Kang

Food Photographer, London.

Archive for the ‘middle’ Category

about me.

Thursday, July 22nd, 2010

Salient Stuff

I am a Freelance Photographer, based in London. Food and restaurants are my speciality. I take on private and commercial commissions, my stock photography is managed through Alamy and Ingram Publishing.

My photographs have appeared across a range of National Papers including The Daily Telegraph, Metro, New York Times and Zeit ; and Magazines such as National Geographic, Delicious, Restaurant, Fire & Knives, Layer 7 and The Argus.

Kang Leong
Tel : +44 (0) 7769294273
Email : kang.leong@londoneater.com

History

I picked up my first camera when I turned two, it was around the time my brother was born. In those days, my dad was busy building his business and my mum was busy documenting her two baby boys growing up. She knew nothing about cameras save for that it was a device which could help her store memories for life. Borrowing her sister’s then film SLR; she taught herself how to use it to photograph me. She developed the photos at the local lab in our hometown in Brunei and upon seeing pictures of myself, I was motivated to photograph my mum while she shot me and my brother. It so happened that my dad had a broken Kodak pocket instamatic camera which she gave me so I could pretend to take photographs. I didn’t know that the camera wasn’t loaded with film, so I still paid attention when framing images through the tiny viewfinder, not really knowing what framing really meant at that age. Somehow I would wait for some moment to appear before the finder and make my imaginary pictures. I would ask my mum where my pictures were whenever she came back from the photolab, she would simply smile at her baby boy. My mum photographed me everyday until my 12th birthday. I continue to be fascinated everytime I look in the viewfinder, hoping for something intriguing to happen.

Additionally, I manage the following websites: LondonEater and Noir

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Airports.

Wednesday, April 14th, 2010

I was in transit at Changi Airport for a day, spending the night at the transit hotel. In Asia, there is generally less fuss about cameras in public spaces (if Airports are indeed public). On the other hand, Singapore is generally tourist friendly. I flew with the massive A380s, on the upper deck, throughout the flight, passengers were wanting to grab a shot of this historic engineering feat. I had my camera firmly round my neck for the entire leg of the journey, and nervously wanting to make a photo essay of this from the very beginning. While in transit, the airport seemed a microcosm of life, a bubble that exists within its own set of rules, and observing life inside, felt abit like being in another country all together. I was sight seeing I suppose. It starts at the departure lounge at Heathrow, and ends at the departure lounge at Changi.

Tags: airports, changi
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A masked ball.

Tuesday, March 16th, 2010

I was at the Victoria and Albert museum one evening to pick up some souvenirs at the gift shop when people in period wear and masks started showing up. Luckily, I had my camera with me.

Tags: london, masked ball, v&a museum
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Mass Photo Gathering 2010 : We are Photographers.

Monday, March 15th, 2010

So here’s the situation. Armed police officers have been using laws to search, arrest, detain and stop photographers both amateurs and award wining pros from making photographs in public. There’s something a little disturbing to find that one has to look over one’s shoulder just to take snapshots while in public. So in an effort to hit back at the lunacy, PHNAT has invited everyone with a passion for the photography to gather at a mass photo gathering to stand in support for street photography, and to defend our rights, to simply photograph.

I love street photography. I love that things are always in motion around me. I love that I feel so alive when trying to capture the life and times. The streets are beautiful you know, there’s always something happening, some decisive moment that I am missing at every second corner and out on the streets, photographing people and how they interact with the world makes me feel so humble, so small and realise that I am a part of a grand scheme of things.

Some 2000 photographers descended upon Trafalgar Square at high noon on an overcast Saturday afternoon. I have never seen so many cameras concentrated in one location before. All the L lenses were out on the occasion, the Nikons certainly did not disappoint either, and the Leica Louts were standing tall and proud. There was a general atmosphere of warmth and I could tell that everybody loved their craft, be it a hobby or profession, everybody had a common passion to make photographs. Naturally, the first thing I did when I got there was to simply take pictures, and I was not alone. I could hear a harmonious wave of shutters going off. I felt comfortable, like we were one big family, and it was an amazing feeling to have the approval of everybody around us, when we wanted to take a picture. It was like being at the largest ever photo walk, and everybody knew what to do – everybody was photographing everybody else. I love photography, and today I realised I was not alone. We are photographers, we are not terrorist.

And so I was glad to have attended and support this rally. I hope this set of black and whites documenting what I saw goes a little in helping the campaign and to helping those in power understand why we love taking photographs.

Hope you’ll enjoy this one folks.

(oh and I also made a set of colour shots and you can see them at my flickr account here)

Tags: mass photo gathering, photographers, trafalgar square
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The road through Soho.

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010

I have been taking my Leicas with me everywhere I go these days and shooting the streets with these compact machines are just a wonder. Now that I have gone Leica, I wonder why I didn’t start earlier. I have found that so far the combination of the quiet shutter, the unassuming classic body, the compact lens design all contribute to this Leica ‘stealth’ which allows the photographer to get closer to their subject. Actually, I think this stealth is more the fact that people around feel more comfortable in the vicinity of such a small camera, as opposed to the monster of an SLR which my D700 is. This comfort level does seem to encourage me to take more photos.

I took the camera out for a photowalk with a photo buddy, Mark around Soho, Leicester Square, Chinatown and through to the very touristy environs of Covent Garden. Of course, this part of London doesnt really need much introduction, famed for food, shopping and theatre – it is the hub of entertainment. I am told that the red light district in Soho is quite sterile when compared to their European counterparts – such is the degree in which this area has mellowed, with time.

I like Soho, it is easy to get to, being that it is right in the centre of London, and there is always a cheerful buzz about it during the weekends, plus how can one resist Four seasons Roast Duck in Gerard Street right?