Interview - Wei Ying Ang

Ever since she picked up a camera, Melbourne-based photographer Wei Ying Ang began to see things in a new way. The world around her became a richer place, suddenly full of moments she felt an urge to record and remember. Ying sees her craft as a way of glorifying everything that is beautiful and worthy of notice and appreciation in the world - a child's effortless and beaming smile, a twinkling green expanse of ocean, or the simple beauty of a tangled string of light globes.

Ying's passion is travel, and travel photography is her first love. Her website and Flickr account are full of stunning travel shots so candid you feel almost part of the scene. Her fashion and corporate work, though, is no less engaging - again, the shots are characterised by a candidness, and an almost voyeuristic feel. The framing of each shot seems so unstructured - spontaneous, even. These shots aren't perfect - the figures might blur with movement, the location might be grubby, the stylist's hand might be visible at the edge of the frame... but it's these imperfections that give Ying's work a natural-ness not often seen in high-end fashion photography.

Ying discovered photography quite by accident - she never intended to pursue such a creative career... and it took some convincing to show her parents that a career in photography was a worthy outcome after years at uni studying business and political science! I think it's so brave to step away from years of training, and pursue something completely different, based only on a burning passion that you can't ignore! It's also inspiring to be reminded that you can make a career out of what you love - regardless of your training or experience. Just get started!

(But read this interview first!)

Tell me a little about your background - what did you study and what path led you to what you’re doing now?

I actually never went to university to study photography. In fact, I had never envisioned myself in a creative field as a working professional at all. All my tertiary education was originally in the general sciences, business and political science. Photography was a by-product of a trip to Europe after I finished my post-grad in Asian Studies, when I was 22 years old. As soon as I started taking pictures, I knew I was hooked and nothing else could come close to matching this desire to paint with light, so to speak.

What are some of your projects/clients that we might be familiar with?

I’ve participated in a few general group exhibitions in Australia, including the CCP Autumn Kodak Salon and the Schubert Ulrick Prize, as well as 2 solo exhibits – one in New York and one in Queensland, where I went to high school. A couple of my clients include Circle on Cavill and one of my favourites, the girls behind the fashion label Sewn.


Working for yourself can be really difficult for creative people. What are the challenges you have faced working for yourself – do you struggle with the business side of things, for motivation to get started on a project, or marketing yourself? Do you collaborate with other creatives?

Working for myself has actually been wonderful. I never intended to start my own freelance photography business in the first place, so it was a pleasant surprise when everything just seemed to fall into place and people started to hire me to do the thing that I loved the most. I began my website almost in the same fashion as one would print a book. Its purpose was merely a viewing platform for pleasure, not commercial purposes. It eventually evolved to fill the growing demand for clients to see a wider variation of my work and a way to keep updated with my portfolio. Also, I think that I’ve been exceptionally lucky with the business side because I was originally trained in that industry and am used to meeting deadlines and working to a brief with clients. I’ve always been a people person as well, so there are definitely plans in the future to collaborate with more creatives, especially other photographers.

which designers, artists or creative people you look up to or are inspired by?

I am so inspired by other photographers that work in all different sectors of the industry. Photographers like Nan Goldin, Henri Cartier-Bresson, di Lorcia, Juergen Teller, Dominic Nahr and Ryan McGinley, not to mention countless others that put themselves on the very edge of what they do to bring different perspectives on the great variation and diversity of human life, never fail to amaze me. Film directors have a huge impact on me as well, particularly the music video work of Chris Cunningham, Mark Romanek and Michel Gondry. I am also having a little love affair with documentary photography at the moment and would like to do more of that in the near future.

What does a typical day at work involve for you?

No days are typical! I travel so much and am always in a different place doing different things and each job is always different because as a creative, you are always called upon to bring something new and fresh to the table. I spend a lot of time taking pictures, even when I’m not “working” on a client job. I will probably go and take up to 100 photos a day, just by seeking out or creating situations that are a little left of centre, with everything from costume hire and getting friends to dance around in the streets to ice-skating on a Friday night in the suburbs. It also keeps me from getting bored… which can happen pretty quickly.

