How did you get started with photography?
I was introduced to film photography through a semester long photography class at my high school when I was fifteen. After that, I started borrowing my dad’s digital camera and exploring Toronto, snapping pictures of anything and everything. After graduating high school, I bought my first DSLR and spent the year traveling through Europe and taking pictures. Overall, I’ve had a small degree of formal training — I’ve taken some continuing education credits at Ryerson University in Toronto, but I was brought into the world of fashion and commercial photography under the mentorship of Toronto based photographers Steve Carty (and his agency Hermann & Audrey) and Struan Campbell-Smith, both of whom I feel lucky to have studied under.
What are your other creative outlets?
Music is actually my first passion. I was trained as a classical pianist as a child, and picked up drumming as a teenager. Since then I’ve also produced electronic music under a few different monikers. My most recent project is an experimental hip hop project called “Aquarian” which draws on everything from underground dance music, like dubstep, crunk and glitch, to jazz to film scores.
What project of yours are you currently most excited about?
I’ve been really excited about the recent convergence of digital photography and HD video. New technology hitting the market has created exciting inroads to video for still photographers like myself, and I’ve been exploring of the medium. Recently, I completed a short music video (of sorts), which I filmed with a model on location in New York. I’ve been enjoying the process immensely, and I’ll definitely be exploring the medium a lot more in the near future. I also have a collaborative installation projects involving video and live electronic music, which I’m in the early stages of planning for.
Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
If print doesn’t die out, I see myself be shooting editorially, ideally for magazines like W and i-D, and I’ll hopefully have enough material to be exhibiting more of my personal work (mostly landscapes). I also see myself branching out more mixed media and conceptual art pursuits, and maybe even putting together a short film!
How can we get in touch?
Visit my website chrisleung.ca, drop me an email, or follow me on Twitter!
