Something magical about photography is its ability to forever capture a moment, and this is something that attracted local photographer Ieong Man Pan to first pick up a camera. For him, being able to freeze the moment is what is unique about photography.
“When I am taking photos, I am thinking ‘that’s it, that’s the moment’. The fact is, I don’t intentionally look for a specific thing to capture, I just take the photos when I come across things that I’m attracted to,” he says.
Ieong Man Pan wasn’t introduced to photography until he started studying advertising at Jinan University.He only bought his first film camera because it was a requirement of some courses, and he admits that he was not really interested in photography at that time. It was only after he finished his bachelor’s degree and found a job in an advertising company that he started to take a large amount of work related photos.
After gaining more experience at this work, receiving guidance from colleagues and absorbing more knowledge about photography, Ieong was determined to learn more about this art form, so he decided to quit his job and take a master’s degree at Chongqing University, majoring in photography.
When asked about his style, the photographer does not give any definite answer. In fact, he reveals that his colleagues at Chongqing University had urged him to develop his own style: “But I thought that I was still young. If I already adopted a style, it would be limiting to me and I would not be able to further develop,” he explains.
Although he does not specify his style, Ieong believes that people will feel it once they see his works.
“People said my style (when I was studying for my master’s degree) was about stability and being well-organized. I was also keen on taking photos of people. But things changed drastically after I graduated. I started to take photos without people in them, and paid less attention to the composition of the photos.”
In fact, Ieong not only uses professional cameras to take photos nowadays. On many occasions, he simply takes out his mobile phone and shoots. He also cares less about the flaws in the image.
“I do not really care about those flaws anymore. To some extent, over and underexposure and noise are just a way of expression,” Ieong explains.
While many around Ieong like to describe him as an artist, the photographer says he is not really aware of this identity and does not care about it too much. “Life is art. It is not important if one is an artist or not.”
Ieong thinks that “art comes from life”, hence even something as insignificant as a drop of water can provide people with inspiration and ideas. He also believes one should not create for the sake of creating, and artists should instead create through experiencing life.
The photographer is currently planning multiple projects, some of which involve using photo-editing software or not even using a camera in the process of creation at all. At the same time, he is putting together an online database of photos about Macau taken by local photographers. He says that many local photographers have been producing excellent images, but many of these great works were only exhibited and published once and are easily missed. Therefore, he hopes that this online platform can allow Macau photographers to present and sell their photos in the future.
