Throughout 2012-2014 when i engage myself in doing photoshoot for models and freelancers, i learnt a few important things in life and would like to share them here along with my new aspirations. Photography is a popular hobby and passion for many people i met during these few years, so much so that some would commit hundreds of thousands if not more to their altar.

It really depends on what someone is looking for when he or she creates an image. What drives you exactly. Having enough time to contemplate and the luxury to try out any camera i set my heart on, i came to a realise that for a long time, i have no idea exactly what it is that was driving me in this field.

For some its the pride and ego associated with owning high ended cameras, the hoo and haas of the community fields when showing off the gears. For some it provides a way to escape from the the routine job they have in their daily lives.  There is a large number of shooters that have their background in technology or science and photography being more on art and creativity, provides this escape.

Still there are those guys, typical guys, that are just in it for meeting up with beautiful people and getting to know them, snapping up photos with no advancement in image making but rather they are driven indirectly by that primal lust for the opposing sex appeal and imagery. Typically these guys would be attending motorshow events and any launches with pretty faces, uploading the same images taken by the next guy and flooding our facebooks. Well its still a healthy way to spend their energy vs drugs and other negative activities.

And then, we have those who, like me, believes that photography allows us to help others in a non monetary ways and by capturing their lives and moments whether it be beauty or ashes and sharing it to the world. Making images that makes people happy and letting that process becomes viral. Portraiture is a subset of this intention. When portraiture is specialised into the streets, i call it street photography, other specializations are wedding, reportage and models. Nonetheless, the key point here is people. People are mortals and images of them are priceless. They will never be the same, not in looks nor in fashion when the force of time sweeps over.

When some photos found hidden in the attic belonging to a jewish family that was sent to the concentration camp was found, those photos are considered treasured possessions, priceless. This is why portraiture is what i am focused on, i feel the need to capture the looks, the visual representation of a person as much as possible and in various natural expression and as beautiful as they are.

 

Now back to my topic. I find that there is no point in publishing just one session of a particular model’s photos in a given theme. For example, 10-12 images of the same person in a garden. Instead, this year i am going to capture a few sessions and combine them into one album and yet limit the digital album to say, 10-12 photos. This allows me to share the person’s expression and image in a much wider and comprehensive ways. The album should cover as much natural expression of the model and various candid poses, light hearted poses, fashion poses and emotional scenes. They don’t have to be very artful and artistic shots, that would defeat the whole purpose, but shows the variety mood and expression of the person.

“The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”

I summarised the logic behind my new approach.

 

While this blog and article  i could only share some of these photos and not the actual album, i would do so once i have processed the whole  4 sessions of it.