24 Mobile Photographers Til Christmas 2014: Nicki Fitz-Gerald

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At last it’s Christmas Eve and the final instalment of this years ’24 Mobile Photographers Til Christmas’ series. Each day throughout December I have featured a mobile photographer who has inspired and supported me in one way or another during the course of the past two years. Each artist has offered an insight into their photography and chosen one of their favourite images to support their reflection on the year gone by or coming plans for 2015.

No advent calendar would be complete without an extra special surprise on Christmas Eve. This online advent calendar is no exception.

First up, todays featured photographer is Nicki Fitz-Gerald of iPhoneographyCentral.com. Not only is Nicki a very talented photographer and artist but she also partners with Bob Weil who kickstarted this years series off with a fantastic tutorial and an offer of free access to his superb iPhone Artistry Course for one lucky reader.

Secondly, make sure you check out our extra added bonus for Christmas Eve, our other featured photographer, Anna Cox of Grryo.

The Photo I am Most Proud of is…

2014 has been another explosive year for mobile photography and mobile photographers. It gives me so much pleasure to see the artists who embraced iPhoneography from the start go from strength to strength, (David Ingraham, Susan Blase, Lynette Jackson to name just a few) some of whom were not previously photographers but who had that creative energy that would have emerged at some point – the iPhone, perhaps just made it easier especially with the enthusiasm of the Iphoneography community. The iPhone became the catalyst for their creative energy -as well as my own- and has allowed them not only fo fulfill their desires, vision and passion but also make a bit of a living out of it too. I also see relative newcomers; artists like David DeNagel, Mariko Klug and Julia Nathanson making their mark – mobile art and photography shows no sign of slowing down.

With the launch of my website iPhoneographyCentral.com (iPC) in 2011 and the co-authoring of the book The Art of iPhone Photography, I have been lucky to have had a front seat observing the phenomenal emerging talent that iPhone artists have produced by submissions to our weekly gallery feature Apps Uncovered. And I say “our” weekly gallery for good reason because of course I was fortunate to have the super talented Bob Weil join me at iPhoneographyCentral in 2012.

In June, AdoramaTV gave me the opportunity to host my own online TV series on iPhoneography knowledge which seemed a natural extension of the principles behind iPC – to share the knowledge – you can see the street photography episode we shot in London here.

In a later episode, I show you how I created this image which I chose for this advent calendar series below.

I chose this photograph because it was such a special moment I spent with my son. Lewis is a very playful boy, full of life and always a has a ready smile. Recently, he has become really interested in playing the keyboard and has been practising several tunes when he gets in from school. I’d got in a bit earlier from work this particular day and it was lovely to see him so focused, concentrated and immersed in his playing.

His focused expression really caught my attention and when I noticed the reflection in the mirror…I started to see a picture. As always, my iPhone was nearby. Lewis is so used to me photographing everybody and everything and he was so involved with his playing that he didn’t really notice me. I framed the picture so I could see Lewis’s face clearly in the mirror. I was sitting on a bed while taking this and may have moved a bit to get the right angle. I loved the way the light was catching the shirt, the keyboard and his face. Also the light fell slightly on to the tops of the two little speakers in the bottom left-hand corner which subtly draws you into the image which helps the composition. I think what helps to make this image work is the element of surprise of seeing the 2 faces in the picture. The viewers eye shifts between the two faces leading you back and forth, left to right, right to left. I am also really please with the expression caught in Lewis’s face. Strong contrast in photos like this one, always make great black and white photos so I converted it to black and white in Snapseed.

Although this is untypical of my usual work, – (I usually take street photographs and create digital abstracts), this was a really important photo for me – a beautiful moment captured forever.

One of the brilliant aspects of mobile photography is that, wherever you are and whoever you are with, it helps you engage with your environment around you and take notice of things you may overlook. I have taken thousands of photos and 99 percent of them have been within a square mile of my home.

You really don’t have to travel far to take great photos with a mobile phone. I think the point is to make it personal, make your photography your vision on the world.