Posted on April 23, 2019
Aik Beng Chia
Networked Media 2019 Week 7
This week focuses on digital photography, in particular, “iPhoneographers” on Instagram. As a passionate digital photographer, many would assume that I should be in my element with this week’s topic because it must certainly be a subject that I can actively engage with. To an extent this is true, but to speak plainly, I had (emphasis on past tense) very mixed feelings about both the conversation on “iPhoneographers” and Instagram as a photo sharing platform, and these mixed feelings definitely leaned more towards the negatives. To sum up my thoughts briefly, I hope it’s understandable why someone like me, who has studied photography and gone through the journey of learning and developing my own craft (still developing and learning), would have a distaste for the term “iPhoneographer”, a connotation that somewhat invalidates the hard work of digital and analog photographers who spends time and effort to understand the mechanics of our cameras. And so, I do admit that I often find it insulting when someone with no background knowledge of photography will post a mediocre photograph with their iPhone with #beautifulsunset and #photographylife. However, as I have gone through the readings and continue to research into this bizarre world of iPhone photography, I have discovered that those who are successful in this field are nowhere close to the attitude of what I initially thought of iPhoneographers. The majority of these photographers have acknowledged the limitations of an iPhone, yet have developed ways to navigate around these limitations to still create such beautiful images. When these photographers explain that it is the necessity for the immediacy of publication that iPhones offer, then I have come to understand the appeal for iPhoneography and how this particular style has become so successful when done correctly. It takes me forever to get my photos off my camera and onto my Instagram, some reasons are due to anxiety with posting, but that spirals from the long, arduous process and uploading and editing which leads to more doubts about whether my photographs are worth posting. So, this week has definitely been very eye-opening to me and has definitely flipped my previously cold thoughts about iPhoneographers. In regards to analyzing a particular iPhoneographer, I have chosen Aik Beng Chia, a Singaporean artist who began working as a graphic designer, but discovered photography with his iPhone 2G in 2008 and has been shooting ever since.
What is the title of the photo you have chosen to analyze?
I have chosen to look at a series of photographs he posted on his Instagram that I believe are part of 香港 Zine, a magazine of photographs that he “made, lost and found” during his trip to Hong Kong in 2016. Chia has done so many projects and published/distributed them to many different platforms, there are photographs that appear on his Instagram, but not on his website, etc. etc. So, a lot of my answers to the following questions are more of a hypothesized assumption just by researching and trying to make connections with the sparse description attached to his photos and projects. However, in particular, for this blog post, I want to look at the post attached below.
EDIT: 05/05/2019
Aik Beng Chia has unfortunately deleted these photos off his Instagram, however from memory, there were black and white, beautifully composed photographs of people out on the street. Some were a low angle of a silhouetted man jumping over the camera, others were of beautiful Hong Kong architecture. I am still trying to find other sources of these photos so that I can link them to this blog post. Sorry for the inconvenience.
With the photo you are examining, when was it produced?
I believe that the photos were first published in his Hong Kong Zine in November 2016.
How was the photo authored, published and distributed?
I am unsure of exactly how the above photos were authored, but I specifically chose Aik Beng Chia as my practitioner to investigate this week because of his progress into becoming an iPhoneography. Hopefully, my research will summarise and indirectly answer this question anyway.
By trade, Aik Beng Chia is an illustrator and designer, and so, when he began exploring photography, he already had preexisting skills and understandings on how to frame and compose a photograph to a particular aesthetic. Chia had suffered depression in 2008 and in an attempt to find an alternative to medication in order to treat his depression, he found photography as a suitable distraction. Unfortunately, at the time, he could not afford a camera set so he resorted to just using the camera on his iPhone 2G, which now we can see as the beginning of amazing opportunities for Chia. He noticed many benefits of the iPhone camera in street photography, in that it was easy to carry around and secretly take photos of strangers, and later on in his career, he still enjoyed shooting with the iPhone because, with decent photo editing apps like Snapseed and the phone’s WIFI function, it meant that he could capture, edit and upload all on the same device. With the photos above, I can assume from his interviews, that he shot with either the Procamera app or Thirty Six, and edited with the popular app Snapseed. The reason why I chose the photos above in particular to analyze is because I was so surprised that they were #shotoniphone, but after researching and learning more about Chia’s background in design and the capabilities of these photo apps, I am very impressed and have found a new appreciation for what iPhoneopgraphy can offer. In regards to its publication and distribution, I found it very interesting that even though they were taken with an iPhone, it doesn’t look like they were published on Instagram, let alone online immediately at all. Instead, I believe that it was published in his Hong Kong Zine series, meaning he had spent time to edit and curate them with the other photos, which is contradictory to the general immediacy of iPhoneography publication. Regardless of timing, evidence of publication for the photos that I could find were in the Hong Kong Zine series, and online on his Instagram in 2019. I also could not find any evidence of these photos being distributed and published elsewhere, however, Chia has been very active in distributing his works to multiple magazines and news companies such as the Guardian, and the Instagram account @everydayasia.
References:
AikBeng Chia: Photographs. (2019). About Me. [online] Available at: https://www.aikbengchia.com/740625-about-me
Chia, A. (2015). Singapore through an Instagrammer’s eyes. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/travel/gallery/2015/mar/17/singapore-through-an-instagrammers-eyes
Ciab, G. (2016). 香港 Zine by Aik Beng Chia – Invisible Photographer Asia (IPA). [online] Invisible Photographer Asia (IPA). Available at: http://invisiblephotographer.asia/2016/12/07/hkzine-aikbengchia/
Departure Mag. (2016). Coffee With Aik Beng Chia – Departure Mag. [online] Available at: https://departuremag.com/storytellers/coffee-photo-aik-beng-chia/
Kim, E. (n.d.). Photography is Democratic: Interview with Aik Beng Chia (ABC) From Singapore. [online] ERIC KIM. Available at: http://erickimphotography.com/blog/2013/07/03/photography-is-democratic-interview-with-aik-beng-chia-abc-from-singapore/
Nathan, L. (2015). Singapore photographer takes over Instagram account of UK newspaper. [online] The New Paper. Available at: https://www.tnp.sg/news/singapore-photographer-takes-over-instagram-account-uk-newspaper
Nookmag. (2015). Personalities: Aik Beng Chia. [online] Available at: https://www.nookmag.com/personalities-aik-beng-chia/
TAN, T. (2017). From illustrations to iPhone photography: Apple’s Red Dot Heroes to host workshops. [online] The Straits Times. Available at: https://www.straitstimes.com/tech/from-illustrations-to-iphone-photography-apples-red-dot-heroes-to-host-workshops