The Photoshoot That Brought Me Into This Industry

You won’t believe if I tell you I pick up my first professional camera on mid 2023 to document a once-in-a-lifetime reality tv show for memory keepsake, a few months after sharing those photos online, same year too, I started receiving messages from strangers requesting paid photoshoots from me for their events, and that’s how I started my professional photography career.

I may sound like bragging in my opening paragraph but I guess my flying start in this career was exchanged by early life hardship…After serving national service for 2 years, I couldn’t land a decent permanent job, I was in a cycle of temporary contracts for 5 years straight, total 6 jobs and few unsuccessful permanent roles which I quit within months due to very toxic environments.

Back to the main topic, this photoshoot was all about musician buskers in Singapore, called “Battle of the Buskers”. I had never heard of Singapore government or media raising awareness on busking to such level before but I thought this might be once in a lifetime reality tv show and may never happen again, partly afraid that the buzz wouldn’t last long and there might not be sequels because lack of local supports.

I, myself, is also a musician busker, I had applied but didn’t get in….I almost didn’t want to come down to support all the episodes of this reality show because of the fact that I didn’t get in and jealous of those who got in, I even thought I was slightly better than a few of the contestants but didn’t qualify due to lack of online fanbase. I was very jealous but I stop myself from thinking that and told myself I have to put those aside and come down to support local talents and document this event for keepsake.

So here’s the photos that got me into professional photography!