Photography

For next few weeks, I have 3 photoshoots that are definitely going to be happening and a few others that may be happening depending on the time and the availability of others. The three shoots that I have planned that are definitely happening are with Tiffany Wu, Kristen Tam, and for Verseux — a bespoke fashion company.

The concept behind the shoot with Tiffany is fairly simple — a girl’s trek through the forest. Hoping to be able to play with pure natural lighting and capture a very raw experience in the forests. The place I wanted to use as a location is the Eldred King Woodlands, a great forest area just 20-30 minutes north of where I live. I actually did a shoot their once and the results were fantastic. I’m really hoping to incorporate a strong sense of the nature photography aspect over the direct portraiture that has dominated my work. I want to be able to stretch myself and be more creative in my work. The deadline for this is August 26th, only because Tiffany is busy until the 20th.

The next photoshoot I wanted to do was with Kristen. The idea that I am currently working with is sort of making the photoshoot into a visual biography. Certainly not to document her entire life, which would be fairly impossible, but rather take a set of photos that can form a representation of who she is as a person. It sounds like a weird concept, but I’m hoping it will be something that I can accomplish. I hope to be able to finish this by August 16th.

The last photoshoot that is “certain” to happen is the one for Verseux. Its a company that my friend started up and I was recruited to be the photographer and the graphic designer of the entire start up. To really get ourselves into the market we had to really step up our own work, and as of late, we still lack a solid selection of original content to really continue to push our work. Thus there is a strong push to get this stuff done soon. I’m hoping to finish all this by August 16th as well.

There are obviously a whole bunch of other projects that I’ve been seeking to work on. These included a whole feature project focused solely on the biking life of Toronto, Church ministry work in Toronto, a fashion shoot sometime, and many others. In the meantime, however, I’ve been working on a huge amount of softball photos, almost every weekend, I’m doing softball photos, however, have yet to even process a single one due to my work.

Videography

These past few weeks have been a lot of build up into August. I’ve been working with a whole bunch of different people to plan for a bunch of different videos — some music videos, some artist spotlight videos, and a few ministry related videos. Videos, for me, are a bit more complicated than photos since there is so much more planning involved for me. I want to have a purpose with my videos (a story or idea) and I want to be sure that I have a solid line of shots. There’s also the external factors of having others being able to fit onto a timeline and what not. All of those, coupled with my minimal video experience make my video work a lot harder.

Regardless, as mentioned, here is a list of projects I am currently in planning or in production:

• Music Video — Beautiful Things (by Gungor) cover with Tiffany Wu [in production]
• Artist Spotlight — A look into the art of a few different artists. A narrative sorts of video. I’m currently in the process of working with two different artists and hoping to work with a few others later on.
• Word&Deed — a video about using the gifts and talents that God has given us to glorify his name. Still in planning.
• Secret softball video — is happening
• Dance Video — with Matthew Sem

There are still other videos that I want to do, but time is pretty constrained for me. One video I really want to do is converting a poem into a visual piece.

Personal

So aside from these two aspects of my work I’m also playing around with some graphic design. I’m trying to work on some sort of themed design and photography project but don’t really have a solid vision for it yet. However, with the recent Formosan Cup, I probably have something to work on now.

I’m also in the process of moving from Markham to Whitevale (map for those curious as to where it is) so that’s been taking up a whole lot of my time and efforts for cleaning and what not. It also takes away a whole chunk of my August since I have to spend a few whole days just relocating myself.

As for my next academic year, I still don’t really know whats happening. I’m a student at Waterloo, for techincal purposes at least, but I’m still waiting on UCL. Some people say wishful dreaming but whatever, I’ll wait and if its a no then… heh. Waterloo! woop!

My jams for the past bit: