zemotion | Zhang Jingna Photography & Travel Blog | Singapore | Art | Fashion

Zink: It Blooms In The Night

2012-01-27T18:16:00.003+08:00

It Blooms In The Night
Zink Magazine, Jan 2012

Photography & Styling: Zhang Jingna
Hair: Chloe Doan
Makeup: Angela Peralta
Model: Yuki Matsumura
Photo Assistant: Conan Thai

This was done quite a while ago. We had to drive 4 hours each way from where I lived, it was the longest I'd travelled for a shoot done on the same day. Totally worth it though, I wanna shoot in a desert again ;_;

So thankful for having Conan too, who carried all the gear and luggage for clothes and trekked maybe 2 hours back and forth to the car, also grateful for my awesome crew for putting up with the difficult day, it was really not easy.

And omg I could hardly believe I was getting published in Zink. I remember going through their issues when I first started photography, and wondering if perhaps one day I would get good enough to be published in it too.

It's feels kind of like when my works came out in Fool's Mate and Gothic & Lolita Bible, except this time it's actually related to my work instead of just being for something that was an interest, so in a way it's kind of extra meaningful and I feel so super fortunate for the opportunity.

Some behind the scenes and photos taken along the way:

TWiT Photo 32: Jingna Zhang

2011-11-09T17:38:00.001+08:00

I was guest on TWiT Photo today. A big thank you to everyone who tuned in! I hope you enjoyed it~~

For those who didn't have a chance to catch it here is the VOD:

And if you prefer to have the podcast, download it here.

This is actually the first time I've done a live show and I really had a lot of fun. Thank you so much Catherine and Sarah for having me! I'd definitely love to do something like this again sometime. :D

I want to say sorry to all the watchers who were waiting for me to answer their questions, we received so many good ones too, but we totally ran out of air time so we couldn't cover any at all, I'm really sorry. T_T I promise I'll try to do a make up ask-me-anything session later on after I figure out the logistics of streaming, hopefully that will work. Once again thank you everyone~~ <3

Harper's Bazaar: Super Natural

2011-10-25T05:02:00.001+08:00

Harper's Bazaar Singapore, Sept 2011
Super Natural

Photography: Zhang Jingna
Styling: Alli Sim
Hair/Makeup: Marc Teng
Model: Shir Chong
Styling Assistant: Tengku Zainab Ajlaa

I had just turned 20 when I shot my first editorial for Harper's Bazaar Singapore. For the past few years my stories for the magazine have almost always been shot with Alli only.

I didn't know at the time of the shoot that this would become the last spread that we'd get to work on together before she and Bazaar parted ways. Should I have known I'd have stayed in Singapore longer that trip, just to do all the other concepts we'd talked about because I love her so so so so much.

I don't know how she can be so dedicated, detailed, hardworking and loving all at the same time. So many times when I felt like I've screwed up or shot terribly, she'd be there to encourage me and somehow steer me back on track and make things work out. (I stress a lot shooting for Bazaar, a lot.)

I've learnt so much working with her it makes me really really sad that she's no longer my editor. T_T But I guess there will be chances in the future for other things, so I'll just try my best to get better faster in the mean time and hope when that time comes we'll be able to do even greater things. Take care for now babe I'll see you again soon. Thank you for being such an amazing friend and mentor. <3

Keep Going

2011-10-01T07:02:00.000+08:00

Saw this really inspiring transcript from an interview with Ira Glass circulating around Facebook today. Felt like I had to share it too.

It's so perfect for me right now because I've been going through such a slump full of self-hate and self-doubt that I've been feeling like this really isn't getting anywhere.

Really just have to just keep going.

FILLER Magazine: A Beautiful Death

2011-09-18T01:31:00.001+08:00

A Beautiful Death

FILLER Magazine, Fall 2011

Photography: Zhang Jingna

Fashion Editor: Tricia Campbell Hall

Art Director: Ryan Johnson

Hair: Adrian Carew/Push

Makeup: Greg B/Push

Manicure: Charisse Feliciano

Model: Heather Peat/Sutherland

Styling Assistant: Roma Singh

Photography Assistants: Jason Mckenzie, Kevin Luc

Just realized that it's been a long long long long time since I'd blogged. Omg my last photo post was NASL finals wtf. To think that 2 MLG's have already passed since then.... ;_;

I want to start off by saying just how much I love this shoot. Omg you have no idea~

I was so so super in love with Heather's face, it made me super happy that we got her for the story. And Tricia! I'd seen her work for FILLER so many times in envy of the other photographers who worked with her, words can't express how fortunate I felt to be able to have her styling my story this time~ Ryan was once again amazingly brilliant and put in 200% for all the little (and big) things I demand for (yes I can ask for a lot for my shoots T_T). And I'm super glad that everything came together perfectly as I envisioned it to be at the end of the day thanks to an awesome team of hardworking people. ILU all <3

Moving on~ Just a quick recap of what I've been doing --

MLG Anaheim ended July 31st, we had a superbly fun after party (and then an after after party and everyone went home at 4am in the morning). I headed back to Singapore from Aug 4th-8th to appear as a guest judge in The Big Shot Season 2 for two episodes. The production value and quality of work from the photographers have increased so much this time, it was actually pretty impressive. I was a little bit mean though because everyone else was super nice, so sorry T_T. Overall it was very fun and I managed to catch up with a lot of the editors I work with which is something always filled with much joy and laughter~

But argh still... long flights are super painful. At least I'm finally close to getting my Krisflyer Gold after a year and will be able to start using the lounges to relax during transits soon... Can you believe that no one ever told me that I just needed just a frequent flyer program per ONE alliance instead of one for every airline this whole time I'd been flying until last year?!?? as;ldkjfg

Anyway, when I returned to L.A. I did a shoot for Evil Geniuses when the BlizzCon StarCraft II Invitational happened. A bit of a random job but I've always enjoyed doing things related to my hobbies and IdrA was really nice in person. :3

Mid month I flew to Toronto for 2 weeks for some shoots and appointments. This spread for FILLER is one of them and I can't wait to share the other one with Flare which is super pretty too~

After Toronto I flew back to the US for MLG Raleigh. It was a bit scary because Hurricane Irene was due to hit the coast that exact weekend. But I guess the gods decided we were to have our StarCraft II tournies in peace so nothing really damaging happened where we were and I'm really grateful for that.

