zemotion | Zhang Jingna Photography Blog | New York | Art | Fashion

Motherland Chronicles #15 - Ghost

2013-05-14T11:21:00.001-04:00

Motherland Chronicles #15 - Ghost

Photography/Model: Zhang Jingna

Meant to do a Mother's Day picture wanting to cocoon myself but... it's actually pretty hard to wrap yourself up without assistance. Had to do this at 10pm on Monday after 2 days of almost no sleep because other deadlines, I think of it as an accomplishment to have even managed to set up a shoot.

Also Toby forbade me from doing black background pictures for Motherland Chronicles and here I am on the other extreme.

I'm taking so long to adjust from my jetlag it's actually painful. But, Toronto next week! Yay!

Motherland Chronicles #14 - Self Portrait in Water II

2013-05-07T11:44:00.000-04:00

Motherland Chronicles #14 - Self Portrait in Water II

Photography: Zhang Jingna
Photo Assistant: Ngoc Vu

I will miss my blue hair.

25.

2013-05-04T12:11:00.001-04:00

This post is a little bipolar, my emo and epic nerdy fangirling all rolled into one. You have been warned.

---

25.

Where do I even start? I'm glad to be alive.

It takes a lot of courage to put certain thoughts and feelings into words, too easy to be hurt for who we are, our heart's fragility can only withstand so much when it comes to our weaknesses, I think.

And so, I hadn't known how to write this, and I still don't exactly, not really. But last year -- getting over depression -- was surely the grandest achievement of me being 24 (and of course my doctor, who didn't even have to put me on antidepressants, thank you).

In many ways, I'd been afraid to write about it because I didn't want to jinx my recovery, it wasn't often I had something good like that. (Because you know, more than once, I'd thought that I was fine, just to find myself living in the very opposite of that the next months.)

It was a lot to take in, becoming… un-unhappy.

From my first memory of acute loneliness, to the first time I thought about death when I was four, a lifetime of problems to fix, all the normalcy I never knew and wondered about, that made me different, that nearly…

I hadn't known I suffered from traumatic stress, it went on for so long I'd accepted my feelings and nightmares as normalcy. So when I could see in my head, during my final session, the foundation blocks of my life and thoughts reslotting and rearranging, completely changing, I couldn't understand how it was possible. It was overwhelming and awe-inspiring. And terrifying.

It was as if I had become someone else, held in my hands the memories of someone I might have been, trying to understand it, feeling like an outsider; as if I were separated from that person's past by a wall of glass, I could look but not reach, nor feel.

It left me lost, like I'd finally emerged from the shadows into the sun, yet all that lay around me was vast indistinct land, and it didn't matter where I went. Until finally, and only because I was trying so hard to find something, anything at all, I felt the moment I left that dream place and came surface to air, and I realised with wonder, that I had healed.

If I could liken it to something, maybe, it's what a person's metamorphosis is like.

----

That was the most important thing that happened to me at 24. Of course not discounting my move to New York, and the recent news that I was selected by Vogue Italia to be part of Photo Vogue's exhibition in Milan this June. And I saw Gundam Unicorn recently too! Finally!! I haven't been able to lock away my closet nerdiness after that, because oh god, sick cockpit design is sick. I've been daydreaming about how to spend my first billion dollars (simulation room in my house!!), I even re-watched the series to take screenshots just so I can write a blog post about it. NERDY.

Also just finished Lymond Chronicles' book 4, it was SO emotionally brutal I nearly had a heart attack. Phillipa, my sixteen year old heroine. SO BRAVE. HOW?! She journeyed alone to find her friend's baby son in a foreign land, surrounded by dangers and traps and possible assassinations all the bloody way, and gave up her life to the seraglio just so she could protect the child's safety after she had found him. So freaking badass and so much courage! Why aren't there more people reading this together with me so we can fangirl and fanboy together!?!!

Don't judge me on the fangirling.

The secret to great personal work is being a fangirl. Only when I feel passionate can I create works passionately!

So 24 was an experience alright, here's hoping 25 will be even grander.

Thank you everyone for your encouragements and support and love, I hope I can continue to be a person you can be happy with and proud of. Happy birthday to me! :D

Jingna
May 4th, 2013

Exhibition: A Glimpse at Photo Vogue

2013-05-02T12:08:00.000-04:00

I'm thrilled to share that Vogue Italia has selected me as one of the 25 photographers for this year's Photo Vogue exhibition. I can't quite believe it, it's such an honor.

