<h3>Tell us a bit about yourself and how you got into iPhoneography. What does it mean to you?</h3>
As a child, I grew up watching my father taking photos all the time or filming on 8mm; he owned an impressive array of Leica lenses and cameras, and also enjoyed developing and printing on his own. But he was not the only influence I had, as artists were populating my family form both sides (my mother used to paint on fabrics, her parents were painters too, then there were musicians and poets...) and I was immersed in a mixture of Arts. I could smell them and watch them closely.
I did nothing artistic before my 20s, and I started from music, as I almost rejected photography. Years later, after having released a few albums and in my 30s, I realised the musical side was over and my eye was instead taking over. It was the time when Lomography was not yet such a hip thing, but I was hugely fascinated: strong colours, blurry visions, randomness made me feel free from my dad’s vision of photography and I started having fun with those cheap and intriguing cameras.
Then came Polaroid. I fell in love, and for exactly the reasons why my father had always prevented me from owning a Polaroid camera: expensive, poor image quality, non-reproducibility of the original.

In the meantime, digital was taking over and I did not restrain myself from using it of course, though I never felt much at home with it, mainly because I see it as too clean and cold for my taste. I am a son of the analog age, you see... and I like it raw. I like it grainy and blurry. I did not think the iPhone could produce anything decent, at first, so for a few months the photographic capabilities of my first iPhone remained unexplored, willingly ignored. Until I found that a colleague of mine was having fun with some apps... and so I became curious, started investigating and stumbled on CameraBag, falling in love.

iPhoneography is to me what Lomography is: the way I see photography. I haven’t abandoned my Lomos and my Polaroids of course - only, an iPhone stays better in my pocket and as I never leave home without a camera, the iPhone is the easiest to carry around...

<h3>How is it different from regular photography for you?</h3>

I don’t think there is a “regular” photography; I see this definition as some kind of “purism”, and I have learned that such a thing won’t lead you very far, preventing you from experimenting and discovering new things. Let’s just say that “classic” photography and “alternative” photography are for what concerns the iPhone getting closer thanks to technical advancement and better quality it brings. One of the best things of analog photography is the array of available films you can choose from; but these days film doesn’t come cheap, and the best ones have been discontinued.

The iPhone is a big source of excitement for me as it feels like you are always dealing with newly available films to experiment with. Any new app being released and every update feels almost like the materials to work with are growing and expanding in number and quality.

<h3>Do you feel you have an iphoneography style? If so, how would you describe it?</h3>
To have a style is always important - anything you do, you should have your own way of doing it.
Maybe I spend too much time admiring the style of others than studying my own style, but yes, in a sort of often-not-selfconscious way, I think I do have my own style, and somehow it passes through either my analog and my iPhoneography works.
But I am unable to describe my style. All I can say is... colour is so important, it comes before anything else.

<h3>What would you recommend for a beginner iPhoneographer to easily learn the craft?
Look at what others do and try to understand how they do it. Try what you fancy. Being on Flickr for a few years has been an invaluable school to me, and has teached me so much in such a short time. Pay attention to find what you like and what you don’t like, as that’s what makes you aware of yourself. I usually don’t trust people saying “anything goes with me”: if anything goes, than you have no taste of your own. You need to know your taste to find your style. I like to call this education of the eye.

<h3>What tips and tricks would you share with new iPhoneographers?</h3>
[list style="orb" color="grey"]
<ul>
<li>First and foremost: have fun and keep it so! It's the main fuel to go on, and helps in case of harder moments.</li>
<li>Find and keep trying apps, methods, ways of working until you find what you feel is good for you: new possibilities, ideas, means will help you understanding your own work, and you should be the one mastering exactely this aspect. As I said above, I don't like being a purist; to me, any means to get to a possible good photo is worth it.</li>
<li>But most of all, as I said above, develop, exercise and know your taste and eye.</li>
</ul>
[/list]

As for my method and the applications I use, these often change over time and moods; I like using various apps and in fact I own a lot of them and try to always stay up-to-date with what’s coming out, but very rarely I use more than one app for each photo. I like seeing results without needing to plan on editing; I like improvising, so multiple steps and planning in editing are most often out of the question for me. I also like giving chance its fair share, and this is why I am particularly fond of Hipstamatic: it’s really like doing real film xpro and then taking the roll to an unaware lab to process and print. The unexpected truly gives me such a thrill!

As for sharing, I store everything I do on my Mac, be it analog or digital. From there I send photos on all my streams: my flow almost always consists of one photo posted each working day as this gives me the time to fully see what reactions come for each single photo I post.

One last bit of advice: work hard to find your rules, then break them as soon as you can.

***

Born and living in Florence (Italy).
My first exhibition was in 1986 at the historic alternative Art center Pat-Pat Recorder in Florence and was videotaped for the archives of the Luigi Pecci Centre for Contemporary Art of Prato.

I have done poetry, music journalism, video, photography, singing and music producing for years. My main interest today is photography: I am a Lomographer, a Polaroider, an iPhoneographer. My photos have been exhibited and published in many occasions, in Italy and abroad.
"The *possible* exhibition" (featuring original Polaroid shots and plexiglass prints) has been traveling in various cities for almost one year between 2009 and 2010.

In 2008 I directed the short docufictionary titled "Investigation of Citizens Above All Suspicions", selected and screened in Italian and international film festivals, including the "Short Film Corner" of the 62nd Cannes Film Festival.

Watch the short movie on Vimeo: http://www.vimeo.com/2521700

http://aledigangi.com
http://www.flickr.com/ale2000
http://gplus.to/aledigangi
http://www.facebook.com/aledigangiphotographer