What are you most proud of professionally?

I would say I am most proud of winning acknowledgment from my parents that photography is my chosen career. It was a long 4 years of dogged determination before they would accept that 5 years of tertiary education in several “respected” fields had yielded a photographer… a skill set that I ended up teaching myself and learning on my own anyway. In terms of being proud of my actual work, I find that my ego tends to take a back seat to my passion for the actual craft. I’ve always known that even if I was so bad that I couldn’t get any work as a photographer, I would still be taking pictures in every spare moment of my day, in and around my “day job”.

Where do you find inspiration?

I find inspiration in my personal life. My photography tends to reflect the best parts of me. When I am at my most positive and inspired in my personal life, you can see that clearly in the pictures that I take. It’s generally the human experience that I draw the most inspiration from and I find that as I delve deeper into the field, the greater the scope of experience seems beautiful to me, even if the general consensus is negative.



What's the best thing about your job?

I don’t know if my job is any better from anyone else’s. It depends on what really makes an individual tick, doesn’t it? Photography for me is just another voice for me to speak with, and also a way of pointing things out to my viewers, things that I love or am interested in or would like to explore further. It’s also a necessary conduit for me to experience the world at a safe distance that has more to do with my own psyche than gaining pleasure from the actual act of taking a photograph.

And the worst?

The growing demand of photoshop overkill and unrealistic expectations from clients that have very little knowledge of what it takes to put together a particular image.

What would be your dream project?

Wo… I have so many that I’m not sure I could be unfair to all of them by choosing one and calling it the best… I suppose it would be pretty cool to land a job that essentially took me to all the various, obscure hidey-holes of the world to document the different rules of engagement laid down in various communities and sub-groups, whilst emerging with a clear body of work that unified the whole in a collective blanket of the human condition. Did I also mention a huge budget?

Where do you see yourself professionally in 5 years time?

I’m actually not very sure. I’m at a bit of a curve in my career at the moment where I can feel an imminent change in direction, but I am just not so sure about the direction that it is going in. It’s very exciting though, because as I get older and more experienced with the medium, I am more confident about the different capacities that I can work in.



What are you looking forward to – professionally or personally?

I’m looking forward to evolving. Photography is a long-term visual project for me and I find that it’s importance lies more in retrospect than the immediate results. In a more tangible sense, I’m looking forward to bringing more depth into my work and choosing projects that will take a longer and more intimate look at my subjects, instead of the fleeting observation of a passer-by.


Melbourne Questions –

What/where was the last great meal you ate in Melbourne?

At home. I invited a very fussy foodie friend of mine to come over and cook a birthday dinner for me and some friends. Duck and mushroom risotto with a seared scallop and beetroot salad.

Where would we find you on a typical Saturday morning?

That word again, typical… Perhaps at breakfast somewhere in South Melbourne with my family and a copy of The Age.

Melbourne’s best kept secret?
Don’t know if it’s much of a secret, but I love Industria on Gertrude St, Fitzroy. The only place worth going to buy test tubes and old anatomy posters!

Tom Kane

Tom Kane is a successful advertising art director with secret ambitions of being an artist/illustrator. After 25 years in advertising he is finally pursuing this original dream.

I always like to peek inside artists/designers sketchbooks... I often prefer seeing these 'working drawings' than the finished product. Tom's blog is full of colourful illustrations that are super detailed yet almost somehow almost comic-book in style... I like the international aspect of this work... these sketches are taken from his travel journals.

Julien Valee

Stills from an animation made for Black and White (a division of Montreal ad agency Bleublancrouge.)

Custom image for manystuff.org - created in response to a brief set by Manystuff, questioning the relative roles of the computer and hand-made processes in design.

