I construct simple to cinematic-style setups, where I experiment with lighting - with flashes, continuous lights, natural lights, or, more often than not, a mix of these forms of lighting.
Frequent readers of Lens Magazine may know me as a documentary and travel photographer. In addition to that, my career has also given me many opportunities to do commercial photography and videography.
It has been two years since I have launched COCO Creative Studio. The studio is based in Singapore, Joo Chiat, an area known for its colorful Peranakan shophouses.
My studio holds great significance to me - it is not just a place for work, where I do product, portrait, and lifestyle photography. It is a space for me to unleash my creativity as I explore new ideas and test various equipment. It's where all my gears are stored, and where I edit on BenQ calibrated monitors. Soon, I'll also be getting a printer to produce my own fine art prints.
I mostly use the studio for my portrait photography tasks - something which I enjoy the most. I take a lot of pride in the quality of my portraits, using hand-painted canvasses from Gravity Backdrops as my main props. These backdrops greatly enhance the ambiance, look, and feel of the final images.
For this feature, I initially intended to feature a combination of some images I have produced in the studio. After some consideration, I decided to do something a little different - to conduct two fuss-free portrait shoots with two non-professional models, with no assistant, make-up artist, or art director. It would just be me, my trusty camera, and the model.
My vision was for the process to be an organic exploration of the models' energy and personality.
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THE FORM OF LIGHT - SASHA SOBOL
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"THIS PROJECT WAS PHOTOGRAPHED TO PRESERVE THE CULTURE AND COMMUNITY. IT COULD ONLY BE CREATED WITH FULL COLLABORATION WITH THESE PEOPLE, AND I THANK THEM FOR TRUSTING ME. THE PROJECT WAS CREATED WITH THE JOINED MISSION OF NOT LETTING THE COMMUNITY BE FORGOTTEN AND PRESENTING THESE NEIGHBORHOODS' REAL, AUTHENTIC LIVES." - MIGUEL 'CHROMATIC' VALENCIA
The Memory Floor - GEOFFREY ANSEL AGRONS
After over four years in the San Francisco Bay area, I returned to the east coast in 2015 to assist in the care of my aging parents. Unfortunately, their physical and cognitive decline proceeded to advance inexorably. Separately, each spent the end of their lives in facilities dedicated to caring for residents with dementia, most commonly the Alzheimer's type. They received excellent support from a dedicated and compassionate staff, and each, in turn, entered hospice until their death.
THE DISAPPEARING SOUL: SELF PORTRAITS IN THE TIME OF COVID
I was fifty years old when I first exhibited a self-portrait. The image was part of a black and white portrait series of breast cancer survivors inspired by my own battle with the disease and the resulting mastectomy.
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Mother is a documentary that chronicles the final six years of my mother's life, her struggle with hoarding, and my grieving process. " - Leon Syfrit
GHAZAL ABBASI: DANCE OF SORROW
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BARBARA PEACOCK: AMERICAN BEDROOM Reflections on the Nature of Life
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An Exclusive Interview With Jennifer Carlos
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DONNA BASSIN MY OWN WITNESS: RUPTURE AND REPAIR
"We can't control what events happen to us, but we can control how we choose to meet them. More than twenty years ago, I was diagnosed with Scleroderma, a rare autoimmune disease, and given five years to live. Instead of letting the darkness of that diagnosis and its possible outcome rule me, I chose to focus on the present moment.
BenQ EW3880R
Certainly spectacular, arguably flawed, undeniably expensive
THE ENVY OF SINGAPORE
INVESTORS POURED A BILLION DOLLARS INTO NG YU ZHI’S NICKEL-TRADING COMPANY. HE’S NOW ACCUSED OF TAKING THE MONEY AND SKIPPING THE NICKEL
BENQ V7050i 4K DLP Laser TV Projector - In Living Color
Is there a projector maker that hasn’t yet come out with an ultra short throw (UST) model aimed at viewers who want a theater-size image in their living room, but without the usual ceiling-mount and dark room baggage that accompanies it? If you asked me that question one year ago, I would have replied “BenQ.” But now, with its V7050i 4K DLP Laser TV, BenQ has joined the UST projector fold, adding its name to the ranks of Sony, Epson, Optoma, Vava, Hisense, LG, Samsung, and others.
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SINGAPORE IS NOT A MODEL FOR AMERICA.