The show will be in Milan, at Galleria Carla Sozzani, from June 13th to August 10th. http://www.vogue.it/en/people-are-talking-about/vogue-arts/2013/05/final-selection-photovogue-carla-sozzani

Motherland Chronicles #13 - Girl with Flower

2013-04-30T10:20:00.001-04:00

Motherland Chronicles #13 - Girl with Flower

Probably not what one expected when Toby and I finally collaborate. Eerie is eerie. And I already tried to make her less creepy.

Anyway, Vietnam trip has been great~ Shot album cover and artwork for a singer, lookbook for Phuong My, and a cover story for Elle Vietnam. Off to Singapore the day after tomorrow, can't believe I'd been away for 4 months! Feels like it's been so much longer. Excited to be home for my birthday.

Motherland Chronicles #12 - Winterland Fairytales II

2013-04-29T17:22:00.002-04:00

Motherland Chronicles #12 - Winterland Fairytales II

Photography: Zhang Jingna

Makeup: Viktorija Bowers

Model: Lily Olsen-Ecker

Photo Assistant: Ngoc Vu

I'm terrible at keeping up once I travel. Meant to include some behind the scenes pictures for this post and thus the delay, but never got around to them... Figured since I'll be posting week 13's piece soon I might as well have this post up now.

Retouched the shot on the plane during my 26-hour trip from NY to Vietnam. I really don't enjoy the cramped space for laptop and wacom in the cabin, but I managed, somehow. Really love the photo. Thank you team for the wonderful work and Savage Paper for the backdrop. ♥

Photo Vogue, Slave Mag, Out of Order Magazine, Mochi Magazine

2013-04-17T11:18:00.000-04:00

Bunch of new press stuff to share :D

3 images featured on PhotoVogue's frontpage for Pic of the Day last month:

To have a piece from Motherland Chronicles included makes me uber happy.

---

Interview with Slave Mag out in their new issue.

I shared a quote from Hermann Hesse's "Knulp", my aspiration is to one day slip in something from Gundam (when it's not to answer the question of how the zemotion came about).

---

Interviewed by Yale University's art magazine Out of Order. Talked about fashion, conventions, developing ideas, and deviantART.

---

And last but not least a shorter one with Mochi Magazine, about becoming and being a professional photographer:

Motherland Chronicles #11 - Alli in Wonderland II

2013-04-16T09:41:00.000-04:00

Motherland Chronicles #11 - Alli in Wonderland II

Photography: Zhang Jingna
Hair & Makeup: Lindsey Rivera
Model: Alli Cripe @ Photogenics
Photo Assistants: Matthew Chretien, Conan Thai

So saddened to hear about the Boston explosions, I listened to the live reportage for a couple of hours during the day and it's so horrifying I wanted to cry. My heart goes out to everyone affected by the events, condolences to families and friends who've lost their loved ones.

Motherland Chronicles #10 - Crow

2013-04-09T11:08:00.000-04:00

Motherland Chronicles #10 - Crow

Photography: Jingna Zhang
Stylist: Sansyrae St.Martin @ Plutino Group
Hair & Makeup: Vanessa Jarman @ Page One Management
Model: Natasha Yaroslava @ Ford
Photo Assistants: Warren Hrycum, Jeremiah Clark

Something from quite a while ago when I was in Toronto. Thought it befitting.

Been busy with editorials the last couple weeks, but for two I'm going to try shooting something new for the series again.

I'm going to be in Mexico next week! Will be speaking on Wednesday Apt 17th at Tecnológico de Monterrey for Captured 2013. More info here.

Motherland Chronicles #9 - Portrait of Anna

2013-04-01T11:01:00.003-04:00

Motherland Chronicles #9 - Portrait of Anna

Photography: Jingna Zhang
Stylist: Venetia Sng
Hair & Makeup: Dewi Mahoney
Model: Anna M @ Ave Management
Photo Assistants: Phyllicia Wang, Melvin Wong

From my Fujiwara Kaoru-inspired shoot last year! Will share more from this series as a whole later on :3

Motherland Chronicles #8 - Underwater

2013-03-27T14:27:00.001-04:00

Motherland Chronicles #8 - Underwater

Photography/Model: Jingna Zhang
Assistant: Abby Lim

I had a shot all planned out last week, and then for some reason I dug this up instead.

I'm not sure I can explain my obsession with water lately, it's like a terrible craving I can't control and I just keep being drawn to all my old pictures with water in them. It's crazy.

This was taken the first time I went to Lijiang. Abby and I stayed at Banyan Tree, there was an open-air jacuzzi in the yard of our villa, and because I can't resist doing shoots wherever I go, even on a true holiday, I did this.

In other news, you will soon see the result of my Fujiwara Kaoru-inspired shoot from late last year. Both the pic and the influences it has on my fashion work so far this year. I'm quite pleased with myself for it haha.

