In Part 1, I described a recent photo shoot I did with Mark Guyon, professional MMA Fighter. In part two, I asked him some questions about MMA, Wing Chun Chinese Kung Fu and photography.

Q: Your opponent for the fight is Sean Stolarczyk. Can you tell us more about him? 

A: He is American. A good wrestler and a background in Karate, and overall he has more experience than me in MMA. 

Q: Tell us about your preparations for the fight

A: Unlike my opponent who is full time into martial arts, it is very difficult for me to train properly due to my busy schedule with my job. Therefore I have taken 3 weeks leave in order to focus on the fight; it’s not much for a proper fight camp (normally around 8 weeks) but it’s better than nothing. I have just trained in Thailand for a bit more than 2 weeks, and I hope these last few days of weight control and full rest before the fight will be more beneficial to me than in the past, when I used to work full time the days before fights and only took leave on fight day. 

Q: What inspired you to become a professional fighter?

A: First of all, especially for the people who are not very familiar with the martial arts world, I would like to make clear what “professional fighter” means. For sure I do professional fights, yes. But it does not mean it’s my full-time job and I only do this. I am first of all a simple business school educated man and I work in an office.

“Professional” fighting is only a level, not a status. It means you compete at a high level and you fight in professional rules (different rules, protections, time limits, etc…)
I believe it’s a must for every martial artist. The techniques you learn in the training situation, you must be able to demonstrate that you are able to use them in a real situation.

Of course an MMA fight is not a real situation like in the street in real life, but it is the type of competition which is the closest to it. Coming from traditional Wing Chun Kung Fu, I used to have a different opinion about competition, I thought they were not necessary and too violent. But when I started to compete, I discovered that they are actually very important, and also they teach you a lot. No matter if you win or lose, you always learn something. And you improve your technique and teaching, based on your very own experience. My inspiration comes therefore mostly from other fighters, and also martial artists like Bruce Lee, who started with traditional Wing Chun. For me, he was the first real mixed martial artist. He already demonstrated some mixed striking and grappling skills in his movies. The only difference is that at that time, it was not called MMA, and therefore the sport did not exist and was not organised properly like it is today.

Q: Wing Chun is a martial art that’s not only rich in Chinese tradition. How did you find out about Wing Chun and why do you like it?

A: The first time I learnt about Wing Chun was by watching traditional Hong Kong Kung Fu movies while I grew up in France. Then I discovered it was possible to learn Wing Chun in Europe, so I started it and trained every week day and became quickly addicted. The main reason why I like Wing Chun is that it is based on principles more than rigid pre-defined techniques. The objective in Wing Chun is to be efficient and to do whatever works in a real fight. It’s not to jump everywhere and make nice moves which look good. We do not want to look good, we want to be efficient, we want to be strong and be able to defend ourselves when we are in danger. We want to know which technique works better than others. It is like a science. 

In this way, Wing Chun is very similar to MMA. Looking for what really works. The difference is that Wing Chun is for the real fight in the street with no rules, whereas MMA is a sport and it’s for a fight with rules.

Therefore, for me, MMA is part of Wing Chun. If you want to be good at Wing Chun, you have to be good at MMA. To be good in the street where there are no rules, you first need to be good in a sports environment where there are rules and safety measures so you can train safely, but at least you can try to apply your skills. If you never apply, you never know if it really works. 

Q: The first time we did a portrait shoot, we went on location in picturesque Dragon Park in Tin Shui Wai. For your second portrait session, we shot in my private studio in Causeway Bay. In what ways did you find the experience different to outdoor location shooting and what do you like about the different style of studio shooting?

A: The outdoor experience at the Dragon park was in a place more in the nature with a traditional Chinese style in the background, which is nice for Kung Fu shoots and the spirit behind all this. On the other hand, the studio shooting is more professional and allowed us to make better settings with the lights etc… and the photos are probably easier to photoshop and use for different purposes.
I think both types of shooting are important to have in any martial artist’s portfolio.

Q: What is about quality photos that help show people your skills in MMA fighting and martial arts?