Came back to L.A. after MLG Raleigh and had been busy catching up with retouching deadlines since.

My team has also just signed some new players and sponsors and it's been crazy trying to juggle the team stuff and photo work but I really like both so just gotta keep trucking along~

I'd also just shot a really beautiful cover for Random House, and whilst I don't know when it'd be released I have to say I enjoyed working on it so much that just thinking about it makes me smile.

So... I keep telling myself I need to update the blog and write about some stuff that's been on my mind but... I take so long to write something even remotely readable, it's just really hard for me. What really made me a bit sad was when I read this, it was then that I realized how tired and dejected I am sometimes these days that I don't even know or want to say anything anymore.

Maybe I've become a really boring person than before over the years? I don't know D: but anyway here be some behind the scenes photos~

Sugizo's Words

2011-07-27T07:09:00.003+08:00

On the recent passing of TAIJI, Sugizo wrote a blog post titled "Life 命".

The following is an excerpt that touched me deeply:

"...This parting came too fast, and I still haven't come to terms with it.
But there is one thing I can say,
as my friends keep departing on their journeys for the other side
and now that so many people have lost their lives in the earthquake:
those of us who are still living should feel heartfelt gratitude for our lives.
Those of us who are still living must not waste the lives we have left.

I would also like to say to everyone that I want them to keep living on...
to be thankful for everything, including their life, family, and friends.
Your life does not just belong to you; people love you and need you.
People should live their lives while feeling in their hearts the reason for and miracle of being alive.
And people should absolutely not take their own lives,
since there are many people who love them and are always together with them."

I don't want to consistently bring up the topic of death, but I really wanted to share this heartfelt message.

If you're sad, please know that you're not alone in your sorrows. Be strong, you will find the strength and overcome the pains.

North American Star League Finals

2011-07-13T22:24:00.001+08:00

The past month went by so fast I barely felt it, and suddenly it's gone. I guess between the trips to Seychelles, Beijing, Toronto and L.A., all the flying took enough days away to make it much shorter than the usual 30 I should have.

I kept telling myself that I'd find time to do certain things but there just never seem to be enough hours in a day to finish all the stuff that I want to do anymore. I feel it so much that I push back sleep day after day after day, and now it's somehow became a habit to skip sleep regularly. -_-

My body has really not been agreeable at all, and as much as I keep telling myself I need to sleep every day it's become so hard, especially when I'm in the mode to push myself to work.

Last weekend I found my way to Ontario, California, for the grand finals of the North American Star League. I think it's hard for a lot of people to understand why I'm spending so much time being so serious about StarCraft, minus the few long-time followers who've been with me since my earliest days. I don't really know how to express it very well, but I guess I could say it's just me being me.

Like with go, air rifle, anime, and music, I want to pursue the things I enjoy and love. Through them I am always learning, and they are what brought me to where I am today with photography. This passion for things has kept me going and I'd never want to change or give up who I am because of what others may say. Please bear with me if I blog about things that are not related to photography. ^^;

At some point I will probably write about the shoots in Seoul and Seychelles before I completely forget about them, but since the shots have yet to be released I guess they'll have to wait a bit.

The NASL finals was pretty much the first time I'd ever been to a LAN event. It was a bit like combining the experience of a concert live and competition both into one haha.

My caster friend Wombat gave me lifts to the venue both Friday and Sunday (thank you Wombat!) but we were late on Friday because despite being up nearly all night I was still working in the morning. =_=;

We arrived at the Ontario Convention Center sometime past noon. The matches were supposed to start at 11am but they were delayed due to technical issues with the projectors. I heard they broke like literally 10 minutes before the doors opened. o_o;; So I guess forever was spent on the attempt of fixing them but to no avail. We started Friday with no live video feeds on the big screens, only gameplays with the production tabs cropped out, it was a little bit painful, but everything was fixed and smooth from Saturday on~!

Tasteless as MC

They had this background for conducting interviews backstage with the players after their wins, I think they only did it for the very first match (Ret vs PuMa) but thereafter it was all on the main stage because the live audience couldn't see anything. ;_;

Also backstage, Friday's schedules

I gotta say, the lighting was really too dim for photography throughout the event. I should probably have given my feedback to the NASL guys and hoped for them to do something about it, oh well... ;_;

Morrow setting up in his booth

I'd never been to MLG so I'm not sure how it works there, but at GSL the GOM Studio has four booths. Two players would be playing their match while the next two set up their stuff in the other two booths, so no time is lost in between matches. There were pretty long waiting times in between at NASL and I hope it's something that they'd be able to improve on in the future aside from the lighting.

WeMade FOX Moon

I saw Moon resting (napping?) backstage before his game and it reminded me so much of my air rifle days~ In between qualifier and finals I'd usually do this as well. It's not just completely about resting but also staying focused on the competition. Some players like to move around but media, fans and other players can sometimes become distracting factors and you really don't want to be thinking about results when it's your turn to go.

oGsZenio making his entrance

oGsMC being ever so confident <3

MC in his booth

I know it's weird but I really admire MC for his super upright sitting posture. Reminds me of school days when I was back in China, except I definitely don't sit like that right now haha.

Day9

Moon being interviewed by Rachel Quirico after his win

Moon made a lot of banelings in his game vs HasuObs. When Rachel interviewed him after his game asking about it, he thought for a while, and then said that it was because July made a lot of banelings in the previous match, so he felt like making more than that. Everyone was like LOL wtf, it was quite a moment and I don't think the audience laughed harder than that for the rest of Friday.

