The people I shot

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On 27 Feburary 2001, I started taking pictures of every single person I meet. It was a tuesday morning. I just finished a lecture and was back at my hostel to have to my breakfast.

Kwaku, 2001

This Zimbabwean was the first person I saw, and shot. He was my flatmate. He was 18, I was 22, but we weren’t in love.

I was in Perth, and was meeting a lot of people. Some were interesting. Some were funny. But none was boring. (I'm trying to be nice, like I always do.) If I were to look back and recall none of them, it would be a terrible waste. I wanted to remember.

There's another version of how it all started. You see, I wanted to take a picture of a girl. I figured that I needed a good reason. Therefore I got this going. Due to the passage of time, I can’t tell which is the starting point anymore.

Lori, 2001

This, of course, is not the girl in question. On her print, she left me a quote: "The duck stands alone." I never know what it means.

To make the portraits more meaningful, I’ll ask my subjects a question. I got the idea from i-D magazine. Over the years, I asked about the things that made them happy, sad, and angry. I also got them to share with me their dreams and fears. Nowadays, I ask them for a lesson that they've learnt in life.

At first, I was quite shy about asking people for their pictures. But I soon found out if I have a good reason for doing so, even the most unlikely subjects will say yes. The more I do it, the more confident I become.

Allan, 2002

I didn't know him at all. He looked like he could break me into half. After I took his picture, he told me not getting pussy was something that made him sad. What he loved most was, well, getting pussies.

Edmund, 2003

I don't always recall every single person I shot. If I were to run into this cigar-smoking dude one day, I wouldn't recognise him, let alone call him by his name. No offence to you, Edmund. I probably met you at someone else's party and had too much to drink.

Nowadays, I rarely shoot a person at first sight. I prefer to get to know him or her first. Like you only ask someone for his number after knowing him. I hope this analogy makes sense.

Huifeng, 2003

Huifeng was my classmate in secondary school. Eight years after we went our seperate ways, I bumped into her. You can never know when your friends from the past will come into your life again. So I always have my camera with me.

Yoko, 2004

I met this lady in northern Vietnam. She left a deep impression on me. Over a beer, when I asked for her name, she asked, “What’s the name of John Lennon’s wife?” When I asked for her age, she told me a gentleman shouldn’t ask a woman that. That was also her lesson to me.

Between 2005 and 2008, I was shooting with a digital camera. Looking back, it was one of the worse decisions I made in my life. I’m not going to include any picture shot digitally here.

Risa, 2009

I also like to shoot my friends again and again, just to see how they have all aged. Aging can be beautiful. This is something I’ll definitely write more about. I first took a picture of Risa in 2001.

Ying Ping, 2009

This was taken in Lanzhou, China. Even though I have done this many times, I was still getting butterflies in my stomach. Would the police officer allow me to take her photo? “But I don’t look nice today,” she said, and got a little embarassed.

Of course I get rejected. But very rarely. Those who said no just didn't like their photos to be taken. Maybe they think I’m creepy. It’s not true that getting a man to say yes is any easier. A guy once told me his fortune teller said it was bad luck to have his picture taken.

Alfred, 2009

Min, 2010

I like to be consistent but I get tired of consistency. I started this series in landscape format. Then portrait. Then landscape. Now, it's black and white.

David, 2011

At last count, about four years ago, I have over a thousand pictures. I don’t know how many pictures are in my collection today.

To see more, visit tell me a lesson.