A lot of things happened for me in 2009. I travelled a lot between Bangkok, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, published some of my work with Breeze (a local magazine), relocated to the big city, discovered Europe for the first time, became the official photographer for Malaysia International Fashion Week 2009. In a way a lot of it happened quite unexpectedly. I decided staying in Kota Kinabalu would not be the best idea so I packed up and left for Kuala Lumpur in less than 3 weeks. Arriving in KL I was jobless for a few months until I landed the biggest job I’ve had so far for Fashion Week. Going to Europe had always been a distant dream of mine but one day I saw the opportunity and decided, why not? It’s all about grabbing life by its horns and going with it.
These are some of my favourite works from 2009. It was quite hard for me to narrow it down to 10, so I decided on 25 instead (I’m really bad at cutting down numbers!). Some of them you may have seen, but some not. I went through my library of photos and found hidden gems that I overlooked and decided to show them here.
Hope you like them!
Karin Balzli for Catherine Lian, Kuala Lumpur.
Nataliya Zapolina, Singapore.
Andrea Fonseka, Kuala Lumpur.
Grace Kho for Breeze, Kota Kinabalu.
Charlene Decena for Breeze, Kota Kinabalu.
Mariann Vella for Villiam Ooi, Kuala Lumpur.
Patricia Silk, Singapore.
Suzana Abu for Ratu by Walis, Kuala Lumpur.
Mila Melissina for Syomir, Kuala Lumpur.
Wang Ying, Bangkok.
Iva Sakarova, Bangkok.
Kaspar Hebblewhite, Bangkok.
Brygida Naumowicz & Helena Berezina for Pretty In White, Kuala Lumpur.
2008 was quite a year. It was the year I decided to do photography full-time, the year I embarked on my traveling journeys, the year I got my first credit card (which is now cancelled by the bank. Whoops), the year I partied too hard, the year that started my experiences.
Here are some of my favourite portraits taken in that year including those that I have not been shown before.
This was my second shoot in Singapore and it was with Patricia Silk from Diva (Model), Aaron Kok (Stylist), Clarion Wee (Stylist’s Assistant), Hannah Oh (MUA) and Shawn Danker (Assistant). Patricia delivers the most amazing poses on a shoot. She doesn’t just pose, she acts out the emotions, she moves by the shutter. We were all in awe just watching her.
It was quite a day, we were reprimanded by an old waitress for doing hair and makeup at McDonalds (and got a lot of distasteful stares–Welcome to Singapore), almost got run over by a train (more on that later), was close to getting heat stroke and developed major sunburns under the deceiving overcast sky.
Getting all glam at McDonald’s.
The tracks at King Albert Park.
Food break.
Endangering our lives in the middle of the railway tracks.
At one point while shooting on the tracks, a train was coming towards us and we had to grab all our clothes, makeup and equipment and run down the pebble slope. The train operators were screaming at us and we were in such shock being so close to being run over. Before you think ‘what were you doing on the tracks in the first place, stupid?’, this railway is hardly ever utilized because it’s meant for cargo and long distance trains which only come by every few hours. The operators came over to chase us away so we went across the bridge to a wider, safer track but what an adrenaline rush! Sort of a close-shave-with-risking-our-lives moment.
Anyway here are the final shots as well as the behind-the-scenes video.
Sweaty, dehydrated, sunburnt and a few seconds from being run over or rolling down the slopes with all our stuff, was it worth it? Certainly a shoot I would never forget. Pity I have no video footage during that little incident! Damn.
Railway workers united. Aaron, Clarion, Me, Patricia and Hannah.
My first shoot in Singapore was with Ukrainian Nataliya Zapolina from Mannequin, with Aaron Kok and Clarion Wee as stylists. It was unfortunate that I was unable to contact the makeup artist because of some mixups so Nataliya did her own makeup this time and the results were fantastic. Luck was still on our side that day.
Even though I’ve been to Singapore plenty of times, looking for a shooting location somewhere besides my hometown has always proved to be a challenge. Aaron was incredibly helpful in helping me with the locations and we decided to go with the old Supreme Court. That place has been used probably a gazillion times by other photographers for wedding, fashion, etc etc but heck I liked the place so why not? I took it on as a challenge to show it differently through my eyes.
