GEOFF ANG

What has been your most memorable shot to date?

It has always been my exhibition shots with Leica. This is my 2nd exhibition with them, the first one was entitled “Redred”, and that was perhaps the most memorable as it was my first major exhibition and I was given free rein to conceptualise and shoot what I wanted… passion shoots like this are always the most unforgettable.

LEE YIK KEAT

What has been your most memorable shot to date?

I shot a building in Hong Kong and met the lady who owns a shop just beside it. We had a great conversation, and she gave me a keychain of a camera as a gift. 

What is your personal challenge in photography?

It’s always the desire to better oneself. It’s an exhausting process to constantly find ways and means to push yourself to keep up with technology, as well as techniques, lighting and post-production, though these are also the most exciting aspects of what I do, which I wouldn’t trade for anything else.

What is your personal challenge in photography?

Creating unique visuals is definitely a challenge nowadays, given the high influx of images being created on a daily basis.

What is the best way to learn photography? In your experience, does formal education make a difference, or is instinct ultimately the most important?

Education is important if you want to be an educator. If you want to make it in the commercial world, then I’d say taking the rough road of assisting or apprenticeship is the only way to go. These days it’s easy for anyone to pick up a camera and start shooting, but there are so many other aspects to being a successful photographer—it’s not just taking a picture!

You’re a self-taught photographer. Do you think gaining a formal education in photography will benefit your work? What do you think is most important in taking good photos?

I feel like not having a formal education is actually good. I personally find that when you do not have that foundation, it means you don’t necessarily know what’s ‘right’ and ‘wrong’, which helps you think out of the box.

What is most misunderstood about your field of work?

That I am always in some exotic location shooting beautiful models… ha ha! The grim truth is it takes loads of planning and countless meetings to even get there—and that’s if that dream job even comes around! ☺

What is most misunderstood about your field of work?

That it’s just a click of the button. The fun part is only 25% of what you see—75% is really hard work spent behind the scenes. The time it takes to craft an image is longer than what the audience really perceives it to be.

Being an industry veteran, how do you maintain a fresh perspective?

It's about being open and embracing whatever is new and different, and to always evolve. Like the seasons and fashion, everything has a lifespan; I am always reinventing myself to stay relevant with the times.

How do you hope to evolve as a photographer?

I would love to create more visuals with deeper emotion and meaning. I also want to expand into moving images/cinematic films of some sort in the future. ☺

What did this Leica collaboration with YK, offer you? Did you learn anything new or unexpected?

The pairing was a unique one. Being a photographer can sometimes be a lonely journey. There is only one viewfinder, which I’ve looked into alone in all my years as a photographer. It hasn’t been easy to suddenly work with someone, especially when we have to meld our very different and distinct styles of photography into co-existence.

We struggled in the beginning, both trying to relinquish our own style to fit each other. We considered options like shooting in each other’s genre—like me shooting urban scenes while YK shoots fashion or beauty—or both capturing a model in an urban setting using a single one Leica SL… It got pretty absurd for a while.

The entire process started to take flight when we focused on finding a ‘balance’ where our work and processes could exist both alone and together. We began to look into ourselves and let our own images speak—that’s when we found strength and unity in those images.

It has been a truly unique experience and I hope it will be the beginning of a working relationship that inspires not only the young but also an older generation of photographers to evolve and be open to forging new ways of working with oneself and others. #collab, #youarenevertooold, #mashup—see, I can speak like a millennial now. Hopefully, this will also mean having follower numbers closer to 200k like YK, instead of the 2000+ I currently have!

What did this Leica collaboration with Geoff, offer you? Did you learn anything new or unexpected?

First of all, I would love to thank Leica for bringing Geoff and I together—it’s a match made in heaven. Even though we have very different and distinct styles, our thinking and beliefs are very much in-sync. I’ve learnt so much from Geoff given his experience and knowledge, which you just can’t find in the digital world.

Interestingly, when Leica partnered me with Geoff, I had just shot an image of some intriguing crisscross diagonal lighting pattern in Tokyo. I had only my perspective when I composed the original shot, but sharing the image with Geoff gave me a different insight and he encouraged me to retake it. You can see this image I’m referencing at the Leica Galerie, it’s called “Intersect”. This joint Leica exhibition has definitely helped me evolve, and Geoff’s mentorship is invaluable.

Please fill in the blanks with the first word(s) that come to mind:

Twilight: good light

Black + White: classic

Symmetry: anal retentive

Eye: rice bowl

Photoshop: deskbound

Human: Love

Blur: old age

Daryl Aiden: poor boy

Selfie: hate being in front of the camera

Artistry: evolution

Film: lost art

Please fill in the blanks with the first word(s) that come to mind:

Twilight: Moon

Black + White: Monochrome

Symmetry: Perspective

Eye: Gem

Photoshop: Clone

Human: Fragile

Blur: Vision

Daryl Aiden: (no comments)

Selfie: Fun

Artistry: Barista work

Film: Cinematic