L’Isle is known for its water ways, market, and antiques. It’s a lovely small town that gets extremely crowded during the market days. We made two visits there during our week in the south of France.

The water wheels are quite gorgeous in their mossy grandeur. It was fun exploring the town to find all of them scattered throughout.

We had a lovely lunch at the famous Cafe de France.

 Then spent some time “window shopping” (sans the windows) throughout the market.

Reminiscing and seeing my photos from just one day of one of my favorite summer trips was a real treat for me. I hope it was for you, too.

Are you heading out on any grand summer trips this year? Or like me, do you still have photos from last year’s trip to go through?

Meghan of Life Refocused

Mobile Monday Giveaway Special!

Don’t forget, you have more chances to win a spot in The Phone Photography Project over at Big Picture Classes where Holly and Jenny are both teaching this summer!

Just comment on any Mortal Muses post this week; each comment counts as a chance to win. We will draw 6 lucky winners announcing the results next Mobile Monday. If you’ve already signed up for the class, don’t worry; Big Picture Classes give you a refund if you win!

You can read what BPC has to say about the class here.

Just living is not enough. One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.
Hans Christian Andersen

We love seeing what inspires you, because it inspires us too! Please keep adding your shots to the group and continuing to inspire us all summer long!

Holly ~ Soupatraveler

1. Rosie Layers, 2. “What you remember saves you.”, 3. 138/365, 4. A dream in white, 5. For you, mommy!, 6. beach plum, 7. Allium, 8. Softness, 9. 119_365 “Softly and still it grows and grows, petal by petal, leaf by leaf.”

Mobile Monday Giveaway Special!

Don’t forget, you have more chances to win a spot in The Phone Photography Project over at Big Picture Classes where Holly and Jenny are both teaching this summer!

Just comment on any Mortal Muses post this week; each comment counts as a chance to win. We will draw 6 lucky winners announcing the results next Mobile Monday. If you’ve already signed up for the class, don’t worry; Big Picture Classes give you a refund if you win!

Here is what BPC has to say about the class:

In this month-long workshop, you’ll learn to take better photos with the camera you always have with you as you document your summer adventures—with help from 32 incredible instructors. On top of daily smartphone photography challenges, you’ll also enjoy:

dozens of tips and tricks from the pros for taking better photos with your mobile-phone camera
60+ photography app reviews for iPhone and Android, so you know which are worth your time and money
dozens of project ideas for getting photos off your device and into your world
interaction with 32 experienced iPhoneographers and Androidographers, and hundreds of fellow students in a private classroom and on Instagram
giveaways, contests, discounts, bonus downloads, and fun fun fun!

You can read the rest of the description here.

We love VSCO here at Mortal Muses. If you’re not familiar with them, they make software that emulates the characteristics of various kinds of film. As someone who shoots a lot of film, I love being able to bring the same sensibility to my digital images, and I’m not alone. You may remember that Debra raved about the VSCO Cam iPhone camera app last year and Lindsey reviewed the VSCO 03 pack for Lightroom. Their new iPhone camera app, called VSCO Cam, came out in early June so I downloaded it right away. Note that is this is an entirely new app, not an upgrade to the old one. And it’s much more than your average photo app, combining an innovative camera, phenomenal processing options and, if that wasn’t enough, built-in access to a stream of tutorials and examples to inform and inspire you.

The new camera is beautiful in its simplicity. Its killer feature is that a zoom gesture with two fingers on the screen reveals the focus and exposure points, which can be positioned independently. It’s not the first app to do this, but it’s a great addition to the VSCO app and seems to be becoming a standard feature of camera apps. Tapping on the gear icon at the top of the screen gives you five extra options: Flash, Grid, Big Button Capture, Low Light Boost and White Balance Lock. There’s also a reverse-camera option for taking selfies.

Once you’ve taken a photo or imported one from your camera roll, it’s time to process it. The free version of the app has several free presets, but because there was a bundle offer when the app was introduced, I bought the whole set from the in-app store (accessed by tapping on the hamburger menu icon at the bottom left of the screen). The presets include those specifically made for portraits (the G series), more mellow presets (F series), the brighter and warm series (S series) and for those who want more of a film look, the K series (their analog series) and P Series (their instant classic range). You can buy the sets individually, and reorder them as you see fit in the preferences. Preview thumbnails show you how your image will look with each effect applied, and you can also change the strength of the effect using a slider. There are other editing tools including grain, sharpening, contrast, temperature and so forth. The sharpening effect is particularly classy. Once you’ve finished tweaking the image, you can save it back to the Camera Roll or share on various social networks.

Overall it’s a very slick app with a fantastic range of options. I’ve had a lovely time browsing the Discover section, which links to example images and tutorials to help you get the most from the various presets, and links to VSCO’s weekly Selects page to see even more gorgeous images that have been taken and processed with VSCO software. Integrating constantly changing content into the app in this way is very clever — and really inspiring.

There are a few flies in the ointment. There’s no Android version of the app, for a start. And even if you have an iPhone, some of the editing tools (grain, fill, vignette and sharpening) are available only on the iPhone 5, but not on older models. Moreover, I know I’m not the only one who misses the option of being able to shoot square in the camera. And why is it that VSCO’s Lightroom and ACR presets model specific types of film, but its iPhone app doesn’t? I would love to be able to emulate specific Fuji or Kodak films on my iPhone.

There have also been a few teething problems with the app: images sometimes don’t save properly, processing runs slowly for some users, and I had to delete and reinstall the app after a week when it refused to open any more. Because VSCO Cam has its own internal database of images, this meant I lost the pictures that I hadn’t exported to the Camera Roll. And reinstalling the presets was rather time-consuming. But VSCO are aware of these problems and are working hard to solve them, so keep checking in the App Store for updates (the 2.0.4 update, which is intended to fix the crashing problem, has just been submitted to Apple for approval).

Finally, VSCO Cam has the beginnings of its own social network, an invitation-only community called VSCO GRID. The company claims it is not trying to challenge Instagram, but is instead giving photographers a way to share their pictures with other VSCO users. It’s a bit like an online portfolio; check out some examples. It’s great to be able to see which preset has been used for each image.

In all, this completely redesigned app is really impressive, and it also provides a foundation for future expansion. If you’re not familiar with VSCO, then it is also a great introduction to their products. I can’t wait to see what VSCO will do next!

Kirstin

Mobile Monday Giveaway Special!

Remember The Phone Photography Project over at Big Picture Classes, where Holly and Jenny are both teaching this summer? You now have the chance to win a spot in the class!

All you have to do is to comment on any Mortal Muses post this week; each comment counts as a chance to win. We will draw SIX lucky winners and announce the results next Mobile Monday. If you’ve already signed up for the class, don’t worry; Big Picture Classes will refund your fee if you win the giveaway.

Here is what BPC has to say about the class:

In this month-long workshop, you’ll learn to take better photos with the camera you always have with you as you document your summer adventures—with help from 32 incredible instructors. On top of daily smartphone photography challenges, you’ll also enjoy:

dozens of tips and tricks from the pros for taking better photos with your mobile-phone camera
60+ photography app reviews for iPhone and Android, so you know which are worth your time and money
dozens of project ideas for getting photos off your device and into your world
interaction with 32 experienced iPhoneographers and Androidographers, and hundreds of fellow students in a private classroom and on Instagram
giveaways, contests, discounts, bonus downloads, and fun fun fun!

Read the rest of the description here.

It’s been a particular Spring has it not? One might even wonder if Summer really is on its way. Over here, on my little corner of Europe I have just experienced a week of barefeet and full blast sun followed by a week of cardigans with rain and heavy grey skies.
It’s confusing, I tell you.
Lucky for me (and you), there is a place we can all escape to, regardless of the weather, where there is beauty all day long! And it’s film. Need i say more?

In deed I do. I need to say “that you take your shoes off, sit beside me on this floor pillow and enjoy the tea”.

1. 000001, 2. Looking up, 3. Weeds and wishes borderless, 4. 144.365 | the old fence, 5. images from the cutting floor (9 of 10), 6. put a bird on it: tea party, part three

Ah, good stuff, this Flickr pool.
Thank you. Sprinkled in Spring, with a Summer breeze.

Now go outside and click.

Textured Rose III by Geri Centonze

IMG_0184 by Michelle Robinson (michmutters)

June has been pretty stormy around here. by Janice S. (jan@twoscoopz)

Falling by Sarah Jarrett

Happy Saturday all!

