Yaohong is a Singaporean photographer (and also a web designer, programmer, blogger, doodler) famous for his Asian Photography Blog but he also takes interesting pictures. I especially love this series, “We Don’t Live Here Anymore“, about his old house.
In December 2008, my family moved out of our house. It was more of a necessity forced by life’s circumstances. The place contained many memories, eight years worth of tears and joys in a tumultuous period of my life. The project revolved around the bits and pieces of us left behind. After our departure, would the walls still remember us?
Unfortunately, this work-in-progress can never be revisited.
I believe that a photographer’s most interesting and passionate work can be seen when s/he’s shooting their hometown. I see that he started this series after returning home from US. To leave his hometown for a long period of time and back again can give him a refreshingly new perspective of the city.
“I noticed there were numerous text-only books by Japanese photographers out in the market. It was really remarkable to me that they were writing so much because at Aperture even to get a list of captions from a photographer was like pulling teeth. Nobody seemed to want to write anything, or to commit to putting any words on paper, I should say.
[...]
I became very curious as to what these photographers were writing about so profusely. I soon came to realize that what these photographers were writing was quite integral to their photography as a whole; it was part of the project and the process of photography. Words and images were quite closely linked in Japanese photography.
[...]
The photograph in Japan doesn’t exist in a vacuum, isolated from other elements. Context, as provided by texts or the medium by which the image is distributed, is integral.”
My friend, Kurniadi Widodo, is a talented young photographer based in Yogyakarta, a home for many talented artists. He shoots almost (as far as I know) exclusively in black & white and has a knack for finding and aligning the geometrical pattern into his composition. The latter is, perhaps, due to his architectural study background. He’s currently a member of Unposed, a group of street photographers in Indonesia.
“These photographs were taken in Chongqing, the biggest city along the Yantzi river in the Three Gorges area in China, where my home town is.
I started this project from 2005 without any ambitious plan to document the great transition of the Three Gorges area and the inevitable disappearance of the historical sites along the Yantzi river. Instead of making visual comments of the larger social issues through camera, I think what I did is nothing more than merely taking photographs of the local people’s daily routines and their ordinary life scenes. I respect and express my esteem of the life, the life full of interesting things and boring things, the life of individuals and the public, who were standing, sitting, hugging or isolating from each other in these photographs.
What part of the Three Gorges area has been actually changed is difficult to describe explicitly, so does the parrellel ambiguity in my photographs. I only wish that my memory of this special area in China could last longer, even forever. In my negative slides, there exists the warmth of the life, which belongs to the people who were born and raised in this piece of land.”
JS: What has been the most successful way for you to get assignment work?
NK: The internet.
I have not gotten work any other way. The whole drop your portfolio thing off never worked for me. I found that approach to be the most frustrating and demeaning process there is. I have a portfolio but I never show it around. I really haven’t needed to.
I have also never sent out postcards or done any self promotion campaign.
I just put my work online, either my website, which I have had since 2000 (it looked way different back then) or on the photo sharing websites. I started with Fotolog after I left art school and then ended up on flickr. 90 percent of the work I get now is through flickr and other 10 percent is from personal connections I have made. I have had art directors and photo editors reach out to me after seeing my work on flickr. Then it snowballs. They publish you in a magazine, another magazine sees it, you get another job. That art director moves to another magazine and hires me at the new mag.
The work just came. I always figured I would just make and share the work I want to make and the rest would come. So far it has. Although, it never really feels like it’s enough. Maybe I should try that portfolio drop off thing again.
I have been following Dani Subagja’s blog for a long time and enjoying his pictures from Hong Kong. He is indeed one of Indonesia’s talented photographers. Dicky Jiang contacted him and help me pass along these questionnaires. About Dani himself, to borrow the words from Dicky:
“ I came across Dani’s work while browsing around through another fellow photoblogger. The way he could capture random moments in an urban environment, with the interaction of the streetscapes, the people and the elements in a blink of an eye, is amazed me.
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Hi Dani, can you tell us a bit about yourself?
I’m male. I like going out, but I’m not an outgoing person. I’m part of generation X (what the heck is that!) or young adults in some of age group theories. Aw…aw…
When was your first encounter with photography? Do you still remember your first camera and first picture ever taken?
