Shutterbugs in the spotlight

Two young talents in fashion photography have taken a step towards their careers by winning the top and runner-up spots at the 2013 edition of the Harper’s Bazaar Canon Fashion Photography Award. The event, held recently at Siam Paragon’s Hall of Mirrors and attended by the magazine’s editor-in-chief Wannaporn Poshyanonda, Chamnan Pakdeesuk and Thananon Thanakornkarn, who also served as the judges, crowned Napop Passapong and Yossaphol Jaksamithanon, both of them students at Rangsit University.

The annual competition is open to students and members of the public between the ages of 20 and 29 and the entries are judged on artistic creativity, composition and model’s pose, lighting technique and overall presentation. The photographs must be taken with Canon cameras only, and have to be new pictures taken in a studio

Winner Napop, a senior student from Rangsit University's Faculty of Art and Design majoring in photography, says he wanted to present a look that would provoke questions from the viewer. 

“My aim was to present a woman with a boyish look, rather like a tomboy who steals her mother’s dress and tries it on. To achieve a boyish twist, she dons wears a man’s hat and this reflects her true identity. I didn’t use much technique in taking the photo, and I only used two spotlights because I personally prefer natural lighting. 

“In my view, artificial [lighting] is never prettier than natural. Even when I work in a studio, I don’t use more than four or five lights, and I don’t put in a lot of special effects in my work because they make it appear too edited,” said Napop, who went home with Bt50,000, a Canon EOS 6D with lens valued at Bt100,000, and a chance to work as a contributing photographer on a fashion set for Harper’s Bazaar magazine. 

The runner up, Yossaphol Jaksamithanon, is a student at the same faculty and also majoring in photography. He said his inspiration for this work came from world-class photographers who use the clothes as the topic before interpreting the concept, the presentation and the pose. 

“I couldn’t find my own style, so I experimented with many styles. A few years ago, I found that I liked fashion photography, because it focuses on the person. I’ve worked on my skills and because several of my classmates are fashion designers, I get lots of practice taking pictures,” said Yossaphol, who was awarded Bt20,000.