PHOTOS
09 November 2023
New iPhone photography exhibition debuts in Paris on November 10
The event held at the Salon Corderie features work from five esteemed photographers, all shot on iPhone
“I Remember You,” a photography exhibition opening in Paris on Friday, November 10, will highlight original work shot on iPhone 15 Pro Max celebrating the intersection of photography and nostalgia. The collective work of esteemed artists Malin Fezehai, Karl Hab, Vivien Liu, Mika Ninagawa, and Stefan Ruiz incorporates people, places, and things that move them, exploring the transience of their most precious memories and the power of photography to preserve them. And in doing so, they showcase the utility, ease of use, and image quality enabled by the impressive capabilities of the camera system on their iPhone 15 Pro Max.
“‘I Remember You’ brings together five photographers who share their deeply personal conceptions of memory, connection, and nostalgia,” explains Isolde Brielmaier, Ph.D., the exhibition’s curatorial advisor. “It is a moving glimpse of life, preserved in time.”
A picture has the power to both preserve and amplify a memory. It can transport people to a moment in time, evoke a feeling, and reveal new perspectives in a nearly universal visual language. And with iPhone 15 Pro users having access to a professional camera in their pocket — with the equivalent of seven pro lenses and an all-new 5x Telephoto camera on iPhone 15 Pro Max to capture stunning detail from afar, as well as a 48MP Main camera that offers a new super-high-resolution 24MP default with incredible image quality — everyone around the world is empowered to document their experiences.
In celebration of the opening, each artist spoke about how iPhone has contributed to their creative process and what they hope people will remember from their featured work.
Malin Fezehai is an Eritrean/Swedish photographer, filmmaker, and visual reporter currently living in New York. She has worked in over 40 countries in the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and America. Fezehai is a National Geographic explorer, and in 2023, she became a Climate Pledge grantee. She is working on a project about adaptation to living on water. Her career started in her native Sweden, where she studied photography before attending the International Center of Photography in New York. Her work focuses on communities of displacement and dislocation around the world. She was commissioned by the United Nations Development Programme to photograph survivors of violent extremism across sub-Saharan Africa and published a book titled Survivors. She has received a 2015 World Press Photo Award and the Wallis Annenberg Prize, and was named one of the “30 Emerging Photographers to Watch” in 2015 by Photo District News. Her image depicting a wedding of Eritrean refugees in Israel was the first iPhone photo ever to receive a World Press Photo Award.
“The integration of the iPhone into my photography workflow marked a significant shift in how I perceive and capture the world around me — feeling more inclined to capture life as it happens — the fleeting, candid moments that often define the human experience,” Fezehai says. “Its ease of use and ability to capture high-quality images effortlessly enables me to explore and document the ordinary in extraordinary ways. That sentiment is embodied in the work I created for the show.”
Karl Hab, born in 1990 and currently residing in Paris, is a well-established photographer who also holds a certification as an aeronautics engineer. When he’s not on the move, Hab’s passions for aviation, design, art, and fashion come to the forefront. His frequent travel allows him to immerse himself in international fashion and street culture, which serve as inspiration for his personal projects. A true wanderer at heart, Hab has been capturing the world through his lens for over 15 years, and there’s no sign of him slowing down. His natural inclination leads him toward action-packed moments, and with his new iPhone 15 Pro Max, his work has gained a new perspective.
“Shooting with iPhone is like having a third hand that could capture exactly what I wanted when I wanted,” Hab says. “I know I can rely on iPhone to precisely match what I see on the screen. And with this recent model, the 5x lens made me see things differently. You can truly push the limits of the device and showcase a different perspective on your work.”
Vivien Liu is a photographer based in Hong Kong. She received her Master of Architecture degree at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design, where she was awarded the prestigious Clifford Wong Prize in Housing Design. After 15 years in architecture, Liu discovered a passion for photographing the urban scenes of Hong Kong and other cities around the world. Because of her professional background, she is known for portraying space and subjects with a trained architectural eye. The synergy between people and space is a consistent theme in her work, which has brought an international spotlight on the cultural identity of Hong Kong, highlighting its architecture, people, and natural landscape.
“iPhone first became an integral part of my process when I started traveling and snapping scenes from my journeys,” Liu recalls. “I’ve come to rely on it for my commercial work at various stages in the creative process with its wide array of focal lengths and shooting modes. The 5x lens on iPhone 15 Pro Max was indispensable when trying to zero in on the details and textures of the aged buildings around me. Combined with the abundance of natural lighting, I was able to create images that are full of contrast between light and shadow.”
Mika Ninagawa is a Tokyo-based multidisciplinary artist who works in photography and film. In 2020, she published her photo book, TOKYO. The appeal of her photography can best be summed up by a signature approach that is bathed in vivid, dreamlike colors. Whether it is portraiture, landscape, or still life, at the heart of her work are themed looks that rotate between flora, fauna, landscapes, and empowered women to create Ninagawa’s lush tableaux. Ninagawa is one of Japan’s most celebrated photographers. Her retrospective, “Mika Ninagawa: Into Fiction / Reality,” opened at Beijing Times Art Museum in spring 2022.
Stefan Ruiz is based in Brooklyn, New York. He has taught art at San Quentin State Prison in California and was the creative director at COLORS magazine. His work has appeared in publications such as The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, Vogue, and TIME. His photographs have been exhibited at International Center of Photography Museum in New York, the Photographers’ Gallery in London, Les Rencontres d’Arles, PHotoEspaña, Havana Biennial, and the CONTACT Photography Festival in Toronto. He has published four monographs, including The Factory of Dreams, a book on Mexican soap operas published by Aperture in 2012, and Mexican Crime Photographs, published by GOST Books in 2016.
“The iPhone is able to make my shoots feel less formal, which helps make the subjects feel comfortable,” Ruiz says. “When they’re able to pass the phone around to see and comment on the images, it makes the whole process feel more collaborative.”
“I Remember You” will be on display at the Salon Corderie in Le Marais in Paris on Friday, November 10, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
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