Substance in photography: Beyond the visuals

Just minutes ago, I published a photo serie titled ‘The Other Side of Hong Kong: Village Life / 香港的另一面 : 鄉村生活‘. I’ve been working on the subject during my stay in Hong Kong from December 2013 till early January 2014. It’s a different type of photography that I haven’t tried my hands on a lot yet. This leans on a documentary-like of photography that started to grow on me for the past year or so. To many, I’m the guy that photographs the pretty models or creating the slick visuals. Some like it, some don’t. But it really is just that, an image to look at and you move on. Rarely did I feel that people connected with it.

That was the reason I started my journey two and a half years ago at the Fotovakschool Amsterdam in search for photography with a little bit more of substance. I wanted to see if my work could reach a deeper layer that would convey a story or an emotion. This photo serie, ‘The Other Side of Hong Kong: Village Life / 香港的另一面 : 鄉村生活’ is nowhere near finished. In it’s current state it barely scratches the surface, but it’s a start and it felt satisfying. Not only because of the results, but more so because I acted from my heart. For once, I feel like I have tasted that substance I’ve been looking for since I started to journey and it has opened the doors to a different type of photography that is real, intuitive and uncontrolled.

Photography used to be a medium to allows me to create. I was only interesting in how to best capture a scene with the best visual quality. Today, photography is a medium that allows me to explore and to research. I’d recommend anyone out there who is remotely interested in photography to some times step out of their comfort zone and see what else you can do with it. It certainly has helped me to grow as a photographer and as a person, however little it may be.