If I spoke better French, I would know more about Julien Vallée. As it stands, all I know is that he's a graphic and motion graphic designer based in Canada, and he does some super-cool stuff with paper and cardboard. I hope you'll excuse the sketchy details and settle for a peek at these gorgeous pictures from his website, and the FANTASTIC little video he made for Black and White. His many talents include:

1) Incredible animation combining computer and in-camera animation techniques:

animation made for Black and White (a division of Montreal ad agency Bleublancrouge.)
via notcot.org and viacomit (and lots of other places)

2) creating fantastic 3D models from cardboard and paper:

Cover for Grafika - the 2008 Quebec annual graphic design studios guide

Custom images for manystuff.org

3) ...and displaying large collections of items in neatly ordered patterns:

Cover for Print magazine

This mag cover was also Published in Tactile - High Touch Visuals (A book from Die-Gestalten - Berlin - 2007)

Wow! I love this combination of hand-made elements with computer-based techniques!
Or perhaps I am just obsessed with paper.

hmm. I worry this blog is in danger of becoming all about paper and fabric... ;)

IKEA train interior in Kobe, Japan

image montage - pink tentacle

image - Kiyo

Image - Kiyo

Image - Kiyo

I don't think I'm the only one who has a love / hate relationship with Ikea. Such great designs at fantastically cheap prices... but the quality is a little questionable, and it does get a bit boring when everyone you know has the exact same bookshelf.

HOWEVER, you have to give IKEA some credit - their recent(ish) foray into selling fabrics by the metre has been a triumph - great designs, at incredibly cheap prices. They've also done an amazing job of marketing this product range. The latest example is the fit-out of a train from the Portliner Monorail in Kobe, Japan, to promote the opening of IKEA's new store at Port Island. They've fitted out the entire carriage with their latest prints and patterns - inside and out. The train will carry passengers in style until May 6.

via pink tentacle

(Also, I remember seeing some great shots last year of IKEA's temporary exhibit/concept store 'Everyday Fabulous', which coincided with New York design week. Another fantastic marketing concept, showcasing the best of IKEA's fabric and accessory designs, with a pinch of very effective guerilla marketing thrown in for good measure. Pics below.)

Ikea 'Everyday Fabulous' temporary concept store in Manhattan - image Apartment Therapy

More cute IKEA guerilla marketing pop-ups in NYC

Interview - Seesaw Design

Poster and website design for Kate Alexa (Liberation Records). I really love that yellow diagonal stripe with the black and white...

Globe promotional material

Gallaz print campaign

Corporate identity and signage

Mode promotional material

Wrangler print campaign

Seesaw Design is a boutique graphic design company based in North Melbourne. It was set up in 2003 by Anita McArthur and Matthew McKenzie, who met whilst studying at RMIT. I'm always interested to hear the story behind creative start-up businesses, and the point at which they took the plunge and went out on their own. In Anita's case, I was interested to hear that only 2 years after graduating, Anita and Matthew were already gaining so much freelance work that they didn't have time to continue working 9-5 for somebody else! This is a testament to Seesaw's talents and professionalism in looking after their clients.

Seesaw handle a real variety of projects and clients - everything from fashion and T-shirt graphics, to web design, advertising and print media, and film graphics. I first came across Seesaw whilst working on Channel 10's Thank God You're Here... they used to do a lot of our graphics... which was an absolutely endless task - often with quite unrealistic deadlines! Each week there'd be at least 2 if not more scenarios that would require a lot of graphic signage... Anita would often get our brief with only a couple of days to complete the job... then they'd do a range of logos etc, and we'd print these on adhesive vinyl or canvas to dress in to the sets. Seesaw were so patient and professional in dealing with all of our endless demands and last minute changes... and no matter how crazy our requests, Anita always came through!

Read on to learn more about Anita's creative inspirations, the challenges she faced in setting up her company, and the perks of running your own business - like having pets in the office!

Tell me a little about your background - what did you study and what path led you to what you’re doing now?

I originally completed a Bachelor of Biomedical Science straight after High School. A few of my friends at the time were studying graphic design and I knew that was what I really wanted to do. So I went on to study a Bachelor of Communication Design at RMIT. At RMIT I met my business partner Matthew McKenzie and we always dreamed of one day opening a studio together. About two years later after collaborating on many freelance jobs and working together at another studio, we started Seesaw.