And last but not least, packages incoming for Motherland Chronicles! Here's a hint.

New Interviews: AERIS, SLR Lounge

2013-03-20T10:02:00.001-04:00

Yay new press stuff!

First one's an interview for AERIS Magazine, conducted by Yinsey Wang, who first interviewed me back in 2011 for Cambridge University's student newspaper Varsity.

I haven't been feeling up for interviews for a while now, amidst all the moving and busy schedules, it's really difficult to find time; but Yinsey always has such good questions that when we have our interviews I feel like I'm just having a pleasant chat rather than being asked the same things I've already gave answers to 500 years ago. :D

In this article I talked about Motherland Chronicles, inspirations, moving to New York, how I work, and being Chinese.

Check out the full interview here: http://www.aerismagazine.com/2013/03/14/aeris-talks-to-zhang-jingna/

The 2nd one is kind of a feature, with a video of me hanging out with Von Wong, Kirsty Mitchell and Renee Robyn at WPPI.

Check out the article here: http://www.slrlounge.com/exclusive-wppi-interview-kirsty-mitchell-jingna-zhang-renee-robyn-and-ben-von-wong

And Youtube video here (where all I do is giggle, basically)

There are a couple other things coming up but I figured I'll post them a bit at a time so it's not too overwhelming. I really enjoyed my time at WPPI, and the interview with AERIS I love. Hope you guys like it! ♥

Motherland Chronicles #7 - Self Portrait in Water

2013-03-19T11:39:00.001-04:00

Motherland Chronicles 7 - Self Portrait in Water

Photography: Jingna Zhang
Photo Assistant: Ngoc Vu

Wow this shoot. I don't even know where to begin. It was... tedious, but there's nothing quite as satisfying as laboring a bit for what you love.

I get asked on how to take or set up for self portraits, so here's a little on behind the scenes for this shot. It's pretty similar to how I take self portraits normally, just a little (a lot) more work.

I got a kiddy pool for the shoot because it's just kind of too limiting space-wise (and dangerous) in teh bath. But the pool I got turned out larger than necessary, then we had to forget to get a hose, so filling it up to just a quarter took Ngoc and I an hour of ferrying water via containers around the house. (Emptying it was worse, it was like never-ending scooping T_T)

AND IT WAS SO COLD. We turned the heat up super high but it was still freezing because the heater is all the way in the kitchen and so the living room remained super cold. T_T Thankfully Ngoc was there, and she was able to fetch me hot water every once in a while to keep the water temperature from dropping off to too cold. But the few times I shivered in the water though, my mind kept going back to the 1001 shoots where I tortured my models in various situations of cold before. I AM SO SORRY. You know I love you all. ♥

The whole setup for this shoot took about an hour to arrange on top of the water-filling. It was a really slow process because I needed to gauge where to position things, then take a shot to see how it looked on camera, then rearrange and repeat.

The camera was mounted on top of my tripod, held at a really precarious angle because with its legs fully opened, the 70-200 is just a tad too close for the nearest focal length (ugh). So we taped 2 bottles of softdrinks to one of the legs to help keep it steady. And hooray!! No camera falling over this time! (Just once almost.)

Except I dropped my phone into the pool while trying to do light check. Gah. Thankfully after immediately powering off and a heater and 2 nights in a bag of rice it seems to work fine now. Why do all my self portrait shoots include equipment accidents. D:

Anyway so, hooked up to the camera were my laptop for tethering so I can see the screen, and also sync cord for the flash because I was using the hot-shoe for wireless shutter release.

I already had a pretty good idea of what I wanted the shot to look like so it was just getting the lighting and framing right, then populating the shot with flowers and getting my hair in place.

The original idea was to have my hair flowing downwards, but turns out it was a bit too short to stay around my collarbone and just keeps falling behind my shoulders instead. I tried moving them to the side which had a really nice effect that looked like painted windswept movements, but I couldn't get the framing right because I had to keep moving while trying to pose and not crash into my tripod and press the shutter so... change of plans.

Mirror time! I would check it for placement of things and direct Ngoc on how to arrange my hair and the flowers. And after a dozen or so stop-starts this was it.

We started the shoot around 1 or 2 in the afternoon and finished packing up around close to 9pm at night. I don't think I've ever spent so long on just one photo, but it was certainly an interesting experience. Makes me itch to do more shots in water because now I think I can do better and just want to explore more things overall. But ahhhh the pain of filling it up, cleaning up, the cold! Maybe when it starts getting warmer.

But I mean, look at this, isn't the way water catches light amazingly beautiful? Totally going to have more water-related photos in the future.

