Studio Photographer Analysis - Lenne Chai
Throughout this year, I’ve gained an appreciation for studio work photography. Before I had much preferred shooting on location and the process of picking a location and working with the lighting that would be provided during the shoot. However, working in a studio; whether it is a fancy one or a homemade one, getting to work in that kind of environment has been very interesting. I didn’t look into any studio work photographers before this term either, and it seems to be a hard thing for me to come across. I wanted to find one that had somewhat of a following behind them on Instagram because that is a big interest of mine. I ended up finding Lenne Chai, a portrait photographer who, from what I can tell, does most of her work in a studio. The lighting and composition of her work alongside the editing of every piece are just a few things that I enjoyed about her work.
I came across Lenne Chai through an article of some popular photographers on Instagram and I was blown away by the style of her photography. She was originally from Singapore, however, she is mostly based in New York city nowadays, with her moving around whenever she is needed. As I said before, she mostly does portrait photography with mostly fashion and it seems to be in a studio from what I could tell. She started doing photography at a young age and even got some of her work in a magazine at the age of 19. Now at the age of 28, she has been able to shoot for brands such as SK-II, Canon Asia, H&M, Puma, RMK and has been featured in publications such as TeenVogue (USA), NYLON (Japan), Elle Girl (Japan), and Harper’s Bazaar (Singapore), V MAN (USA), and so much more. On top of her skills, you could probably credit her for getting most of these jobs from also being represented by ADB AGENCY, a photography agency that clients are based all around the world. While she mostly does photography, she also has been credited as being a director a few times for advertising and music videos.
One thing that I absolutely love about Lenne Chai photography is the lighting. From what I could tell she uses a very soft type of lighting for most of her work. By doing this, on top of her editing process. Most of her work gives off a 90s type aesthetic, which just makes the model in the shot stand out even more. She also adds some motion blur to some of her shots on the lighting that helps bring out this particular style for her photos. This combined with the coloring makes her style of photography very successful for her to be noticed by fashion brands and magazines. I’m not sure what exactly her process of making these shots are, but it definitely is working for her.
It was a bit of a challenge to pick just one of her photos that I specifically enjoyed because most of her work on her website and Instagram are extremely talented pieces of work. Each shot that she has is very different while also being similar enough to be recognized as her style. However, the one that I plan on basing the photo I’m going to be doing as the second part of the assignment was what helped me decide. On her website, she has a section of her most recent works and there was one of the Malaysian comedians and actors, Ronny Chieng from Crazy Rich Asians. This shot has a very simple composition with a light green background that slowly fades up to darker thanks to the lighting she chose for the background. On top of that, the lighting she chose to light off her model face seems to be a softbox on him. The coloring of the suit of the model with the background and pose that she has him in also makes for an interesting composition that she achieved.
Overall her works are quite an inspiration for my own photography. Her use of lighting with the color around her and in the fashion that she has shot works very well with the editing to bring together a special style to all of her photography works. On top of that, the fact she is so young and talented with already much work experience in her portfolio is quite impressive. She managed to come from Singapore with nothing and somehow made herself accessible and willing to work wherever she is needed with her style when a brand contracts her and her agency. As a photographer, it’s easy to note how impressive her work is and try to take some pointers of her work to apply to my own style.