At some point along my portraits journey, I felt like these weren't the kind of photos I wanted to take. I started wondering, just what exactly am I taking? Like sure, they are definitely "nice" photos, but as Marie Kondo would say, they do not spark joy for me. As a result, burn out comes fairly quickly. Because at some point, it started to feel like work to me. But this would be elaborated in my other post, "Disposable".
Anyway, apart from fleeting moments, I thoroughly enjoy cinematic looking photos. Photos where they look like they were screenshots from a short film. Photos that can tell you a story. I planned out a cinematic shoot once, titled after Gnash's famous song, "i hate u, i love u". The story was basically how this girl is conflicted between her feelings of hate and love for the guy who has cheated on her. Sort of. It was a very amateurish attempt, but it remains to be my personal favourite shoot.
So while it took some time for me to realise this, I know which direction I'm meant to head towards. But of course, I am no story writer. I can't churn out stories at the snap of my fingers. So there is absolutely no way that I'll be able to come up with tons of elaborate series like "i hate u, i love u" unless I'm very inspired by certain songs.
I knew the direction I had to take, but I was still lost. Then on a fateful day while I was hanging out with my matcha buddy, Naomi, we happened to talk about this topic. And she suggested that I could just recreate impactful or intimate moments in my life into photos. This way, it keeps the daily life aspect that I love, while providing a story for my cinematic desires. Truly, a lightbulb moment. And for that I say, thank you Naomi.
(Of course, there will be plenty of shots taken simply for the aesthetic. My photos won't always have a story behind it, but I'll try to incorporate as much story as I can.)
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| I used to sit at benches below my house to cry before going home |
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| What I used to do while waiting for my ex in school |
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| Staring at my phone, waiting for your text |
Model for the last photo: Naomi Huth
Context for photos:
I was in Ngee Ann Poly with Jodie to look at my sister's exhibition, when I came across a pretty garden with a swing. We were on our way to dinner, but I dragged Jodie with me to that garden just so I could experiment with cinematic photography.
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We were at Hvala just drinking matcha lattes, catching up on life, and talking about my direction for photography. Naomi told me to give it a try inside Hvala, since it looked so aesthetic. So I said, why not, I have a model right in front of me right. And without hesitation, we just took some photos.
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