Following on from last week’s feature with Mark T Simmons, this week I had the pleasure of catching up with Dilshad Corleone, a man who has been receiving a lot of attention and critical acclaim especially since being the subject of the excellent short film, ‘Dilshad’s Story’ – a worthy entry into our ‘5 Must See Inspirational Films About iPhoneography‘.

Amazingly, Dilshad is relatively new to the photography scene but in a very short space of time he has seen his work exhibited internationally from London to Los Angeles, New York, Mexico to name but a few. He also writes for TheAppWhisperer.com as a columnist and is a member of WeAreJuxt.com.

Tell us a bit about yourself

I live in London and I love the vibe that this city can give me! It is an incredible place when the sun shines! About myself, I can say that I have fallen in love with photography and when I don’t do other things I spend my time going out with the intent to shoot anything I fancy (said like this, sounds really wrong…).

The FootBall Fan

The FootBall Fan

How long have you been a smartphone photographer?

Ah! Just less than a year, it all happened so quickly! I’ve always have been taking photos with a smartphone (I never had another type of camera), but before it was a lot of quantity and very little quality, now I try to slow it down and think a lot and shoot only when my gut tells me.

It all started on a snowy morning, when everything was white except the big red sign of a Polish supermarket, and a small old-style Mini Rover, red as well… something struck me and I pulled my mobile and took this first shot. Of course I over edited, really heavy handed, super saturated etc… but it gave me an incredible feeling! I felt happy, something was happening, I was looking the world in a different way. But this was not the real start.

A few months after, I was roaming the virtual world and searching for some lenses or other gadgets for my iPhone, and by chance I stumbled onto an advert about an Iphoneography course led by Richard Gray @rugfoot on IG. I signed up straight away, the best thing I ever did in a long time! This was the real beginning. A year later and I am still going good and I am doing an interview for you! The rest is history.

You were recently the subject of a short film about smartphone photography. How did the film come about?

Yes! I still cannot believe it! So excited about this! It all happened so quickly. I was approached by Adjust Your Set, a London based Production Company, to be part in their short documentary to promote and inspire people to take up smart phone photography. It was an amazing experience. Daunting at first, for I had to shoot with a camera that I had never used before and I was quite afraid of not being able to get some good shots! It all went wonderfully well at the end!

In the film it looks like you were using a Sony phone. How did you find shooting with it? How does it compare to shooting with an iPhone?

Yes, I used a Sony Xperia Z for this video. Funnily enough, when they filmed the documentary, the Z was not even out. It’s a great camera 13 megapixels, incredibly sharp. Unfortunately, however, it has a small lag when you press the shutter, this translates into a lot of missed shots.

I shoot quickly, let’s say I am walking and I see someone that has captured my attention and is walking towards me I take my phone out and shoot and walk away. With the iPhone, you can do this without even thinking about it, while with the Z one needs to anticipate the timing and hope for the best…

For standstill photos it is quite incredible, I think for something like architectural photography or portraits, and so on is brilliant. But for how I shoot, I think I needed more time to adjust to its mood.

I use an iPhone 5, and I love it, it’s the complete solution for me: from shooting to editing! Having said this, I think it would not be fair to compare these two phones; for I have been shooting with an iPhone 5 for a year now, while I had the Z for only three days. I believe one needs more time to better understand the pros and cons.

Your work has a very unique style. What is your thought process behind taking photos and your post production workflow when processing them?

London Noir

London Noir

Thank you for this. Having a style means a lot to me, individuality it’s one of the most important characteristic for me! The thought process is quite complicated, one that most of the time I cannot explain it even to myself. I call it “feeling if I were in the middle of an emotional earthquake”, I walk and I see something that just jumpstarts me! At that point I have to take that photo. I do love Candid street photos, of people, especially heavily bearded, rough looking men with hats, and influence from @koci probably.

My editing process could be described as heavily apped, but mostly I destroy the background by blurring it and keeping my subject well visible, almost in three-dimensional way.

I usually start with Camera+ to bring back the clarity and then a bit of crop, then take it into BigLens for the blur, after that anything from Scratchcam to Lo-Mob or Laminar can come in and help me out.. I always finish with Snapseed for the last touches, though.

Where do you get your inspiration? Are there any photographers that have influenced your work?

There are so many, actually. But as I said, it all started with Richard Gray’s workshop, where he showed us an incredible video by Koci. I will never get tired saying that his was the video that really got me started!

How do you see iphoneography developing in the coming year and beyond?

I would say and hope into photography, without the dogma of being shot with a smart phone. What I mean it’s not with what you shoot, but it’s how you shoot and how you tell your story that matter, right?, if your story is there, if people start thinking about it and you manage to work people’s emotions then it really doesn’t matter what tool you have used.

If you look back when people had nothing but film camera, and then the digital one came, a lot where criticizing it and now these are just normal working tools, same with iPhoneography, people think that these are toys, but I am sure one day it will be considered just as any other camera. You don’t do Cannonography, or Leicaography it’s all photography!

Could you tell us about the story behind a few of your favourite photos?

And the Bells Rang

And The Bells Rang – I was sitting in the shadow, the light was perfect, I saw the men with the hat and I waited for him, everything happened exactly when I framed him: the bells rang loudly, the pigeon flew, the couple started running in the background, and he walked away without noticing that the world had stopped for a second just for him! This is my very first bird flying. As they say, one cannot forget it’s first bird.

Beauty in a puddle

Beauty in a Puddle – I was in Barcelona filming, and near the sea side I saw this huge puddle, there were buildings reflected and anyone that walked by would be caught in its reflection too, so I started snapping away, until this lovely lady passed by and luckily the seagulls decided to embellish my photograph and model for me.

Where can people connect and follow you online?

Literally everywhere! You can find me here: