John Yu: Firestarter

I’ve actually been interested in photography for a long time, ever since I was 20 when I got my first camera I started taking photos, first of landscape and travel photos, and recently over the past 3-4 years, I’ve started to focus mainly on portraits. I found portraits to be interesting because I can capture different emotions as well as create light/mood settings to elicit an emotional response from the models.

I think what drives me is my passion for movies, I love movies and I’ve always wanted to create images that are cinematic, images that are able to elicit emotions from viewers. One of my favorite photographers is Chris Knight, some of my works are inspired by him. I love how he’s recreating sets from famous movies.

Generally speaking, once I have an idea/setup in my head I’d first plan out the necessary setup, lighting, makeup, and props that are essential for every successful photo shoot. If it’s a new lighting setup, often I’d go to the studio first and try out the lighting setup before inviting a model for the shoot. Once I have the lighting setup worked out, I’d talk with the model about what I want to achieve during the shoot. I have several models that I work with regularly so this communication process is often very smooth. Afterward, I will work with the markup artist on what I want to be done on the day. Finally, it’s a group discussion on when we all have the time and then it’s off to the studio for everyone!

Even with the lighting setup sorted out, often I’d spend another 15-30mins on the day of the shoot to adjust the lighting depending on the actual environment on the day of the shoot, as well as adjust to the model’s height/makeup/pose and etc. I believe having the right lighting setup is essential to a successful shoot.

I believe lighting is the key to having work that sets you apart, so a majority of my time is spent on working out the best lighting setup and constantly learning about new lighting techniques. I believe the key to photography is to be able to control the light around you. Control the light and then you can control what you want to show to the viewer.

Often from movies to be honest and sometimes inspired by work from other photographers (but less so). I believe in recreating plus more. I don’t really try and recreate 100% of what others have done but do try and do 110% where that additional 10% is from my own creativity. To be able to create on top of what others have done, I believe that’s the key to having your own style.

I believe to be able to elicit an emotional response from the viewer, that’s the key component of an extraordinary photo. To be able to allow the viewer to feel the emotion, to be able to place the viewer into the scene itself, that’s the key. I’m not so much of a technical photographer, meaning I don’t really care about the execution of the shot, but I care more about if the photo is able to capture the right emotion.

I make a big distinction between my own work and commissioned work. With my own work, that’s more about showing my own artistic expression but with commissioned work, that’s more about fulfilling the client’s expectations. However, I believe if you’re able to create your own style then often your clients will have a preference that’s very close to your own artistic style and won’t ask you to do something that’s completely different.

Yep, I strongly believe post-processing your photos are an essential part of any photography work. I only shoot in RAW to capture as much detail as possible during the shoot and my creative work is partly completed during the post-processing process. I also don’t like to edit in the camera settings very much, I believe in capturing photos that are as much as possible a recreation of what my eyes are seeing and then during the post-processing process show my own artistic expression. This is why I love shooting on Hasselblad cameras so much because their Natural Colour System as much as possible recreates what you’re seeing on the shooting set.