Two photos edited with Pixlr-o-matic on the iPad

A while ago I downloaded a free iOS app called Pixlr-o-matic by Autodesk Inc. It's a hybrid iPhone/iPad app (they also have an Android version and Mac and Windows desktop versions). I'm not sure why, but I only had it installed in my iPad and I hadn't used it until yesterday. It's a fun app, extremely easy to use and I like the design. The icon, not so much.

Anyway, I just synced my iPad and have these shots edited with Pixlr-o-matic that I think turned out well, so I thought I'd post.

Both photographs are fairly old. They were taken with a Nikon DSLR and edited in Aperture. I just pulled them in from my photos library on the iPad and into Pixlr-o-matic, so they probably don't represent exactly what the app can do with photos taken directly with the iPhone or iPad. I may have posted the originals before. Can't remember though.

I'm really enjoying the app though. I'll keep playing with it for the next few days and will probably write a review soon.

Janey in black & white

Janey; Sydney, Australia; 2008 © Gabriel Ponzanelli

I think I posted this photograph in colour before. Can't remember and I'm too lazy right now to look for it, but in any case I think it's a cool photo and it deserves to be posted again. Anyway, I spent hours today fiddling with my portfolio website trying to get the slideshow in the homepage to work. I finally did figure it out, but I was planning on catching up with some editing I need to do that just didn't happen. I need about a week of nothing but full time Aperture work.

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Yes, sometimes my iPhone photos suck

Janey; Sydney, Australia; 2008 ©Gabriel Ponzanelli

Yesterday I posted a photo of a wet floor cone that I took with my iPhone and edited on the phone with an app I had just downloaded. I tweeted the blog post and a good friend saw the tweet and clicked to see the photo. She wasn't impressed. She actually complained and asked what the hell was I thinking to post such a dumb photograph. While I agree it's by no means a good shot, there is a reason behind it. I took it because I wanted to play with the new app exactly at that moment, and I wanted to do it with a new shot, not something already in my library. The cone was right in front of me when I was thinking about it, so it became the shot.

OK, I agree the reason is as dumb as the photograph, but I didn't take it because I wanted to make a piece of art. I took it because I wanted to play with my new app, so in a sense it was a successful shot. Maybe the dumb thing was sharing it openly on the web. On the other hand, it's not the worst photograph I've taken or shared, and I'm sure it won't be the last. It's not even the first cone I post. (Now I'm wondering if I should read something into that).

I enjoy taking photographs with my iPhone. As I've said before, it's simplicity gives me the freedom to take whatever is in front of me without the pressures of shutter speeds, apertures, focal lengths, strobes, etc. It's a freedom I rarely have when I'm out with my DSLR. Plus it's always with me. I take so many iPhone shots that in 10 years I'll be able to look back at them and reconstruct a period of my life that'll be documented in a very different way. Maybe the cones will have a deeper meaning then.

Or maybe it's just too late and I'm too tired and my brain isn't processing this.

Anyway, the image above is not an iPhone photograph, I didn't take it on a whim, and in fact I quite like it. And not just because Janey has an amazing body and is ridiculously beautiful. Although that certainly helps.

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Model: Lani from Australia #2

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Janey swimsuit

Janey; Sydney, Australia; 2008 © Gabriel Ponzanelli

I need to put together a portfolio of my swimsuit photography. The problem is that too many of my favourite shots are of Janey (a previous one posted here), who is an amazing model and obviously beautiful. I need to cut them down to just the best 3 or 4 and it hasn't been easy.

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Whoever thinks freckles aren't beautiful is an idiot

Yes, I think freckles are sexy. I'm always amazed when people, especially women, say they don't like their freckles and try to hide them with makeup. Hey, if the editors of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue choose a model with freckles, it's because most men think they're sexy. Trust me, they wouldn't risk it in such a high profile edition of the magazine.

What's even funnier is that people have to go online and as "are freckles sexy?" and similar things. Go ahead, Google that. It's amazing the amount of forums where people ask that question. Here's the thing, if you're a guy and you have to ask someone else to tell you if you like freckles, you have much bigger problems. If you're a woman asking others if you should be happy with your freckles, you're asking in the wrong place. You'll probably get a bunch of bored geeky teenagers (nothing against them, I was one of them once and I'm still a geek) with too much time on their hands. Trust me. Freckles are sexy.

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Old shot... resurrected.

Lani; Sydney, Australia; 2007 © Gabriel Ponzanelli

You sometimes find cool images you'd previously missed when going over your old archives. The image above is a good example. I took this shot over 2 years ago with Lani and it didn't make the cut at the time, which is strange because right now it's probably one of my favourites from the shoot. I find that both exciting and scary at the same time. I'm excited because I found a shot I really like and that's always a good feeling; but I'm scared because it makes me wonder how many good shots I've dismissed that may never see the light of day.  I'm also wondering why I didn't pick this one at the time. Have I become better at the sorting and selecting process or I just think differently now? Maybe I'm over-thinking this way too much, but I truly am thinking I should probably go through my old un-picked shots and see what I missed. At least I know I won't be deleting anything anymore, there might be a jewel in there.

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Website going very sloooow!

Janey; Sydney, Australia; 2008 © Gabriel Ponzanelli

I've been working on updating my website lately, but it's been going terribly slow. I need to find some time to put together an updated portfolio plus a few project-related ones as well. I've given myself a deadline of the end of this month. We'll see how I go. Anyway, the above image is of Janey, a model from Vietnam. I shot her for my People of the Globe project and did a swimsuit session after that. She's amazingly beautiful, super photogenic, and a fun and energetic person. The perfect model.

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