(Source: This article first appeared in Citizen Magazine, July 16, 2017.)

Name: Norm Yip
Location: Hong Kong
Website: http://normyipphotography.com
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/normyipphotography/
Profession: Photographer
Email Address: nwy@normyip.com

Tell us something about yourself. What you do, passion and aspiration in life?: My passion lies in the arts, namely photography, painting and drawing. I am attracted to beauty and what lies beyond the surface, the spirit or essence of the soul. Everything has a life of it’s own and is in constant flux, even inanimate objects as they age and decay.

Who is your inspiration in life? How do you keep inspired?: As far a people that have inspired my photography: Herb Ritt, Ansel Adams, Henri-Cartier Bresson, Irving Penn, Frank Horvat, Horst P. Horst, Annie Liebovitz and many more. Their work inspires me, but true inspiration comes from living and experiencing life. Some say that you must travel in order to be inspired to create. I don’t believe that is absolute. The mind has the capacity to go places beyond what one sees. With photography, I have mostly been inspired by the people that I shoot. They give me ideas of how to interpret them within what I find intriguing. Sometimes, we don’t connect and I don’t find the essence of their being, which then can turn out to be a dry, lifeless shoot. When we do connect however, there is something magical and special that happens. The shoot can go beyond needing to talk or say anything. A dance between two persons: photographer and model.

What is your aspiration in life?: Aspiration is about seeing how one’s life should be like in the future. Sure it gives us a goal, something to aim for: the dream. I think I am living the dream now. I have published 3 photography books on Asian male nudes and I have a working studio. Then again, I have desires to have my work reach out to more people. Being human is strange. We crave recognition and we all want approval and validation of what we do is good. Creating something of beauty is honourable and having that beauty recognised gives the creator the necessary encouragement to continue to create.

What is the most challenging part of your profession?: I think in any creative profession, it is getting good clients. It is disheartening when people don’t see the effort or skills needed to produce a quality photography shoot. Secondly, the landscape of commercial photography is being undermined because there is no regulatory system in place to ensure that the clients that hire photographers are to be paid according to industry standards. Licensing of photographs have become diluted, whereas, in the past, this fee was vitally important to the livelihood of the professional photographer.

Tell me about a time you had to be very strategic in order to meet all your top priorities.: One case would be a shoot with Arena Swimwear, where everything from casting and fitting of models, location scouting, boat hire (we went to an outlying island near in Hong Kong), shooting, F&B, retouching, and graphic design/brochure layout was all provided. My stylist and I both worked as coordinators for the project, so we just separated the tasks between us. The most important thing was making sure there was constant communication him and me, and between me and the client.

A side story… on the 2nd day of the 2-day shoot, it started off really bad with horrible weather. It was cold and cloudy as we made our way to our destination island. The models were shivering, and I wondered how we would make it through the day. Strangely enough, as soon as we arrived at the outlying island, the clouds parted, and the sun broke though. It felt really biblical! The shoot ended up being simply amazing… one of the best jobs I ever conducted and quite proud of.

How old do you have to be before it can be said you died of old age?: I am openly gay. We all die at age 40, because by then, no one wants you. I am 54 as I type this. There you go.

Do glow-in-the-dark objects stop glowing when somebody turns the lights on?: I think I have one of those glow-in-the-dark thingies I bought at a party shop but haven’t used yet. Can I report back to you?

Photo Credits: Photographer: Norm Yip
Instagram: normyipphotography

Model: Cheng Ho
Instagram: chengho