A: I think quality photos need to look good of course, but also say something else about the spirit or philosophy behind it. For example I like photos which show a traditional Chinese background, but I also like “tough” MMA photos. They can also show a spirit of hard work, dedication, and someone who never quits and always keeps fighting. A photo with blood can show nothing but a bad looking injured fighter, or it can show a fighter who is tough and keeps going on. A photo with muscular guys can show nothing but just muscles, or it can show someone who has obviously worked hard to get in shape. Photos should show the positive values of martial arts. 

Q: Which is your favourite shot from the new series and why?

A: My favourite shot from this new series is the one with the simple standing pose and a black background, the one I used as new profile picture in my social networks. It looks good but also looks quite mysterious and looks like something is in preparation and coming out of this darkness.

Q: How do you think these photos communicate to others a bit about your personality?

A: I already like taking pictures of many things and I am very active sharing photos already, but I think these professional photos communicate something deeper, which I cannot do with only my phone camera. And also I wish to show that Martial Arts is also a journey to have fun and share your adventures with your entourage and anyone else interested or potentially interested in martial arts. My personality is not closed, secret, avoiding the public and just thinking about training and fighting. I want to share my lifestyle and I hope to help and inspire others. Some people see my personality as hyperactive because I do so many things at the same time (office work, martial arts, busy social life, etc…), I always share a lot of things. But I want people to know that it’s ok, and that you can have different lives in one life!

Tickets at HK$200 up to HK$1,000 are currently available online at www.urbtix.hk for the upcoming fight at Queen Elizabeth Stadium on Friday 31st July 2015. 

Or Join Marc’s Wing Chun classes. Adult and kids classes to be resumed in September in Discovery Bay, more info coming soon at www.marcguyon.hk 

And stay tuned for the next shoot with Marc which will take place after the fight.

I love photographing people enjoying their passion. I can set them free and let them do their own thing to create the shot. 

To help promote and celebrate Marc’s biggest and most important fight on Friday, we did a pre fight portrait photoshoot, this time in my private studio in Causeway Bay. The aim was to create natural looking photos with Marc in his element, what I like to call dynamic posing. 

Marc came in straight after his day job, and was already in his office outfit so I took a quick corporate style head shots of him. We chose a neutral grey background for this as it would complement his white shirt.

Next was the fun bit. Posing people that are not used to being in front of the camera can be challenging. Marc is naturally very comfortable in front of camera, but for those that feel a little bit awkward in front of camera, including me sometimes, it’s easier to avoid set poses and go in to performing regular training movements or routines. It can also help avoid photos that look a little bit staged. 

First I got Marc to do some shadow boxing: fighting an imaginary opponent. Next we did some shots of him preparing to train, i.e. putting on his gloves. To get some contemplative expressions, I had Marc imagine his place of training. We tried this standing and sitting. Finally we did some set poses for portraits and fighting stances, which Marc is very familiar with, from previous photo shoots.

Trained in Wing Chun, a traditional Chinese martial art, and utilising a mixture of styles such as Boxing, French boxing Savate, and Wrestling, Marc is hoping to make it big in the ultimate fighting competition style, Mixed Martial Arts or MMA. 

But when I first met Marc two years ago, I noticed his friendly personality. When I think of a professional competitive fighter, I think a big tough guy like one of those aggressive UFC fighters. In fact, one of his other passions is passing on the skills and history of Wing Chun to kids and adults in classes held every at least every week. 

Continued in Part 2: Question and Answer with MMA Fighter Marc Guyon
(including information on Marc’s upcoming fight on Friday 31st July 2015 and Wing Chun classes)

Shooting portraits is my new love.

After spending many years being a advertising retoucher and photographer for my early career I’ve been fortunate to work on many creative international ads for the world’s biggest brands and companies. But specialising in special effects and creative retouching meant I missed out on shooting people. 

After moving to Hong Kong, one of my main focuses became to shoot more people. After all, getting that spark of personality out of a person to make a special portrait is one of the challenging skills of photography. Secondly people are so interesting and dynamic. Unlike shooting a bottle, or fire or ice, there’s no set formula for working with the subject, all people are different and I learn something new each and every time.

So I proudly present two shots I had the pleasure and opportunity to photograph Christoph Schmidinger, the General Manager of the Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts and Olivia Putman, french designer and daughter to Andrée Putman.