SeleCT doing his Sup Son ¯\_( ツ)_/¯ pose for the cameras

FnaticSen

Sen's expressions after winning were always super intense, I'm really glad that he did so well.

SlayerS BoxeR and Jessica

It may not feel like it to some others, but the venue was actually a little bit cold.

Lindsey Sporrer

On Sunday I caught a glimpse of Lindsey. Super gorgeous girl, it was really nice that she was making an effort to understand the game.

At some point one of our teammates was interviewed by her. I heard that after plugging the team channel it went straight to the max 100, pretty cool haha.

Sen cheerful by the CSL girls

Day9 signing for fans

In between matches there were allocated times and places for signings, but sometimes people would stop players or casters as they walked around and once it starts it starts a queue in the middle of nowhere and lasts for a long time till the matches start again.

SeleCT's autograph~

We saw some really exciting matches between MC and PuMa for the grand finals. MC was having such an incredibly sick comeback but PuMa played so amazingly as well. I think most people agree that it's probably one of the most epic set of games in a tournament. My respect for MC definitely went up a notch, he was so good ._.

PuMa in his booth after winning the final game

The players of NASL Season 1 Finals

The winners PuMa, MC and Sen take home $50,000, $25,000 and $10,000 respectively. I'm super happy for the players, thank you for giving us such great games~ It really ended the event on a high note, you'd really have to be in the audience to feel how epic it was~

Temp0 and Anna Prosser also performed two SC2 parody songs 'Dan' and 'Overrun This Town', one before and one after the matches on Sunday. Great performances met with a lot of love from the audience. Was definitely a nice touch to end the games~

Anna Prosser

Temp0 and Anna Prosser

I walked around a bit as things started to wrap, watched people trying to get their last photos with their favourite players and casters.

Bunch of people having a group photo with BoxeR with everyone looking in a different direction

I managed to meet up with Danglars, my team's #1 fan. Helped him take a photo with Tastosis and then they told me I needed to get some photos taken too. So we got a couple together.

Wombat, Danglars, me

Me, Day9 and Danglars

And last but not least... with another girl~!

Megumixbear and Jingna

Megumi and I actually met in the washroom. It just happens that we both like saying hi to strangers we meet in the ladies and ask them how they feel about the event. She got to it first that day, and asked to shake my hand. I was super confused and taken aback cuz that was so completely random but cute and terribly sweet all at the same time haha. But yo, she's a Master league Terran, teaches ikebana, outgoing and friendly, how are there such cool girls around? I totally need to go to these LANs more.

There was an after party later that night but photography wasn't allowed. It was SUPER crowded but really fun. I'm not sure what else I can say about it? I met a lot of people and Rachel was super hot~! :D

I'm so looking forward to MLG Anaheim now, especially with my players attending as well. I think it'd really be quite an experience cuz I haven't travelled with a team since 2007, maybe 2006? Time passes by so fast I can't even keep track anymore. ;_; When people ask about my work these days they're like how long have you been doing photography? And part of me would want to say four years, before I realize that another year has already passed and it is five now. It didn't feel like that long ago at all when I used to say I'd only been doing photography for three months, time really does fly. T___T

Anyway, please do check out my team's Facebook album and my TeamLiquid thread for more photos~! (And please forgive the bad writing, grammar and vocabulary usage ;_;)

Elle Singapore: The Secretary

2011-07-10T07:26:00.003+08:00

Elle Singapore, July 2011

Fashion Direction: Daphne Chen
Photography: Zhang Jingna

Hair: Kenneth Ong using Redken
Makeup: Joey Chan using Chanel
Nails: Olive Zhang/PINC Northpoint using OPI
Photo Assistant: Jet Han, Dawn Poh
Styling Assistant: Lita Lee
Model: Ksenia V/AVE

One of the funnest shoots ever. We literally laughed our way through the whole set. I would be saying things like, "Be sexy! ... Be a little crazy! ... Put the paper clip in your hair!" And Daphne will start laughing at me for the silly way I give my directions and then everyone else will end up laughing along. As the shoot went on we made up little stories for each scenario of why Ksenia would be doing what she's doing and it was super hilarious.

I feel really fortunate to be able to work with such a brilliant team once again. After meeting up to brainstorm the concept together, Daphne literally pulled all the props on set together within two days of the shoot when people would usually need at least a week. Thank you Daphne for being awesome.

I hope you guys like the pictures~ <3

Also, as some of you are probably aware... I don't update the blog as much these days (because by the time I find time for something it's like... 5 months old). I however update little things as stuff happen on Facebook and Twitter so do follow~!

PS: And omg thank you for 1 million hits on the blog! I had no idea!! <3 <3 <3

Eight Years.

2011-06-23T18:54:00.004+08:00

For a while now the depression has been flowing to me like water from a broken dam, overwhelming and unstoppable.

But some time shortly after my birthday, perhaps because I had for so long been living in that lonely, bleak winter I had experienced in Toronto, or perhaps because time had finally decided that I ought to return to the waking world to move on and along, I started working proper again, after eight months of near-inactivity, of living in near-recluse.

May was filled with castings and pre-production meetings one day after another, in between I was tasked to make impossible deadlines possible, and at the same time stay on Pacific Time for my StarCraft II team, which has become increasingly important in my life — a source of laughter and happiness.

In the third week I shot for Elle, a few days later an editorial for SingaporeBrides. Before I knew it I was in Seoul for a project that stretched for two weeks into June. I returned home for a sleepless weekend, and left again the Thursday after for Seychelles to do another photoshoot.

The waiting hours during the trip has brought me some progress with The Glass Bead Game, I have now advanced past half the book, and found a quote I really love — "Every experience has its element of magic."

Even though Hesse's stories upset me a great deal more often than not, I cannot resist their charms that perhaps stem from the same yearnings as his protagonists. For needing to seek the answer to self, to wanting a way to solve the internal struggles, pains and conflicts.

Bit by bit, year by year, every now and then I would tell myself that, "This time for real I'd be moving on."

