Pivoting to Photography
Hello there. I have some exciting news! Most of my family, friends and former co-workers know that I've spent most of my working life as a front-end web developer and UI/UX engineer.
I've been doing some soul-searching lately, and have come to realise that I really did – and still do – enjoy photography, and I want to get back into it. Web design and software development was fun and fulfilling, but I think it's also been wearing me down, and I've missed the more creative pursuits.
With that I'm ‘pivoting’ (as they often say in Silicon Valley) to photography as a change in my career.
Photography activates both sides of my brain, requiring both the technical know-how as well as creative composition techniques. Even after the shot is taken, there's yet more to do, with processing and editing the photos before it is ready to be shown to a wider audience.
My father, the late Laurence Poh, was an accomplished hobbyist photographer and keen birdwatcher who pioneered the ‘digiscoping’ technique, coupling the fledgeling ‘digicams’ of the late-90s/early-2000s era to a spotting scope, to capture some amazing nature & bird digital photographs at a fraction of the price of traditional professional-grade telephoto lenses and cameras. I inherited all his camera gear, and maintained a keen interest in photography for the past two decades.
Some professional photographers say things like ‘you’re not a real photographer until your work is made into prints, which completes the process’. Having worked as a front-end UI/UX engineer for the past 20 years where ‘everything is going digital/online’, I kinda dismissed that as old-school nostalgia.
But lately, reflecting on how ephemeral the creation of websites is – here today, gone (or at least re-designed or rebuilt by someone else) tomorrow – I’ve been longing to make things – art – that is more tangible and lasting.
I've recently had a few of my own favourite shots printed, both on a home printer and sent out to a professional lab, and I get it now. It is quite a different experience holding a print in your hand, or to have a large canvas print hung up on a wall!
I'm currently focusing on Landscapes and Astrophotography, but you can be sure I will continue experimenting and learning new techniques.
My portfolio is at:
https://portfolio.jonathanpoh.photography
Follow me on my Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/jonathanpoh.photography
and on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/jonathanpoh.photography
