Shakira Burton - photography and social mediaShakira is an innovator, a new fresh breezy mind to the Hong Kong photography scene. Her visuals and ideas are not only captivating but also challenge your point of view that you wouldn't expect to have. We spoke not only photography, videography, painting, vulnerability, LGBQTI+ Community in Hong Kong but also everything that happens backstage of her imaginative photoshoot planning. And. It was. Fascinating. Why photography? Wow that’s deep! Well I did study art in high school and it was focused on the normal visual art - painting, drawing. But my teacher knew that it wasn't what I wanted to do. For all our classes we basically had to use our primary sources and my teacher kinda knew before I did. We would have to take our own photos first and then we would have to paint them after. But my teacher knew that I had more fun with taking the photos, rather than the art. In all of the art classes I was positioning all my work and she saw my photos and that’s where she asked me - “Have you ever thought about making photography?”...and I was like “wait, I can do that, am I allowed to do that?”. So sometimes you don't realize that you have all of these options since everybody was doing the same thing - mostly painting but they never told us that we could do textiles, photography or videography until when my teacher brought it up. And I was the only one from my art class who did something different than the painting. Was it really hard to be outstanding in your class? Yeh! It’s hard to be different and also to be good at it at the same time. Because you never know what other people’s opinions about you are. Everyone has different opinions. But I did it and since then it sparked my interest to do it outside of the school so I created a photography account on Instagram. I got noticed by mutual friends and they slowly messaged me and asked me to do shoots with me. That was about 5 years ago and it has taken off pretty much since then. Honestly, social media has helped a lot and that's how I gained clients. I just really enjoy meeting new people and having conversations off camera to make sure that the subject in front of the camera feels comfortable. What about the people that you capture? It has always been about meeting new people and making new friends too. Because at the end of the day you're doing it obviously for the photos but behind the scenes this is where you get to know them a little bit more and understand their expectations. I really enjoy creating the connection between the model and me. Your main focus at the moment comes within your Instagram, right? As your main source of the channel? Because we can notice that most of your photos are fashion photos - but not as glamorous as everyone would expect them to be and there’s a specific angle the way you capture them… I lightly take inspiration from the magazine but mostly the things you do not see in fashion photography which is very basic.You know, like in a studio, with white walls and basic lighting - it’s not as creative as you would think. I really like fashion and always wanted to combine the two - collaborating with a stylist, makeup artist or hairstylist. It was always more about that, working in a team and collaborating rather than creating basic images for magazines. I don't take inspiration from what you would usually see in the media. I try to make it more relatable - the places I take a photo of are more from the streets. I enjoy walking around and finding somewhere I think it’s very cool. Because I love Hong Kong and looking for the hidden gems, the places people usually overlook. I get my inspiration a lot from Instagram probably. This is where I follow all of the inspirational photographers too. Looking for a new location all the time is good fun. You capture the diversity around you in the photos so well. I was wondering if since your background is half Malaysian, half English and you also lived in Thailand for a bit - do you think that this influences your photography as well? Hmmm…that’s hard. I’m born and raised here and my ethnicity is from all parts of the world. Hong Kong is still my home as I speak the language too. It's easy to connect with locals. I feel like I’m more comfortable here. And you usually also work with mostly, right? Yes, a lot of time. The shoots I do are mostly women who approach me as it's more comfortable to shoot with a female photographer rather than male. Usually there are a lot of stories, especially in America - male photographers who use their power on young models. I wanna be that person who makes people comfortable, no matter what gender you are. Do you think that your approachability is the future of creative and collective collaboration especially within Instagram? I say it’s a mix of both when I get a lot of messages from people who are interested in collaboration or either I resource and approach them when I need a team - hairstylists, makeup artists…there were some times when it was just makeup artists or hairstylist who wanted to work with me and I would reach out to find models. But I’m not limiting myself to only shooting with females - it just happened that way. There’s not as many male models in Hong Kong who are interested in modelling, same for fashion shows. I can imagine that maybe sometimes the vision of the photoshoot can clash. Was there ever a complicated client that you had? I never had that issue surprisingly. During the shoot I proactively communicate with the whole team and listen to all of the ideas so we can always try something new. We always talk about the vision and inspiration beforehand so we always agree before the actual photoshoot. So no issues so far, I’m very lucky. You also take pictures for yourself and as you go too - have you been thinking about hiring models by yourself purely for your own project? Hmm…not quite planning anything at the moment. But I do have ideas and photoshoots in mind that I’d like to do with specific people. But sometimes it happens that the model is not available or the shoot gets rescheduled. At the moment I'm not planning any personal shoots, but I still got