What were the main challenges you faced in starting up your own company? How did you take the leap from working for someone else to going out on your own?

I think the decision to go out of our own happened pretty organically, we both started receiving so much freelance work that working nine to five for someone else just became too difficult. Initially the hardest thing was trying to be creative while attempting to run a business. We figured out pretty quickly book keeping wasn’t our forte.

What are some of your projects/clients that we might be familiar with?

We are really lucky to have a diverse range of clients, from fashion and music though to finance, not for profit, architecture and engineering clients. Some of our more recognisable clients include Wood Marsh Architecture, Wrangler, Body Bronze, Gallaz, Globe, Mooks, Bettina Liano, Marshall Baker Homes, Liberation Music and Variety the children’s charity. We have also worked on a number of TV shows including Channel Ten’s Thank God You’re Here.

How do you approach a brief initially – Do you turn to books, magazines or websites for initial inspiration? Do you brainstorm your ideas with your colleagues or prefer to work independently?

After meeting with the client and learning about their business and direction, we start with brain storming and researching by looking at relevant books, magazines or websites. We then come up with a plan of attack and one of us takes the job through to completion while still bouncing ideas around the rest of the studio. The team is quite small so there is no real hierarchy, rather we all work together to make sure the job is completed with the best result, on time and budget.

Which designers, artists or creative people are you inspired by?

So many people inspire us, the design culture in Melbourne is amazing. We are really lucky to have incredibly talented contacts and friends who work in architecture, interior design, photography, illustration and fashion.

What does a typical day at work involve for you?

Every morning starts at about 9am with a coffee. Then pretty much everyday is different.

What are you most proud of professionally?

There are many jobs we are truly proud of but most of all I am really proud of our client relationships. I also love the fact we work with great charities. There is nothing nicer than knowing that the work you create directly helps someone.

Where do you find inspiration?

Gosh, we find inspiration everywhere. From friends, magazines, architecture, interior design....a beautiful chair, old signage, a colour palette, found type. Pretty much anything.

What's the best thing about your job?

The freedom to pick and choose who we work with.

Oh and having pets at work.

And the worst?

Tight deadlines and unreasonable clients. Thankfully that doesn’t happen too often.

What would be your dream project?

It would be a complete re-branding job with a completely open brief. Oh and one with an endless budget!

What are you looking forward to – professionally or personally?

Professionally - growing our team, working on exciting new projects and moving into our new dream studio. Personally - getting married in December.

Melbourne Questions –

What/where was the last great meal you ate in Melbourne?

The Aviary - Victoria Street, Abbotsford

Where would we find you on a typical Saturday morning?

Normally wake up late, walk up to Errol Street in North Melbourne, stock up on magazines and grab a coffee from the lovely Fandango.

Melbourne’s best kept secret?

If I told you it wouldn’t be a secret!

Tin & Ed

Tin & Ed are Tin Nguyen and Edward Cutting. They're a young graphic design duo based in Melbourne. Their name oftens seems to pop up on lot of kooky and cool design projects in Melbourne... Things like the Crumpler ABC website (weird but wonderful), the Next Wave Festival program, and also I keep seeing their photos on threethousand.

They are also in part responsible for this lovely print campaign for Tourism Victoria.... (photo above).

They made those giant 'wool' sculptures! Now that's quite versatile for a graphic design company! Nice styling huh? I really like that giant woolball. I like the illustrative shapes - the arrows and the hand. I like that they physically made the props and didn't just photoshop them! (for proof of this you can see the giant shapes in 3D here)

Also have a look at the lovely TV commercial that goes with that print campaign - really cute art direction... makes Melbourne look so pretty!

I was all set to email Tin&Ed and see if they wanted to be interviewed but alas I have just found a fantastic interview with them here at Chaos Generation, and they pretty much answered all the questions I was dreaming up. Blah.