Ming Thein | Photographer

Photoessay: Minimalist Lisboan architecture

April 11, 2016 by Ming Thein

Clean and colourful – this is modern Lisboan architecture in a nutshell, I think. There’s an element of brutalism to it; perhaps that’s the result of minimalism when scaled up. Still, on a sunny day the bright/ light colours go a long way to softening things, and the simple forms are relatively unthreatening. A few traditional references remained, too – the new cobblestones, the tiled walls; I suspect the more ornate ironwork and mouldings were simply too expensive to replicate. Can’t help but wonder whether the whole mood changes in winter, though – there were already hints of it at the Calatrava-designed Oriente station, which has perhaps not fared as well as expected – elegant from a distance, but overly massive at anything other than platform level, and with rusting pillars and a leaky roof above. MT

This series was shot mostly with a Hasselblad H5D-50c, with some from the Leica Q 116. Postprocessing with Photoshop Workflow II. For a more in-depth architectural photography experience, there’s also the Singapore Architectural Photography Masterclass from 1-7 July.

Photoessay-project WIP: Anatomy of the quotidian

April 9, 2016 by Ming Thein

Today’s photoessay is something a little different – a work in progress, if you will. An idea occurred to me several months ago: we see the same objects every day, in slightly different light and from slightly different angles. This is what contributes to our overall impressions and memories of the object: it isn’t a single encounter but a series of experiences. I wanted to figure out the best way of translating this visually. There was no question it would have to be a composite of some sort; however, it would also have to be done in a way that would leave the identity of the object clear, but simultaneously indistinct. I played around a bit further with that idea and the concepts of definition and then anatomy arose; taking that one step further, I thought it might be interesting to present these as virtual x rays. It’s a very different approach to my normal photography since I almost never work with composites, and even less with this degree of postprocessing (which I’m happy to cover in a future episode of Weekly PS Workflow if anybody’s interested). I’d be curious to hear your thoughts…MT

This series was with a Leica Q, heavily composited and the final leg done with the Monochrome Masterclass workflow.

Announcing the Hasselblad H6D, in 50 and 100MP flavours

April 7, 2016 by Ming Thein

Out of idle curiosity, I wondered what they shot the product images with: EXIF data reveals a H5D-200c MS.

It turns out those April 7 rumours were true after all: there’s a new H in town. The H5 I’ve been using for the last couple of months was announced in 2012, with the CMOS version arriving mid 2014. Given the long product cycle times in medium format land, four years is not too bad between iterations. In any case, following Phase One’s XF-100MP announcement and innovative suite of features, Hasselblad would have to do something not to get left behind. The important features are here: 50MP on 44x33mm, 100MP on 54x40mm, leaf shutter up to 1/2000s with new/updated lenses, a new 3″ VGA touch panel, improved live view, RAW video out (Apple ProRes) at 1080P30 on the 50MP version and 4K30 on the 100MP version. Firewire is now USB3.0, along with HDMI out and audio IO. Oh, and no more CompactFlash – it’s now SD and CFast. Lastly, there’s a new version of the tethering and workflow software – Phocus 3.0.

Today’s post is going to be a bit more than just a spec sheet: it’s also a little analysis of the state of medium format at the moment.

Open for booking: Singapore Architectural Masterclass, 1-6 July 2016

April 5, 2016 by Ming Thein

All images from this post were shot in Singapore.

This will be something a bit different: like last year’s Hanoi Cinematic Masterclass, this will be a themed offering. I’ve been asked for architectural-based classes several times now, so here we go: presenting the Singapore Architectural Masterclass from July 1-6, 2016. It won’t be your typical masterclass: there’s a bit of a twist. In fact, this will be structured a little differently to the usual Masterclasses and about as close to a crash course in architecture photography and an actual commissioned assignment as it gets. By the end of the week, you’ll be turning in both an assignment and a portfolio. Interested? Read on for details and to book.

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Filed Under: Teaching Tagged With: architecture, masterclass, ming, ming thein, mingthein.com, singapore, teaching, thein, Workshop

Lisbon Masterclass 2016: the student gallery

April 4, 2016 by Ming Thein

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Following recent Masterclasses, it has become a tradition to post a curated gallery of student work: I think this is far more meaningful to judge the value of a workshop with me than a series of images of people shooting or in conversation (though these make for interesting student portraits, which will be an ongoing series) We had great weather for pretty much the entire Masterclass and an incredible location – it feels like one of those places you could shoot for a decade and only barely scratch the surface, and I think the inspiration it produces really shows in the strength of the work that came out of the group that week. I’m going to stop talking now and let the strength and diversity of the group’s images say the rest; there were a very different range of objectives and very strong images across the board. I’m happy to say that everybody produced something that made the rest of us jealous! Sufficient to say that many of us will be going back, and if you happen to have a chance, Lisbon has to be one of the great urban photographic destinations of the world – a blend of Havana, Venice and Prague in feel – and should be towards the top of your list.

