Hin Chua's Magnetic North

The Good, the Bad and the Just-About-Okay (exhibition reviews, that is)

Sat, 06 Apr 2013 04:42:00 +0100

Here’s a selection of reviews from my recent show at the Third Floor Gallery. The opinions...

Solo show at the Third Floor Gallery in Cardiff

Mon, 28 Jan 2013 21:50:37 +0000

So all I seem to be doing recently on this journal is announcing new shows. I know, I know, my bad,...

Group show in Austria

Wed, 10 Oct 2012 09:25:00 +0100

Having enjoyed a social-networking-free summer, I’m delighted to return… wait, no, I’m not...

Photos from my show in Paris So a giant big fantastic thanks to...

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:22:00 +0000

Photos from my show in Paris

So a giant big fantastic thanks to everyone who came to the opening and to everyone else who made this possible. It was great meeting up and talking to all of you and even greater getting drunk with some of you.

And to all of those that backed up their enthusiasm for my work by actually dropping cold hard cash for prints, thank you so much! I never expected to see so many red dots on the first night (a very very cold night, I may add). You all made it worthwhile!

The opening picture of Gregory Halpern’s book...

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 20:54:09 +0000

The opening picture of Gregory Halpern’s book “A”

When Stanley first showed me this book a few weeks ago, I remember he told me that this may be one of the all-time great opening photographs in a photography book. The longer I look at the book, the more I realise that he could be right.

Solo show in Paris

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 14:30:00 +0000

Greetings comrades, It may please you (it certainly pleases me!) to know that I will be having a...

Mailing List

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 20:55:18 +0000

Ok kids, I’ve gone and set up a mailing list to keep you in the personal one-to-one (ok,...

Joel Sternfeld at FOAM I just returned from seeing ‘Color...

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 13:51:00 +0000

Joel Sternfeld at FOAM

I just returned from seeing ‘Color Photographs since 1970’ in Amsterdam. The appeal for me was not only to get a look at some of the ‘American Prospects’ work in the flesh but to explore Sternfeld’s earlier 35mm images. While only a limited selection of photographs could be displayed due to space constraints, it was interesting to watch his development as he wandered through various styles which could be described as Egglestonian, Winograndish or Levittesque.

Indeed there were some pretty mediocre street photographs (using flash) of the type that many photographers make the mistake of getting into during at least one point in their careers. But even then, one could clearly discern a progression, an increasing sophistication and subtlety in his photographs. You see that too with many newish photographers; you tell yourself “wow, this person has an eye, I wonder what could happen in a few years?” The curse of potential, like the hopes placed on many a high-school baseball pitcher, is both a sad and wondrous thing. You see the photographer grow for a period, and then bump into a few walls, stuck at a particular plateau, and then that usually is the end of the story.

In Sternfeld’s case, he may or may not have run into his own share of obstacles as he began. But what is certain is that within 4-5 years of making most of these photographs, he began work on ‘American Prospects’. And that took things to a totally different kind of level…

Format Festival hanging guide Here’s the hanging plan I...

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 09:21:00 +0000

Format Festival hanging guide

Here’s the hanging plan I used for my exhibition at the Format Festival earlier this year. I wanted to use images of different sizes, and I was growing exceedingly tired of the traditional horizontal grid. I felt I needed something a little more organic that gelled more closely with the meandering way I made my photographs.

This hanging plan was the result. At the festival’s opening night, I was boogying on the dance floor with the delightful girl who hung my work. “Hin, to be honest I was terrified of making a mistake! This was the most complex thing I had to do during the whole week!” While I sympathised in the flesh, a part of me quietly rejoiced internally: I wouldn’t have had it any other way!

New Territories, Hong Kong, January 2009 The story behind this...

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 23:25:00 +0000

New Territories, Hong Kong, January 2009

The story behind this photo was that I needed a place to pee badly. Really badly. I came across a small scrapyard that was sealed off by a gate and fence. As I debated whether to dash inside, the caretaker noticed me looking in with my camera and very generously beckoned me inside. I made this exposure and then quickly ran behind the pilings to relieve myself. Too much information? I think not!

The Great Leap Sideways

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 01:45:00 +0000

Stanley on The Great Leap Sideways has posted an interesting little essay on ‘After the...

Boso Peninsula, January 2011

Sun, 11 Dec 2011 22:43:00 +0000

Boso Peninsula, January 2011: Here’s a few little paragraphs on fototazo about a photograph I...

Outside a Japanese Self-Defence Force base, Kyoto, December 2010

Sat, 03 Dec 2011 14:35:00 +0000

Outside a Japanese Self-Defence Force base, Kyoto, December 2010

The ephmeral ephmeral My photography is so focused on capturing...

Sun, 20 Nov 2011 14:58:00 +0000

The ephmeral ephmeral

My photography is so focused on capturing the ephemeral: landscapes, or scenes within landscapes that are transitory either in state or in terms of my relationship with them.

In that spirit, here’s a photograph of those photographs: 145 undeveloped rolls of film from February 2011 to the present, which includes my China trip. The odds are good that I may never see a sight like this again.

You all look the same to me

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 17:02:32 +0100

Prior to boarding the Cathay Pacific flight at Heathrow, the customs official flipped through my...

Reflections on my first day in Beijing

Sun, 09 Oct 2011 15:16:00 +0100

Before I arrived in Beijing, there was a period of a couple of days where I was feeling extremely...

It's camera sale time!

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 14:02:00 +0100

I’ve procrastinated. I’ve debated the subject. I’ve agonised. But finally, I’m decided. Writing my...

Reining myself in: a few unadulterated, unedited interview answers

Tue, 23 Aug 2011 14:16:00 +0100

I’ve talked in the past about speaking your mind (or not speaking your mind) in public. I know that...

I’m heading off tonight for four days of wandering around...

Fri, 05 Aug 2011 10:11:00 +0100

I’m heading off tonight for four days of wandering around the French Channel port of Le Havre (the second biggest in France). From Wikipedia:

“Le Havre was once synonymous with urban gloom and greyness. The city’s inhabitants have done much to change this; as a result of substantial improvements, Le Havre is now spoken of as the Brasilia of France.”

I kind of enjoy urban gloom and greyness, so maybe I’m already too late?

Speaking (in Brighton)

Tue, 02 Aug 2011 15:43:00 +0100

One of the things I’ve been doing a lot more of in the last couple of years has been talking about...