Shavonne Wong

So, I went ahead and launched a virtual model agency. Let me tell you about Gen V.  I don’t think I need to mention how COVID-19 has affected the photography industry, it has been well discussed and keenly felt by the majority of us here. 

As creatives, we all love opportunities to work out creativity muscles and test how far we can push it. This was how the shoot “Inception” came about for photographer Astrid Obert.  Commercial work with clients is always welcomed as we all require money to survive but if you’re in the arts purely for the money then you may be in the wrong industry.

These are tough times, and they're likely to get tougher. The virus has been spreading quickly, affecting countries around the world and causing the cancellation of many events. This article isn’t intended to be doom and gloom or alarmist for the sake of it, but rather to help.  

Photographer Aaron Anderson has done it again, and this time, it’s with Paralympic gold medalist Noah Elliot.

One thing I love the most about my job is to be able to work with hugely talented people in my team. It’s always so inspirational to be around them and never fails to serve as an outstanding learning opportunity.

Photographer Donja Pitsch is a Paris based fashion and advertising photographer who has shot for publications such as Vogue, Marie Claire, Elle, and Glamour. This time, the shoot is for Glamour Spain.  Do you mind if we before we move on I take a moment to swoon over the words in that last paragraph? Paris? Spain? Vogue? Marie Claire? Elle? Glamour?

A couple of months ago I was given the opportunity to photograph Korean-American stylist, lifestyle blogger, and digital influencer, Chriselle Lim for the cover of Female Malaysia magazine. It’s always exciting to be able to shoot a cover for a magazine, especially one that is the leading fashion and beauty magazine in Malaysia, and I particularly love photographing strong, successful women.

I was recently in America doing more photography work and did a total of 11 photoshoots in the one month I was there. It was an incredibly long flight from Singapore, gotta make my time there worth it! 

“Circus of Doom” is a circus-inspired conceptual portraiture with the Fujifilm X-T200. “Doom” sounds scary, but “Circus” sounds awesome, so I'm slightly confused, but I'm definitely in! This is not the first time Fujifilm ambassador Jan Gonzales has been written about and definitely will not be last. I mean, have you seen his work?

As a photographer, I am not someone with extensive experience in using artificial continuous light. What better way to push yourself forward than to find something you aren’t familiar with and dive in head first? Self-growth for the win! 

Robert Ascroft is known worldwide for his celebrity, sports, and fashion photographs. His client list includes Warner Bros, 20th Century Fox, Showtime, A&E, Puma, Vanity Fair, and Rolex. So, basically his client list includes some of the biggest names in his industries of focus! Not bad, right?

The shoot done by photographer Ana Dias is a Playmate of the Month pictorial for Playboy US (Miss March 2019). The model is named Miki Hamano, and she comes from Japan. The whole photoshoot was done in a modern villa in Malibu, California. 

I had the wonderful opportunity to shoot this fashion spread for Glamour South Africa back in March while I was in Barcelona. Right before the trip, I did some research and had asked some locals for some location recommendations.  There were so many fantastic, beautiful locations in Barcelona that it made it incredibly difficult to decide!

As a photographer, personal projects are important to always keep trying out new things and practicing one’s craft while helping to maintain the passion in the art.  If we are not constantly experimenting then how are we going to improve? If we are not constantly testing the limits of our comfort zone then how we will discover new areas of interest?

If you’ve been following my recent articles, you’ll know that I’ve been on an umbrella modifier trend. I just love how portable and easy to set up they are.  

I shot these images for fashion ecommerce store Zilingo when we were doing a recent campaign/catalog shoot. What a fun team to shoot with! They really have a vision for what they want to pull off and are very supportive in terms of getting there.  

I’ve always loved the color red and the emotions it invokes. I suppose that's the fun thing about backgrounds, props, and general settings in that a color theme can evoke so many different thoughts and emotions. Needless to say the power of a model is critical but what you can create around the model can go a long way in conveying the feel you’re aiming for.

When photographer Felix Renaud first discovered photography, a world of possibilities opened to him. With his background of drawing and cinema, he is drawn towards treating his images as if they were drawn from a film or inspired by a painting. He enjoys creating the ambiance and characters for his images.

This is the first episode in photographer Tommy Reynolds new YouTube series entitled "A Portrait of..." featuring his wonderful and warm friend, Holly-Ann Dennis.

When Reynolds first met Holly, he knew he wanted to do a photo shoot with her, but felt like he needed more than just a series of images to tell her story.