I love having proper stylists on the shoot because they always have everything possible with them! <3
As you all know, I tend to (unintentionally) make the models suffer one way or another and this time it was putting Nataliya in heavy fabrics under the unforgiving tropical sun. According to Aaron, the pained look we got out of Nataliya worked well with the whole mood of the shoot and again, it was well worth it. We had a number of curious spectators and there was a wedding shoot going on at the same time and apparently the photographer berated the party to “work it like the pros!” after watching us hog up all the space. So cute.
Her bone structure is simply amazing.
My favourite series of shots.
Amazing colonial architecture for a European feel.
Feeling the burn.
This time we also have a short behind the scenes video for the world to see
We felt nauseous at the end because of the noontime sun but that’s alright…. right guys? Right? Hehe.
Sweaty and exhausted. Clarion, Nataliya, me and Aaron.
Ten days in Singapore have gone and past, and now here I am in Bangkok. The only thing I can say is, traffic is unbelievable and the characteristics of the city is most unusual. I feel like this is what I would imagine China or Cambodia to be like.
Quite hard to explain but let’s just say the number of flyovers, abandoned looking buildings with a mess of electrical wires hanging off just about every where, added with the throngs of people, hawker stalls, overuse of cars with yet no sense of traffic direction, it’s like being the epitome of Asia. Oh and let’s not forget about the big-ass ultra modern looking shopping malls as part of the skyline either.
Anyway, Singapore was incredibly busy. I feel like I’ve been there for a month, yet it also just feels like a couple of days. Shoots, meetings, shoots, shopping, you know the usual activities. Unfortunately I didn’t have much time to check out the nightlife there but I did manage to make it to the closing party of KM8 at Sentosa. My best description of it would be like Miami Spring Break.
The birthday boy, Vishnu.
The party went from 4 pm till 8 am the next day!
KM8 had a hot tub/pool right in front of the bar, which is also affectionately named as the Sperm Pool. Now, let’s not get into any details, but it’s a good thing I was not near the pool that night because I heard from my friends about some pretty nasty things going on there. I didn’t even think that was legal in Singapore!
These people are pretty scary when they’re drunk especially when they already have so little clothes on. All that sand and water makes them very creative. I myself go to parties a lot, but nothing really quite prepared me for the craziness of KM8. Oh, and it’s also mostly attended by 80% Caucasians, 20% Asians.
The four models, Vishnu, Mikkel and Emilia. They do enjoy being photographed.
Me and the four models. They tower over me so I had to make them bend down. He he.
Ok, I’m sorry I didn’t take THAT many photos of my trip to Singapore. I’m so upset that I have to miss Craig David playing a show at Zirca on 8th April! Nooooooooooooooo! Sob
Karin Balzli for Catherine Lian, Kuala Lumpur.
Nataliya Zapolina, Singapore.
Andrea Fonseka, Kuala Lumpur.
Grace Kho for Breeze, Kota Kinabalu.
Charlene Decena for Breeze, Kota Kinabalu.
Mariann Vella for Villiam Ooi, Kuala Lumpur.
Suzana Abu for Ratu by Walis, Kuala Lumpur.
Mila Melissina for Syomir, Kuala Lumpur.
Iva Sakarova, Bangkok.
Kaspar Hebblewhite, Bangkok.
Brygida Naumowicz & Helena Berezina for Pretty In White, Kuala Lumpur.
Mariya Markova for PEGG, Kuala Lumpur.
Aline Thiel for Glitz & Glamour, Kuala Lumpur.
Matheus Nagel for William Liew, Kuala Lumpur.
Tim Wetzel, Kuala Lumpur
Thomas Pullar, Melbourne
Natascha Verkaik, Melbourne
David Maher, Melbourne
Rhiannon Hough, Melbourne
Elke Bonner, Brisbane
Sharon Smith, Brisbane
Annalyn King, Singapore
Vishnu Bala, Singapore
Rokshana Aitken, Melbourne
David Paris, Sydney
Brendan Maclean, Sydney
