Interview with Taiwanese Photographer Huang Jun Tuan
Photography is always a good media for storytelling. Huang Jun Tuan, Taiwanese photographer, he photograph portrait, fashion, commercial, sub-culture, indie music, tattoo art and fine art. He is excellent to capture the moment, we always can feel the deep, profound emotion from his photography. The begging of his career in photography has stared in high school, when he was doing internship in darkroom printing. Then he realized that photography is what he wants to do and he is pretty good at it. He got his first freelance job in LEZS magazine Taiwan, this job brought he to the industry. “One shot” was his first exhibition in 2011, the concept was seizing with violent disregard a moment to make it your own. Life experience inspires him to have the second exhibition in 2016, “Shou”, which is bitter and deeper.
ShihJou Hsu: I have seen some of your interviews before and noticed you started your photography career in college, what was the cause that sparked your decision to capture the world through your lenses?
Huang Jun Tuan: I would say, I have always been interested in picking up the camera and photograph moments in life since high school. I have always had an interest in anything artsy since I was little but never really had the patience to complete things. Until when I was first exposed to photography in high school, I realized this was the perfect outlet for me to convey my idea and thoughts efficiently. But not going to lie, if there is something that I can convey ideas more efficiently, I wouldn’t mind switching.
Can you describe your style in photography?
Oh dear, this is a hard question. I would say probably drunk and hip
What would say is your most monumental production that made you who you are today?
I would say it was probably a set of production that I saw in Japan back in 2011. At the time, I was still a drummer at the band, touring difference cities and meeting different types of friends from the bands. I think that was when my interest was first sparked by the Rock’n Roll music style and wanted to capture this side of life in a vivid way, hence I chose capturing it through my lenses.
Regarding your productions, “reality “seems to be a keyword, you photograph contemporary fashion and sub-cultures, I am curious as to your view for this kind of extreme arts?
In all honestly, I feel like the two are actually the same. Behind contemporary fashion, there is “real” creation behind artist’s productions while there is also plotted scenes behind sub-culture. As a personal preference, I really like to capture the artificial beauty created by people, namely contemporary fashion, but then I also enjoy photographing the real feelings from subculture, it’s usually a hard existence. It’s quite interesting that these two are so different yet similar.
What do you think is special about the Taiwanese subculture and its spirits?
In all honestly, I don’t think so, I feel like the development of Taiwanese subculture is very mediocre.
What would be the next challenge that you would like to take on for your next piece?Next challenge?
Probably just being poor, nothing really challenging in terms of stepping out of my comfort zone, I guess ..if there must be anything, maybe having a great love affair.
I am sure over the years when you have immersed yourself in photography, you style is influenced by your life experience and different phase of life, what do you think?
I think so, I am sure different phase of life reflects different types of interpretation. Sometimes even when I don’t want to admit it, when I look at my old productions, I can’t help but thinking to myself if I could still feel the same as to when I first took it.
Besides commercial productions, do you have any other plans?
Usually I tend to create less when I am busy, but because this is a very unstable occupation, sometimes I tend to have more time to create when I don’t have many cases. I would hope this year I can have my own show in Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong, using the “romantic “scene I had from a couple years back but interpreting it with my current understanding. But, in all honestly, all this can only happen when I have funding.