I took some photos with my father’s Yashica when I was in Junior High for documentary purpose (family and friends photos). However, I consider myself started doing photography in 2005. Back then my camera was Panasonic FZ-3 with first interest on Hong Kong skyscrapers.
You’re Indonesian who takes pictures in Hong Kong (and on early posts, pictures of Vietnam). What do you do for a living?
I’ve been residing in Hong Kong for several years. I’m helping with one of Hong Kong registered charity organizations and doing photo documentation for several social events.
You have a day-job and a family, yet you have to find time to take pictures (and edit them) and maintaining a blog. Any practical tips on how you do it all? I believe there are many people with the same case.
I’m lucky that my life and my daily living is not complicated and quite flexible. I prefer evening to night time to develop the negatives, scan them, and doing the blog. I’m bringing my camera wherever I go and therefore, I give myself opportunity to take picture almost every time.
How important is it for a photographer to have a blog?
I think having blog is very important for photographer who wants to share his/her creative works with others. Furthermore, for me it is the way to enjoy my own photos.
We see that you have a special interest in human on the streets (thus your blog name “Street Moments”). What prompted you to start taking pictures on the streets?
Street represents the dynamic communal place/environment; where “split seconds” are happening all the time. There are lots of unexpected encounters. There are also chances to be close with others while I am still able to opt to be stranger to them or not. Other than that, it’s a wise way to make use of good pair of walking shoes [“Get a good pair of walking shoes and …fall in love” is Abbas advice for young photographers in one of his interviews].
We also see that you have a keen eye on geometry. How important is it as a factor in your composition?
I guess l naturally like geometry . I can say I rarely prepare what I’m going to photograph. While taking photos, the geometry just comes naturally; especially in the place like Hong Kong which is rich of geometrical scenes. I find it’s pretty interesting to get composition of combined geometry + people + (specific) moment.
Why black & white?
In my opinion, black & white photo somehow is more able to tell the depth of the story; something beyond the color (black & white) itself since it might be easier to get disrupted by the colors of photo with more colors. I agree both colors and black & white work better for certain subjects. I think colors photo describes the subject while black & white photos narrates the subject. As additional to that, I guess it also has to do with my personal taste. I find black & white photos appeal to me and inspired me better.
What is your most memorable picture? Can you share the story?
This is difficult; I’m very fond of many pictures I have taken. Among them are the photos I took in southern Vietnam. I think I’ve been obsessed with Vietnam and its history. I traveled there for about 14 days and did some tours to the interesting historical places with cool travel guides. I made new friends who took me to distinctive local eatery and to try distinctive local cuisine. I met cyclo driver who requested me to take photo with him and his cyclo without any reward. I met a war veteran who was very keen to be photographed as well as to exchange email addresses. I felt quite safe there although it’s a strange land. The food fit my taste buds. What else I can say; it’s sort of a perfect journey to me.
What do you want to achieve in photography? Your goal, plan or even a dream.
As simple as to capture the specific moment and scene, then to tell them in the present time; as ambitious as to rewind the photographs again in the future.
Who is your inspiration in life & photography?
In life: my better half, feeling of comfort, good days, nights, and music.
In photography: black & white photos, especially magnum photos.
What do you like to do when not taking pictures?
Spending time with person(s) I’m comfort with, watching movies, sleeping, and doing computer/internet-related things.
What is the meaning of photography to you?
I couldn’t find suitable words to describe it well, please advise me :)).
Photography is a real deal to me; I have loyal feeling to it, it relates closely with my mind and my character, it simply helps me to figure out myself and to record my encounters with other subjects.
My recent photographic journey across the web has led me to Stella Kalaw. It leads me to her project “Family Spaces” which has become one of my inspiration ever since. She has been documenting her family spaces in care of small details of mundane things of her and her family’s life. And with consistency too, producing great images that stand out from the first time I saw it on her website (especially the red tsinelas). Sooner or later, I knew I have to contact and to talk to her. She’s been kind to reply my e-mails and agreed to be interviewed. I’d love to see her works on prints someday.
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Hi Stella, can you tell me a bit about yourself?
I was born and raised in Manila, Philippines and I moved to America with my siblings in 1991. I’ve been doing photography since the age of 19 and till this day, I’m still very much engaged with the medium.
When was your first encounter with photography? Do you still remember your first picture and your first camera?