And then I'll have nightmares and they'll tear at my heart. I'll shed tears and hurt and think about this day and find myself at an utter loss once more.

But somehow the reading has calmed me, made me feel less alone. Even if the parallels and comfort are drawn from some fictitious characters, it feels like I'm finally able to take a step back and look at the larger map of my life again, with its paths and marks and light, and not just the seemingly endless abyss that I was for a long time so deeply submerged in.

There were no flowers when we visited today, it was still morning.

We had lunch after the visit and talked about old times.

Eight years. How has time slipped by us so fast?

My heart aches to remember those days that seem not so far away at all, to imagine what a fine man you'd have been amongst us today, to wonder what different lives we'd all be leading, just wishfully thinking...

But I understand now, to fulfill this life I cannot mourn forever. That I must find the strength to move on while remembering, without destroying myself.

23.

2011-05-04T18:00:00.008+08:00

This song sums up everything I have to say.

孙燕姿－天黑黑

May 2nd.

2011-05-02T16:53:00.000+08:00

I was introduced to X Japan's music on 2nd May, the summer of my first year at RGS.

We were at my guitarist's place together with my bassist and they had me sight-read Endless Rain on a keyboard with 3 octaves too short. It wasn't till much later that I found out that it was hide's death anniversary.

I didn't really like X at first. The too heavy music, the almost scary visual looks, but little by little, it managed to grow on me somehow over time.

Perhaps covering their songs gave room for appreciation, perhaps it was the sadness that came with all their ballads, I'm not quite sure.

Some nights I'd play Tears on loop and cry myself to sleep, some nights I'd listen to it a little too much and I wish I were gone too.

I wonder about all these deaths, all these could-have-beens, and I wonder if there's a god above that's just taking all these away from us just because... and I can't, I can't understand.

Why is it so unfair? Why does it hurt so much? Why does it becomes so much harder to live as the days and years pass by?

Sometimes I think the scars heal and memories fade and that perhaps I'm gonna be okay. But sometimes I don't know how far I can go, don't know if I can live, because remembering hurts so so much but I don't think I can live if I forget either, it just hurts so much.

I wish I understood this sadness, wish I could chase it away. But nothing makes sense anymore, nothing.

Harper's Bazaar: Call Me Irresistible

2011-04-08T22:03:00.002+08:00

Harper's Bazaar Singapore, April 2011

Photography: Zhang Jingna
Styling: Alli Sim
Hair: Greg-O
Makeup: Cindy Goh
Nails: Joyce Chang using OPI
Model: Rudi/Mannequin
Photo assistant: Karin Xiao
Additional Assistance: Joyce Cheo, Amanda Tan

Special thanks to Laura Chong/TANG+CO

--

Been back in Singapore for almost two weeks now, wow time really passes by fast.

Between being fed by friends, meeting deadlines, and trying to spend time with my clan on SC2, I'd been getting so little sleep, it feels like as if I'm living in three different time zones. Every time I wake up I wonder when I can stop feeling this tired, there's just not enough hours in a day.

Eyes hurt so so much from retouching lately, I hope it's just the fatigue and jetlag and that it will go away soon.

Toronto Meetup

2011-03-29T20:51:00.000+08:00

Managed to squeeze a meetup in before leaving Toronto last week. We had a record number high of people turning up (more than the time in L.A.~!), and I think it's pretty impressive considering I only gave about a bit more than a day of notice to everyone. ^^;

The meetup was held at Scotland Yard, a nice/chill pub/restaurant downtown. Discovered it when Conan visited from L.A., thought it'd be a cool place for a meet~

Scotland Yard on the Esplanade

Despite the size of the group the atmosphere at the meet was really great that day. Everyone was super friendly and cheery. (Big groups can be a little difficult to manage sometimes I think, and if people are shy they tend to just all go quiet together ._.)

I took turns going around cuz the group was just way too large for me to speak to everyone at the same time. Talked a little bit about what I'd been up to the past couple months, with photography, travelling, Suzigo, StarCraft, and other projects. Answered some questions, and also checked out cool works by others who brought their portfolios as well. I super love the setting at Scotland Yard, so here be a lot of photos~ XD

The group settling in

Adding round tables on ends because there wasn't enough room in the original table arrangement

Ted Belton's book "Where I've Been"

Cornelia Klimek's portfolio

The group checking out some of my new works on my iPad

More of the iPad!

Gift art from Ted. (Sorry I look creepy here T_T)

The evening went on for quite a while, before I decided to go home to get my markers for some who wanted to get their books signed, as well as pick up some postcard books for those that wanted to get a copy but didn't manage to after it became unavailable from my web store.

And while I was away they decided to fool around with my camera. >_>

And at one point... someone documented the camera was being touched by everyone.

Photo by phoenixleo

Was actually pretty funny, so I decided to take a couple more shots :D

With some of the girls

And the obligatory group photo

That'd be all from me, thank you everyone for coming and it was really really great meeting all of you!! <3

Do also check out the posts by Phoenixleo, Ted Belton and Tiffany S as well, they have pretty photos too~ :D

Gonna watch Space Battleship Yamato tomorrow! (Even though all I really care about is a live-action Gundam movie ;_;)

8 Tips for Fashion Photography

2011-02-17T05:39:00.000+08:00

Sometime late last year I was approached by PhotoYou Magazine to contribute an article for their winter issue and give some tips on fashion photography. It's been out for a while now so with permission from my lovely editor Valerie Wee here's a repost for those who can't get their hands on a copy. I hope some of you will find it helpful~ :3

PhotoYou Winter 2010: Fashion Forward

Photos: Zhang Jingna

Words: Zhang Jingna and Valerie Wee

1. Look and Learn

Look at images every day. Whether it's photographs or paintings—looking, learning and observing are the key to creating an eye for arresting images. This will form the foundations of your aesthetics and style, from colour palette, lighting, framing, clothing, makeup to model choices.

