Featured iPhoneographer: Stéphane Mahé
Wednesday, July 6, 2011 at 8:38PM | Star Rush 
Above: Le cinquième élément. © Stéphane MahéTime and rhythm. Harmony or discord. Stéphane Mahé describes affinities he sees between his visual observation and musical composition, the role interpretation plays in each, to evoke moods: “. . . with my iphone, which is primarily a tool, I capture everyday visual scores.” Stéphane’s iPhoneography describes people as they engage with urban terrains or seascape and landscape, each connected with the other.
Above: Voyage au centre de la terre. © Stéphane Mahé
Stéphane, please tell us about yourself.
My name is Stéphane Mahé. I live in France, Brittany more precisely, between Rennes (also known for this festival the Transmusicales) and Saint-Malo (La cité des corsaires). I am between land and sea. I am a maquettiste PAO, photographer 360° (specializing in photography spherical 360°) and iphoneography or mobile photographer in my spare time.
Above: Clint Eastwood. © Stéphane Mahé
My passion for photography was born about ten years ago, and it has almost been a year since I became interested in iphoneography or mobile photography. Curiosity drove me to use the iPhone because of its image sensor. I was initially quite skeptical about the potential of this photo phone, probably due to a lack of knowledge. I started to have fun taking pictures with the iPhone on vacation, discovering a number of dedicated applications and, most importantly, to discover many talented iPhoneographers, community, blogs and websites devoted to iPhoneography. A whole effervescent world emerged and appealed to me, giving me the desire to continue.
Above: Swimming pool #02 So magic. © Stéphane Mahé
I note the maritime world is relatively present in my photos. This is not necessarily a subject in its own right for me. It is more a part of the game, as can be on the streets of a city in which I incorporate a human dimension. On reflection, perhaps my interest is in setting prespective of mankind in different settings, such as natural, urban, and so forth.
Above: Moonwalk. © Stéphane Mahé
I am strongly attracted to black and white. Color attracts me, but I also find it harder to be comfortable, to translate what I really I want. If one wants to talk about process, I will say I like the idea just to make myself available to mentally and physically observe my surroundings, put myself moving into the unknown, to the other and to capture moments of photography or iPhoneography as best I can. I try to do more than listening to instinct, which is in a way that guides me, during my wanderings, my photographs.
Above: Un long dimanche de fiançailles. © Stéphane Mahé
For my part, I find that the new generation phones, particularly the iPhone, allows more spontaneity in the act of photographing. Regarding the iPhone, applications dedicated to editing are numerous. If I dare to compare it to anything, it would be perhaps comparable to music. I will say that with my iphone, which is primarily a tool, I capture the everyday visual scores, and then using applications, I reinterpret (go black and white, strengthen contrasts to give more force a scene for example) these partitions according to my mood of the moment. The more pictures I see, the more I want to photograph, while trying to build consistency through my pictures and time, which is not the easiest.
Above: A raining day. © Stéphane Mahé
Two weeks ago, I was on a family walk by the sea. The forecast was stormy, the sky was loaded, but we started our walk anyway. Very quickly, we went back inside the car to shelter us from the rain. Everyone was happy to be in the car, but I said how I had a strange feeling. I felt that I had the shelter of the car. So I went back outside, despite the pouring rain, to try to capture this moment with my iphone, an electric atmosphere outside. I think those who saw me thought I was crazy. I was completely soaked but certainly very good, and it felt good photographing such interesting moments, at least for me. I do not know if I can recreate the situation correctly, but I can say, no matter how the photos may have turned out from those moments or not, it’s better to have had this experience, to try to capture the sensations. I keep this moment as something magical. This photo gave me for a lot of well-being and that’s what I remember.
Above: Je règle mon pas sur le pas de mon père. © Stéphane Mahé
What influences you?
I think everything influences me directly or indirectly. My inspirations are as well, film, theater, books, paintings. Although I am not a great expert on the subject, of course, I am influenced by photographers and iphoneographes. I think that we absorb everything around us and it resurfaces in the photos or any other form of artistic expression.
For me iPhoneography is a sense of freedom, freedom to shoot wherever and whenever I want. The concept of sharing and exchange through social media is important as well. I have great enthusiasm when I look at the work of others iphoneographers.
Above: Yeah! © Stéphane Mahé
I will continue to take pictures, maybe develop collaborations with other artists (musicians, writers, actors ...). I am planning one to two exhibitions for 2012. I do not know what to say, except that the community aspect is really excellent. Although it is easy to say this, I think iPhoneography will continue to grow. I would encourage people new to iPhoneography or photography to follow their instincts and take pictures as often as possible.
Recently I started a collaboration with one of my friends. We decide to publish on the web every week a story written from or inspired by a photograph. Right now, the texts are in French, but I hope that we can provide an English translation soon. This project is called, “A Pen, A Look” at http://www.uneplume-unregard.fr.
Above: Sous influence divine. © Stéphane Mahé
Stéphane, what are your favorite or most used apps?
For shooting, I use most often Camera + Quickpix, 6×6 and occasionally Hipstamatic. For processing or retouching photos, it is quite varied, but the apps I use most often are Swankolab, Camera+, PictureShow, Iris Photo, and PhotoFX. I also discovered two new ones that I believe have great potential for me: PhotoForge and KingCamera.
Above: Conte d'été - jeux de sable. © Stéphane Mahé
It is a great honor for me to share my photos and thoughts with others. My photographs can be viewed:
Reader Comments (6)
If you are looking for someone to translate the texts from Une Plume Un Regard into English, I would be more than happy to do that for you. I am bilingual in French and English and I have a passion for Iphoneography and translation! I also love your work and really enjoyed this article (thanks Glyn :-)
Feel free to contact me at agutzmer@frontier.com
Anne