I recently rediscovered a super 8 film footage taken by my dad in the 70′s where I was photographing my siblings using an old kodak instamatic camera. Although I don’t remember the image I took, it was fascinating to see myself as a young child so eager to take a picture.
The first SLR camera I used was a Canon AE-1. I was in 7th grade when I photographed my first images of volleyball players during an annual sportsfest in school. I was fascinated by the power of the camera to stop time and to have a tangible material hold memory. It has stayed with me and I’ve never lost this fascination.
I first knew you through your work “Family Spaces”. I like it a lot. Can you tell me the story behind this project?
I’ve been apart from my family for over a decade and I wanted to do a project that speaks of my longing to be close to them. I did not want my family to be in the photographs because I wanted to emphasize their absence. So, during a visit to my brother in Prague, I suddenly thought of this idea of a floor plan where I would photograph each of their personal space and juxtapose them together as if they belonged in one home. Building the visual narrative was quite a slow process. I only see my family once or twice a year and those are the only opportunities to photograph their homes. I am still continuing the series and I am hoping to turn it into a book someday.
What prompted you to do daily life documentary like this?
In early 2002, I took on a full time job in a different field to get my financial situation in order. Because work ate up much of my time, I began to look at my everyday life in a different way. I took my camera with me at all times so I could discover the beauty of the ordinary. Several years later, I’ve also discovered that mundane things, when closely observed, can hold meaning based on one’s own personal experience.
In your bio, you wrote that your work “explores narratives rooted from memory, cultural identity and familial experiences”. I think those are common concepts that most people encounter everyday. Yet, not so many people turn them into a more positive outlet, such as art, the way you do. How do you visualize such concepts into your work?
Aside from my own life experiences, I draw concepts from different things. I look at other art disciplines such as painting, drawing, sculpture, graphic design and architecture. I also look at other photographer’s projects as well. I always keep a notebook in my bag in case I come across a passage from a book or a magazine that spoke to me. Sometimes, I draw rudimentary sketches of visual ideas that come to mind. Lately, I’ve been writing down my observations of mundane things or situations. I have plenty of these notebooks filled out and I refer to them when I want to begin a project or when I find myself in a creative rut.
What is your advice to young photographers who want to start similar projects?
Develop a keen sense of observation of your everyday life. Make it a habit to photograph regularly or at least frame your surroundings in your mind as if you are constantly looking through a viewfinder. Be patient with yourself and with the creative process. It takes time to complete a project. I always remember what Alex Webb said in a workshop I attended: “the pictures will dictate when the project is done.”
How important is your family to your life and your works?
Family is very important in my life especially now that we live so far away from each other. We make it a point to see each other once or twice a year. As I get older, I feel reminiscent of my siblings and our childhood growing up in Manila. I draw my strength and inspiration from them. They have been very supportive of my photography.
I also saw your other work “The House Remembered”. In a way, it also shows us your family spaces. Is this series somehow related to “Family Spaces”?
In terms of concept, the two projects are not related to each other. However, I would say they are aesthetically similar which alludes to consistency in style and personal vision.
On “The House Remembered” you collaborated with writer, Marianne Villanueva. I think it’s an interesting collaboration. I liked how the pictures and text work together beautifully. How did it work out for the two of you? Which one came first, the writing or the pictures?
Thank you. I am glad you responded to the work. I showed Marianne the rough prints from Family Spaces about two years ago and she responded to them quite positively. Later on, she came across a submission for an anthology project and broached the idea of collaborating together. Once we agreed on a concept, I did the photographs first and then she wrote about them afterwards.
If you can choose, who do you want to work with (collaborate) for your next project?
I would like to collaborate with Mediastorm, a multimedia production studio based in Brooklyn, New York. Their projects are so evocative. I see some of the work I will be doing in the future have an audio visual component to them.
What is your next project? Can you share a sneak preview?
There are so many projects I want to pursue but I have to prioritize them based on limited time and resources. Currently, I am working on a project that tackles the subject of family again but instead of focusing on absence I want to document their presence. Right now, I have a series of portraits I’ve taken in the last few years but I don’t see a visual narrative emerging yet. Somewhere down the road, I want to work on something about the Filipino diaspora around the world. I’m inspired by the book, “The Roma Journeys” by Joakim Eskildsen.
