It was an honor to photograph Sensei Alexei Goudkov for the Canadian Immigrant Magazine. The full article in the Canadian Immigrant magazine can be read here. (I will be updating this post when the tear sheets are available.)

Sensei Alexei teaches the Kyokushin Kaikan (極真会館) style of Karate that means the ‘Society Of Ultimate Truth’, due to a heavier emphasis on full-contact sparring. I am familiar with this style, having studied Shotokan Karate in elementary school and immersed myself in the various differences and philosophies of the various fighting systems, and remember the stories about how the founder of the style, Mas Oyama, perfected his techniques by taking down charging bulls with various striking techniques.

I have to admit that I have a deep love for the Martial Arts, possibly even surpassing that which I feel for photography. Case in point is that Sensei Alexei is a third Dan black belt in the Kyokushin Kaikan style, yet during the shoot, possessed that mixture of quiet confidence, courtesy, and humility that mark a martial arts practitioner. I’m sure it stems from a mixture of individual self-confidence, discipline, and possibly something a lot more practical;

A kick, like a photograph, is a singular, fluid expression that can contain so much technique, subtlety, and nuances, for something that looks relatively simple. It has emotional content. It has to connect. Unlike Photography though, you can’t talk, network, tweet, SEO, or otherwise irresponsibly enable someone into being a good Martial Artist. It takes practice, discipline, and eventually having to get into the ring to prove it. As for us, we like to get our kicks from being happy with our work…and aiming high.

From 5pm to 2am, I hear the screams of Olympic fans from outside from my window, along with what sounds like two or three different bands performing at street level. The sounds echo as they bounce from one building to another, creating a surreal blend of screams, fireworks explosions, cheers, horns, African drums, whistles, rave music, police sirens, the loud but unintelligible voice of an MC shouting emphatically, and many other unidentified sources, as the ebb and flow of echoes reach the upper floors of the surrounding buildings. It’s the Olympics here in Vancouver – and this is what it looks like.

On occasion, I just like to take a walk around the Downtown Vancouver area and shoot. The distance between Sunset Beach (the images in color), and Canada Place (the images in black-and-white) is about 2.5 km. It’s a nice and laid back walk – slowly reading the light, liking the smell of the sea, thinking about nothing and everything at the same time, setting up, and then taking the shot.

Hannibal Chew: I just do eyes. Just eyes…just genetic design…just eyes. You Nexus, huh? I design your eyes.
Roy Batty: Chew, if only you could see what I’ve seen with your eyes!
- from the move Bladerunner (1982)

Ridley Scott’s 1982 movie Bladerunner has been a favorite of mine for the longest time (along with Mamoru Oshii’s Ghost in the Shell Series). Apparently, someone at Google feels the same way – the rogue Replicants in Bladerunner were Nexus Six models (Google’s phone is called Nexus One), and the femme fatale in the movie played by Sean Young is named Rachael, which is the same name of the Nexus UI used in the Sony Xperia X10. The operating system is called Android.

Having worked on creating virtual worlds and CG characters for the last 3 years, and appreciating just how fast technology moves forward – sometimes I wonder just how long it will take…

Last September, I had the good fortune of photographing Mr. Forte Gerardo for the cover of The Canadian Immigrant, Toronto Edition, October issue. For those that don’t know him, Mr. Forte Gerardo is a master ‘Trade Maker’, having been the former trade commissioner and head of post for the Philippines to Toronto and Central Canada, and entrepreneur running an established trading company. The full issue can be read here.

As for my trade, I create images. Having done primarily fashion and celebrity portraiture for most of my professional life, I’m used to having a full crew – complete with make-up and hair artists, wardrobe stylists, and models and am extremely proficient with all the editing, retouching, and post-processing that goes hand-in-hand with what’s considered a ‘modern photographic production’ (including some of the most intricate Adobe Photoshop techniques that involve layer masking, creative use of blending modes, warps and transformations, up to full 3D reconstruction and CG replacement – I’m also a 3D and Visual Effects artist, and teach Photoshop techniques). Sometimes though, I just love to do it old-school – just classical and honest portraiture, completely focusing on, and capturing the character of the person in front of the lens with no distractions. I find working this way extremely satisfying. These are some of the most honest photographs I have made – it’s all the-subject-as-they-are, light, and lens – nothing’s contrived. With the exception of the cover tear sheet above, the images you see below in this blog post, are literally straight out of my camera. Post processing zero – this is as honest as it gets.

Not that Mr. Forte Gerardo and his lovely wife, Salvacion, need any image editing help. They are genuinely wonderful people with characters that just exude positivity and an appreciation for knowledge and life. It was such an honor to be able to photograph them.

This is our image of model Alicia Crudo wearing a Porcia design in The Vancouver Sun.

This is the portrait we took of Porscia Yeganeh on the cover of Reach Magazine.

Here is the gallery of Porcia’s designs earlier this year.

Immigrants are strong people. Last August, I was honored to meet and photograph human-rights activist Bushra Jamil for the cover of Canadian Immigrant Magazine. You can find the whole issue here.

Being an immigrant myself, I love this publication because it fearlessly talks about many of the issues that many immigrants have to face everyday. I am proud to be doing work for them.

Photography by Tommy Zablan
Styling Millet Arzaga
Model Roisin
Shot on Assignment for PULP Magazine in a spread entitled “Pulp Skin” sponsored by Jag Jeans