Insta Art: Bringing Tokyo to Durban

07 July 2015 - 02:04 By Jadan McCullough

Now that we can manipulate images in Photoshop and capture anything with an iPhone, is photography still considered art? Veteran photographer, art director and graphic designer Mark Lanning embraces the levelling of the photographic and creative playing fields: ''It gets more people into the scene and ups the ante for photographers like me. Game on," he says.After spending years plying his trade in advertising in Johannesburg, Lanning recently returned to Durban, the city of his birth.''We've done a full circle in our approach to photography," he says. ''We started with the Brownie, got more involved with expensive, impressive equipment, only to come back to basics with the highly evolved point-and-shoot nature of smartphone photography."Lanning embodies this process almost poetically - every crease and wrinkle of his worn, weathered features tells a story of the past, which is juxtaposed with his crisp, embroidered denim jacket; black, thick-rimmed specs; tastefully trim jeans; and hip sneakers.Lanning is exhibiting a series of photographs taken on his iPhone during a recent trip to Japan.Colab Tokyo is a collection of 12 black and white pieces he shot while shadowing Durban fashion designers the Holmes Brothers as they searched Tokyo for "fash-inspiration".The recurring focus on textures and materials in the pieces echo his companions' search for new textiles there .''I chose to shoot in black and white because I wanted to create a sense of grit on the pristine streets of Tokyo," he explains.Colab Tokyo runs at Saviour Brand in Station Drive Precinct, Durban, until July 31...

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