Who/what is/are your inspiration(s) in life and photography?
Life: I am always inspired by simple people who live their life with dignity. I am also inspired by men and women who have undergone adversity but still come out of the experience looking at the brighter side.
Photography: Currently, I am inspired by the works of the these photographers: KayLynn Deveney, Martina Mullaney, Harry Gruyaert, Michael Wolf, Mitch Epstein, Dinu Li, Alec Soth, Alex Webb, David Alan Harvey, Sam Abell and Irving Penn.
What do you do when not taking pictures?
That’s a difficult question because photography is very much integrated in my life. I love to travel but I always have my camera with me. I love spending time with my family and yet, the camera is close by. I recently discovered that I actually enjoy writing after blogging for almost a year. That involves photography too.
What is the meaning of photography for you?
Henri Cartier-Bresson in his book, The Mind’s Eye said that “photographers deal in things that are continually vanishing…” Photography means being able to preserve those vanishing moments and hold pieces of them in a tangible form. In the end, it is about bringing them together to form a view of the world that is uniquely my own.
Stella Kalaw is a photographer based in the San Francisco Area. Her images explore narratives rooted from memory, cultural identity and familial experiences. She has participated in group exhibitions in Seattle, San Francisco, New York, Manila and Singapore. Her first solo exhibition is slated in January 2008 at the Silverlens Gallery, Manila.
When I browse the web for pictures, even for fun, it’s hard not to notice the massive archive of Magnum Photos. It’s one of the world’s most renowned photo agency afterall. You just input a keyword and see whatever come up from the archive. It’s fun, you should try it yourself.
And when you want to have one of the best cameras or lenses in the world, I doubt it if you don’t even consider the Leica. It is highly regarded among photographers (and seem to be highly priced too). It’s not just a tool it has become a symbol. It’s said (unproven though) that just by carrying one you can actually raise your self-esteem. No kidding. Have you ever carry an M8 on the street? (Just remember that just by buying a brand new M8 you’re a proud Leica owner but not yet a photographer, so just go out there and shoot!)
So what Magnum Photos and Leica have in common? Both are famous and both combined are legendary. You can almost always hear the tale of how great they are even until today. Many young photographers dream of becoming a member of Magnum Photos and many of us dream of having a Leica M series.
There is nothing wrong with all that. Legends, afterall, starts from a dream and one can dream to become a legend. Dream on, dream until your dream comes through.
“This series of photographs were taken between 2006 and 2008. I don’t know how many personae a person may have, as I don’t know what the future of the life is. When I met those people, the only thing that I can relied on was the realities around me and my own intuition. Pressing the shutter release button became a ritual of understanding human beings and their lives. — Silence (2006-2008) by Muge Tang
“The Temples of Angkor undoubtedly has an important position in the life of Cambodian people. Not only in terms of tourism but also in their culture, religion and national identity, the latter is shown clearly in the national flag. The Angkor Archaeological Park, located in northern Cambodia, is claimed as the most important archaeological site in South East Asia.
Stretching over 400 square kilometers, Angkor has been a major tourist destination in Cambodia. But along with the increasing number of tourist visiting the site, the original condition inside the temples are deteriorating. To preserve this valuable heritage and culture of Cambodia, an effort to preserve the artifacts is currently under progress at Angkor Conservation Office (Conservation D’Angkor) where approximately 7,000 items from the temples are kept and registered.
After studying photography at Galeri Foto Jurnalistik Antara in 2006, Rony Zakaria has been doing some personal documentary projects. In 2007, he was selected among several young photographers across Asia to join the photography workshop at Angkor Photography Festival. Saving Angkor was his project during the festival where he document the preservation of the heritage and cultural artifacts in Angkor.
I’ve been following his works for a while, and I think he’s good, but I can feel he’s changing after the 2007 Angkor Photo Festival. He’s shaping and developing his personal style nicely after that and growing to become the future of Indonesia documentary photography.
When I first set my eyes on the works of Karolus Naga, I can’t take my eyes off of the rich black & white pictures. But that’s not all, it’s the content that really seduce you. He sees the world around him, the simple daily life, and turns it into a beautiful picture along with beautiful texts. Yes, I think he writes as good as he takes pictures, no doubt about it. And while I think he’s a good photographer, a really good one, I think he’s bigger than that. I think we’re seeing a philosopher with a camera and a big dream ready to set his feet in the big world out there.
