THE MASTER OF MISE-EN-SCÈNE

BENJAMIN BARKER CEO NELSON YAP'S SECRET TO A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS? FILM SCHOOL

- SUFFIAN HAKIM

IN A STYLISH BAR IN SOUTH BEACH, Nelson Yap takes a sip of The Glenrothes 42. The Founder and CEO of local sartorial brand Benjamin Barker is almost as old as the whisky on the table before him, but just like the golden Speyside liquid, there is a vibrant vitality and energy about him. Looking at him, you get the sense of a man who is very hands-on, who hits the ground running in nearly everything he does.

“Good, good. That’s great,” says a voice near him in between the clicks and whirrs of a camera.

He is bathed in studio lights. The photographer gives him further instructions. Without breaking the momentum of the shoot, he shifts his pose. He places the whisky glass down and then looks off into the distance. A word comes to mind: panache.

Yap has that model thing ‒ the innate ability to “find the light”. The best models have it. It’s the ability to do complex mathematics without even realising it, tilting their heads and their bodies ‒ sometimes almost imperceptibly ‒ to the perfect angle, such that it captures the light in the most flattering way.

“Alright, got the shot,” the photographer says after a few more clicks.

Yap bounces up from the chair and joins the Augustman team as we study the results of the last round of shots on our photographer’s laptop. He can’t help himself ‒ his years in film school and as a creative leader means he’s as comfortable behind the camera as he is in front of it.