Featured iPhoneographer: Laura Peischl
Friday, July 29, 2011 at 8:12AM | Star Rush 
Images capture and convey expressions of feeling for Laura Peischl, the fleeting moments that reveal insights about someone’s personality or the artist’s observations, and the emotions that connect the two. Laura practices her iphoneography as a means to express feelings without words and to engage with others in wide community.
Tell us about yourself, Laura:
My name is Laura Peischl, and I am from Vienna, Austria. I have been living in Malta for 7 years together with my family. I studied German Studies and Psychology at the University of Vienna. I have a public relations and marketing company, but most of all, I enjoy capturing moments of everyday life with my iPhone. Recently I have been asked to teach iPhoneography courses. I am really looking forward to sharing this passion with my students.
I was always fascinated by photography but never properly got into it. I have no background in classic photography. The iPhone opened up for me a whole new world and gave me the right tool to express my creativity. I started 2 years ago after seeing the photographs of Chase Jarvis, the ones taken with the Best Camera app. I was immediately hooked by the results and knew instantly that I wanted to find out more about it.
Iphoneography is my voice, my way of expressing feelings without words. I always use my iPhone. For me it is not important to capture perfect images but to capture situations and emotions. It is important to capture those fleeting moments that just happen and are over before you even realize: a smile on a person’s face, a shadow on a wall, the sun reflecting in an opening window, the joy in the eyes of a child, or a tender moment of love.
Laura, what are your influences?
Life never ceases to inspire me. The sea and the sunlight, the interaction with all kind of arts, and of course, some special people in my life, they all influence me.
For me photography is depicting emotions, mine or those of others. I just want and need every photograph to tell a story. I like to take pictures of people but not street photography. I enjoy walking and looking at people’s faces to discover that special something, trying to read their story and then to transform it into a real story through creative processing. Apart from this, whenever something captures my eye and touches me, I just have to stop and take a picture of it, no matter what the subject is.
A favorite photo of mine right now is one of an older couple I took while in Paris. I followed them for quite a while, observing. The tenderness between the two was so palpable. Even now, I can recall the feeling that surrounded them just by looking at the photograph.
Laura, tell us about your creative process:
Observation is the most exciting and important part of my photographic work. When I am out taking pictures, I immerse in the world flowing around me. It feels like some special channels are opening, and through them, my sensitivity increases. I don’t care much about apping during the moment of taking a picture. It is sometime I do after. I usually can recall the feeling I had when shooting as soon as I am at home and start working at the image. Then everything just takes its flow in the right direction.
I do like black and white processing a lot, but I never shoot with this idea in my mind. There are images that, in the moment I see them on the computer, I just know they have to be black and white.
Sharing via social media is a very important part of my creativity, part of the overall process, I would say. I just love and appreciate being in contact with great artists, and, sometimes, seeing a good image touches me as much as nice music. I wouldn’t want to miss any kind of interaction on the social media platforms. I just love discovering every artist’s personality through his/her pics.
If you’re just starting with iPhoneography, forget what you knew about photography and just follow your instincts. The rest will come when passion is involved.
I believe firmly in the future of this art form. I think the creative potential existing in this community is amazing, and I think it has to do with the background of every one of us. We are not “just” photographers doing a job; we chose iPhoneography to be our way of expression outside our daily routine. It is our escape, our fantasy world. And the iPhone and apps give us a wonderful tool with infinite possibilities.
Laura, what are your most used or favorite apps?
I use Camera+, Filterstorm and PhotoForge2 for fine tuning. I like Noir a lot, and love ScratchCam a lot right now. I seem to leave an image without Lo-Mob, PictureShow and PhotoFX. TiltShiftCam seems to be a fix point as well.
As far as my work, at the moment 13 of my images are included in the “Light Impressions” currently exhibited at studio b. in Alys Beach, Florida. My food photograph was selected for the MMS Gallery Three: Food Exhibition in Philadelphia in July 2011. Together with some other iPhoneography friends, I am working on and planning a new exhibition for the end of September. Lastly, there is another upcoming exhibition of different type of artists here in Malta, and I will take part in it with my iPhoneography images.
You can find more of Laura’s photos here:
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