On "Retiring" and Moving On - 2022 Begins...
Happy New Year! A little personal news! In 2022, I will take the first steps in becoming a "photographer who has shot professionally" rather than a "professional photographer".
What this means is that I will be scaling back on large scale events such as full day weddings and corporate event shoots in Hong Kong. It does not mean that I have relinquished the photographic chain completely - I will still be available for interesting projects and editorial commissions, not to mention my continued love of family portraiture and the like.
For those who have already been in touch with me about their weddings prior to today, rest assured that existing and confirmed bookings for 2022 remain unaffected by this decision. I will also be taking a limited number of bridal reservations going forward. In many ways, I feel I am shooting as well as I ever have, but now is the right time to step away in terms of making a choice about my lifestyle. COVID presented interesting challenges for the business - strangely I am as busy as ever - but I think it is finally the time to find some time for my own projects, perhaps even refocusing my attention on the business side of the industry. Shooting large scale events in HK during the era of distancing and masking (yet with the same demands from luxury clients vis-a-vis high-level event work) was certainly a very unexpected and challenging experience, but one I'm pleased we met head on.
I know I have also been lucky that - as I have risen through the ranks - I have worked with a kinder, more generous calibre of wedding couple. Thank you so much to the graciousness of the couples, especially those in these last few year. It was evident that - finally - I was able to cross that final barrier, that where the wedding couple is not simply a client, but a friend.
It has been a tremendous ride. I first started with cameras in the late 90s and shot my first paid event in Hong Kong in 2006 - making this my 15th year as a professional shooter of some kind here. Every time I went out there to shoot as a “professional”, I thought how lucky I was to be able to tell your stories.
Suffice it to say a big thank you to the hundreds of clients, couples, families, brands and vendors I've worked with, especially those who went out of their way for me (many did). So many things I saw, so many places I went - if you had told me that when I started I would not have believed a word. A big thank you to Jane, Oliver and Cole as well, for every time they stepped up to the wedding plate with me.
Those moments! The first wedding in 2006. Opening my own studio The Kandid in 2013. Waking up at dawn to capture a sunrise at Yosemite on someone's wedding day. Wolfing down ramen with the directors of a world-famous diamond brand in Tokyo. Capturing first looks in the vineyards of Burgundy and Bordeaux. A wintry week in Copenhagen shooting Nordic café culture courtesy of RAINS. My first ever North American magazine cover for American Airlines. 8 days in Bali shooting hotels with the Lifestyle Resorts crew. 48 hours with Prada in Tai Kwun. 2 months in Singapore for my first ever solo exhibition. Shooting MR PORTER's first ever own-brand menswear campaign. Every single Instagrammer I met, broke bread with (even the nasty ones, the bad actors, who did more for my commitment to this industry than they will ever know). All the laughter, tears, joy and even the tequila shots at the afterparties of every single wedding I was hired to shoot (I still hate tequila).
Every single click added gloss to my entire photographic journey, gave an extra sheen to my life.
I recently passed a cumulative 100k followers on social media, which was a strange feeling of something that should have been a watershed moment but also felt a little hollow and underwhelming - like I had something more to give but perhaps not to that world, which if anything seems more distant than at any point in my online life. In the end, as much as I have loved so many things about this side of the photographic industry, I can't wait to embrace another side of it - it is all very exciting. COVID has changed the world and the way we see it - but I'm on tenterhooks waiting on what comes next, knowing I will always be a creator of some kind.
This is the end of this chapter, but not the end of the story. If you were there, thanks for being a part of it. There’s still so much to do…
Yours,
Justin
@hurtingbombz