“I’m so tired but I can’t sleep
Standing on the edge of something much too deep
It’s funny how we feel so much but
We cannot say a word
We are screaming inside but
We can’t be heard — Sarah McLachlan
Tell us a bit about yourself?
I’m twenty something male, with underexposed brain and overexposed dreams. And sad to say to all the chicks out there, I’m taken.
What do you do for a living? How does photography get along with your life?
Freelance photographer, that’s what the dictionary says. But you should try my brew, ha-ha kidding.
When did you first learn about photography? Initially, what did you wanted to be?
First taking pictures at 10, latter at 18 started to opened my eyes and dig inch by inch about what the heck photography is. Wasting my time in the dark room of my campus by my self, at age 21 each time I got a new lesson, there always thousand new things that I don’t know (about it). Even until now, I am as blind as the first time I started to be in love with photography. Love is blind anyway…
As a beginner, I learned most of its fields. Landscape, studio, portrait, stage performance, still life, street, macro, etc … and now I’m focusing on documentary photography. It’s funny how our life – I mean our ordinary life – looks great on a still frame.
What do you enjoy when not taking pictures?
Chess game, killing my time by reading books although I’ve already read it for many times, playing with my dog, Friday night futsal, fishing, chit chat with LSD, blog walking, news browsing etc…
But the most enjoying thing to me is in the dark room, developing the films. It’s my personal pleasure.
What is/are your special talent(s) beside photography?
To tell the truth, I don’t have any talents even in photography. But this just between me and you, I just pretend to look like a talented person.
When did you start your blog? How important it is for a photographer to have a blog?
I think it was 2006, started with personal stuff – writings and pictures – then I changed the content at 2007 to show off my photographs – once again just to pretend that I am a photographer that loves to blog. For me, a blog is similar to an exhibition gallery of who the hell I am.
The world is a global village, said Marshall McLuhan. If you read again the words from Sarah – one that I put on the very first place of this interview page – you can figure out the meaning of an online page to everyone, no matter if you are photographer or not. Internet it self has become a ‘world’ where everybody from all round the globe connected through it. With an online page – blog in our case – we can introduce our self to the worldwide (our way of view), making connection, learning from the others works and develop our own style.
We notice on your blog that you write as good as you take pictures. While there’s a saying that a picture worth’s a thousand words, what do you think of the connection between good texts and good pictures? Which one do you enjoy most, writing or taking pictures?
I used to trust on that phrase, long time ago. I used to trust that a one point three mega pixel picture worth’s a thousand words.
But when 2002 – the first time I ‘met’ Roland Barthes – I decided to re-think about the phrase once again. I’m a barthesian for sure and ‘a picture cannot tells me the things that I wanted to see’. It worth’s nothing if there is no viewers, who have great power to put words into it. I’m not going to talking about visual semiotics craps as Barthes did on his works but indeed, his works influenced me specially when I seeing a photograph. For me, making a photograph and seeing a photograph is two different things. Writing and photography do have one thing in common, they ought to tell something. For instance, If I wanted to tell you about the East Channel Project, I can write it down in thousand words about those who lived in the Kali Adem riverside – North Jakarta easily. I will stay there for a month; dig out their stories and choosing the topic of which I wanted to tell with such style so that when you read it, you going to feel like you live there. But can I tell it with a photograph or a series of photographs. Yes, it has the same process as writing. The hard part is to stay on the track, focusing on what you want to say in each frame. I heard that when one applying on ANTARA as a photographer, he/she must entering the journalistic course where they must learn to be a reporter (writer). It’s a great lesson to learn from the writers. How they keep the simplicity in telling without blurring the reality, like those collaborating works on NatGeo magazine.
Writing is just another hobby like photography, writing is a way to put my way of view – documenting – about something. My writings on a project used to covers up the things that my pictures can not tell and so as my pictures to my writings.
You have some series going on your blog. Do you have a long term photography project?
Yes, I have two long term projects and they’re being started since 2005. My goal is to make a book to each project.
What kind of photographer are you?
