Steve Chong

 Steve Chong - Conceptual and Still Life Photographer. born 1965-started Photography 2001
His photography started by taking images of his home town for his homepage on a point and shoot camera. He decided that they were not good enough. Thus began his interest in photography. He read all he could and after reading the series by Ansell Adams, this is where his smouldering passion for photography took off.
He bought an entry level Canon EOS/88 but soon upgraded to a EOS/1V and lenses. A year later, after much experimentation, he found a comfortable niche in Conceptual and Surrealistic photography. He enjoyed creating an idea and seeing it materialise. he states that "it is like pointing a camera into the real world, but shooting form his sub consciousness".
After realising that scanning images was taking too much time, he boughta digital Sigma SD9 and lenses. He also liked the quality produced by the medium format camera, so went out and bought a Mamiya RZ Pro II with a fish eye lens, a 90mm and 250mm lens.
He ahs gone on from these early beginnings to photograph a wide variety of images and subjects, from landscapes to portraits, documentary to Urban, along with his conceptual and surrealistic images.
he now gives talks and demonstrations around the world, and alos has Exhibited his work widely. In June 2009he obtained a distinction in the Visual Art Category with the ARPS. he ha scome a long way in a very short time, and his Blog contains a large variety of subjects.
His motto is" it is not what you see, it is how you see it", which I think is a good way of describing photography.

This is an example of his conceptual and surreal imagery. This is entitled "Illusion", and is a very clever play on light and is quite surreal. the lighting is quite spectacular to illustrate the desert like feeling to this image.

This is a good example of how to make a good image from an everyday product, with simple natural lighting and composition.The leaf shows the use and the shadow clearly adds to the composition.  Steve Chong says -"As I was strolling this morning, the rake leaning on the wall really caught my attention. I find it mesmerizing when I saw the shadow of the rake created by the golden morning ray of sun. The leaf stuck on the rake was a bonus. So I ran back home, got out my gear and took this shot."

This shows excellent lighting to illustrate a product in use.The lighting on the bubbles shows the many rainbow colours you get from the source of the bubbles. It seems that there are two light sources in action here, one plain on the girl, he other highlighting the bubbles.

The combination of colours here are classic, but the use of them to produce this image, from original item to final item in one image is an excellent interpretation. The direction of the lighting enhances the overall feel for this image.

Such a simple abstract pattern with composition being the main part of this image. It also conveys the anticipation of what is to come.

I am not sure what this is but I can see that it is abstract, and the shape of the liquid almost seems to form a golf club. The texture of the liquid is well represented as it evidently does not flow like water but is a more thicker liquid which forms this shape. The container also looks surreal as it appears to have no edges.

A very good play on subject matter. The lighting is quite dramatic across the image, and picks out the elements very well. The view point is at a level to which we can see all the action.

Another simple composition, with a combination of lighting. the candle lighting the interior, and the external directional lighting emphasising the shape of the product. This is very pleasing on the eye, very relaxing.

This is similar to the golf image above, but the lighting is even more dramatic.

This is entitled "Anticipation". The lighting again is quite clever to get an even spread over the image so that all is very well lit.

This is entitled "me and my shadow" and is a very simple composition and the objects sits very nicely in the top corner. The colour chosen is very easy on the eye and with an even shiny surface gives that wonderful shadow. With the one directional lighting this enhances the product shape and size.Light source was derived from my computer monitor. Steve Chong says -"I wrote a simple BASIC program to obtain the colors I desired. Interestingly, the surface of the table is pink. I bought the cup during my tour to Vietnam."

This image of the apples is called going higher,and the lighting is very subtle, and is coming from 2 directions. I like to subtle colours, the soft background is a good foil for the red cherries. Steve Chong says -"Everything in this shot was planned deliberately. The folds on the background and foreground demand the highest attention. In order to get the "right" folds at the respective places, I have to stroke, rub, re-adjust and not to mention blowing air on them. The objective is to create the sort of drama at the foreground and background, particularly on the foreground where they were use to lead the vision the subjects. The fabric at the foreground was silk and normal cotton for the background. To create the sepia look I have chosen a warm filter. The flare and reflections on the apples are eliminated by the use of a polarizing filter. It has also enhanced the colors on the apples." Steve says the light was Natural from a window.

The details for this image are :-Camera: Canon EOS/1V

Lens: Tamron SP90mm

Film: ASA100

Aperture: F3.5

Shutter: 1s

Filter: Polarizing Filter, Kenko 85

Light: Natural Light from window

Just to illustrate that this photographer does not only do conceptual and still life images, this is an image from his Yuan Yang series. The capture of the light here is just remarkable, even more so the lighting on the countryside is very exhilarating.