Photographed by Nguan
Who is the practitioner (what is their name?) and when were they practicing?
Nguan (@_nguan_) is a Singaporean photographer. He graduated in 1998 from Illinois’ Northwestern University with a degree in film and video production. He then moved to New York where he bought a camera and started to take pictures during his long walks. He returned back to Singapore for good in 2009.
He made his first Instagram post on 19 May 2013. When asked what he feels about Instagram as a professional photographer, he replies “There are countless soccer games going on in parks and school fields around the world, but that doesn’t mean players in professional leagues should feel threatened. Anything which sparks wider interest in photography and encourages visual sophistication is very welcome.”.
With the photograph you are examining when was it produced ?
This image was posted in Instagram on 15 March 2015. However, I believe it was taken sometime in 2013.
How was the photograph authored and published?
This photograph is used in his “Singapore” series, which includes a book and an exhibition. Although he uses a film camera (Fuji 6×9 SLR camera), he shares his images with his 150k followers on Instagram, where he gets most recognition. In fact, in 2016, he was asked to take over NewYorkerPhoto’s Instagram page to share photographs of Singapore during the week of National Day celebration. He chooses to use film as he said in an interview “Film responds to light in a unique and irreplicable way. It’s my medium of choice. A painter makes a comparable commitment when he or she chooses oils or watercolours instead of Corel Painter.”. The camera and film he uses is also what gives his images the iconic dreamy pastel colour palette.
This image is also used as the cover page of his book “Singapore”, which is a series of photographs taken in the period of a few years to the country he calls home. During an interview, he says “For my ‘Singapore’ series, I aimed for a tone that recalled illustrated children’s books or painted theatrical sets. I thought this would jar in an interesting way with darker themes in the work. I do make some adjustments, but mostly the pictures look the way they do because of the distinct qualities of film and its colour casts.”.
How was the photograph distributed?
nella • September 6, 2018