The images appear in the the June and July 2015 issues of Noblesse Magazine (China), and are shot on location in a bar in the Four Seasons and the other at an art gallery featuring Putman’s work. The location environment helps add a dimension and character to the portrait and I’m guessing the text that accompanies the images talks about them in some way. If only I could read Chinese.

When shooting for magazines, we always shot variations to the editor options. Sometimes one of the shots fits the article better or has the right feel, or perhaps the layout works better with the format of the article. See the pics above for the alternative shots didn’t end up getting published. 

These shots look great on paper and I can’t wait to do more. I wonder who I’ll photograph next for Noblesse Magazine.

One of the reasons I love professional photography is because of I love creating stuff. So this year for the Canada Day party by the Canadians in Hong Kong meetup group, I thought it would be fun to have some sort of gimmicky props. It would make the event more fun and memorable to the guests. 

From a photographer’s point of view, props can help make better group photos. For those that feel slightly awkward in photos, it can make the photos better as it gives people a distraction but giving them something to do with their hands and facial expressions. Of course other things that help are plenty of alcohol, attending the party with a few good friends and having a photographer (and perhaps an assistant) that’s happy to let loose and also have a bit of silly fun.

We needed something that’s reminiscent of Canada and cheap and easy to make. I already have a instant photo printer (actually 2). So bacon moustaches was the answer!

Here are the basic steps:

1. Get References

I firstly grabbed a moustache shape off google images. Even better, the one I had already had a transparency mask saving a step in photoshop. I also grabbed a reference photo of some crispy bacon so I could get the colour and look right. Yum!

2. Photoshop

Here are the basic steps.

1. I created a red solid colour with a moustache shaped mask image from the google image.

2. Then grouped additional solid colour layers on top to create the meat using a white and pink layer.

3. Adding a stroke in the layer effects to give it an outline (dark brown).

4. Duplicate and create another variation as two can fit on the same 4x6 postcard print. You can see the basic file layout above. 

3. Print

Printing on the Canon Selphy CP910 was a slight hassle because there are no Canon drivers available Mac but  I’ll do a proper rant on about this on another post. 

This particular printer is a postcard sized printer which prints using dye sublimation technology. Basically it heats up layers of coloured plastic and transfers these on to the paper. Because of the design, the prints are quite water resistant and glossy which is perfect for this application. It has a sort of professional solid plastic feel to them instead of being flimsy paper.

4. Cut and Stick

Using scissors to cut out the prints and then gluing on some skewers. For extra pro finish, I added labels to hide the attachment point.

5. Test

Testing the look and feel as well as the structural stability of the design using a selfie of course. I think this is going to work.

6. Shoot

The shoot is coming up tomorrow. For those that want to join, the FB event is https://www.facebook.com/events/1608233902792862/

Stay tuned so see some of the results.

*Josh has never even been to North America or near that side of the globe. But being Australian born and raised, feels a lot of cultural connection to those friendly leafy syrup loving folk. And of course, he loves the delicious tangy taste of crispy bacon.

“Strobist” style lighting for another Nikon social media post. This time shooting on the D810 (not pictured) using 3 x Nikon SB-700 strobes. 

Strobist, is using off camera flash and shooting with small battery operated strobes. It’s my preferred way to light as its fast, easy and looks great. No need to mess around with heavy floor packs and cables.

I love the features of the Nikon SB-700 strobes. The menu system is easy to use and intuitive. I set them to slave mode and then put another flash on the D810 to trigger them via optical slave. They were set to pretty low power. 1/32 if I recall correctly. There were another two strobes on the left and right side, just to give a little edge lighting in the edges of the equipment.

We also tried a version with the flashes pointed up but it doesn’t look quite as cool.

The Gear

24 AA Batteries (rechargable NiMH Eneloop Pro’s) and a total of 6 strobes used. (3 in the shot, 1 on camera for optical slave syncing, two on the sides for edge lights). Oh, and one extra for the unused alternate version since the lights were now facing up and away from the middle.

Also pictured is ‪the Nikon D7200‬ camera body and a couple of Nikon prime lenses, my photo bag, a light stand, some colour correction gels, cleaning cloth and a lens pen.

See the image in context on Facebook at Nikon Asia here