Search Results

If the math in the headline doesn’t make sense, let me explain. Over the past several months I’ve been shooting more and more films using my iPhone 6. I’m not the only one to enjoy the simplicity of creating more than decent-looking films using a smartphone (usually with minimal, if any, additional gear). Two of them, The Aegean and Barber Shop, have proved quite popular and now both will be shown as part of the competition at the Pocket Film Festival in Provo, Utah at the beginning of September. A month later, one of the films – The Aegean – will also be shown at The International Short Tour Film Festival in Amorgos, Greece. And since Amorgos sits in the middle of the Aegean and forms part of the Cycladic Islands, I couldn’t be more excited about the opportunity to show the film to the local audiences. After all, I created it inspired by the spectacular beauty of the sea and the journey from Athens. And – like in photography – in filmmaking sometimes the best camera is the one you have on you. P.S. If you’re interested in learning how to make films on your smartphone, I offer one-to-one and small group training sessions. See my smartphone filmmaking page for details. #iphone6 #mobilevideo #mojo #smartphonefilmmaking

Have you ever seen the Shot on iPhone 6 images? I bet you have, they seem to be everywhere – tube, billboards, online, newspapers. The Shot on iPhone 6 campaign by Apple has become one of the most recognisable campaigns of the past 12 months. Launched in March, the campaign has since won Apple the top prize for best outdoor campaign in Cannes this year. And it’s a testament not only to the phone’s stunning camera, but also to the users who’ve proved time and time again that the best camera is the one you have on you. So I’m even more excited to be able to reveal that one of my images will now be part of this campaign too. It’s a simple black-and-white picture I shot with my iPhone 6 earlier this year. So far, as far as I am aware, it has appeared as part of the campaign in Germany’s Stern magazine and – last weekend – in the Financial Times Magazine too. I’m really happy to see it in print and I’m really looking forward to seeing it on billboards too. If you spot it in the wild, do let me know! #mojo #WorldGallery #iphone6 #apple #michaldzierza

A few weeks ago I got an email from Martijn Baudoin, a Dutch designer and filmmaker, who’s been creating short, 1-minute videos featuring talented creatives. His series, “Hello, I am…” features tattoo artists, fashion designers, illustrators, etc. Having seen my series Creative Types – Martijn asked me if I wanted to collaborate. Soon we created the first international Hello I am… video, featuring Vic Lee. Vic is also a designer, but now works as an artist, creating fantastically detailed murals and drawings using his unique ‘mock Victoriana’ (as he calls it) style. His designs adorn everything – from the Virgin Atlantic VIP lounge at Los Angeles airport to the walls in the offices of Metro, Marks and Spencer and numerous London-based creative agencies. He’s designed a one-off Famous Grouse bottle and box, a gorgeous Brompton bike bag and his own puzzles. I interviewed and filmed Vic, himself a really friendly chap, in his Clerkenwell office. Martijn then edited the film together and here is the result: #creative #helloIam #MartijnBaudoin #viclee

Taken at a bus stop near London Bridge, London. Camera: Fuji X100S. My b/w street photography and colour street photography galleries have had a refresh, have a look. #fujix100s #London #streetphotography

My latest short video portrait introduces Leng Montgomery, a London-based young man who at the age of 25 decided to start living the life he’d always wanted. Leng is one of the Diversity Role Models speakers and he also appears regularly on various panels and talks with media professionals about trans issues. #LengMontgomery #LGBT #LondonPride

I hardly ever look at Instagram in a browser. Why should I? But last week’s redesign made it more appealing to look at. Simpler is almost always better. It’s clean, flat and great for browsing individual profiles. (If you know the url). But it’s still completely useless if you want to search for a user or a hashtag. I understand Instagram doesn’t want users to switch from the app to a browser (would they anyway?), but the limited functionality is a mystery to me. Anyone care to explain that one? (Oh, I’m michald on Instagram, since you’re asking). #instagram

I was surprised how expensive Mr Toppers in Tottenham Court Road has become. I haven’t been to a barber since I decided to cut my own hair. Or what remains of it. At Fred’s barber shop in Dubuque, Iowa, it’s $11 for adults and $10 for seniors and children. Cheaper than Mr Toppers. And probably more charming too. I came across Fred’s shop while at the Julien Dubuque Film Festival where a film I directed had its premiere. I was walking around Dubuque trying to get over my jetlag and hoping to find a subject for a mini-documentary I could shoot using my iPhone 6, the only video camera I had on me that day. Fred’s shop didn’t look like much from the outside. It sat in the middle of a row of slightly dilapidated stores and restaurants along Main Street, opposite a place called Dubuque Religious Center. But inside – oh boy – inside it was a whole different world. If you watch the video below you can hear from the horse’s mouth about the history of the place and how Fred became its owner and a curator at the same time. Because the place is like a museum – Fred inherited some barber paraphernalia from the previous owner, added some from his private collection, then started buying some quirky, rare or simply forgotten items to add to his impressive collection. So if the lovely Art Deco interior doesn’t bowl you over, there is also the lovely cabinet at the back which Fred kindly opened for us to show us everything – from an ancient dandruff lotion to pretty unusual contraptions used a few decades ago to sharpen the razors. After hearing Fred’s poignant remarks at the end of the film I’m even more glad my jetlag brought me to his shrine when it did. He is one of the very few traditional barbers remaining in Dubuque, a fraction of what the town had to offer a few decades ago. And that, I’m afraid, is probably symptomatic of a wider phenomenon. So if you’re EVER in Dubuque, do visit 940 Main Street, get yourself a decent haircut and ask Fred to show you his grandpa’s razor. It’s there. In a tall glass cabinet with sliding doors. At the back of the coolest barber shop I’ve ever been to: Scroll down for more stills from the video: #barber #iphone6 #video #michaldzierzavideo #iphone