Always find opportunities to shoot. If you're starting with a single kit lens, learn how the wider and longer ends of the lens differ in terms of effects to your photographs before moving on for more expensive gear. Does it distort the model's proportions? Does it make the scenery look vast and wide? Learn what works best for you, it will help develop give you confidence when working in different situations and also your choice in what you'll need when you buy your next lenses.

2. Simple is Always Best

Few people are blessed enough to start their photography career with a full team of fantastic stylists, hair and makeup artists. Fashion test shots or your initial portfolio work often just need to be simple and classy. Keep the setting and look, such as makeup and styling, clean and light. Grasp the skill of taking really good simple shots before getting more experimental and elaborate.

DIY Styling Tip:

Male models can go topless to make the shot work. For girls, get them into body-con outfits which will accentuate their figures—scoop neck tank tops, tights and heels no shorter than 5 inches are great basic items that can get you very strong looks. Alternatively, you can also try a crop jacket and pair of hot pants on her to add variety. Keep their hair simple – worn straight or simply pulled back into a bun. You’ll be surprised how chic and sleek going simple can be.

3. Light and Shadows

Good lighting, like everything else, comes with experience. It doesn't have to be complicated, but play around with your settings and put together three to four different setups for different looks. To start, master just one light. This will help you go a long way. Always watch out for shadows when photographing. Our eyes catch on to highlights first, but unintended messy shadows can break a shot when reviewed later on. Train your eye to observe what you are shooting in its entirety.

4. Always Cast Your Models

The purpose of a model portfolio is to help them get jobs, but it can also be misleading.

Professional models usually start modelling from as young as 12 or 13 years of age. Imagine how much their faces and bodies may have changed by the time you see their portfolio photos. You may see bleached blonde hair but she may be sporting raven black when she turns up at your studio; you may be shooting a super skinny '20s flappers look and she's just put on 8 kilograms from a holiday in the last
three months. You never know.

So always do a casting or, at the very least, request up-to-date polaroids from the model agency. If you're engaging a freelance model, make arrangements to meet up for a casual coffee to assess his or her current look.

5. Supervise Hair & Makeup

Always be around when hair and makeup are being done. Knowing what the colour palettes are can help you determine how you set up your shot. Try to stay invisible and don’t get in the way of your beauty team. Step in when something is off from your expectations or direction. You will learn and eventually know what works best for your shoots after a few sessions. And when you work with new teams on jobs, you’ll be able to give direction, as well as learn new things at the same time.

6. Clothes Must Be Seen

Fashion photography is about aesthetics and trends.

Fashion is about selling the latest season's clothes and accessories. It's about making people covet what the model is wearing. Are you shooting a picture that makes you want the clothes for yourself, for your best girlfriends or for your boyfriend?

As a general rule in fashion photography, make sure your lighting always accentuates the texture and beauty of the materials—the lustre of silk, the sheerness of chiffon, the sparkles in gems and precious stones. These details will heighten the beauty and quality of an image itself.

7. Keep a Journal

It doesn’t have to be a public blog, but you should have a channel or avenue where you can jot down experiences from pre-productions, meetings and photoshoots.

You don’t have to do it diligently, but whenever there's a great or super bad shoot, there's something you're bound to have learnt.

Write down all the stuff you thought was cool, things you felt ruined an important shot or even the whole project; approaches you felt were terrible initially but actually turned out great, bad experiences, good experiences, miscommunications, oversights, joy.

From time to time, go back and read up on these reflections. Sometimes it will send you harsh reminders of mistakes not to be repeated, and sometimes it will help you see things in a fresh perspective.

The best part is that it will help you realize and appreciate the extent to which you have progressed. And because we are always changing, and that sometimes we forget the rawness, newness and passion of our earlier days, it's a great way to look back at those times and perhaps be re-inspired once again.

8. Be Confident, Be Humble

Take advice and suggestions from others, but be confident of your vision. Everyone in your team looks
to you to achieve the final product—the photograph. You may have a client, an art director, or an editor to turn to for opinions, but you must know deep down inside that you're the creator of your work.

Collaborate with people whom you respect and who respect you in return. Believe that no matter the circumstance, you will shine in the photograph because everybody sees the world differently, and is what will set your images apart from someone else's.

Remember there is always room for reinvention and newness, and only with a humble attitude and belief for constant learning will you keep moving forward. Always stay true to yourself, always keep learning.

Last but not least here's a picture of me freezing in the Toronto cold. Photo by Conan Thai.

PS: If anyone's interested, I'll do a meetup this weekend?

PPS: Plugging for my SC2 clan, we're on NA server looking for good master players to practice with. Feel free to come to channel oTL to hang out, see you there~ XD

Snowing

2011-01-07T10:28:00.000+08:00

The view outside my windows when it snowed today.

The whole pavement is completely covered in white now, I feel as if I spent the whole day just watching the snow fall. It's really beautiful.

I was looking forward to the snow on my way back to Toronto, but it stopped when I returned. It's nice to actually be able to work and finally watch it happen just outside, so quiet.

Tokyo was wonderful, I felt so happy being back there. I didn't get to go back as much in 2010 as compared to 2009, I'd missed my friends so much. There's something very cozy about our get-togethers that I love, it always gives me this warm and fuzzy feeling that I can't quite put into words, really really sweet. :)

Luna Sea was beyond my imagination, their performance spectacular. I met all the members, and everyone was so nice and down-to-earth it was touching. I'll definitely talk about it a bit more when I can share the photographs, the experience was so amazing.

There had been a lot going on the past weeks, it's so draining dealing with everything. But hey, I made it through another year at the very least, for that I'm glad, and extremely grateful for the support you've all given me. So thank you everyone, here's to a happy and amazing new year~~ <3

Forgotten Fairytales Ripoff Drama

2011-01-04T12:50:00.000+08:00

///Update 2:

Renselar has apologized to me, and has removed "Walls and Lies" as well as "Tuesday's Child" from his site, promising they were never sold and that he will never show them in public again.

