Names Bekah Wong, I'm 25 and have been doing photography for 6 years ish now. Starting from about a year or two ago is when I began to take it seriously and developed my style.
Instagram is @halfchime, Twitter is @alonelychime
OK, first off this is an excellent selection of images both typical and atypical of what I have known you to produce. They speak for theirselves and that makes my job of interviewing you a little more difficult today.
David - Your photos show a real mesh of different styles, what are your influences and how did you come to balance such varied visual flavours?
Bekah - I think there are two main factors that play into the variation of shots, the first being that I'm a self-taught photographer and the fact that my learning process was (and is) mostly just experimenting over and over again with different things. The second is that my main goal for photography is to show the world from my perspective, the world is quite a large place with many different scenes and vibes.
David - What is your process on the day for shooting? You still use a DSLR so what comes from the viewfinder cannot be even close to what you export. How big a factor does the physical shooting element make?
Bekah - I'm actually a big fan of my optical viewfinder. It's a big reason why I haven't swapped to mirrorless yet. I like seeing the world as it is through the viewfinder and then building upon that in post-processing. I don't necessarily always have a concrete idea for the outcome at the time of shooting. I let my eye wander and try to capture moments & memories as they unfold around me. It's only after the photo's safely sitting in my Lightroom that I tend to start visualizing how I can add my personal flair to it.
David - The Cyberpunk meets Street Photography is a match made in heaven but your photos still retain a sense of reality that I find many loose when they start getting the Bladerunner treatment. More statement than question but would love for you to expand.
Bekah - I think I tend to toe the line between reality & fantasy. I like to describe my style as "dreamy" or "dreamlike". Part of that is keeping it close enough to reality that you can still recognize it as such, while simultaneously pushing it towards the more fantastical realm, which I primarily try to do by tweaking & emphasizing lights and colors.
David - Here’s a more “technical” question, what’s your secret to shooting directly into harsh light sources? How do you control that? I am always stunned by that magical bloom from your images.
Bekah - I've seen lots of photographers (mostly portrait photogs) say to "expose to the right" or basically overexpose your image a bit. I do the exact opposite, especially when shooting at night. It depends on your gear for sure, but I find that my camera is much more capable of restoring detail from the shadows than it can from the highlights. In other words, I try to expose for the brightest part of my image and then bring back the detail from the dark points in Lightroom.
David - As a fan of the technology as much as the art, here is a question to indulge my own curiosity a bit further. You have mentioned how the sheer choice available to you now can be almost overwhelming and we have talked a little about gear etc. What brought you to use the equipment you do? What does it do well and what magic piece (real or fictional) would compliment your workflow?
Bekah - I'm a diehard Canon fan. I started with a Canon Rebel T5 and upgraded to my 5D Mark IV after I knew I was committed to photography and could justify the cost. I love raw Canon colors and the interface, my 5D is an absolute beast. My lens kit is comprised of a Canon f2.8 16-35mm, Canon f1.2 50mm and a Canon f2.8 70-200mm. I mostly just want a good range of focal lengths while maintaining the largest apertures possible.
I plan on getting a Canon R5 in the near future, mostly for it’s superior autofocus capabilities and flip screen. Shooting street can be really difficult without a fold-out screen. That's probably my only complaint about the 5D Mark IV.
David - Finally tell me, where does each of these images fit in in the “Halfchime” timeline and what can we expect from you over the course of the next year?
Bekah - I just want to keep experimenting and learning. I'm pretty comfortable with my city nightscapes at this point so I want to push myself further in other genres (Landscape, B&W). I also plan on teaching myself how to 3D render, as well as possibly delving into the world of short animations. My work may stray further into the fantasy realm at that point…
Thank you so much Bekah for participating in this series. I wish you the best of luck on what I know will be an amazing journey.