A couple of years ago I signed up for an account on PhotoSig, a great community for photography enthousiasts. On PhotoSig I got in touch with mister Steve Chong, an enormously talented artist from Malaysia. I'm an great admirer of Steve's work. It's of exceptional artistic quality and Steve routinely explores the boundaries of what's possible with both digital and analog photography. Not only did I get to see a lot of Steve's work on PhotoSig but I also loved his often elaborated descriptions of what he did to accomplish that one perfect shot. Steve's photo's often require the help of the children in his local community and... an insane amount of patience. Quite often Steve spends a whole weekend just to realize ONE new photo. I guess one just has to be from the Far East to possess this amount of patience! If ther's such a thing as a 'Zen of photography' I'm quite sure Steve has mastered it.

Passion of Bacchus

Besides being a true master of surrealist and landscape photography, Steve is also an all around great guy. For a long time I've been wanting to show his amazing work to the world on my humble weblog and do an interview with him. Last week I finally got around writing my questions to Steve. The result is the illustrated interview you're about to read!

Important note: All images used in this article are copyrighted work by Steve Chong. These images were used with Mr. Chong's explicit permission and do NOT fall under the Creative Commons license. This means you have NO permission to use them for anything except for your personal viewing pleasure.

You can click on each image to view it's corresponding page with a description on Steve's website.

Steve, when did you shoot your first photographs?

Oh, let me see, I guess it was when I was 15 years old. My dad has a Pentax 35mm SLR camera. I was mesmerized by the flower macros I saw on a calendar. Without knowing what kind of lens was attached to the camera, having absolutely no idea about composition, exposure etc. I just pointed it as close as possible at the flowers and pressed the shutter. The result was totally disastrous! After that I never touched my Dad's camera again!

What kind of equipment do you use to create your work?

ClimaxI have a lot of equipment. For my conceptual/still life photography, my Sigma SD9 + Sigma EX24-70mm and EX50mm lenses are my first choice. As far as photographing landscapes is concerned, a medium-format Mamiya RZ6x7 with a 35mm fisheye, 50mm, 90mm and 250mm lenses come into action. My EOS/1V with 17-40mm, 90mm and 70-300mm lenses are the backup. Just recently, I've become crazy about large format either 8x10 or 4x5. I guess in the future the image quality of '35mm' digital will surpass the quality of medium-format film, so eventually, I guess I will probably acquire a high-end 35mm camera and a large format camera.

Your style is very surrealistic. It's almost like the photographic version of Salvador Dali. How did you develop this unique style in photography?

How did I develop this style? Well, it just came eventually. I guess one needs to think and practice a lot.

Shaken Not Stirred

A lot of your work looks like it's heavily doctored in Adobe Photoshop. How much of it is real and how much of it is Photoshop?

The use of Photoshop seems inevitable in the postproduction of my surrealistic work. For many of my shots, it would be almost impossible to shoot the images straight out of the camera. Photoshop is used to bring the images as close to the version in my mind as possible. The subjects in the images are all real, nothing was drawn. I often use Photoshop to arrange all of the subjects together.

An Eye for an Eye

What is (according to you) the best photo you've ever made? Can you describe the process that lead to this photo?

Best photo? It is very difficult to say which one is my best, because as far as my work is concerned, many are pre-visualized. That means I have to see them in my heart first. Sometimes these images need polishing in order to become clearer in my mind. For some, because of the clarity and vivid impression they leave, shooting can be carried out in very little time.

However, prior to the actual shooting, lots of preparations need to be performed, like setting up placement and the angle of the lighting, the props etc. If I really have to choose, I would say 'Climax', which was the watershed that set the course and path of my photography. It was from there that I branched into surrealistic photography. Until today, I still enjoy looking at it. I like the energy radiating from the image. Later, 'At Wit's End', the first image of the Hand/Eye series, left a profound and lasting impact.

Spot Light

You work consists of both analog and digital photography. Which of these do you prefer, and why?

WobbleAs far as film is concerned, one cannot deny that it's general usage is heading south. However, I think film will never die, because there are areas in which it's still hard to beat. For instance, it requires almost no electricity to make an exposure with film. The tonal and dynamic range are tantalizing, still much wider than with any digital camera. I would say, I use both equally much in my work. For landscapes I definitely choose film. For my studio work I need the instant feedback that a digital camera provides.

There's an impressive list of photography awards and medals listed on your website. Which one means the most to you and why?

My very first international award, the Trierenberg Super Circuit in which I won 1000 Euro in the "Sports, Dynamic and movement" category. This award encouraged me to participate in many other international Salons.

Editors note: As you can see on this photo which was recently published in a Chinese newspaper in which Steve was interviewed, he's won uhm.. a couple more of them!

Do you have any upcoming exhibitions in Europe or the United States? If not, would you like to?

So far, none, but given the chance I would of course love to!

What tips do you have for novice photographers who want to try surrealistic photography such as yours?

Dawn at KuatanBe bold. Be different. Be original. Let your mind flow freely and follow your heart. Sketch down your ideas, think and rethink the concept. Polish it, and when time comes, execute it.

What are your plans for the future? How do you plan to further enhance your work and maybe your career as an artistic photographer?

Given the opportunity, I would like to hold personal exhibitions both on a local level and on an international level. Also, I would like to try my luck and get the RPS (Royal Photographic Society) recognition. A career in photography? Well, it has been playing in my mind, the time will eventually come I guess.

A final question. You seem to have a mild obsession for human eyes. What's the story behind that?

Here we go again :), this is a question I have been asked a thousand times * laugh *. Well, I can't really explain it. It's just that these eyeballs have been indelibly engraved in my mind. Almost unshakable, I guess. Sometimes questions don't need answers, because they would be more interesting left unanswered. Much like many aspects of life itself...

Gleeful Anticipation

Closing Notes

First of all I would like to thank Steve a lot for allowing me to interview him and to showcase some of his amazing work on my weblog. Being a long time admirer of his work this is definitely an honor. If you like Steve's work as much as I do, visit his website to view a lot more of it. If you want to support Steve and help him push his artistic career you can also purchase prints of his work.

Enigma of the Masses

This concludes my feature interview article with Steve Chong. I hope you liked reading it and looking at his work as much as I did creating it.

The tags:photography, photographer, Steve Chong, surrealism, surrealist, landscape