Motherland Chronicles #6 - Alli in Wonderland

2013-03-11T11:11:00.003-04:00

Photography/Styling: Jingna Zhang
Hair & Makeup: Lindsey Rivera
Model: Alli Cripe @ Photogenics
Photo Assistants: Matthew Chretien, Conan Thai

I shot this in 2010 when I first decided to start on my 2nd photobook. Which, of course, went on permanent hiatus because, life. Since I hope to compile the pieces I'm putting out for Motherland Chronicles as a new book now, I figure it'd be apt to add this to the collection.

I'm secretly quite impressed with myself for not posting this for so long, it's one of my favorite shoots, but I guess the process of a difficult selection helped, there were so many beautiful pictures from this set.

Follow the Motherland Chronicles project on Facebook.

---

Updating from Irvine! (Ironically where this photo was taken.) Touched down yesterday and got to hang out with Toby and my fellow staff from Infinity Seven. Today is gonna be a day of StarCraft awesomeness! Blizzard campus and meeting up with friends I haven't seen in a long while, happiness~

Tomorrow I'm off to Vegas, the day after, back to New York, and on Friday a shoot for Harper's Bazaar Vietnam. Week of non-stop excitement! I'll even get lots of reading time during travel, yayyy.

Motherland Chronicles #5 - The Fifth

2013-03-04T12:58:00.001-05:00

Motherland Chronicles #5

Photography: Jingna Zhang
Makeup: Fumiaki Nakagawa
Model: Kristi Wilson @ Q Management
Photo Assistants: Ngoc Vu, Bitna Kim, Tiffany Liu

Headpiece and choker by Harlequin Romantique
Gold necklace by nOir Jewelry

Cuz, you know, one can never have too much Amano influence in their work. :D

Been so busy shooting and producing. I want a good solid day off with 0 work :(

Managed to squeeze in time and watch Guilty Crown while retouching photos though. The first half is like a mishmash of all the popular animes of late 1990 to early 2000's, then suddenly it's like the writer fell in love with Game of Thrones and decided IT'S KILLING TIME! And my fragile child heart whimpered as characters started dying one after another, like, woah. Was pretty cool in the end I guess, I wish I could read books while retouching. ._.

Going to Heart of the Swarm launch event in Irvine this weekend!! Thank you so much Blizzard and Day9 for the invite, I'm so excited!!! :3

Motherland Chronicles #4 - The Waiting

2013-02-25T10:39:00.004-05:00

Motherland Chronicles #4 - The Waiting

Photography: Jingna Zhang
Hair/Makeup: Lindsey Rivera
Model: Giuliana/Ford L.A.
Photo Assistant: Xun Chi
Outfit from Max Tan

Los Angeles, 2010

Week 4!! From the archives because no timeeeee. Can't believe I've even managed to keep up with this crazy schedule. I mean, weekly personal work posts, I haven't managed this since my first year! And that's like 7 years ago now. Allow me to be proud of myself please. .___.

I've to apparently block in "Off Day" in my calendar because I'm incapable of keeping track when the last time I took a day off was.

Also also, my new intern is starting this week!!! I can hopefully finally stop writing emails till 8pm before I can have dinner and start retouching. So looking forward.

Yana Shmaylova

2013-02-22T11:08:00.000-05:00

Photography: Jingna Zhang
Hair: Linh Nguyen @ Kate Ryan
Makeup: Wendy Karcher @ Melbourne Artists Management
Model: Yana Shmaylova @ Marilyn NY
Photo Assistants: Tony Li, Deborah Baik

Yay dream team! Linh always does such amazingly beautiful hair it makes me weep.

There were some logistics problems prior to the shoot but we made it happen in the end, and once on set it was super easy to get into the groove. Great hair, beautiful makeup, super pro model, so important to work with a great team who can make you forget all your troubles and just focus on their awesomeness!

Also in case you missed my previous post, I'm thinking about doing a few short videos, and would like to know what part of my work or photography in general you'd like to hear me talk about!

And and! I'm also looking for cosplayers to shoot with. If you're in the NY area and interested please send me an email info@zhangjingna.com with your work thank you! ♥

PS: Is anyone going to WPPI? I'm probably going to be there on the 12th/13th!

Motherland Chornicles #3 - Self Portrait with Flowers

2013-02-18T11:47:00.001-05:00

I have no explanation for this. Even broke my 'sleep by 1am' resolution which I had been keeping to so well this year. Staying up till 5 to finish an assignment, almost made me feel like I was back in school. Haha. I'll probably have to use something from the archives for week 4, so tired. T_T

Questions for me?

