Daily Inspiration: Meet Justin Tang

Today we’d like to introduce you to Justin Tang.

Hi Justin, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
It all started in high school back home in Hong Kong. I grew up in an environment that nurtured academic excellence, and frankly, that’s all I knew and cared about at the time. I mapped out an extremely linear equation, good grades led to a good future. But when the exams were over and it came time to figure out what exactly it was that I wanted to do, I was stumped.

The only class that I found myself genuinely enjoying was film studies and a lot of that was due to my teacher, Mr Williamson, for his expansive but uncanny understanding of the topic. We studied a range of films, auteurs and the history behind them: from Goddard to Kurosawa to our very own Wong Kar-Wai. But the final exam, where we had to collaborate in teams to make a short film, was what reeled me into this world.

It’s funny, sometimes you hear about people who were born with a camcorder in their hands, making home videos before they even learned how to talk. For me, that passion came to me a lot later. And though I initially came to Los Angeles thinking that I wanted to write and direct, seeing how the camera and lights meshed together to produce a stunning shot quickly drew me to the cinematography route. I remember on my very first set, I was told to fire-watch (lookout) the G&E truck outside, and on the rare opportunities I had to step onto the set itself, my eyes immediately locked onto the gimbal operator. I kind of knew at that point that I’d rather be the person operating the camera than the person directing by the monitor.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Growing up in a family with traditional Eastern ideals, it was not so much my family but my own fears and insecurities of having a nonconventional career path that led me astray. Being a freelancer comes with an inevitable instability of work, and especially during peak pandemic season, it can take a toll on your mental health not knowing what’s to come. But I find that making use out of your off-days, whether that may be catching up on other work, exercising or spending time with friends and family, becomes a productive outlook as to how you can flip one of the cons of freelance work into a pro.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
My end goal is to become a cinematographer. Over the past few years, I’ve had the honour of shooting numerous narrative shorts, music videos, and corporate and commercial work both in Hong Kong and Los Angeles. And what I love about it is that the learning never stops, there will always be a new set of problems to troubleshoot, a new tool that you’ve never used, or a new working relationship to navigate. There’s always room to grow in this field of work and I believe being open to this growth (aka losing that ego) is the most fundamental thing starting out.

Though it’s still early days, I do recognize a pattern in the majority of the projects I’ve shot. With narrative work, I tend to lean on the darker side visually. I quite enjoy the drama that shadows create and the way they help shape and curate a more somber tone within certain scenes. I also tend towards a more naturalistic look a lot of the time and try to be rather invisible with lighting setups.

Honestly, I’ve been quite proud of the change in my mentality going into a new project, and I feel that it does reflect in my work. Starting out I spent so much time on the equipment and tech specs, making sure I had as much gear as possible going into a shoot so I was prepared for every scenario. A lot of the time, that resulted in excessive setups, an improper use of time, energy, and resources and a lack of directionality. Did I get some pretty frame-grabs out of it, sure, but it was usually at the expense of something much more important.

Alright, so to wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to share with us?
It’s going to be okay. As someone who struggles a lot with anxiety, imposter syndrome and all that fun stuff, reminding yourself of your journey and the small victories you’ve achieved along the way is crucial. There’s a lot of noise on social media now addressing the ‘hustler’ mentality. While I do completely agree with the need to work hard for what you want and give it your all, this can definitely be taken too far and can cultivate a toxic working lifestyle for yourself. Do the best you can and acknowledge the times when you can’t. There shouldn’t ever be a need to push yourself to the point of no return.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.justinkmtang.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justinkmtang/
• Other: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm9638149/