Resolved to meet more photographers this year. I’ve had the privilege to meet and know so many photographers in the last few years like Geoff Ang, Wesley Loh, Franz N., Juliana Tan, Matthew Ng, Lauryn Ishak, and Finn Barr to name a few. Learned so much from each of them and met a lot of cool new people in turn.
The first photographer I met this year is Bang (it sounds closer to Barn with a “g” than the sound Bang that the gun makes). Followed his work for some time now and really liked how cinematic and crafted each of his images is. Hit him up with a DM on IG. Coffee at Kurasu. I’m taken aback at how curly his hair is. Bang is dressed modestly and is clutching a bunch of magazines and books. He has a pair of spectacles perched on his nose that looks like it’s seen some really hard use. I quickly sense how passionate he is about creating which is where he spends a great chunk of his headspace instead of fussing over personal fashion. Immediately like how genuine and open he is. He shares his approach (different from my M.O.) - Bang focuses on building an image that tells a story. He saves up to acquire costumes, props, and the like (he has an eclectic collection which I’ve seen a small subset of when he wheels his Decathlon cart brimming with goodies to shoots) to tell a story in each of his images. For a particular image portrait of Eddie Redmayne-esque talent in a period costume, he sourced and invested in an authentic costume from England. I quiz him on his inspiration and he names Caravagio (I blink and take a few seconds to relate that to the Renaissance painter and not some modern-day photographer with the same name) and Rembrandt. I introduce him to Jeremy over drinks, and he joins us for a test shoot at Studio 2020 where he demonstrates how he lights a set where I took the opportunity to take this portrait of him being “watched over” by our two talents for the day. Looking forward to hanging out more with him.
Bang’s homage to a Chris Knight photograph of an Eddie-Redmayne-esque talent in a period costume.
Describe your start in photography, and who was your first subject?
I started in photography before I served National Service. My dad was a photojournalist for SPH and so he had a bunch of cameras and lenses for his work. I asked him to show and teach me photography, although he wasn't very keen on photography. One important thing to remember is that photojournalists are reporters first, getting the scoop was more important than the aesthetics.
So one day, with the Canon 700d I'd bought, I decided to go to the local overhead bridge to try taking some photos of light trails. Before that, I didn't know what light trails were, and so when I tried to capture them, something magical happened. The lights from the cars painted the scene! I was amazed. Like “What the hell?”, it was like a high for me. The more I captured light trail photos, the more I want to take more of it.
After that brief stint when I tried to learn everything about photography, I went to NS, and during this time, was asked by my camp to do photos. Nothing spectacular, just a bunch of NS men taking awards, and I had to take photos of them receiving them.
I went on a 6-month backpacking trip in Europe right after NS. The idea was that I wanted 1 good landscape photo of each city or country I got to, and it was a learning curve for me. Chasing sunrises and sunsets, literally. I saw a pretty sunset during my day in Rome, and I ran 5km or so to catch it on a hill (with the help of a bus) the end result wasn't that spectacular, a large villa blocked the view of the sunset I had imagined, with the Vatican in the foreground, the setting sun behind. But the thrill of it was great. I'm sure everyone must have wondered what this guy with 15kg of bags running through the city was doing.
I studied culinary arts, so initially, I wanted to learn food styling. But there wasn't any school or class on food styling that I know of, so I thought, assisting photographers could be a start. I answered an ad for a photo assistant intern position and started doing work as an assistant.
My first subject was my parents, when I first did portraiture on my own, there wasn't much for me to try, I had a plain white backdrop, 1 light, 1 modifier (an umbrella), and a camera on a tripod. I photographed my dad in the style of Platon, having watched his documentary on Netflix, I was inspired to try his exact style.
Describe your style
I would say it's atmospheric and cinematic. The influences from my photos come from watching movies, looking at fine art paintings of the renaissance periods, as well as going to online photography workshops. They taught me how lighting not only is used to illuminate your subjects but can also be used as a tool to aid you in your storytelling.
I use other elements such as props and wardrobe to help further push the storytelling aspect of it, if I wanted a noir, 1940s detective, what are the elements that best describe it? Window shutters, typewriters, banker's lamps, old scribbled notes, and a guy wearing suspenders over a white shirt. Maybe a pistol on the table? You don't need to explain it, the viewers would know what you're trying to tell.
How would your friends and clients describe you if I asked them?
They would say I'm eccentric? Apparently? I've never stuck to one thing to do or get inspired by, my ideas come from everywhere and nowhere, I could be talking to you directly and some idea just pops into my head, and I'll be dying to tell you. But only because I'm afraid of forgetting, that someone could help remember for me as well 😂
Tell me about your method
I often use a hazer or fog machine. I discovered the use firsthand when I was assisting in a short film as a photographer. I saw how the light looked 3-dimensional in the short film, and naturally, it made me go 'ooooo' I wanna use that! And bought one. I often use 2 to 3 lights, 1 key light, and a hair or backlight to separate my subjects from the scene. Maybe I'll use a light coming out from the subject, a torch, a candle, or a glowing orb, but all these are part of the visual storytelling aspects of the photo.
What projects are you dreaming up right now?
I would love to do something that is part of a set build. I have many ideas, perhaps a little too much or too ambitious.
I would want to do a set that is in the style of a campy 80s sci-fi book cover, that was something that reminded me as a child, it showed the power dynamics of how men were portrayed, the classic damsel in distress pursued by aliens. Maybe change up the gender?
Others would be something Gregory Crewdson inspired, turning whole streets into sets, if possible. I had the idea for a bunch of photos with a voice-over element to it, set in the 1960s of an alternative Singapore, a mysterious object crashed into Singapore, and strange things happened. A police detective recount how he saw a house glowing as he approached it to investigate, a politician speaking to address worried parents at a press conference about missing children, all individual events but tied to a bigger, cosmic event. The influences come from cosmic horror such as HP Lovecraft. It evokes a sense of horror and danger beyond our own imagination of what horror is.