Lomo Amigo Tan GengHui on His Multitude of Passions and the Petzval 58

Marketing man and photography blogger of 10 years, Tan GengHui remains to foster constant growth in his craft and interests. He actively shares his photography escapades through his blog and ventures into sports, events, and travel photography.

In this interview, GengHui casts the light toward what drives his passions and tells us about his experience with the Petzval 58 Bokeh Control Art Lens.

Please introduce yourself to the Lomo community and the readers of the Online Magazine.

Hi everybody, my name is GengHui, I am a photographer and marketing guy (juggling 2 jobs) — a technology and social media enthusiast that has been actively blogging and sharing for the past 10 years.

How did you get started with photography?

My photography started with a huge influence from my father from a young age, he had a Pentax analogue film SLR camera when I was still a young kid in primary school. After taking some rolls of film, I ended up spoiling the camera! A few of my uncles and cousins were also into photography, it runs in the extended family tree! Fast forward over a period of 30 years doing photography, I moved from analogue film to AF film SLR to DSLR today.

How would you describe your style as a photographer?

I would describe my style as photojournalistic because of a very huge influence by National Geographic publications, along with some of their world-renowned photographers inside National Geographic such as Steve McCurry and Michael Yamashita.

I grew up with National Geographic magazines, modeling my style and attitude towards my photojournalistic coverage and write up from their articles and photography.

My photography style is my own unique and personalized photography storytelling, flow from the start to the end of the project/assignment.

What subjects do you particularly like to take photos of?

I love to travel and sports, they are my favorite photography fields. Besides that, I have been actively photographing events, as well as in the fields of heritage, culture, conservation, and preservation.

What would you count as your greatest achievements or favorite projects?

I have some achievements (small and big ones) over my years of photography adventures, from participating in photography exhibitions, working with government agencies, private institutions, commercial entities and tourism bodies.

My greatest achievement to date would be in March 2015, whereby I was featured in The Straits Times, a full-page newspaper interview of my photography exploration and documentation of Marina Bay Singapore from 2005 to 2015.

Some of my personal photography projects that were also my favorites and proud of were Old Places in Singapore (history, heritage, culture, conservation, and preservation), Singapore Night Festival (from 2008 to 2016)

Digital or analogue? Does it matter which?

I started my photography journey 30 years ago, I went from analogue to digital.

It doesn’t matter whether you choose digital-only or analogue only or you are using both. The key thing for me is first and foremost, you have to enjoy your photography, regardless of digital or analogue.

What camera did you use with the Petzval?

I used my Canon EOS-1DX with the Petzval.

How would you compare your experience of shooting with the Petzval Lens with using other Lomography products? How about with other lenses?

The experience of shooting with the Petzval lens was a fun and interesting experience although it was a bit challenging since it’s a fully manual lens. Since this was the first Lomography lens that I reviewed, I hope that I am able to test out more Lomography lenses when the opportunity arises.

Can you tell us a little more about your Petzval experience? Any interesting things you encountered or challenges?

I mentioned earlier that it was a fun and interesting experience. It was challenging since it was a fully manual lens and it had been quite some time since I last used a fully manual lens.

Since my Canon EOS 1DX doesn’t have a peak focusing on the LCD screen, I have to depend on my eyes and photography experiences to ensure that I have the correct point focused and sharp. Sometimes, we photographers are prone to the occasional errors and our point of focus gets off rendering our subject blur at the point where we intend it to be sharp (e.g. accidentally getting the nose sharp and the eyes out of focus). For those photographers who are very used to modern AF lens, it would take a while to get used to a fully manual lens.

The usage of aperture plates on the Petzval 58 is a first time for me, it’s not easy when I first started using it. The aperture stop can drop out easily when shooting in portrait mode, making it challenging to hold and keep in place when you want to shoot in portrait mode. It takes time to get used to the initial stages and once you get the hang of it, it becomes easier to use.

When you are shooting with the Petzval 58 lens, you can be creative and artistic with you want to be with your photography. Yet it can allow you to play a part in your professional shoot too.

Please choose  5 of your favorite photos from the Petzval shoot and tell us about the images, and why they’re your favorites.

When I was testing out the Petzval 58 lens, I wanted to take photos beyond just a portrait. An idea came into my mind, I approached Deming, the owner of Kush Grill and The Quarters, for a collaboration shoot with the Petzval 58 lens, this photograph has the elements of a portrait, food and action photography combining together with the fire giving it a big ooze.

This lens is not just great for portraits, it makes it a beautiful lens for taking flowers too! Use a wide-open aperture with swirly bokeh at level 7, the flower looks so much more artistic and it stands out.

Artistic, creative and fun time with the Petzval 58 lens, this was one of the outdoor garden displays at the Singapore Garden Festival 2016 held at Gardens By The Bay. I was taking a photo of myself behind the camera with the Petzval 58 lens, and I also captured the scene whereby my friend HP of Hpility SG was taking a photo of me from an angle behind me.

This delicious and tasty burger is known as the Real McCoy (salted egg burger) by The Quarters. Thanks to my friend Deming, the owner of The Quarters and Kush Grill, for the food tasting and giving me an opportunity to use the Petzval 58 lens for food photography. The Petzval 58 is versatile and it is a sharp lens that is able to show the details of the burger.

My friend HP of Hpility SG, a fellow blogger/social media enthusiast friend was very helpful to come forward and be my model subject when I had the Petzval 58 lens for review. I did an outdoor shoot of my friend HP with the Marina Bay cityscape behind it, I like how the Petzval 58 lens performs outdoors and it is ideal for an outdoor portrait shoot.

What is your favorite feature or what do you like most about the Petzval Lens?

The favorite feature of the Petzval 58 lens is the capability to control how much swirly bokeh I want to have in my photographs. If I wanted to be artistic and creative, I would use bokeh level 7.

For what kind of projects would you recommend the Petzval?

On a personal note, I would recommend the Petzval 58 lens for portraits/fashion, this lens can be used for outdoor portrait/fashion shoot using the creative and artistic elements produced by the swirly bokeh.

Any tips for first-time shooters?

First and foremost, do not rush into taking photographs for the sake of photographing something. Learn and understand more about the Petzval 58 bokeh art lens, every different lens of different focal length and aperture has its own characteristics, slowly explore using the Petzval 58, feel and understand this lens. Once you passed this stage, you would be to explore further and wider, allowing you to use this lens beyond its boundaries and also your own boundaries.

Do you have ongoing or upcoming projects that you would like to tell the community about?

I have a number of ongoing projects, some of them are forever (always ongoing to document and photograph heritage, history and conservation subjects in Singapore)

My Old Playgrounds in Singapore is a personal project that I hope to complete documenting and photographing, a personal project that I started a few years ago. Thereafter, I might be planning to produce a photo book on this particular personal project.

One of my other personal photography project is on Hokkaido, on landscapes and travel.


written by Crisselda Robles on 2016-10-22 #gear #people #art-lens #petzval-58-art-lens

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