Turning the world "Inside Out" with your iPhone.

Today I took a self portrait with my iPhone, I uploaded this to www.insideoutproject.net, this picture will now be blown up to poster size, sent to me, and I will paste it on a wall in my neighborhood. I'd like to think of it as my first escapade into street art:


So what the heck is going on? I just finished watching this wonderful TED Talk by JR, in which he talks about the past several years he's spent going around the world putting up photographs of the local populations. His destinations included Israel, Sudan, Rio De Janeiro, Sierra-Leone, and the list goes on. Everywhere he went, he would take pictures of the locals and paste their giant bust on walls, or their eyes on the side of buildings, tops of trains- you name it. The idea was to remind people that the city was theirs. I love this concept of taking ownership of the world around you. Not just for the strength in numbers, but for the concept that pride is what you make it. In Africa they printed images on vinyl, and used them to cover the roves of large huts. People felt so much ownership of their new roof that they even kept their sections when they moved away.

HOW TO:
You can upload your own self portrait and receive it back in full poster size to be put up around your town! http://www.insideoutproject.net Now if you don't want a giant picture of yourself on your nearest street corner: you're crazy... This is good old fashioned fun you can accomplish with an iPhone in 10 minutes.


All you need is a simple light source, close and diffused (anything opaque works to diffuse). Here I chose behind my door to get a nice blank background- wanna keep it pro now! Set that light close and and above your face, and don't really worry if it's yellow or orange just as long as it's strong- your final product is B&W remember. Standing about 1-2 feet away from your light and about 2 feet off the wall, hold your iPhone just below the light (as you're looking at it). Be careful to get everything in with your framing and start snapping. This is the part where you look stupid a lot:

Next comes the difficult task of choosing which photo to stick with... I went with "Big head has a secret"... but believe me "give'em the tongue" was a close 2nd... Finally, turn your chosen product black and white (super easy in almost any photo application). If you want to add a touch to the final product feel free to play with your contrast and brightness. I always like upping the contrast and dropping the brightness a little with most B&W. Once you're happy- upload, and enjoy!