Image Credit: Alann Santiago
Today we’d like to introduce you to William Nguyen.
William, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Always looking to express creativity in different ways, my relationship with photography began my senior year of high school in 2015. I quickly developed an eye and started planning shoots with people I met off Twitter/Instagram. Gaining experience primarily in creative portrait photography, I really enjoyed the networking aspect of it. Growing up in San Jose, there was an active creative community, but it was just a bit tight-knit. Believing that community is essential to a thriving artistic scene, I set to connect the people I knew through a series of art/music events, where I would invite artists to come show their work and people to view them.
It’s 2019 now and I’ve moved to Long Beach, and go to Otis College of Art and Design in West LA. I don’t have as strong of an urge to want to network today, but I’m enjoying taking an experimental approach to photography. I have dreams perhaps maybe too big for me to carry, but like many others, I just want to change the world while I can. I hope my work provides something far more valuable to society than the commodification of services/creative processes.
Has it been a smooth road?
Nope. Mental health is something I continue to struggle with since I was a child. I feel highly sensitive to my environment and that’s led to self-isolation, anxiety, and depression. I feel like I have a philosophical qualm regarding spirituality and reality, and I believe in the general idea of the soul but don’t believe it literally exists. Most people I know are at least a little spiritual, but I don’t know. Ever since I’ve taken psychedelics (and it really is a subjective experience), it feels like that stuff doesn’t really matter because all we will KNOW we will experience is what is here and now. You disintegrate into the atmosphere when you die and there’s no way for you to feel anything afterward since your computing organ is deteriorating. Life feels kind of synthetic, with all the systems in place created by rich people to control the lower class and all the barriers to entry for less than privileged people. So YEAH I suffer from overthinking if you couldn’t tell. I have a horrible relationship with sleep because most nights I can’t stop thinking about everything and anything. It’s just really hard being alive sometimes.
We’d love to hear more about your work.
As a photographer, I’m known for abstract, moody, dark style photos. I’m proud that my style works on a separate channel than what is considered mainstream photography today, not to sound pretentious. I think there certainly is an art to creating work that just plays on formal elements of design for the sake of aesthetics, but I really want my work to be an extension of myself. It’s hard to stomach people calling themselves photographers when really just rely on using conventionally attractive female models to build a following. Honestly to me when I see that I get a weird fetishization vibe, especially when a photographer’s photos are all of the similar-looking girls. Maybe that’s just me!
My concepts generally have to do with the human psyche, and all its beauty and darkness. I also tend to only take on projects I enjoy and am interested in! Recently I did some album covers for lo-fi producer TwoSleepy and rapper J Loree and took some abstract photos for a friend to print onto garments for their fashion line. I also planned a dark/gory shoot with pornstar Rae Lil Black but unfortunately, plans fell through 🙁 I try not to repeat the same process too much, so working with those I actually find interesting really motivates me to create something unique.
I pride myself on being a photographer who aims to understand the people I work with. If my clients/models are harassed on the street I will get involved. I always make sure my models are comfortable and that I don’t overstep any boundaries. Most importantly, the photoshoots are always fun.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
I feel like there’s a lot of networking possibilities here in LA, but most of the time the people you really want to work with exist in separate social bubbles than you. That’s to be expected though and even though you may hate networking, you still gotta do it! I feel like San Jose was like my intro to networking and I think it’s good to have a solid network separate from LA to back you up! I think LA should host more artists events that have limited barriers to entry (no whack $200 fees, ticket selling, nothing).
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: instagram.com/willyumn
- Twitter: twitter.com/willyumn
- Other: willyumn.com
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