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Lantography
Arnold Lan originally piqued my interest with stunning photography work that he had done previously with fashion bloggers. This recent University of Toronto graduate studied a Major in Anthropology, and just recently registered his photography business Lantography.
Lan started out acting which caught the interest of his friends who suggested he start his own YouTube channel to showcase his talent. Of course, when starting as an independent anything, we all want to make our projects better and beautiful which is why we teach ourselves a lot of necessary techniques. Lan realized that he needed to learn how to work the production side of making videos, since he was primarily in front of the camera. He taught himself how to edit, and how to produce his own product. This took Lan more behind the camera than in front of it.
He bought his own camera and realized his love for photography. At first he was skeptical, “Everyone can call themselves a photographer; Dad’s with their DSLRs, people with their Iphone’s” stated Lan. However, as he started to learn more about it and playing around with cinematography, Lan soon fell in love with photography.
Lan is most interested in portrait, lifestyle, and landscape photography which is reflected in the photos featured on his website. Arnold also does event photography, which is not currently featured on his website in order to keep the aesthetic flow on his website more cohesive.
Lan believes that people are the most diverse things in the world. People, and the subjects he shoots inspire Lan’s photography the most because of the beautiful array of emotions, and feelings that you wouldn’t be able to get from inanimate objects. A mountain stands there, and of course it looks beautiful, but people are beautiful in their own special way. When Lan photographs his subjects, he loves watching them melt into comfort, and a certain sense of vulnerability in front of his lens.
What sets Lan apart from other photographers is his personality which is perfectly highlighted in his favourite works. Lan’s work is colourful, candid, bright, and vivid. “The world isn’t dull. Even if my photographs are edited, that’s how I see the world (candid, bright, and vivid).” This photographer’s Instagram perfectly reflects his candidness. Most people include quotes of songs in their Instagram posts but you won’t see anything generic like that from this account; everything is directly in the moment. This is one of the reasons that I personally wanted to interview Lan; he has a very vibrant personality which is why so many people want to work with him.
This photographer has been a part of many projects. His favourite top 3 include his Dream Jobbing opportunity in Norway which he contributes to the love and support of his friends (his friends voted daily in order to boost his presence-I voted daily!). Lan was also 1 of 11-13 people picked to go to L.A. to be part of the Jubilee Project fellowship. This assortment of passionate people come from all walks of life living together in 1 house, bringing their individual strengths in screenwriting, animation, and filming to create three films in their respective groups.
His current project Dear Future Wife is a collaboration with Grace Kwok to create a series of love letters in the form of photo-illustrations. Kwok animates over images taken by Lan to introduce Lan’s “future wife”. There are certain moments in our lives when we wish that our significant others were there with us; that is the premise of this amazing project. Kwok created the “wife” character to reflect cute “could-be” dialogue between Lan’s “future wife” and himself.
Lan wants to continue with his fashion photography, videos and then to be in the National Geographic in the next 5 years. He wants to have his fashion ad videos displaying in all of its brightly lit glory in Times Square. His goal is to reach a point where he is so established that someone is paying him to travel to take photos.
As a recent grad, Lan knows that photography is very tough financially. In 2016, he plans to work hard in his photography, giving it his all before deciding if he needs to get a 9:00am-5:00pm job.
It is about taking it one year at a time, and at 23 this photographer has time to figure it all out.
Arnold’s Tip for First time photographers:
Bring your camera everywhere and shoot as much as you can. Nothing will teach you how to photograph as well as actual experience. Photograph different things so that you can learn what works for you and it will help to develop your style.
Go on a “photo walk” and set yourself motivational goals. For example, today’s walk you will only photograph trees, tomorrow you will only photograph people.
Learn to edit. Lan suggests using Lightroom to edit when first starting out. No photo comes out perfect, and every photographer needs to know how to edit. This doesn’t make your photography fake or not genuine. The camera lens has no power in comparison to the human eye. Editing should bring out the beauty that your eyes originally shot.
-The Picky Princess-
Lantography Website: http://www.lantography.com/
Arnold Lan’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/arnoldlan/
Grace Kwok’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/baoface/
The Picky Princess Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/The-Picky-Princess-1731391913755398/
The Picky Princess Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/misstiffkwong/