He says the original photos were "on a CD-ROM that was given to him by a friend", and that the friend assured him that all the images on the CD-ROM were in the public domain.

"...I was badly misled and I therefore got it wrong. I’m angry too, because it means I wasted over 4 weeks of my time painting something I can never show."

Tell me I'm not the only one who tried not to roll my eyes. Really now.

Anyway, whether you believe the story or not, the important thing is that knock-offs have been removed and the man who made them has apologized and the works have been taken down now.

If you see works by other artists you know still on his site, please bring it up!

///Update:

Cross posting from Matt Thorn's blog post: Mr. Walker has apologized to Ms. Zhang and also to me. DiscoveredArtists.com has also removed Van Renselar from their online catalog. According to Mr. Walker, neither of the Renselar pieces based on Ms. Zhang’s work were ever sold through DiscoveredArtists.com. So, kudos to them. But Renselar is still peddling his knock-offs on his own site. Why not drop him a line and let him know what you think of his “original artworks,” as he calls them? While you’re at it, you also might want to check his catalog to see if he hasn’t borrowed from you as well.

///

No better way to start off a new year than some drama. Posting for the lulz and share along as you may.

I was browsing my Facebook's Photography folder when I chanced upon a link someone left on Forgotten Fairytales.

So I followed it, titled something like: The Spectacular Work of London Artist, Van Renselar:

The first piece of featured work in his article is a ripoff of one of my most iconic pieces, Forgotten Fairytales.

My original - Forgotten Fairytales, 2007

And he's supposedly a 52 years old man, really? Does he have no concept of shame and morals at all?

So anyway I posted about this on my Twitter and Facebook, and some people decided to leave comments on the page informing DiscoveredArtists that the work is ripped.

While I'm quietly waiting for my agent's return to town tomorrow to send them a formal correspondence, guess what, DiscoveredArtists replied in the comments section! (Not the artist himself, oh well)

Bitterness? WHAT bitterness? If anything yes I am sort of bitter that my work is being ripped off AND sold. Boohoo.

So clearly Mr. Brian Walker wants to be contacted directly, leaving his email, cell, tollfree number and what not, and I guess some of you went ahead.

But what surprised me, was when I found myself cc-ed in an email Matt Thorn had written to Brian Walker, alerting him that Van Renselar has plagiarized my work.

Matt Thorn, who's probably translated/is translating Hagio Moto's every English edition title, who appeared alongside Hagio Moto at her San Diego Comic Con signing last year, whose interview with Hagio Moto I had read, over and over and over, that had continued to serve as an inspiration to me for so so long, wrote an email for me. It's simple, professional and straight-forward. I was beyond touched, surprised and even honoured.

But guess what Mr. Walker replied!

ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?

The first thing you address is not about the plagiarism, but about how being alerted multiple times on an infringement could be a virtual harassment?

He didn't even do his research before the accusation, so much for working on the internet all day as he claims!

We're not even getting into details about the actual artwork itself yet, but I doubt it's going to be all sweet and rosy. What kind of people takes it out on others when they get called out on, seriously? I'm not impressed, DiscoveredArtists.

Back in Tokyo

2010-12-22T23:28:00.000+08:00

Lights are wrapped around the trees lining Omotesando Dori, it's beautiful, and reminds me of how close Christmas really is.

I was just settling into Toronto after touching down last Thursday, before an unexpected email from Sugizo's manager arrived two days later, asking if I'd be keen to photograph Luna Sea's LIVE in Tokyo at Tokyo Dome this weekend.

The past couple days had been sleepless with my packing, flight from LA to Toronto, meetings, more meetings, retouching, the pending confirmation for my Tokyo trip, and then packing again followed by the 13-hour flight from Toronto to Narita. I was retouching even on the plane.

It feels good to be back in Japan, this trip marks my 10th time in Tokyo.

In some ways, the familiarity makes it feel like a 2nd home to me now. And I think that familiarity is something really beautiful, for it brings back memories, making those moments feel close and real again, and that feeling is precious, almost like a dream, but real. So much memories here.

Postcard Book Giveaway!

2010-12-17T08:27:00.000+08:00

I'm giving away 3 copies of my postcard books along with a mystery gift on Facebook. If you haven't heard about the giveaway, check the details out here!

Some photos -

For those who're interested in purchasing, I apologize that it is not available at the moment. I'll update again when it comes back into stock. :3

On another note, hello Toronto!!!

On the way to our apartment in the morning

I was talking with my agent Suzy in the office today and when afternoon came it started snowing! The snowflakes were so big and fluffy and pretty, and I haven't actually seen snowfall in a long time, it made me a very, very happy girl. :D

SingaporeBrides: 1000 Roses

2010-12-10T17:12:00.000+08:00

For fashion.singaporebrides.com

Art Direction & Photography: Zhang Jingna
Editor: Fazillah Abdul Gaffa
Hair: Andrea Claire
Makeup: Dewi Mahoney
Photography assistants: Karin Xiao, Jacob Tan Yin Qi & Z Han
Hair styling assistant: Blaire Walmsley
Models: Julia Valimaki, Sasha Luss & Zivile Cibaite/Ave

My deepest thanks to SingaporeBrides.com for being supportive of me doing the creative and direction, and my lovely assistants for arranging and re-arranging those very thorny roses that filled up all 18-foot wide of our backdrop.

Representation Announcement

2010-12-09T02:14:00.000+08:00

January 2011 Jingna will be available in Toronto

For more information, appointments or bookings
contact Suzy Johnston +1-416-863-5115
suzy@suzyjohnston.com

So yeap, this is the major announcement I was talking about~! I am now represented by Suzy Johnston + Associates~

If you're wondering how this affects you (or me), well, if you're a North American client now you have someone to go to! :D But for the majority of you who aren't, it means I'll have more consistent help and be able to do more personal work, and hopefully be able to actually start touring my exhibitions other than just doing them in Singapore. That and I guess, it basically means I'll have more time for my 2nd book proper, to get it together sooner.