~Christy | Urban Muser

My top 5 film picks for photographers:

1. Blow-Up (1966) directed by Michelangelo Antonioni. A must-see film inspired by Julio Cortazar’s 1959 short story titled Las babas del diablo translated as “The Devil’s Drool” or “Blow-up”. Thomas, a British fashion photographer played by David Hemmings, accidentally captures the commission of a murder on film. Renessa Redgrave and Sarah Miles also star in the film which takes an insider’s look at London’s fashion scene and mid-sixties mod society.

2. Rear Window (1954) directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Another classic involving film and murder. James Stewart plays the role of Jeff, a wheelchair bound photographer who after spying on his neighbors from his apartment window grows convinced one of them has committed murder.

3. Everlasting Moments (2008) directed by Jan Troell. Inspired by a true story, Maria Heiskanen stars as Maria Larsson, a Finnish mother and housewife who spends all her time taking care of her family. Her relationship with husband, Sigge (Mikael Persbrandt) is troubled. He’s works the docks by day and makes their family life a raging storm by night with fits of drunken rage. Sigge loses his job when the dockworkers go on strike and as their economic situation sinks into desperation, Maria discovers she won a Contessa camera in a local lottery. When she tries to sell it in a pawn shop, store owner Sebastian Pedersen persuades her to keep it, a decision which changes her entire life.

4. La Dolce Vita (1960) directed by Federico Fellini. The film centers around a series of stories following a week in the life of Marcello, played by Marcello Mastroianni, a philandering paparazzo journalist living in Rome. Dissatisfied with his work and personal life, he throws himself headfirst into the hedonism unfolding around him. Also starring Anita Ekberg and Anouk Aimee.

5. Gregory Crewdson: Brief Encounters (2012) directed by Ben Shapiro. I’ve long been fascinated with photographer Gregory Crewdson’s process. He shoots large format cinematic images that are elaborately staged in the small towns of Western Massachusetts or in elaborately recreated interior spaces built on sound stages just like big-budget movies. A narrative strand runs through his work. Shapiro profiles the artist and includes stories of his childhood in Park Slope, his summers in the country, and his introduction to Diane Arbus’s work.

plus the 5 runners-up: City of God, Born Into Brothels, Pecker, Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus, Palermo Shooting

It’s your turn. What are your film picks for photographers? Classic, contemporary, documentary, avant-garde…

Taking photographs is like telling stories. Sometimes we’re relating the stories of those we know and love. Other times, we’re inserting ourselves into the lives of total strangers, telling their stories the way we think they should go. One of my favorite places to do this is on the New York City subway. Almost 700 miles of tracks winding beneath the most populous city in the U.S. layered with countless people, each with their own unique story.

It’s become a passion of mine to capture some of these moments, to insert my version of life into each situation.

I’ve seen stories of love…

and family…

Stories of sadness…

and joy…

Of daydreamers…

Multi-taskers…

And those in deep conversation…

Whose stories have you told lately?

~Christy | Urban Muser

more time with friends and family,

it means more opportunity for late day magic hour splendor, and more opportunity to play with light overall,

and more trips to the farmers market,

and it means, for me, a 12 day cross-country road trip, as my little family moves from the eastern to pacific time zone!

I am very excited about what the summer means for photography.

Happy Snapping!

Cara of tumbleweedineden
(photos are a mix of both digital and film)

I love how Debby (1) has caught that perfect sunlight on the ocean on Impossible Project film, while Quantumcat (2) puts me in mind of childhood summers spent barefoot by the sea. L. McG.-E. (3) shows us one of my favourite summer flowers, the fuchsia. These are not that frequent in Norway, but they remind me all the more of summer holidays spent in England and Ireland. Did you know that the fuchsia is called what translates to ‘God’s tears’ in Irish? And finally, Lynne (4) has conjured a romantic, colourful summer’s dream for us.

My summer so far has been a study in green and blue. It’s been raining a lot…

…so we’re surrounded by these lush, dark green tones, even in the city centre where I live.

But there are also days when the sun is shining from a blue, hopeful sky…

…and then I spend my days breathing in and shooting the sunlight, and seeing the city through the eyes – and lenses – of the tourists starting to arrive.

How about you? How is your summer coming along so far? Don’t forget to show us in the Theme pool!

~ Best wishes from Jenny.

