Mobile phones give artists new tools to create

When working on her nude series, artist Karen Divine sometimes joins other photographers at group photo shoots with a model in a studio. She's usually the only woman, and she's usually the only one without a high-powered digital camera. She always gets funny looks when she joins a group shoot with just her phone. Last week one photographer said to her, "Oh, gee, that works for you?" In fact, it works quite well for her. She shoots, composites and manipulates all her pieces on her iPhone. Divine's nude series explores whether a female photographer approaches photographing women differently than the male photographers who dominate the field. The series has not only been recognized as great iPhone work, but it also stacks up well against traditional photography. Her work won two awards in the international Eyephoneography photography competition and won first place in the Fine Art Nude category in the Lucie Awards, an international photography competition. Since she discovered the potential of the iPhone as a photography and art tool a year and a half ago, Divine has downloaded 50 photography apps and stowed away her bulky cameras that had been invaluable tools in her art career for the past four decades.