2013-02-14T17:58:00.000-05:00

If I were to make videos, what part of my work or photography in general would you like to hear me talk about?

Would be great if you can be as specific as possible! :D

And many thanks to all who've sent in suggestions via Facebook and Twitter!

Motherland Chronicles #2 - Winterland Fairytales

2013-02-11T10:50:00.001-05:00

Motherland Chronicles #2 - Winterland Fairytales

Photography/Model: Jingna Zhang
Headpiece by Harlequin Romantique

I love the headpiece so much~ Makes me feel like a princess :D

Wall of text for behind the scenes instead of photos coming up, recent updates can be found at bottom of post. Enjoy~

Man, I don't know why, but I let Toby talk me into going into the snow storm that started on Friday for a self portrait.

I did it on the rooftop of my new apartment building, and dude, climbing the ladder in a skirt and dress with camera bag and backpack while trying to balance a choker used as headpiece on my forehead was so not easy. And upon reaching the top, when I opened the latch to get up, it freaking slammed back onto my head because, woah, wind, not very forgiving. Who knew. T_T

After wrestling with all of that for a while I was finally on the roof and properly hailed on. But whatever, figured I'd make it quick since it was like 15 minutes to sunset anyway.

So I set up and everything, trying to find an angle, but just as I was getting into position the wind freaking blew my tripod over! Noooo! I was in such shock and so numbed from the cold that I didn't even feel a response at that time besides trying to stop it from rolling and falling off the roof.

I didn't even consider that my camera would break because just, no, it couldn't be allowed happen! Thank god it seemed to be ok, and because I was half freezing to death without my jacket, I simply strapped my camera bag to one of the tripod legs and continued shooting and prayed very very hard that it was enough to hold.

Truthfully speaking, I was doubtful about whether I could get a usable shot at all. My hair covered my face half the time, the other half, I had to disentangle it from the headpiece and sort out my dress and scarf and then the wind would ruin it all over again. And of course when I finally figured out a pose that I thought would work with the clothing somewhat in place, my camera refused to take any more pictures. Brilliant.

I attempted to brush off ice from the camera and wipe the lens, and tried taking a couple shots again, but nope, just not gonna click. So sigh, dejected, it was pack up time.

On the way down, I may or may not have torn the seam of my dress or skirt a little, I was cold enough to not care, but woah, when I finally made it back to my room, shivering, it dawned on me finally just how dangerous my little expedition was.

A little bit more and my camera could have fallen off the roof, or it could simply have fallen over a second time and the lens completely shatter, or [insert a handful other terrible terrible but very likely scenarios here]. Yeah.

It's probably just unreasonable to think I could have dealt with so many aspects of setting up for a self portrait in such extreme weather with almost no time, entirely on my own. I really should have had an assistant.

But oh well, at least everything turned out okay in the end and I have a photo I like, which I even processed in the same evening! I don't think I've processed a photo from a shoot on the same day since my first year, so it's actually a really awesome feeling.

And that's week 2! I hope you enjoyed my little story and sorry for the wall of text. If anything I hope it'd let you think twice about doing on location self portraits without assistance, or just try not to be impulsive like I am. Haha. :D

---

A quick update on the past week:

Moved into my new place with roommates the weekend before! Very nice space, I can't wait to start fitting it out for shooting.

Did an interview and was asked to talk about Motherland Chronicles, it put me in a good mood throughout, makes me super happy that the project is picking up some interest. :D

I'm also starting to receive new jewelry and props from collaborators, some specifically designed for MLC, so I'm very excited about the upcoming weeks' shoots.

And NYFW! Was fun. Bumped into familiar faces and enjoyed myself, hope I'll get to go to more of the major shows next season.

But those very same days! LUNA SEA was in Singapore! The whole week my Facebook feed was flooded with updates about them and I was so sad I couldn't be there. Sugizo said the band loved Singapore though, so maybe they would return in the future, or I can just wait for them to come to thhe US again? :D

I've got a big meeting coming up this week! Wish me luck please. <3 nbsp="" p="">
Last but not least I'd like to wish everyone a super duper Happy Lunar New Year! Have a good one and enjoy! I miss my pineapple tarts and nian gao and lo hei and all that awesomesauce mandarin oranges. Oh well, at least I have homemade dumplings from grandma to tide me over, and Gundam Night today! Time to build me some Master Grade Wing Zeroes.

Motherland Chronicles #1- The First

2013-02-04T09:57:00.000-05:00

Motherland Chronicle - The First

Photography: Zhang Jingna
Hair: Linh Nguyen
Makeup: Wendy Karcher
Model: Yana Shmaylova/Marilyn NY
Photo assistants: Tony Li, Deborah Baik

This image marks the beginning of Motherland Chronicles. There is only one rule that's truly restrictive for this project -- to keep to the deadlines and submit a picture a week.