Note: name links are to the photographers’ respective websites or flickr portfolios.

Lastly, I’ll be announcing details of the next Masterclass in Singapore tomorrow, and Prague is likely to be back by popular demand for September this year…please send me an email if you’d like to be put on the list for either. Thanks! MT

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Filed Under: Teaching Tagged With: gallery, lisbon 2016, masterclass, ming, ming thein, mingthein.com, photography, student work, thein, Workshop

Photographic étiquette, part one

April 1, 2016 by Ming Thein

There are some things you must just do, or must not do, as a photographer. Today’s post is to help all of you navigate that minefield…

Photoessay: Ethereal forms in Tokyo

March 31, 2016 by Ming Thein

Every time I visit Tokyo, I can’t help but think the city’s districts tends to take two very divergent forms: either a sort of incredibly dense chaos born of years of layering without any possible initial foresight, with some entropic decay thrown in for character – or a very precise order that’s almost identical to what was laid out by the architect’s draftsman. The first sort of neighbourhood is interesting because of the history literally layered in. The second sort is both dystopic and utopic in a way; are we looking at an impersonal bad dream that’s become reality, or something else? Moreover: where do the humans fit? There is a sort of stark minimalist beauty in the abstractions of form created by transient light, too. The shadows must have their time in the sun, too. MT

This series was shot with a Leica Q, Sony A7RII, Zeiss 85 Batis, Contax-Zeiss 2.8/85 MMG, Nikon D5500 and 55-200/4-5.6 VR II. You can learn the underlying postprocessing in the Weekly Photoshop Workflow series.

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Filed Under: On Photography Tagged With: abstracts, architecture, japan, ming, ming thein, mingthein.com, photoessay, thein, tokyo

Creative development for working pros

March 29, 2016 by Ming Thein

The Crawick Multiverse, Scotland. Part of one of my most satisfying commissions from 2015

Here’s a serious consideration for all working professional photographers: how do you ensure your work stays fresh? We face several challenges. Firstly, unlike those in conventional employment, there is no obvious career development path; no HR department or performance review officer to ensure you attend the right courses to (supposedly) give you the right skill set for the next position up the ladder. Secondly, our clients almost always hire us on the basis of our portfolios: this is work we’ve already done, i.e. historical. It would be nice to be hired on the basis of imagining what we could do, but for obvious reasons, this is unfeasible. At very best, we are hired based on what we might do for a client in a given situation which might be outside our current scope of experience, but still based on an extrapolation of what have previously done.

Photoessay: 28mm in Tokyo

March 27, 2016 by Ming Thein

Camouflage (urban jailbreak)

People, an urban centre, 28mm, and monochrome – is there a more ‘classical’ recipe for what might be traditionally classified as street photography? Perhaps, perhaps not. The whole genre is so fluid that I think it is impossible to define anyway; I instead think ‘snippets from the quotidian’ is probably more accurate in this case. They are vignettes and observations of the repeated, the mundane, and the boring. But the pace of the world changes so fast that who knows what the same activities will look like in twenty or fifty years? MT

This series was shot with a Leica Q and post processed with The Monochrome Masterclass. You can also look over my shoulder at the underlying postprocessing in the Weekly Photoshop Workflow series.

State of play: the business of photography today

March 25, 2016 by Ming Thein

A less literal selfie. Selfies are a huge part of photography today: but there’s no business model here. And the underlying reason is inextricably linked to why we find photography appealing in the first place.

The game is changing, yet again – faster than ever. In today’s post I’d like to address the current state of play of the industry, and where I see it moving in the next year or two. Unlike just about every other industry, most of photography is unique in that there are no real benefits to scale anymore – even if you are a creative design house, there are good reasons to have a larger team such as specialisation. But instead we are seeing larger studios cut staff and run lean, and production houses giving way to collectives who band together as required for projects, but do not carry an aggregate P&L. Blogging has become an industry, though saturated. And the lack of regulation and standards is once again affecting all of us in the long run. Is there hope in dark corners? Perhaps, but we’re going to have to be brave, masochistic and resourceful to take advantage of it. I’ve broken it down by category for ease of analysis; usually multiple categories apply.