The Story So Far

Nicki

In 2009, I had the dream life living by the sea, having moved from London where I graduated with an Hons degree from Chelsea School of Art in graphic design specialising in illustration.

After graduating I had worked as an illustrator and graphic designer for many years before moving with my partner Bob and our son to live by the seaside.

Initially, my new job as a graphic designer was great but after several  years in the role, I felt burnt out; my work felt stale and my creativity was at an all time low.

One evening Bob gave me an iPhone because he thought I might enjoy playing with some of the creative photography apps on there…

He was right…..

I began experimenting right away and devoured all of the creative apps available at that time, taking photos and processing them through filters, cutting them up and creating little collages on the tiny screen.

I had found precisely the creative kick that I needed.

The images were pretty lo-res at the time but the potential for creativity was huge and I became hooked on experimenting with the different apps and sharing them with the quickly growing iPhoneography community online.

In 2010 my iPhone photographs were exhibited at the first Eyephoneography Exhibition in Madrid. My iPhone photography was also exhibited at FORMAT; a UK Photography Festival exploring Street Photography.

I was keen to share my work and learn more about the creative possibilities of this new medium, so in April 2011, after failing to find an online resource for learning the art of iPhoneography, I founded the website iPhoneographyCentral.com; a place for experimentation and learning how to create art and photography on the iPhone, showcasing iPhone image makers from around the world.

In 2012, fellow iPhone artist, Bob Weil in California joined me at iPC, albeit remotely and suggested we create a book to share the amazing creativity and techniques that iPhone artists were exploring at the time with a shared goal of inspiring others. 

In 2013 our book The Art of iPhone Photography – Creating Great Photos and Art on your iPhone was published featuring art from 45 iPhone artists including myself and Bob. The book sold out!

After the book launched, things went pretty crazy.

I presented a series for AdoramaTV on iPhone photography, and accepted many iPhoneography related invitations including judging various iPhone art awards like The Mobile Photography Awards (MPA) and delivering iPhone photography and art workshops in London, Ireland and Los Angeles.

I was a keynote speaker on the subject of iPhone photography at the groundbreaking Mobile journalism conference in Dublin in March 2015; Mojocon and have returned to the event every year teaching iPhone photo art workshops. My iPhone art represented by LA agent, ClearedInk – was featured in TV commercials including a Beats headphone advert and in various magazines and on book covers. I also began selling prints of my work, writing a regular column for Mobiography magazine and was asked to create a series of online mobile art video courses for the Photo art course website myphotoartisticlife.com.

I am now in the happiest place, back in the studio working with both my iPad, iPhone and real paint and paper; mixing everything I have learned from my photographic journey exploring apps like Procreate, SuperimposeX and Snapseed with my drawing, painting and illustration background and sharing my knowledge via my online teaching classes. 

Remaining insatiably curious is key to a creative life and it’s easy to overlook what’s already close to you. I draw inspiration from the ordinary things in  every day life and trust in my imagination to lead the way.

I hope that my classes help others to live a more creative life simply by looking more closely at the world because, as British Artist, David Hockney said, “there is a lot of pleasure to be had from looking more closely.”

Nicki