I can do anything I want and dig up unprocessed images from my massive archives, and I plan to do that maybe as soon as week two, but I thought for the very first post, I really wanted it to be sort of impressive and mysterious; lay down the foundation of what this will be, to remind myself what I sought to do with this -- explore things I've always wanted to do and do them instead of putting them off for 'some day'.

Behind the scenes/making of:

I spent a lot of time trying to think of possible themes and came up with nothing, then I combed through my archives to mark images I could process in case I couldn't plan something in time, but the inspiration came eventually at a rather unlikely place during a sourcing trip -- a Halloween costume store.

Once I saw masks on display, I remembered the beautiful one I bought in Venice last year and knew right away that it would be the anchor for the mysterious and solemn mood I wanted for marking the beginning of MLC. (So "how do I get inspired"? -- go out! :D)

When I first bought this I had a very clear image of what I wanted to do, but the final shot is a different interpretation of my vision, so I think I may revisit this again at a later time.

Also when I saw the masks at the Halloween store I thought it would be great if I could have feathers on mine too! So I set out to make a headpiece myself. Bought a bunch of feathers and also gold and dark brown paint to match the mask's own colouring.

Gold paint is so pretty @_@

I haven't done DIY stuff in so long, it was so fun and I got to use a glue gun for the first time! My cosplayer friend Aku was appalled I didn't know of its existence when I stayed with her last year, so when I needed adhesive for the headpiece I figured it would be my redeeming moment. And omg it's like godsend, except the glue smelled bad and gave me a headache. T_T

This is how it's supposed to look! Except I only thought to hold it up against my face with the headpiece tucked into the mask when checking proportions and placement, and totally forgot that I'll need to tie the mask itself on the model while shooting.

Only when I got on set did I realize this positioning won't be possible unless the tie string goes over the feathers, which omg is utter fail Jingna! So to my dismay we could only stick it in at the corner instead, but in the end it worked out alright, with the tip of the feathers aligned along the edge the hair, though I totally had a very despairing OTL moment.

Our pretty model Yana getting her hair done by hair wizard Linh Nguyen (who did the luscious braids in my Bazaar Vietnam Nu Renaissance Aristocrat shoot).

The final shot pained me to pick. I was undecided between two pictures and went to a dozen artist friends for advice, who gave me very evenly divided choices, making it all the harder for me to choose lol.

In the end I went with this quieter, more classical looking shot because I think it represents me just a tad more than the other seemingly more impactful piece. But who knows, maybe I can't resist and will end up processing that photo eventually. In the mean time I hope you can like this all the same. :D

Also would like to thank everyone who's given their support for this project, you know how nervous I'd been and how much I'd been crying over how much I was worrying. Here's on to next week! :D

Follow Motherland Chronicles:

Facebook: facebook.com/motherlandchr
Twitter: twitter.com/motherlandchr
Tumblr: motherlandchronicles.com

New Project: Motherland Chronicles

2013-01-24T11:16:00.001-05:00

SO SO.

I'm gonna be embarking on a new project with Tobias Kwan aka tobiee.

Taken from the popular 'A Photo a Day', we're gonna do a picture a week! :D (We'd totally fail a picture a day, no question about that lol.)

Rules:

1) No Boring™

2) Anything goes -- there is no subject/theme restrictions unless predetermined for a particular week.

3) Finishing work-in-progress images started prior to each week's submission is allowed.

4) A week starts Tuesday and images are due Monday 11:59pm PST.

Prizes:

1) Become an awesomer™ artist

2) Possibility of publishing an artbook!

The main purpose of this is to finish something weekly, something we're both terrible terrible at. For me it's also going to be grounds for experimentation, so brace yourselves for the potentially random and wacky. :D

The journey begins next week Jan 28th, follow us! We'll be posting behind the scenes and work in progress on the MLC FB and Twitter!

Motherland Chronicles
Facebook: facebook.com/motherlandchr
Tumblr: motherlandchr.tumblr.com
Twitter: twitter.com/motherlandchr

Tobias:
Blog: tobias-kwan.blogspot.com
deviantART: tobiee.deviantart.com
CGHUB: tobiee.cghub.com
Twitter: twitter.com/tobieee

Jingna:
Facebook: facebook.com/zemotion
deviantART: zemotion.deviantart.com
Twitter: twitter.com/zemotion

PS: Please keep voting for me in [FRAMED] Awards? Voting ends Feb 8th, you can find my name "Zhang Jingna" under Fashion and Beauty: http://www.framedawards.com/ARTISTS ♥

Photography for Asia's Next Top Model

2013-01-16T10:42:00.000-05:00

YouTube HD video for Asia's Next Top Model Cycle 1 Episode 6 is up!