I know it sounds vague but I am trying my best to work on everything. Please be patient with me. ;_;

I also have some plans to roll out fine art edition and limited edition prints from next year on. If you have something you'd been pining for ages please do tell me what they are, but keep in mind I won't be able to make every piece of work I have available because it's quite a big inventory. They'll probably also be a bit pricey for the most of you because fine art prints are just really expensive to make... sorry. OTL

And and, I'll be doing a mini giveaway next week once work clears up! I'm shooting a campaign for a wonderful Singaporean designer tomorrow, will keep you guys posted~! :3

Inspirations #2

2010-12-03T07:56:00.000+08:00

My favourite people from CGHUB! <3

The Little Mermaid by jeffsimpsonkh (Jeff Simpson)

veil by tobiee (Tobias Kwan)

Lookout by flaptraps (Richard Anderson)

Vampyr by EmmanuelMalin (Emmanuel Malin)

Ten of Swords by davepalumbo (David Palumbo)

Stem by noah-kh (Kuang Hong)

so close by matayosi

Chaperon by Alexandre Day

Sunny November by NikYeliseyev

Epilogue by TomScholes (Thomas Scholes)

Aren't these amazing? I love everyone sooooo much. If you browse through their galleries you can definitely see where the vibrancy of my work has been coming in from as of late.

(I'll also shamelessly admit that I'd received birthday drawings from jeffsimpsonkh, noah-kh and tobiee. A copy of The Art of Guild Wars 2 from Rich Anderson with a personalized sketch, and a print from David Palumbo during Comic Con. I know, I'm so incredibly lucky to be spoiled by my favourite artists. ;_;)

Booked my ticket for Toronto. Will be there from the 16th of this month till Jan 21st.

To be honest I'm a little bit excited and a little bit scared. I'll get to meet up with my best friend, possibly visit Montreal, I pretty much love all the Canadians I know so I love Canada already, but I'm so afraid that I'll just freeze to death on the streets one day. It's getting too chilly for me even in L.A. these days, I really wish I had better tolerance for cold. ;_;

Elle Singapore - Swept Away

2010-11-22T23:25:00.000+08:00

Swept Away
Elle Singapore, Dec 2010

Fashion Direction: Daphne Chen
Photography: Zhang Jingna

Photography Assistant: Karin Xiao
Styling Assistant: Rueban S
Hair: Ken Hong/Evolve Salon
Makeup: Elaine Décor
Nails: OPI/Forum Galleria OPI Centre
Model: Sasha Luss/Ave

This shoot was done just before I left Singapore. Daphne was a sweetheart to work with and it was really a great experience. We clicked right away and I found it super easy to suggest ideas for the concept. We also made the effort to cast models and do fabric shopping together.

I was so sad to find out that she stayed right across the street from me, because if we'd known each other sooner it'd totally have been awesome to have a supper buddy!!

Karin who assisted me a few times in London happened to be back in Singapore at that time so she did some wind magic for all the fabrics which I think turned out really beautiful. Hair and makeup were pretty much flawless and I really couldn't have asked for much more.

My only bit of unhappiness was probably the experience with the model. So I'm gonna rant for the rest of the post, please feel free to skip it. - -;;

I'd shot Sasha for another job just the weekend prior to this shoot and she didn't seem happy to be there then. I attributed her attitude issues to being upset over not having the weekend off since she was called in to replace another girl at the last minute. But I guess expecting her to be all nice and good the week after was really just me being naive. Many times in my attempt to direct her movements or adjust her hold on the fabricc she'd swat my hand away and shoo me off telling me "I know I know!" and then continue doing it wrong.

I don't know whether she behaved that way because I was a female photographer or young or both, but I hadn't really worked with much models who're disrespectful and stubborn and it was really super frustrating. At some point I gave up and told Daphne to talk to her since she just flat-out refused to listen to me.

Later that week while shooting for Bazaar I recollected the episode while setting up and Greg-O said that I was just way too nice—that I gotta be more firm and assertive in the future since we totally have the choice to drop the girl and get someone else from the agency. Now that I think of it, it was a bit lame to let myself be bullied too. -_- But I guess it's just my nature to not want to cause too much tension on set because it's so easy to upset everybody altogether. It's always about finding a balance I guess. But definitely a lesson learnt.

Anyway despite all that I'm really loving the photos~! It's exciting to have some splashes of colours in my portfolio since I don't do colourful stories very often, and I'm super glad I got to shoot with Daphne before I moved cuz she's just so so awesome. :3

I took some behind the scenes in video but I have too little patience and knowledge with editing, StarCraft II also seems like such a better alternative to spending my time in comparison so maybe next time~~ XD

Designaré Time: Departures by the hour - 24 hours in Lijiang according to fashion photographer Zhang Jingna

2010-11-20T03:01:00.000+08:00

Departures by the hour, 24 hours in Lijiang according to fashion photographer Zhang Jingna
Designaré Time, 2010
Editors: Brian Kwek & Judy Cheong
Photography: Zhang Jingna

I surprised myself contributing a travel story for the inaugural issue of Designaré Time. Who'd have thought? XD

Designaré Time is an annual publication spun off from the main Designaré title, and seriously, the layout for this spread is so nice I almost couldn't recognize the images to be my photography when I first saw the PDF haha.

Isn't Lijiang so beautiful? The whole time this year I kept contemplating moving there to live for some months just to be away from the cities. But wanting to shoot in L.A. won out eventually, thou I stay faraway from L.A., enough that it's quiet too anyway hehe.

Anyway so if you run a travel magazine and need to fly someone for pictures please remember me~!!! :D :D

Talk at LCAD was great yesterday. The projector had some issues in the start but it was an enjoyable experience overall and the people and campus were wonderful.

Q&A was fun, I talked about the experience of shooting The Coldest Day and everyone had a good laugh at how stupid I was. XD They also have a small but awesome library with amazing selections, I met a girl who liked my work when we were there. She had a bunch of Yoshitaka Amano's artbooks in her hands so I related my experience of visiting Amano's home in Tokyo, it was amazing to relive those memories again.

