Personal Work - Lindsey is Pregnant
This is my friend lindsey, as you can see shes pregnant. For her baby shower I gave her the gift of a portrait session. I dont normally gift baby photos as its not normally my thing, but its lindsey. She’s one of those friends that make you see yourself in a way you dont. Out of all the jobs Ive had, shes chefed with me when I did a chef residency last year, shes come on numerous shoots, shes assisted me when shooting Jon Chu from Wicked and screamed as soon as we left the set in excitement . In a climate where we often see so many people achieving or doing great things online we often neglect our own achievements. Lindsey is a constant reminder for me that im doing something that should be celebrated and she does this by getting stuck in and helping me on shoots because as she says “who wouldnt” so this shoot was a celebration of her. She showed up to my living room, we didnt plan anything and she just said do whatever you want, and in ten mins she sat there in the light, wind in the hair holding her soon to be son. Congrats Lindsey, you’re a beautiful friend and you’re gonna be a great mum.
#portrait #personalwork #preggo
Personal Work - Sri Lanka
A few weeks ago I went to Sri Lanka to cover a yoga retreat for @m_a_i_z_u@tamarahayllio . At the beginning of the retreat I turned to one of the girls and said “are you finding this crazy” she replied “this is your first ever retreat, right” - waking up at 6, meditating, being completely still with myself I found challenging, thoughts came up and I realised how much I worked in London instead of just stopping.
Within day 3 I settled into it and what came was something I haven’t really experienced in a long time. I began photographing for play rather than work. When I first approached still life photography I was a teenager, running around my grandmas village picking random bits of fruit, leaves and objects and placing them together like toys. She’d just watch and smile. Now as an adult I was arranging coconuts, peppercorns and fruit from the Forrest all whilst having people from the retreat watching and smiling at me whilst doing it, just like my grandma had once done.
I always say when it comes to work it should feel playful, and ultimately “play” only comes when you feel safe. So thank you to everyone on that retreat who made me feel safe and as a result like a kid just playing with bits of fruit again.
#stilllife #photography #srilanka
“Power Dressing” - I don’t know about you, but I actually love salad - Salad dressings for this weekends @ft_weekend with @timhayward
#stilllife #foodphotography
#youdontmakefriendswithsalad #rightinfrontofmysalad
Good morning everyone - hope you had a good Breakfastttttt. 🥚 for @houseandgardenuk may issue out now
Big thanks for @elliesteafel@vanportek for having me on this- @dpandeycn for the beautiful food - @rachelmengman for lighting !
#stilllife #eggs #breakfast
Personal Work -“that time you took me to a butterfly garden”
I have been putting off personal work for a long time, perhaps because I find it vulnerable and far easier to concentrate on client work then photograph deeper themes like grief, loss and identity. But in the end of the day personal work is simply story telling
There’s a question i like asking on first dates “are you a butterfly, a cocoon or a caterpillar” I think the questions pretty dumb but it gives an opportunity to reveal where you’re at in life and how you’re feeling. I asked this question on a date after a slurry of throw away meet ups and hook ups (it had been a summer full of grief with relatives passing away and illnesses) and dating was an easy distraction. But this time my date slowly turned into phone calls, friend meet ups and eventually a relationship after years of being single. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind being single, it teaches you a lot. What I had forgotten was how much growth comes with meeting someone and how revealing relationships can be. How you can offer another person the most vulnerable childlike versions of you.
I had admitted during my time with this person I found it hard to be with someone because I had lost my mother at a young age and inside I believed everyone would eventually go. But by the end of it I learnt that’s what relationships are. They come and go and teach us or change us. On one date he took me to a butterfly garden where I joked about how my favourite butterfly was a blue one I use to catch on a childhood game called animal crossing.
When we parted ways he gifted me a blue butterfly. Heartbreak is remarkable but I found myself all winter smiling through it by the very fact I was with heartbreak once again and for a time I was a kid again with someone . Grief is simply evidence of how much we felt for someone. In Chinese funerals we burn to cleanse, to offer as a ritual. Some believe butterflies are the spirits of the recently deceased. I don’t ask that butterfly question to people anymore , but I’m reminded whether cocooning, flying or in a state of childhood,every step is simply a cycle and a part of life #personalwork #stilllife
Personal Work
The other week at dinner my friend called me out and said but where’s your personal work ? It’s a question Ive been asking myself for the last 2 years. I was reminded of that question 2 weeks ago when someone at a photography studio said “i recognise you, my lecturer talked about your work you photographed a dead chicken” to which I replied yes, it was a series about my mum being The Year of the Rooster. Most of you who follow me will know me for my food photography and still life. But some of you would have been following me when I photographed whatever story or feeling I wanted to share.
Many clients state they appreciate the sensitivity and humility within my work, but when I look back at the work I created earlier in my career, before clients came knocking another conversation goes on in my head.
Sometimes I think 23 year old Ken was insane and pretty hardcore. I photographed my relationship with my grandma and explored diaspora and how things are left unsaid in Chinese family’s . I created still life’s with her objects after she died to express grief and loss (slide 3&4) I dressed up in a wedding banquet outfit and littered a table with objects and items portraying Chinese Queer identity as a reaction to a bad coming out to my dad - to which I later wrote an open letter and published it in a big magazine in Hong Kong (slide 5) i even posed naked and dressed in my mums clothing after she passed away to talk about loss, femininity and queer identity in Chinese households. (Slide 7)
Don’t get me wrong, im very grateful for where my works at. But when it comes to any form of the arts it’s important to ask ourselves how much energy do we put into our client work and our artist practice. The latter Ive put in the back burner, maybe because I have a larger following now, and as we get older it’s scarier to be open and honest.
So for the last few weeks Ive started writing again, and just creating - I’ll be sharing personal work again(Substack link on bio) (if I don’t punch me in the face) as after all you’re never too old to be a student again and it’s the reason most of you followed me in the first place.
#personalwork #kennethlam
Fire, SWEAT and SPICE - Dong Yuan in Park Royal for @vittlesmagazine thank you to @jonathandnunn for sending me back to North West London 15 minutes from my birth place, review by @whatmeiknew 🔥 🌶️ 🍑
