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My favourite photo of the year so far
Saturday, Jun 27, 2009 5:48PM / Standard Entry / Members only
4 comments

I think most pro photographers or even those who are broadly categorised as photo enthusiasts like myself will tell you that the photo they consider their most commercially successful or their standard "money shot" differs from the particular shot or type of photo they consider their personal fave.

This one is my personal fave of 2009 so far. It's not my most loved, judging from the critical response, but I do love it dearly. I'm an advocate of high black-and-white contrast, even though it's hardly flavour of the month. It's of the Japanese Jazz pianist Yuki Makita mid-performance at this year's FCC Jazz Festival. So I'm posting it here just for my own edification and ego massaging... ha ha.

Copyright J. Lim Photography 2009

as seen on http://www.flickr.com/photos/justinlim/3660640156/

Entry comments (4)

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Marie Jost
posted on Tuesday, Jun 30, 2009 7:44AM [Report]

Taking pictures of live performances is very difficult.  I know, when I was still dancing I don't think anyone every got off a single decent shot of me in almost 10 years of shows.

In fact, good B&W pics of live performers are really the best for capturing something that lasts only the briefest second but that still reveals the essence of the entire number or show.  I was inspired to write an entire novel about flamenco based on some extremely evocative B&W shots of performers, especially a singer and his guitarist partner.  The pictures revealed not only a particular moment in the show, but also a lot about what the relationship was like between these two artists.

What I like about your shot is how the formal qualities help to cement the particular emotion you have captured.  The echoing of the pianist's profile with that of the bass player, but with the depth of field pulling him out of focus so he become more like an echo of her, and the ways the diagonals of the bass neck and the arm playing the instrument intersect at the level of her chin, the mosaic of light and dark, it all really works to enhance the expression on her face and in her body.  Some of it is blind luck--the shutter clicked at exactly the right moment, but a lot of it is having the skills to work on semi-automatic intuition to know when to take the pictures and how to frame them and what to do in terms of exposure, depth of field, etc.  You don't have a lot of time to analyze much while you're shooting a live show--you're just getting in the groove and shooting when the moment moves you.  To take a picture like this more than once in a blue moon, you have to really know what you're doing as a photographer.  Great work.  I see why you like it so much.
fwei
posted on Sunday, Jun 28, 2009 9:57PM [Report]

Smile from bottom heart..yeah tat's great shot.
rottendoubt
posted on Sunday, Jun 28, 2009 3:55PM [Report]

i like it...
Michael Chan
posted on Saturday, Jun 27, 2009 9:55PM [Report]

Nice!!~ Im not a photographer.. but i sense something from it! Keep up the good work! Cheers,

Michael

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Justin Lim

Stats

Lawyer by day. Photographer (digital and film), videoblogger (founder of hurtingbombz studios and productions), writer and graphic t-shirt designer by night....
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Lawyer by day. Photographer (digital and film), videoblogger (founder of hurtingbombz studios and productions), writer and graphic t-shirt designer by night.

His digital photography has appeared in Kee Club Magazine, Elle Decoration, the Clockenflap.com website and various other journals and magazines. He also periodically shoots designer shop and apartment interiors.

On occasion Justin shoots candid portraits for friends and covers events such as weddings on an informal basis.

Notable people he has shot include celebrity chef Bobby Chinn of Discovery Travel and Living.

Justin has experience in shooting products and most recently was assistant photographer at the world premiere product shoot of the Mass Effect figurine (from the xbox360 game of the same name).

Despite this small but growing body of work he remains committed to the preservation of film photography and regularly organises and participates in informal gatherings of photographers who continue to use and develop medium format and 35mm film.

In addition he has also produced viral videos for various websites. One such youtube short movie went on to receive 200,000 hits but was subsequently removed - for reasons he prefers not to go into!

In his spare time, he plays way too much eight-ball at Racks, dragon boats, and tries to revive his rock dreams by playing the guitar badly.

Justin is Malaysian, grew up in HK and England, and has spent time in Australia.

Thanks for stopping by!
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Occupation: Photographer , Comic Creator
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