TINPIX: MADE IN PHONES: Revisited

TinPix

 MADE IN PHONES: Revisited

A couple of months ago, after attending one of many photography exhibitions in Kuala Lumpur, I realize and thought to myself wouldn’t it be cool to have a Mobile Photography-only exhibition? Looking at the increasing number of family portraits and travel photos taken with mobile/smart phones, I’m sure some of them are “gallery-worthy”. As camera phone technology advances (i.e. Nokia N8’s 12-megapixel camera) and the rising popularity of photo-sharing apps (i.e. Instagram) I wanted to see if they could match professional photography work at established galleries.







On June 18th, TinPix sent out calls for submission to friends who are fellow mobile photographers (later dubbed as ‘mophogs’) and people whose work we’ve been following, who later spread the news online. One month and over 40 entries later, 25 mophogs were chosen. Overwhelmed by their amazing work, they came from mixed backgrounds and professions; artist, lawyer, designer, student, accountant, restaurant owner, copywriter, activist, journalist, lecturer, system analyst along with professional photographers, musicians, filmmakers, even a magician.







On July 29th, ‘Made In Phones’ KL’s first mobile photography exhibition was held at MinutInit Gallery in Damansara Uptown. There were 378 work displayed from photos to digital artwork all shot, edited, manipulated on mobile phones. All printed work looked more vibrant presented in large-sized, photo paper. There were also 10 international short films and music videos screened at the event.  By popularity the devices used were iPhone, HTC, Samsung, Motorola, Nokia, Blackberry and Sony Ericsson.







Wide range of subjects covered in their work; portrait, travel, nature, architecture, animal, concert, food, street and textures. Some of the more noticeable work are Danial Radzmi’s portrait of the late director Yasmin Ahmad taken a month before she passed away, Vini Balan’s signature ’Afoot Series’ of her foot in various travels, Prakash Daniel’s ’Batavia Series’ of Jakarta street photos, Aga Dhiyaulhaq’s amazing digital mobile photo manipulation artwork, Ili FM’s concert photos displayed as show tag/stage pass, Emmy award-winner Richard Koci Hernandez’s poetic Instagram prints, Nadia J Mahfix’s morbid black & white ‘Metamorphosis Series’, James W Griffiths’ Nokia 2011 short film award-winning ‘Splitscreen: A Love Story’ and Zam Nayan’s photo-a-day project ‘Projek: 2008ku’.







At the open day there were meet and greet the mophogs sessions, mobile photography talks by Prakash Daniel and Aga Dhiyaulhaq on history, current state of mobile photography, photo-taking tips and apps, before Q&A and engaging discussion with the attendees. Behance Malaysia joined the event and had their 4th creative group meetup that was lead by Muid Latif. Thanks to Public Pantry we were served delicious snacks and refreshments during the event.







All in all, the event was a humble success, with an estimate of 250 patrons attending the 3-day free event. Their reception and feedback were very encouraging, overwhelming support that fuelled TinPix to organize more such events in the future. The group will have activities in the coming weeks i.e. meetup and mobile-photo walks, etc. Anyone with a camera phone is encouraged to join us on facebook.com/tinpix or follow twitter.com/tinpix for activity updates, mobile photography related info or just drop by and say Hello :)







TinPix would like to thank these awesome people who made ‘Made In Phones’ possible: my lovely wife Nadia for all the help and moral support. MinutInit guys- Dali, James, John and Abraham for the event setup. Yu Ming and Haziman for the speakers. Mak Ikin for the projector. Public Pantry crew, Arif and Dee for the scrumptious food. Individuals and websites who help promote the event Juice, KLue, TimeOut KL, KakiSeni, ThreadsZoo. Last but not least, all the mophogs involved Abs Lee, Aga Dhiyaulhaq, Arez Ezman, Azraai Hasry, BJSR, Danial Radzmi, Eliza Mukherjee, Faizal Joy, Fariz Hanapiah, Fauzi Yusoff, Futuna, Hafiz Jamal, Ili FM, James Valentine, James W Griffiths, Jason Van Genderen, Marco Tempest, Nadia J Mahfix, Noah Scalin, Nora, Prakash Daniel, Raihan Razman, Richard Koci Hernandez, Shah Azman, Su San, Suffian Rahman, Suzanna Juwita and Vini Balan for their extraordinary mobile photography and video work. Thank you everyone for answering my curiosity and turn it into reality :)

Photos courtesy of Arez Ezman, Danial Radzmi, Muid Latif, Nadia J Mahfix, Prakash Daniel, Su San, Suffian Rahman, Suzanna Juwita and Vini Balan
See more photos from the event at TinPix Facebook Page


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