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Young photographer invents his dream job
By Xu Wenwen |
October 26, 2011, Wednesday
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HAVING a job that one likes, making lots of money and traveling everywhere - most of us hope to enjoy such a life.
Jin Haosen, 25, has such a life.
Jin is a tour photographer. He tours around the country and makes money by taking photos of his clients in every place he visits - a job he basically invented as no one in the country did it before him.
Despite only doing it for the past two years, the photographer is so popular that when he travels there are clients waiting for him.
With his fame growing, finding new clients is simple. Before traveling somewhere, all he does is post information on his blog, microblog and social network sites, letting people know where he will be and when. The orders then start to flow in.
"I usually photograph one to two clients a day, and sometimes I have to decline several people because of time limits," Jin says.
Having been awarded as the 2010 Most Popular Photographer of Poco.cn, a Chinese website of young photographers, Jin excels at photographing people with a fresh, avant-garde style.
People have called his photos "warm and beautiful" and they are mostly about friendship and relationships, thus they are especially popular with young Chinese.
The photographer comes from Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, and graduated from a college in Hangzhou two years ago. He studied graphic design in college.
Currently, he and his partner Wen Zi base themselves in either Beijing, Hangzhou or Shanghai. They tour around the country for work as well as travel. Jin brings his Canon 5D II wherever he goes.
The lifestyle was initially Wen's idea when they took a trip after Jin graduated. The duo later decided to pursue it further. Wen takes care of the business side while Jin snaps the photos. With some adverts on the Internet, things went very smoothly at first and soon Jin's popularity increased.
Compared with other photograph studios that provide customers a series of services like makeup and costumes, Jin only does two things: take the photos and revise the photos.
However, they charge more than ordinary studios do - each revised digital photo costs more than 100 yuan (US$15.7).
But "every photo I give to my customers is absolutely nice," Jin says.
According to his exacting standards, only one of every 30 photos is "nice."
The "nice" photos are not just a result of good angles and appropriate light, but also because of the conversation Jin has with the client before shooting. Usually, Jin makes up a theme and settles the tone of the photo for customers before the shooting starts.
"I talk to them and listen to their stories to understand their thoughts and wishes, so I can capture their feelings and print them onto photos," Jin says. "That's the part I like about photography. I record a moment in time that can never happen again."
The studio also hires models to shoot photos, but the duo prefers college students much more than professional models. "Professional models may be very good at posing, but I need things from a model's eyes more than their body."
Last year, the duo published an album called Moon Impression. The collection of more than 200 photos is about "reading stories" in the eyes of models.
Jin's top five places for portraits in Hangzhou
? Metoo Café
Address: Silian 166 Park, 166 Lishui Road
? SC Pottery Studio
Address: 78-8 Kaiyuan Road
? Any Starbucks around West Lake
? Hangzhou Botanic Garden
Address: No. 1, Taoyuan Mountain
? Taiziwan Park
Address: 5-1 Nanshan Road
Jin Haosen, 25, has such a life.
Jin is a tour photographer. He tours around the country and makes money by taking photos of his clients in every place he visits - a job he basically invented as no one in the country did it before him.
Despite only doing it for the past two years, the photographer is so popular that when he travels there are clients waiting for him.
With his fame growing, finding new clients is simple. Before traveling somewhere, all he does is post information on his blog, microblog and social network sites, letting people know where he will be and when. The orders then start to flow in.
"I usually photograph one to two clients a day, and sometimes I have to decline several people because of time limits," Jin says.
Having been awarded as the 2010 Most Popular Photographer of Poco.cn, a Chinese website of young photographers, Jin excels at photographing people with a fresh, avant-garde style.
People have called his photos "warm and beautiful" and they are mostly about friendship and relationships, thus they are especially popular with young Chinese.
The photographer comes from Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, and graduated from a college in Hangzhou two years ago. He studied graphic design in college.
Currently, he and his partner Wen Zi base themselves in either Beijing, Hangzhou or Shanghai. They tour around the country for work as well as travel. Jin brings his Canon 5D II wherever he goes.
The lifestyle was initially Wen's idea when they took a trip after Jin graduated. The duo later decided to pursue it further. Wen takes care of the business side while Jin snaps the photos. With some adverts on the Internet, things went very smoothly at first and soon Jin's popularity increased.
Compared with other photograph studios that provide customers a series of services like makeup and costumes, Jin only does two things: take the photos and revise the photos.
However, they charge more than ordinary studios do - each revised digital photo costs more than 100 yuan (US$15.7).
But "every photo I give to my customers is absolutely nice," Jin says.
According to his exacting standards, only one of every 30 photos is "nice."
The "nice" photos are not just a result of good angles and appropriate light, but also because of the conversation Jin has with the client before shooting. Usually, Jin makes up a theme and settles the tone of the photo for customers before the shooting starts.
"I talk to them and listen to their stories to understand their thoughts and wishes, so I can capture their feelings and print them onto photos," Jin says. "That's the part I like about photography. I record a moment in time that can never happen again."
The studio also hires models to shoot photos, but the duo prefers college students much more than professional models. "Professional models may be very good at posing, but I need things from a model's eyes more than their body."
Last year, the duo published an album called Moon Impression. The collection of more than 200 photos is about "reading stories" in the eyes of models.
Jin's top five places for portraits in Hangzhou
? Metoo Café
Address: Silian 166 Park, 166 Lishui Road
? SC Pottery Studio
Address: 78-8 Kaiyuan Road
? Any Starbucks around West Lake
? Hangzhou Botanic Garden
Address: No. 1, Taoyuan Mountain
? Taiziwan Park
Address: 5-1 Nanshan Road
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