My new editorial for Elle Singapore is out!

PS: I also just realized my Lijiang Part II entry never came... /facepalm. One day...

Talk at LCAD this Thursday

2010-11-16T09:24:00.000+08:00

I will be giving a talk at Laguna College of Art and Design this Thursday afternoon. If you're on campus please feel free to drop by. :)

For those back at home in Singapore, you can tune in to Channel 5 for The Big Shot, premiering Nov 23rd, 9pm, to catch my judging appearance.

Also made an update to the previous post, please take a look if you haven't seen it. Thank you everyone. <3

Sometimes I just really want it to stop hurting.

2010-11-10T20:20:00.003+08:00

The accident had me thinking really hard about some things that had been on my mind for a long time.

It feels like the depression from my teenage years pretty much just melted into a very long and dreary quarter-life crisis that seems to go on forever.

I try really hard to do my best, to hopefully keep up with my promises and live for the ones who're no longer here. But sometimes I really feel like I'm not strong enough to go that far.

Sometimes when I look back, it feels like my life is merely an accumulation of running-aways. I left RGS because I couldn't fit in, because I was used to excelling in primary school and in a school full of girls made for the Ivy League, I was far from hardworking or smart enough in comparison.

My god-sister won her Olympics gold at 16. For so long I yearned for something close. I trained hard for air rifle, much harder than my peers at my best times. And much more than photography, I did know for certain that I was more than talented, prodigious or whatever they called it, I reached scores people took years to reach within months, I knew I was born for air rifle.

So for those years my mum and I struggled against the association which wanted me to do bad no matter what, just because I was the coach's daughter, just because I did well, just because I was talented, just because my stepdad wanted to rein my mum in.

I thought I was strong, I thought I could hold out till my moment of glory to prove them wrong and be saved. I tried so hard, but I was so wrong.

There was no one to save us when I won my gold at the Commonwealth Shooting Championships. What came after can only be called fate's idea of a bad joke—people ganged up to sabotage my mum in attempt to get her jailed for life. They lied and coerced students to sign letters of events that never happened. She was in and out of the police station every other morning.

We lived those months in constant fear. I repeatedly dreamt about my stepdad's threat to hurt or kill my sister if my mum didn't lend him money in visuals too vivid and bloody for comfort—we were always being hunted, I would always try to hide her away. And he would grab hold of my arm and carve the flesh off my skin as I watched and it felt too real and too horrifying.

Whatever last bits of strength I might have had left from those earlier years of pain left me. I broke. And then it was a downward spiral into nothingness.

Despite being trained by the best coaches with the sincerest intentions with the best teams in China and Korea those six years, I failed.

No matter the circumstances it's all excuses when it's over. I couldn't climb back up. I was messed up. In searching of something else to focus on I turned my attention to photography which was then only a hobby. The worse I was doing in air rifle the more I tried to run away from it because there were no expectations for me to fail in photo-taking.

I left school again one semester short of finishing my fashion diploma because I still didn't fit in, the school was being retarded, and because people hated me for doing well when I was always away too often for rifle. Lame really, couldn't never fit in.

Just fail after fail after fail after fail.

No matter what I do I'm just never strong enough.

And the more people tell me how amazing I am at photography the more I fear how I'd just fail and not be able to go on.

The more I think I'd gotten over their deaths the more the guilt of being alive haunts me.

Some nights I remember Noah telling me the stories from his village the traumas from his childhood the freezing winters we spent together and how much more fortunate I am than what we were as children.

Some nights my mind won't stop replaying the image of L's fractured sprawling body, the blood, his broken head and all the brains that were spilled on the grounds, it hurt so so much to think.

Some nights I remember M crying and she was like the sun and she never cried, but when we talked about H's death she cried and cried and cried and we were only twelve and they used to be so close and I knew how it hurt and it hurt me too.

Some nights I remember grandma visiting me and the empty hospital corridors and how lonely I'd felt ever since my first memory.

Some nights I remember the first time I tried to stab myself with a pair of scissors and how I wished that process wouldn't hurt so I could just go and despite being four I knew I'd never be fixed.

Some nights I remember being told I wasn't wanted and I think about how little I do and how much I fail and I really wish I didn't exist.

Some nights I wonder how everyone else copes with everyone else's deaths and at the same time I don't want to know, because if I don't hurt and don't remember then their deaths and existence would be lost and that would be too sad.

Sometimes I just really want it to stop hurting but I know it never will.

And no I'm not suddenly being emo I'd just always tried to hold it in for fear of being a negative influence for fear of being judged. But the people who want to judge will judge either way and people who don't get it will never do and people who talk without consideration for others' feelings will continue to be that way so whatever.

Sometimes people talk like I don't have feelings but I'm only human like you and probably more emotional and I can't be treated like a hero and be expected to be perfect because I am not, I'm just someone broken trying to live a little bit of life in this world and it's so hard because it's as if there is no place for me anywhere.

Sometimes all the expectations really weigh and I seriously don't think I'm that great or amazing, and whatever I do it never seems to ever be enough because it's never enough because there's still so much farther to go and I feel like I'll never have the strength to get there because my life had been nothing but a spiral of fail and hurt and pain.

Sometimes I just really want it to stop hurting.

///

Update:

I just want to say thank you everyone for the emails, messages and comments.

I feel very touched, very loved.

You have no idea how long and often those thoughts have plagued me, how much your words and reassurances and understandings mean.

Sometimes there is no room and nowhere to say anything else next to a piece of work, and it's so easy to be taken granted for to be assumed to be judged at and it's so lonely and painful to deal with along with everything else.

Your words and support really made me feel that I'm not as much a... failure as I believed. Made me feel that, even if just for a little bit, that those failures were okay.

I read every single comment, email and message received, and I cried reading many of them. Thank you, thank you thank you thank you. I'll get better and be a stronger girl.