How can being curious help your career? This is the main question behind our video series called Curiosity & Opportunity, I’ve co-created with Ian Sanders (iansanders.com). In episode three, shot entirely on an iPhone 6, we meet Dan Rubin, photographer, designer, creative director, for whom the iPhone has become one of the tools of the trade. Dan has a gigantic following on Instagram and Twitter, he travels the world extensively and can often be seen and heard as a speaker at various conferences on creativity, photography or mobile journalism. The smartphone, along with a range of digital and film cameras Dan uses, has opened up a lot of opportunities for him. But is there still room for curiosity? How important is curiosity in what he does? Here Dan explains how he tries to share what he’s learned through being curious: Previous Curiosity & Opportunity videos: James Victore Jane ni Dhulchaointi Know anyone you think we should feature? Want to be featured yourself? hello [at] dzierza.com #DanRubin #instagram #photography

Here I was, thinking that I have no time for street photography and that film production has overtaken my life completely. But a quick rummage through my 2015 files (unbelievable how quickly they pile up) made me realise it’s actually not been as bad as I thought. True, I haven’t done many ‘dedicated’ street projects in the past 6 weeks, but I’ve still managed to get a few ok-ish shots. So here are my 2015 London street favourites so far. OK, while strictly speaking not a street shot, this is one of my favourites. Taken at Heathrow Terminal 5. This one was taken in Soho: Then there were my old favourites, the Southbank… …and Shoreditch: All very eclectic, but I like it that way. For more, see my street and street in colour galleries. #London #streetart #streetphotography

We copy legally available music illegally all the time and think nothing of it. But things were different some 60-70 years ago in Soviet Russia where the term ‘legally available music’ referred to music that wasn’t prohibited by the state censor. And a lot of it was. Back then those who copied music didn’t do it because they were too stingy to splash out on the latest Ella Fitzgerald or Elvis Presley record. No. They simply didn’t have access to those records. Some music was banned – mostly Western, but also that by some unruly domestic crooners – some was simply difficult to get hold of. So what do you do? As always in such circumstances, you improvise and invent. Luckily, there was an overabundance of old X-ray films in Soviet hospitals. Someone also got hold of a nifty machine that could turn an image of a human skull into a jazz record. Mind-boggling, eh? The technology wasn’t only used in Russia, in fact it is claimed it had been used extensively in Hungary earlier, where shellac resin, back then used to create records, was unavailable after the second World War. Old X-ray films became a cheap substitute. The X-Ray Audio project is the brainchild of Stephen Coates, a London-based musician who discovered X-ray based music in Russia a few years ago. Together with photographer Paul Heartfield they travelled back to Russia to meet the surviving bootleggers, document their stories and preserve what remains of this once-thriving underground business. This is a truly fascinating subject that seems to captivate people by combining pain and suffering reflected in the X-rays with the pleasure of listening to music. I met with Stephen and Paul at The Horse Hospital in central London (home of the project for a couple of months) to find out more about X-Ray Audio for my ongoing Creative Types project: Previous Creative Types: Rob Lowe aka Supermundane (video) Dave Walker (video) Niall McDiarmid (video) James M. Barrett (video) Roger Ballen (video) Paul Clarke (video) Adde Adesokan (interview/pics) Przemek Wajerowicz aka From The Upper Deck (interview/pics – and here’s his new book) Pablo Delgado (photos) Oleg Gutsol of 500px.com (interview) #history #creativetypes #music #video #xrayaudio

Last year I started an occasional video series with Ian Sanders called Curiosity & Opportunity. We want to find out how various creators, entrepreneurs and explorers use curiosity in their professional lives. Does curiosity create more opportunities for them or does it not matter at all? You can see our first interview with James Victore and read more about the project here. This time we spoke to Jane ni Dhulchaointi, founder and CEO of London-based company called Sugru (Irish for ‘play’). You might have used Sugru at home, you might have seen it in the wild, or you might be completely oblivious to its existence. Regardless of which camp you fall into, you’ll enjoy Jane’s story of discovery fuelled by pure curiosity. It’s fascinating how by constantly asking questions and surrounding yourself with like-minded people, you can create an amazing product which is quickly conquering the world. #JaneniDhulchaointi #sugru

Towards the end of 2014 I travelled several times across the mind-blowingly stunning Aegean Sea between Athens and the Cycladic Islands. Each time I filmed some footage using just my iPhone 6, hoping to be able to edit it into something meaningful later. I had other video gear on me, but wanted to see how the iPhone will cope with the conditions. And cope it did. Suffice to say, no tripod was used (I tried my gorilla pod a couple of times, but each time the strong winds won). The footage was edited in FCPX and – save for two short clips – wasn’t colour corrected or otherwise adjusted. Some additional stabilisation was added to the already impressively smooth footage. By which I don’t mean my hands are a replacement for a sturdy tripod, just the iPhone 6’s stabilisation proved to be pretty awesome once more. During the crossings I witnessed some beautiful sunrises, lots of cloudporn and a storm that reminded me no ship is safe when the sea gets really angry. So here is my short tribute to the beauty of the Aegean and the Greek landscape. Turn the volume up and enjoy. #iphone6 #travel #video