In mid-2018, photographer Brett Stanley got a call from Jason Foster, who is the manager for Natalie Mering’s band, Weyes Blood (signed to Sub Pop). Take a moment to go listen to some of their tracks before continuing this story. Or, never mind, stay here! Keep reading!  

As a kid, photographer Ilya Nodia absolutely loved the Russian TV show “Titans Wrestling.” It was a local TV channel that bought records of American wrestling and translated it. He fell in love while watching characters such as Hulk Hogan, Bill Goldberg, Sting, Kevin Nash, Diamond Dallas Paige and made his parents crazy while he collected merchandise and themed wrestling toys.

Commercial and fine art photographer Jan Gonzales was commissioned by Fujifilm Global to create a series of images using the GF 250mm f/4 telephoto lens for the Fujifilm GFX system. 

Photographer Aaron Anderson has once again created an amazing set of images that came from an idea he could not shake. It's often been said that anyone can do something once but to keep coming back with impressive results is what differentiates the best from the rest.

Fashion photographer Christopher Cavanaugh was brought on for this photo project that took place in Los Angeles by creative director Terrel Mullen as a collaboration project to expand both their portfolios. It expanded their portfolios and expanded our appreciation of what can be accomplished from behind the camera. 

When Per Florian Appelgren first got the brief from L'Officiel Indonesia, he was excited as shooting styled beauty is his strong suit and he absolutely loved doing it. Being able to work with a top-tier model such as Sara from GirlsClub Management Berlin was also a huge plus point. 

This shoot was an art project that Amber Gray had been dreaming of for a long time. One of the things that she often explores in her work is the relationship between feminine energy and the natural world, and this concept in particular really exemplifies that idea in a surreal way. 

This exciting shoot came about when photographer Aaron Anderson was tasked to creating content for Elinchrom’s new ELB 500 TTL and Lifted Up Fitness’s web page, making it a multiple clients shoot.

Photographer Magic Owen was offered the opportunity by HUNGER Magazine to set her own brief for a shoot at the gorgeous venue, Castle Ashby. Having been given the chance to shoot in a location that magical with such creative freedom, Owen decided to create a modernized Wonderland style shoot.

Famed celebrity stylist and creative director Jason Bolden and his team approached photographer Nathalie Gordon with an idea to shoot a campaign for their newly launched sunglasses brand JSN.

Photographer Randal Ford has photographed over 100 animals up close and in person and has no plans on stopping. Why would he? These are some fascinating creatures that we share this planet with and so anytime we can interact with them, its probably a good thing. They are also super cute!

When asked why he wanted to photograph animals, he quoted from his book

Photographer Ole Martin Halvorsen recently did a photoshoot that was was part of a larger social media and advertorial campaign for H&M Norway, in collaboration with Spray for their magazine Portia.

Lifestyle photographer Denise Crew was approached by the producers of Netflix’s Queer Eye about a book they were producing that had a very quick turn-around.  It typically takes 18 months to publish a book from start to finish and they needed to do this book in 6 months.

Commercial photographer Geoff Ang was approached by one of the top CGI companies in Singapore “CUM Creative” to create an entire series of images for Razer’s newest line of gaming headphones.

Photography can become ridiculously expensive with gear and props and all the other necessities. So when there is a chance to save, I save!  

Sometimes all you want to do is shoot some beauty work with some natural light, but it doesn't mean the weather will always cooperate with you. Mother nature has a way of doing whatever she wants on any particular day. Super, right? Here's how I simulated window light in the studio. 

Hair photography can be a pain to shoot. Having a good hair stylist is incredibly important to make sure you don’t end up spending more time than you should behind the desk for the retouching. When it comes to hair, you’ll already have to spend more time than you’ll like. 

I have been a photographer for almost eight years, and to be honest, it has not always been fun. No career path is without its ups and down, and certainly, the creative industry is no different.

Children are notoriously hard to shoot and most photographers generally avoid doing shoots involving them. There are ways to make it easier though! It's true, they get grumpy, they don’t listen, they misbehave, cry on set, and this all ends up delaying everything by hours. It can be quite the handful to say the least. Let's just say that I have no idea how parents do it!

Beauty can be a lot of fun to shoot and it’s fun to find different ways to light a face in a flattering way. We might not be perfect in real life, but on camera? On camera we can be as perfect as the lighting setup and editing allows us to be! Magic? No. We still need gorgeous models but a great setup certainly helps. 

The art of photography can mean a lot of different things but no matter what it means to you, the fact is that what we know as photography is the product of an endless journey of experimentation from artists all over the world.