It was a beauty challenge for TRESemmé and I'm really honored to have been invited to photograph the episode.

You can check out the video here:

My favorite part was with Helena around 27min40sec, it's pretty funny. :D

Some of the photos:

Sofia Wakabayashi, Photo of the Week!

Melissa Th'ng Mei Ling

Stephanie Retuya

I've been keeping busy since moving to New York. Besides finding an apartment and getting 99 used Hermann Hesse books from Amazon, I've also got a new project planned, to be announce soon. It's going to be something personal and fun and I'm super excited to start shooting. :D

I'm also going to backtrack a little and post some behind-the-scenes from last year! So if there's a particular shoot you'd like to see, leave a comment to let me know and I'll try to find something.

PS: I'm a finalist in the Fashion and Beauty categories for [FRAMED] Awards! You can vote for me daily until Feb 8th ♥ http://www.framedawards.com/ARTISTS

Two Types of Dreams

2013-01-11T11:00:00.001-05:00

Over the new year I was writing a retrospective but somehow ended up with this. And I guess in essence, it sums up what the post would have been about.

I think we all have two types of dreams -- the type that starts out when we are young and naive, and are filled with ideals and fantasies; and the type that is a secondary one on top of the first -- a goal, or milestones, something realistic, where the world and its realities has taught us boundaries, limits and inhibitions.

I want to learn and change and evolve, but I don't want to lose sight of my first dream and who I set out to be. I suppose it's what Picasso meant by him spending his entirely life learning how to paint like a child.

Over time, as my second dream grew and grew, I found my first dream diminishing, that it became an almost transparent thing. How sad would it be to lose sight of the reasons I chose my path? It's such a terrible, saddening thought. So in trying to find the child-me that used to daydream and fantasize and was filled with boundless fearlessness, I've started reading fairytales and mangas again, things that inspired my beginnings.

Don't forget that child's dream you used to have, remember the beauty of that unrealistic ideal. It's a fragile and whimsical thing, precious, a part of what made us who we are today, don't let it go.

Inspirational Reads 2012

2013-01-02T10:53:00.000-05:00

When I'm interviewed and asked what inspires me, I usually simply say "travelling", or "art". It's hard to name specific works by someone that's not mainstream for it to mean anything to anyone, so I usually don't.

But if you'd ever been curious, here's a closer look -- a list of books comprising mainly of mangas, and then some novels, artbooks and photobooks that have been inspirational for me in 2012.

Omae ga Sekai o Kowashitai nara by Fujiwara Kaoru

I'm starting off with this manga because the last shoot I did in 2012 was inspired by the art in this series.

Vampires! I like vampire stories. But I would love this story even if there weren't any vampires at all.

When I first read this many years ago, despite how I loved it, I was left confused by the ending. After a long series of readings, from Hagio Moto's The Heart of Thomas, to her interview mentioning Hermann Hesse's works, to reading Hesse's Demian, and then to finally end up somewhere with the demiurge, I finally realized that the child who created Kanna and Ren's imperfect destinies in this was actually an echo of the Demiurge creating an imperfect world. And suddenly everything clicked into place, it was like a mini epiphany of sort and left me in wonder. That echo, whether intentional or not, to have my readings come a full circle to explain an earlier unknown made it feel so... fateful. And for that reason alone this story is special to me.

But well, I also love angsty, helpless, predestined sad stories.

My favourite thing though, is Fujiwara Kaoru's artwork, I love her style so so very intensely. I've yet to finish processing the shoot inspired by her work, but I'm really excited about them so keep an eye out for when I get around to posting the photos, I hope you guys will like it. :D

She also has an artbook titled "Tomei na iro shita Shojo no Tame ni" but I can't seem to find a link of it online.

Blade of the Immortal by Hiroaki Samura

One of my all time favourite artists. Intense fight scenes, kickass characters of both sexes, totally badass weapons, and... clear depiction of people losing their body parts.

I get such conflicting feelings reading his work because it's so gory and messed up and... wrong... but beautiful at the same time.

If you've no time for manga, there's this: The Art of Blade of the Immortal.

I really want to do a BotI shoot, something I'll perhaps attempt in 2013 if I can find the cosplayers.

Warnings: Violence/gore/nudity

Warnings #2: If you decide to check out more of Samura's work, just a fair warning, he has some really really really messed up stuff (adult/torture/gore I can't even adequately say). Keep out of reach of children.