people reaching out who want to shoot their fashion brands. But I have this one idea with a male model, but I’m trying to find the right male model because they will have to be acting a little bit. Can you share a bit more about that? It’s an idea that I had from this Netflix show called Young Royals. The vision is like “This is king” but not from word to word - but I just wanted to shoot the “prince” with many expensive clothes on him or him sitting on a throne but in reality he's very unhappy with his life as it was controlled by his family and the outside world. So I wanted to capture that, it’s kinda depressing, but wanted to show the other side of the wealth. If I understand it well, are you also playing around with cinematography or video editing as well? Maybe. Who knows. I used to do videography before photography - I just enjoyed editing videos. I wouldn't mind stepping into that but it’s a lot of work. I would love to though, I have a lot of friends who produce short films. Have you maybe considered making some merchandise, calendars or organising your own exhibition? Yes. I actually thought about this a lot! I was planning to release a book or organise an exhibition. So far, I have prints of my photos, two of them are from the series “Effeminate Boys of Hong Kong” and it’s basically about how males or anyone who is male presenting can dress feminine. The intention was to portray a spectrum. It doesn’t mean that if you're a male that you have to dress a certain way. I’ve been selling those prints so far, but there are so much more - I wanted to extend on the idea of male femininity and the fact how males can be vulnerable. So basically challenging toxic masculinity… Exactly. And also there is another one which is not as deep, but it's more of a winter models walking around Hong Kong in high fashion outfits. But I do want to have an exhibition or release a book. I actually did make a book of photos that I took on film but never had a chance to finish it. But it happens a lot of the time that I don't finish my projects. You have to! We’re here for it! Especially with the following you already have! I think it would make a fantastic impact, especially with your photos that raise awareness about LGBQTI+ community that you’re part of. Have you been thinking about capturing the struggles of the LGBQTI+ in Hong Kong in your photos as well? Absolutely. I actually did a Pride Month photoshoot. It was more of a positive experience - it wasn't related to Hong Kong but it was kind of the same thing as the Effeminate Boys of Hong Kong where I wanted to show the spectrum of how you dress, the clothes and different ethnicities. I brought all of my queer friends into this photoshoot to be part of this and I got a stylist who is also queer. I wanted to make sure that everyone steps out of their comfort zone too and made sure that the way they looked did not define their gender too. Can we have more of this?
Yes and it also got published in a magazine which was really cool! Oh yes! Tell me about your first time when your work got published! It wasn't even portrait photography, it was landscape. I took many pictures of Hong Kong on film - those were really local areas such as the seaside or wet market. This magazine reached out to me that was interested in using these photos in their issue. I have a physical magazine too which is crazy. I remember when I received it via mail as well and when I first held it. How did they find you? Through Instagram? Yes, exactly. And it was selling in physical stores in New York as well and I wasn't there so I couldn't see it but I just saw. I already had about 4 or 5 magazines who reached out. Were they all local or international? International. But a lot of the time it's you submitting to them. Not all of them will reach out to you. It’s a lot of work, you need to draft a description of the project and you introduce the team too and this is how they decide if they’re going to print your photos or not and send you a free copy of the magazine. Oh okay! And moving forward, when it comes to pandemic, Covid and mental health awareness - is there anything you might take as an inspiration? Honestly, it was actually the opposite. I’ve lost all of the motivation, I was scared of my safety - on the photoshoot set there's actually quite a lot of people and it pushed me away to do the shoots for a while. I wasn't scared only for myself but for my family too. So in 2020 I didn't make that many shoots, but I've been going back and forth in 2021. But havent been thinking about creating a photoshoot that focuses on pandemic as it's still something that I'm scared of, it's very sensitive. I did paint through covid though - when I was sad I painted (laughs). It was a nice therapeutic way to deal with my emotions. What about photography, would you find that therapeutic? Yes it’s very meditative, you are captured in one moment, you don't lose your focus. It’s just you, the subject and the conversations you have. I wouldn't think about anything else. Is there any new skill or experience that you would like to apply to your photography? Last year thanks to working at The Hive and having access to the studios, I started doing more studio photography. I thought that it was boring, as you don't get to move the subject anywhere, but there's a lot of fun with lightning. I want to push myself further with that as I usually shoot stuff outside. What would you suggest to people who want to learn and start with photography? Look at what people are doing today and find inspiration through other people’s images. For me when I lose inspiration I follow a bunch of people that I really like, scroll through their content and see what they’re doing, then I think to myself “oh I want to do that, I want to try that”. Follow Shakira on her Instagram: @shakira.kb Shakira’s Portfolio: shakiraburtonbusin.wixsite.com/portfolio
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorAlex Edwards is a founder of Creative Womxn in Hong Kong who has media and journalism background but also experience in art community development and social media management. Archives
November 2022
Categories |