If you wanted to know about my specialization in photography, I would say that I am a documentary photographer. I documenting things that I encounter on my everyday life. Trash bins, art performances, my visits to a place, gathering with friends, temples, and so on…
Where is your favorites place to take pictures? And what is your favorites subject/object to photograph?
Linked to the previous answer, I photographed everything that I wanted to photograph. You can photograph everything now said Robert Frank.
Why black and white?
It’s a simple romantic format.
What/who has the biggest influence in your photographs?
There are many names. Photographers, philosophers, painters, writers, singers, street performers, comedians, movies etc…
I really enjoy essay’s or stories, one that thematically built by those great person who talk about something freely through photographs. Sometimes they speak about something that most of us wont. The Swing from Rama Surya, Sugar Cane Blues by Edi Hasby, Paris de Nuit by Brassai, Oscar Motuloh’s Art of Dying, Tippi Nicole Thole work with Pamela Sullentrup and many more. It’s great to learn from those by exploring their works. I always started with questions, why she/he choose this topic, what he/she tries to tell, why he/she takes it like this, what’s the mean of these dark area, why it’s so elegant and so on and so on …
What do you think of photography in Indonesia?
Photography is not an exclusive thing anymore in this country. There are lots of Indonesian photographers with world class reputation, they even younger than I am. You can lug a camera, learn the basic, go out and capture the world and introduce yourself as a photographer.
What is the meaning of photography for you? Sontag wrote on her book, ‘to photograph is too appropriate the things photographed. It means putting oneself into a certain relation to the world that feels like knowledge-and therefore, like power’. She added on the same book, ‘to collect photographs is to collect world’.
For me, photography is an act of creating – the world; the world that we – photographers – passionately built, a world that we built on every photographs that we make. Still with Sontag, she said ‘in teaching us a new visual code, photographs alter and enlarge our notions of what is worth looking at and what we have a right to observe. They are a grammar and, even more importunately, an ethics of seeing’.
We develop images in our head and printed it into a photograph. We choose the subject, see it from different angle, calculating the amount of lights and then pull the trigger. Bang, a world created on a click – not in seven days. We are murderer at the same time. We kill the subject, frozen them into a thin film and wait for their resurgence when displaying them to the viewers. Signification as Barthes said, turning analogon to a world. We see a picture, tracking the stories on it, tracing every outlines of juxtaposed, reading it and asking to our self why this photographed. Kertész gives reason on everything he encounters with his camera, Arbus sees secret of a secret and Winogrand sees life on his photographs.
I have known Dicky Jiang for a while now. We live in the same city and we share the same passion in photography. I like his pictures because he sees things differently than most of the other photographers in Bandung. He mostly take pictures of things that most of us overlooked or thought to be mundane or insignificant, yet they’re precious to him. Which is a nice reminder to us all, photographers, to take pictures of what matter most to us, something that only you can take pictures of, something special in your heart. In short, if you look into his photo archives you look into his life. And somehow he can always find the empty, serene, and peaceful side of the city of Bandung which is kind of surreal compared to the complex reality.
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Tell us a bit about yourself.
I’m a 36 y/o, a husband, a father, and a screen printer.
What do you do, when not taking pictures?
Developing negs, Flickr-ing. Ha ha, kidding, I run a small screen printing business, and do most of the t-shirt designs, so when not clicking the shutter, I’m clicking a mouse. And of course taking times with my family.
What is your first picture ever taken? Can you share it with us? And what’s the story behind the picture?
Well I’m not quite remember it, since it should be taken when I was 13 y/o, but I can give you a story behind the camera, it’s a brand new Yashica FX3 ( I still use it occasionally ). That’s my first camera, I was winning some cash as a prize for a drawing competition (I can’t remember how much, but it’s quite big for a 13 y/o back then), so my dad decided to buy a camera for me. ( way to go dad! ).
We feel emptiness and loneliness in some of your photos. What are you trying to tell us here?
Ouch!, I got that question a lot ( especially from my wife ha ha ). Well, I cannot really describe it either, I thought and try to explain it for myself sometimes.
Maybe it’s got to do with my Melancholy Personality. The dark, gloomy, emptiness & loneliness evokes questions, lots of questions rather than answers. And do you know that, finding the right questions are so often more important than the answers we find? Or maybe I listening to Suede too long.
What do you like to photograph the most? What is your favourite subject?
