Today we’d like to introduce you to Leafy Yeh.
Hi Leafy, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I am a Chinese photographer currently based in Los Angeles. I grew up in Guangzhou, China, and graduated with a BA in New Media from SUNY Purchase in 2016. I started as a photographer in college when I just came to America. It was a way for me to meet people and make friends. During school, I started working for a street fashion magazine in Shanghai on weekends and taking photos in NYC. The magazine died after I graduated, so I started to do my own project. Since then, I have been working as a freelance designer/photographer and applying for grants to keep working on my personal projects.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Definitely no. There are always struggles with what to photograph and evolving with the project as it goes. Not to mention finding a balance between jobs and photo projects.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I have received the Adobe Creative Residency Community Grant and was a finalist for the Aperture Portfolio Prize 2023. I work primarily with digital cameras and sometimes film cameras. My work focuses on the links between interaction with the community, personal experience, culture, and landscape through documentary photography. I use my lens to investigate the complexities of what it means to be who we are through visual storytelling. I see photography as a way to understand the core values of the world around us.
I am currently working on compiling my long-term project, “Now and Then” into a book. “Now and Then” is a photography book of a long-term documentary project since 2019 on the intersection of traditional Chinese heritage and Asian American culture, exploring the diasporic experiences that resonate with my own journey as a native of China living in Los Angeles.
There’s no setting apart from others. The more you think you are unique, the more you find yourself merely a part of others.
Alright so before we go can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
Open for commission and collaboration via my email [email protected] or you can reach me on Instagram @leafy.yeh.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.leafyyeh.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leafy.yeh
Image Credits
Leafy Yun Ye
