Snapshots: Jason Koh

The images you see from this feature have been reproduced with permission from Jason Koh. If you wish to be featured in our interviews or know any photo buffs who may be interested, write to us, and we'll get back to you.

Name: Jason Koh Type of photographer: Conceptual Equipment: Canon EOS 20D, Olympus E-500, an old Minolta, Nikon F55 Accessories: A couple lenses, a battered tripod, pen and paper

What he says:
"My sordid love affair with photography began at the age of 14, when I first spied Dad's Minolta peeking out of a trunk in the storeroom. I remember taking it out of the bubble wrap, twisting the knobs and dials, pushing buttons, triggering the flash and giving my grandmother a nasty fright. She was one of those superstitious old ladies who didn't like cameras and, come to think of it, that scowl on her face would have been priceless. It's just too bad Grandma didn't approve back then. She'd turn in her grave if she knew I've danced so often with the likes of Holga, Canon, Nikon and, most recently, Olympus.

I'm a self-taught photographer. I didn't attend any courses at the Photographic Society. I didn't major in photojournalism in school. All I had back then was a dusty camera manual, a few rolls of expired film, and a vague inkling of how I wanted to compose each piece. My earliest works were experiments in the medium, with me finding new ways to play with the camera and film, all fun and games. There was something intrinsic, something fundamental missing from the relationship, but I didn't know what it was, and the interest panned out.

I moved on, did the whole angsty teenager thing. And then, it hit me, somewhere on the threshold of the Singapore Art Museum, as I was staring into space, high on wine, agonizing over the next line of black poetry. That missing element that had driven my camera lust into torpor was the lack of auteurial intent. I was merely the passive observer behind the lens, a casual cataloguer of events, a (God forbid!) photojournalist!

That's when I realized that I had to engage the subject on the level of artist and canvas, that more than just painting a pretty picture, that instead of just focusing on the shot, the colors, the composition, which beyond just visual appeal, the piece had to have a certain rigor and discipline, and inherent meaning.

From that day on, I resolved to do conceptual photography, writing visual poetry with light and shadow, and the shades of grey in between.

I flirt infrequently with color, my main body of work is in black and white, and the choice is a personal one. There are some things that vividity can express, but there are also some things that only its absence can truly master."

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