 upvotes

"Using ArtRage"!

haha, just use Rage "art" Joe to get better results :)!

0 upvotes

This is why I'm not interested in "high art". More often than not it's boring junk that's well marketed. Good on her for having a play with the camera and shooting some pics that are interesting to other people...I'm not buying.

1 upvote

And this isn't about "high art" it's a highly personal form of art. Although, I'm not sure a "high-brow" comment is worth listening to.

0 upvotes

So much unnecessary vitriol in these comments. Good lord. These are compelling images, creative and combined they constitute a very interesting body of work. Also, people who have no experience printing a particular image really shouldn't bother offering opinions on how they'll look printed. Negative Nancy's everywhere these days.

1 upvote

Negative Nancys? What are you talking about. Millions of women take really beautiful selfportaits, much better than these, and you call that negative? :)

1 upvote

I call it negative, too. The MPAs are open to submissions to all those millions who have talent (or don't) who have a smart phone camera and want to shoot something. There's unbound talent across human kind--I'm confident of that. Not everyone is going like what everyone else likes. Fine. I don't understand why folks invest time in commenting or stirring dissension in an area that they don't like in the first place. I tend to just not visit or take time with stuff I don't like. The exception being this comment in this thread.

0 upvotes

I agree : Nothing new here. Why are those pictures considered art and millions of others are not ? I have seen much better pictures taken with cell phones.

0 upvotes

She entered the contest and she won. The other millions could likely do the same. Recognition might come their way then.

1 upvote

Hmm, nothing relevant here. I've seen much better comments by people who considered the nature and role of the artist in the work, rather than simply summarising the value of an image on technical qualities.

0 upvotes

Congratulations Aylin on winning the self-portrait category of this years Mobile Photo Awards. Much deserved. It's going to look amazing printed and framed for the New York launch of the exhibition tour.

For those interested here are all the finalists for self-portrait MPA category: http://mobilephotographyblog.com/self-portraits-2013-mpa-winners/

3 upvotes

Nothing new here folks! There are Millions of 15 year old kids shooting interesting "selfies" over on Tumblr for the last 2-3 years.

1 upvote

There's "millions" of 15 year olds with sarcastic attitudes too, but that didn't stop you.

1 upvote

The new mirror
Camera app, Camera app, not on a wall
Who's the fairest of them all.

(very nice creative work though)

Comment edited 46 seconds after posting

1 upvote

Self portraits are easy... when you're beautiful.

0 upvotes

or really ugly...

It's not impossible or even hard to take good photos with a simple camera, but in these pics the impact seems to rely a lot on post processing. And yes, like jcmarfilph said, quality at large mag x would most likely indeed be "meh".

Comment edited 15 seconds after posting

0 upvotes

These are best viewed at 3 inches or less display. Artistic shots i.e but image quality definitely meh.

0 upvotes

How would you know unless you've seen the prints ?

4 upvotes

"image quality definitely meh"

From the expert in such images :-)

0 upvotes

I'm not seeing the green on my other monitor...so maybe it's just me. Is there a link to the full-size images?

Be interesting to see how the photographer improves the technical quality of the images by using a large-sensor camera, or if it has to be compact, then one with good glass. A bit more visceral reality in the images instead of the digital smudge would look great.

0 upvotes

It doesn't 'have to be' any camera. You haven't seen the full-size images and your already questioning their technical merit? How about you go see her winning Mobile Photo Award image printed in New York and get back to us? http://mobilephotographyblog.com/self-portraits-2013-mpa-winners/

2 upvotes

You wanna pay for my flight then?

0 upvotes

excellent images. The first one has an unsightly green tint in the lower-left portion:

http://connect.dpreview.com/files/p/cms_posts/2777913790/media_1358866495380.png

is this because it's a phone camera or what is going on here?

0 upvotes

Total comments: 25