PERSONAL | spottlyinsider x tesla

It's Christmas Eve here and I'm sitting at home because I'm just too lazy to go out to celebrate. Instead I'd like to share some outtakes from a shoot I did for a Spottly x Tesla collaboration last week. I'm really excited to share these because this is my first booked 'gig' as a freelancer (I'm still learning the ropes, but one step at a time) and I couldn't be happier with the results!

Check out the blog post on www.spottlyinsider.com

PERSONAL | dark side

I find it hilarious that locals sometimes refer to Kowloon as "The Darkside". To be fair, this part of the city is far grittier than the Hong Kong side, with all its gentrification and fancy hotels. Even though I too have been converted to the more expat friendly Hong Kong side, the Kowloon side still holds some significance for me since I did spend a majority of my childhood there.

The other day I had this strong urge to visit some of my old haunts, which included the neighbourhood of my childhood best friend and my old kindergarten. I had to take a photo of that ol' zebra crossing because of the story about this one time when my mum came to pick me up from school. I was always really excited when my mum came to pick me up from school - dunno why since she did it everyday..? (Children logic!!!!) Anyways, when I ran towards her I ended up tripping over my own feet and then face planting in front of the whole school. It was a little embarrassing, but more of a laugh than anything. 

PERSONAL | clockenflap

Call me a music festival noob. Which is quite embarrassing to say the least considering I come from California - also known as the hub of indie/edm music festivals in the USA of the past several years or so. So when a friend asked if I was interested in attending Clockenflap this year I thought what the heck and bought my ticket. 

The event turned out to be really fun - I really loved CHVRCHES's performance. And what made it even better was coincidentally a friend in LA was in town the same week/end as Clockenflap. He joined us on a whim and we both got to experience our first Asia music festival. Though I have to say that Clockenflap lacks the hedonistic & hippy vibes of their American counterparts, but personally I sort of enjoyed the more laid back atmosphere. And I also have to note that almost every trendy restaurant in Hong Kong opened up shop at the event. I mean how many people can say they that had dry aged steak sandwiches at a festival? 

Only in Hong Kong folks.

PERSONAL | a graduation

I was so excited (and really flattered) when my good friend Irene asked me to shoot her graduation photos. I don't have the most experience shooting portraits/people so I was pretty nervous so I spent a good chunk of an afternoon flipping through magazines for inspiration. Some times it blows me away how some photographers can capture a person's portrait - I mean, there's so many things to consider at that one moment it almost is overwhelming! Major props to photographers who work in film - I don't know how you do it?!

The results? I'm really happy with them, and most importantly, Irene's happy with them. We didn't have too many shots to work with in the end since our shoot was cut short at the venue (no photography allowed is always just the worst..) but I liked what we left with.

Thanks Irene for trusting me and letting me be apart of your momentous occasion! Congratulations!