Many things, I like capturing the mood so I’m not really object oriented. But if I have to pick one it’s got to be birds, flying birds
When you’re walking down the streets and looking through the viewfinder, what do you see?
I typically find myself attracted to a photographic composition because I happened to see it from a certain angle. I’ve learned to just give in to my intuition, with the faith that my subconscious sometimes knows better than my rational self. I cannot rush this delicate process. I’m a slow photographer.
I can’t leave you without asking, why do you collect so many cameras? How you decide to buy a camera?
Well, I don’t collect, in a way as a collector. I just like to experience with different camera, systems, lenses, etc. I think it’s GAS (note: Gear Acquisition Syndrome). Ha ha ha. But once I tried to work with them, and if I don’t feel comfortable with it, I’ll sell them, and try another. so it comes and goes. That’s why I don’t consider my self as a collector.
How much cameras do you own now? Which one do you use the most?
Right now, I have only 6, I’ve just sold many of them recently. Mostly I use Yashica Mat 124G, Hasselblad 500C/M, and Olympus OM2. but as you’ve already knew I just got Rolleiflex 2.8, it’s very comfortable to use very smooth, heavier than Yashica Mat but smooth. I think it’s going to replace the Mat124 .
I understand that you’re preparing your own book now. Care to share with us about the process?
I’m working on photobook about the city I live, and try to capture it on a square format.
What is the meaning of photography for you?
I think photography is a great medium for people to see things the way other people (a photographer) saw it.
“Will you ever quit taking pictures? No, I will take pictures until I die.”
Our meeting was only 5 hours but at the end of today I have learned so much, a lesson in photography and in life.I feel that’s the kind of person Tay Kay Chin is. One of 2003 Hasselblad master. Whose works are acknowledged by a wide range of people. But let’s forget about it for a moment. Right now, he’s a friend who is visiting my hometown, Bandung.
I think he is a simple man who knows exactly what he wants. A man with great ideas, I hope he gets the time to make it all happen. And no Kay Chin, you’re not old.
What did I get from him?
Encouragement
I know I’m easily touched by a song or a movie. But this is different. I actually found a new spirit. Eventhough he didn’t tell me what to do but I now know what I want to do. Well, at least I’m hoping I will head toward the right direction.
Finding what matters most to us
Sometimes we get inspirations from around us. Very close to us. Even from our home. Our daily life.
Do what we love most
Don’t do it for others or what others want or like. Do it because we like it. And if there people who don’t like it, so be it. If I do what I don’t like, I know I will regret it.
Free our mind
Photography is so free, the only limit should be our imagination.
Goodies
A Panoramic Singapore book, a full stomach, and an open mind. What a night! Thanks for everything, Kay Chin!
So from today, I will not try to take pictures, I will tell stories through pictures. Talking pictures. I will not look for great exotic places to shoot, I will start from my home, my city. I will not try to be like other photographers, I will just follow my heart. And I definitely will not stop taking pictures because, just like him, I love doing it.
I haven’t visited the VII Photo Agency’s website for a while and with no particular reason I open it today.
This is what I find.
“Our dear friend Alexandra Boulat passed away peacefully in Paris on Friday the 5th of October, 2007.
Her friends around the world are heartbroken and with them we extend our love and condolences to the Boulat family and Alex’s loving partner Issa.
Her friendship, courage, spirit and creativity touched all of our lives and will remain dear memories always.
Alexandra’s funeral will be held on Friday the 12th of October in the Church of Jacqueville by the cemetery where her father Pierre is buried and near her family home.
The family would like to announce that a Foundation to continue Alexandra’s and Pierre’s legacy will be established in the coming weeks. The Foundation will support the ideals and issues that Alexandra and Pierre were concerned with. If you would like to contribute to this Foundation please contact: boulat_foundation@viiphoto.com
If you prefer to send flowers please send them to:
Cimetière de Jacqueville
77 760 Amponville, France
The Boulat family thanks everyone for their goodwill and compassion which is of great support at this time.
I have to admit that I didn’t know her or her works well but I know – like everybody else – that Alexandra Boulat was a good photographer. You can see her at work on VII Photo Agency.
I feel something has lost today but hoping that more will be gained through her works.
Her funeral should be done yesterday. I can only share my love and condolences to the Boulat family.