Genshin - Toshiaki Kato

Toshiaki Kato is so obscure I couldn't find a proper cover pic of Genshin on Amazon Japan. -_-

His work is kinda like an art nouveau version of Ayami Kojima's, I'm also often reminded of Suemi Jun (for the angels), Yoshitaka Amano and Gustav Klimt (I mean, gold, hello).

But it could just be because I like seeing artists I like in every other artist's work that I also like? Wish I could get my hands on more of his books, but alas there aren't many.

Captive Prince by S. U. Pacat

Kind of a really intense, fast-paced homosexual (and in my opinion better) version of Game of Thrones. (I might just be biased because GoT doesn't seem to know where it's going.)

A lot of plotting and tension and stunning characterizations which I'm super in love with. Reading Captive Prince makes me wish I could write, want to write.

Can't wait for the final book vol3 to be out soon.

Warnings: Violence/adult situations, read at your own peril for there be some boy on boy loving.

*There be a real summary on Amazon! Whee.

The Seventh Swan by Jaida Jones

No photo preview! So make do with my mug cover placeholder.

It's a fairytale inspired by a bunch of fairytales. Starts off a little slow methinks, but builds up quickly, the rest reads like a dream.

Summary in author's words:

Based on a whole lot of fairy tales (including The Tinder Box and The Twelve Dancing Princesses, as well as the tale from which the title is taken). A tale of two brothers trying to fix a curse.

The Fairytales of Hermann Hesse

I saw this at one of Yale's bookstores when I was just getting into Hesse's works. At that time I had just read Demian and Siddhartha, and was attempting The Glass Bead Game.

This collection is a pleasant surprise for me, for that was a time when I have not read any fairytales in a while, and it made me curious what sort of stories someone like Hesse would spin. The stories gave me a lot of visuals and once in a while I find myself re-reading the book for inspirations. Follow the Amazon link for editorial reviews that actually tell you something about the book. :D

Hikaru no Go by Hotta Yumi / Obata Takeshi

Inspirational no matter how many times I re-read it, always!

Maybe because the path to becoming the best is something we can all relate to as we work hard in whatever we choose to do, love and are passionate about.

Alongside with Omae ga Sekai o Kowashitai nara, Hikaru no Go is one of those mangas I find myself re-reading every year.

Claymore by Yagi Norihiro

I saw the anime a few years ago, liked it, but put off attempting the manga because I really hate series that take forever to update. For some reason I finally caved in 2012 and checked it out, love it is all I can say really I guess.

Pretty lady monsters everywhere fought by badass pretty ladies, can't complain.

Warnings: Violence/gore/nudity

Liar Game by Kaitani Shinobu

Psychological, kinda like Death Note in some ways except Akiyama is always winning, but that's ok cuz he's ~~hot~~ badass.

Noblesse by Son Jae Ho / Lee Gwang Su

Vampires! Action! Pretty art!

I'm only bothered by how I keep thinking Rai is the main character but more often than not it feels like the focus is on Frankenstein. Not that I'm complaining because Franken's awesome anyway. Just feels like Rai should play a more active role.

But regardless! Pretty boys, fantasy, action and sci-fi, all my favourite things rolled into one, I approve.

Also Tao reminds me of tobiee.

The Breaker series (Part I, Part II) by Jeon Geuk-jin / Park Jin-hwan

Action! Again! I don't know why but I just really like action stories in all sorts of mediums. I swear I'm not a violent person. ._.

This story is a bit interesting (almost amusing?) to me cuz it totally adopts Chinese wuxia stuff from Jin Yong into the modern world and it works.

Warning: Violence

Vinland Saga by Yukimura Makoto

Vikings! A little Berserk-ish but the story kinda spiraled out weirdly. I'm not sure how I feel about it yet cuz it hasn't been that many volumes, but, warriors! Fighting! I also really like the chapter cover arts, quite a number have gone into my inspirations folder.

Warning: Violence

Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty

It's McQueen. Everyone buy a copy, go.

Miles Aldrige: Acid Candy

One of the things I don't do much is talk about my favourite photographers or films. Because try as I may, paintings and drawings just inspire me much more than photographs and movies can and I really don't know why.

But the colours and fantasy in Miles Aldrige's works is something I have always loved, this is one of my favourite photobooks in my collection. Warning: Nudity

Not much photobooks at all I'm afraid. I do buy them, but impact on me in 2012 wise... not so much. Maybe there'll be more in 2013? Stay tuned for that post next year. :D

PS: For the curious, I certainly did re-read Gundam Wing's mangas lol.