Exhibit features cameraphone photos

“Alleyways are good except you run into homeless people, and people think you’re crazy because you’re walking around with a phone,” photographer Patrice Elmi said recently at an art gallery showcasing her work.
So goes the photographer’s newly inspired art form, which she calls “Visual Urban Abstracts.”
Elmi has been a photographer most of her adult life, and has had her worked showcased in exhibits many times before, but this is a new arena for her. The longtime avid user of the traditional 35-millimeter camera was taking a walk about 18 months ago when a rush of vivid colors, angles and shapes caught her artistic eye. Without her trusty film camera on hand, Elmi decided to try taking some shots with her cameraphone.
From then on it was a snowball effect. Surprised by the quality of the photos and enamored by the ease of use and ubiquity of it all, Elmi hit the ground running and started snapping photos of things we all see every day, but may not take the time to enjoy.
“Everyone was telling me ‘go digital, go digital,’ and I’m like ‘no, I refuse, ‘” she said. “I haven’t used my 35mm camera, I’ve got to say, in at least a year. And I know that I said I wouldn’t go digital, but this is different.”
Ever the artistic traditionalist, Elmi doesn’t retouch or edit any of the photos after she takes them. If anything, she will do some minor cropping here and there to get the right frame for the picture. “I don’t take like 15 shots to find the right one, I take one,” she said. “This is actually more fun and quicker, and gives instant gratification.”
Still, most people don’t believe the photos were taken with her 1.3-megapixel cameraphone made by LG Electronics Co. Ltd., she said. When Elmi was searching out sponsorships to get her work in a gallery, she eventually found a perfect fit in LG. The handset manufacturer quickly came on board as a sponsor, and has even put the more powerful LG vx8700 in her hands. She now has a catalog of more than 2,000 photos that were taken with mobile phones and has created a tip sheet for aspiring photographers looking to harness the potential of the mobile medium.
Her “Views from a Cell” exhibit at Drkrm Gallery in Los Angeles comprises 100 6×6 photos clustered by thematic colors against white walls. Up-close shots of street signs, buses, door knobs, railings, ceramic tiles, water faucets, colored brickwork, corners of buildings and sidewalks all made their way into the exhibit, which opened April 21.
“I kind of wanted to keep them small, small like the cellphone,” she said. “I get really neurotic in putting these things together.”
The vibrant colors in her photos are mixed with things like a ripped “no war for oil” poster and shadows from nearby items.
All the photos in the exhibit were captured in the greater Los Angeles area, but Elmi said she has a soft spot for Venice and Santa Monica so many photos from the exhibit find their home there.