I almost didn’t add it. Would I be breaking some sort of unspoken film lover rule by pushing the decim8 buttons? Would the Film Shooters Collective kick me out of the group if they found out how much I love digitally altering my work?  Then the rationalization started. You know how you have different lenses in your bag, different film cameras (like your prized SX-70 or that amazing TLR), depending on what you are photographing you might pick one of those film cameras over the other, right?

My “camera bag” full of “lenses”

I like to think of each of my photo apps as a ‘lens’. Perhaps a lens hopped up on steroids, but you get the picture… (aren’t I puny?). I often mix and match apps. Layering a filter from one, the light leaks from another, complete destruction from yet another. Depending on my mood, I might add text, mirror the same image against itself or double expose and blend together two, or even three shots into one. It’s like collage with out scissors and Mod-Podge.

Lately, when doing my self portraiture work, one of my favorite apps to edit and process the image has been decim8.  I first learned of this app from Barbara, aka mthoodmama when she posted this photo to her Instagram feed:

It stopped me dead in my tracks and I HAD to know how the heck she got those awesome streaks across her photos. When I asked her a bit about how she uses/feels about decim8 she told me, “After lots of trial and error I found a few effects I got consistent results where the photo is altered slightly, but not altered too much or is so abstract you can’t tell what the photo used to be.  My all time favorite is Beamrider.  A few of my other favorites are:  Bitboy, Chip13h, and Blitbomb.”

Barbara wasn’t the only one having fun with the deconstruction of her images, our very own Urban Muser has some beautiful and mind-bending self portrait work as well.

I needed to give this app a try. Upon first use, I was totally frustrated and almost instantly deleted the thing from my phone (space is precious, as you fellow mobile photographers know). I couldn’t figure out the way the interface worked and there isn’t a ton of instructions out there on how to actually use it, but I kept playing, fiddling and messing with the buttons. Like Barbara, trial and error and maybe a few curse words for good measure. What I ended up doing was going through each of the mixer options and clicking on each option to see what it did.  I too have some favorite mixers now and have learned to “save early, save often” so that if I actually get an image I like, even if I only like it a little bit, I have it saved (there is no undo button).

I am often asked how I create my self portraits, so I thought today would share the steps and hopefully give you all some tips to try out decim8:

1. Launch the app.
2. Take or choose a photo from your camera roll.
3. Click on the beaker icon to open the mixer menu.
4. Choose one or more of the mixers from the list (I usually stick with one at a time or things get too crazy). I also like to hit the “i” button next to the mixer name so I can see an example of what the formula is going to do to my photo.
5. If I even remotely like the outcome, I save the image. There is no undo, and I have never seen the editing do the same thing twice (awesome and frustrating all at once).
6. I  might continue adding on more adjustments, picking more editing formulas and saving as I go until I am satisfied with my image.

Once my work is done in decim8, I often push my photo into the picframe app and mess with it further. I like the control I have over the mirroring and flipping around of the images I have within this app- something you don’t get in decim8. Here are my steps…

1. Launch the app and choose a mosaic set- I usually stick with the double frames.
2. Double tap inside the gray area and choose a photo.
3. Flip, rotate zoom and/or pan the image around in the frame. Repeat for the other frame(s).
4. I tend to like making my borders between frames nonexistent in order to get a blended look.
5. Save the image (make sure to hit the “Hi-Res” button) and either share from the app or from the camera roll.

I wanted to share a self portrait that Heather, aka Quarter Century, was inspired to attempt after seeing my photos. When I asked her to say a little bit about her experience with the app, she echoed my and Barbara’s thoughts. She too has a love-hate relationship with decim8 and finds herself drawn to mostly the veth and xexox mixers. That said, Heather also mentioned how much she loves the anticipation of waiting to see what happens once the processing button has been pushed.

Currently the app is only available for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad and is optimized for iPhone 5, but will work on previous versions. From the information I can find on the Flickr group, it doesn’t sound like the Android app will be coming any time soon (sorry ‘droiders).  There is a busy IG community full of creativity and inspiration, just search the #decim8 hashtag. They also have contests like the Alterego Contest which ran last month.  I think the biggest appeal for me to this app is the unpredictability of it (as Heather had mentioned above). Much like film, I am never quite sure what my end result will be, despite knowing what my starting subject was. So maybe decim8 and film aren’t really that different after all… but don’t tell them that.