More about Ervine Lin
- Can you tell me more about your history and how you ended up becoming a photographer?
- Why did you set up this photography blog/online gallery store?
- Where did you learn photography from?
- Which area of photography do you focus in?
- How would you describe your photographic style?
- I noticed all of the prints you put up for sale where shot on film, is there a reason why?
- Where are you located and can I drop by for a visit?
- Why don’t you have a photograph of yourself on the site? Are you heinously ugly? 

Questions about the Online Gallery Store
- Why are you offering your photographs for sale?
- Some of your photos have very vibrant colours, are they “photoshopped”? 
- Will the colours of your prints fade over time?
- Why are you limiting certain prints to certain sizes, what if I want something bigger?
- Why are the titles of your works all so literal? “Bicycle in front of shop”? Don’t you have more imagination?
– I think your prints are a little too cheap/expensive, how did you decide on these figures?
- Do you ship internationally, and if so how much is it going to cost me?
- What modes of payment do you provide? 
- I received the print but it is damaged or I am otherwise not pleased with it, can I get a refund?

 

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Can you tell me more about your history and how you ended up becoming a photographer?

Ever since I was young I knew I wanted to be in the creative industry and deep down inside I knew I wanted to be an artist. I loved art classes above all other subjects in school. The problem was that in Singapore, art was (and probably still is) seen as a “second rated” subject in local academia, more often than not only students who couldn’t get into the “better” science classes were offered art.

I wasn’t too shabby in my studies so for most of my life I stayed on the beaten track, got my grades and moved up the academic ladder. Thankfully my junior college allowed students to take up odd combinations, I dropped Chemistry (best decision ever!) for Art at A levels and although we would b*tch about our tutor, I really loved art. Like I said, I wasn’t too shabby a student, so I got more than decent grades and when it was time to go into university the next closest thing to art was architecture (back then there wasn’t any fine art courses in the local universities, only in private ones which I couldn’t afford).

I loved designing architecture, but I really hated the school (and the industry to a certain extent) and although a famous architect once said that architecture is the greatest form of art, I didn’t feel like it was my true calling. There were just too many constraints involved, I don’t believe art should be restricted so many constraints. As such, during the 3 years in architecture school while my classmates read architecture magazines and had favorite architects, I read photoshop magazines and dabbled with photography. Yet even then I didn’t know I would end up becoming a photographer.

After 3 years I decided I needed to see what other options I had besides architecture, I almost went into 3D animation but a friend proposed that we start a photography studio together, so we did, for 6 months only. After 6 months my friend called it quits due to personal reasons but I was actually glad that I could now call the studio my own for we did have our differences during the initial 6 months. I filed for graduation, got my basic degree and formed my studio (StudioV Photography & Design), started to expand my portfolio and worked my way up from there (and still working my way up actually).

Oddly, in the first 2 years I seldom referred to myself as a photographer. Partly because at the start I did a lot more graphic design work than photography in order to survive. More importantly, I didn’t feel like my photography portfolio was strong enough and I like people associating me with the hordes of “born again” photographers out. It was only in the past year or so which I more commonly refereed to myself as a photographer often stressing to people the type of photography I do.

So after all the ups and downs I have settled on photography as my medium as an artist (was never too talented with the brush and pencil anyway!).

 

Why did you set up this photography blog/online gallery store?

I met an established photographer some time back, he asked me what type of photography I REALLY enjoyed doing the most, and then he told me to pursue whatever it was I enjoyed the most and make something out of it. I do enjoy photographing commercial projects, products, interiors and so on, but if you ask me what I really enjoy the most, that would be landscape photography. I love to travel and I love to capture the immense beauty the world has to offer, both urban and natural beauty.

In fact, most of my personal work already revolves around landscape photography. The biggest hurdle was how do I then convert this love for landscape photography into a viable career path in the local market while keeping capital costs as low as possible. Setting up a physical gallery is out of the question, so is putting up show after show. As such I decided to go the e-commerce route and set up an online gallery store to sell my prints, this would negate logistical, rental and other costs which would otherwise just burst my already peanut sized bank account.

Why did I link the online gallery store to a blog?

Most people won’t know but I was one of the first Singaporeans to actually have a blog, it was called “Life in a Nutshell”. Back then blogging was for rebels, people who didn’t want to follow the crowd, who wanted to be different. Once the whole blogging scene exploded into becoming a word in the dictionary I stopped blogging.

I have since started blogging again about my photographic pursuits but only to let readers (and buyers) know more about the artist they are supporting. I didn’t want people to buy my work at face value but rather to understand and appreciate both the artist and the work concurrently.

As a result www.ervinelin.com was born as a way for this struggling photographer to earn some income from the type of photography he loves the most.

 

Where did you learn photography from?

Through osmosis. There isn’t any one source really, just be in the industry long enough and you’ll learn one way or another.

Technical aspects of photography I started by reading some books, magazines, forums, saw how some other photographers worked, a few youtube videos now and then. Soon after, I realised that most of them just talked about the same thing over and over again, so I stopped reading them and started looking at photographs themselves and unconsciously dissected them to figure out how they were shot. Then there was of course lots of trial and error, trying different lighting schemes, different film, different lenses, different cameras and so on until I could get a feel of how things came together.

Then there’s photoshop, which I have been using since my JC days till I know the shortcuts like I pianist knows his black and whites. I do a lot of personal shoots to push the boundaries of my skills and to improve on what I already know. Yet even after so many years there’s still more to techniques to learn in photoshop then I never knew about.

Compositioning, which I think is one of the hardest aspects of photography to grasp, thankfully came quite naturally to me. Perhaps of my background in architecture school and my peculiar habit since young to make things line up.

So all in all, again it was through osmosis which I learnt photography.

 

Which area of photography do you focus in?

Commercially, I find I have a predisposition towards shooting inanimate objects. Meaning to say product photography, interior and architectural photography and food photography. I do the occasional portrait but very rarely (if any) fashion, wedding, couple, family, pet and other “consumer targeted” photography.

I started the studio knowing for sure that I didn’t want to become some kind of makeover studio or bridal studio, I also didn’t enjoy photographing weddings and corporate events and did so only if I had to or as a favor to a friend. Somehow or another I gravitated towards what I focus on now and I’m happy where I am.

Personally if you have been reading, I love photographing places and spaces. Landscape photography, urbanscape photography and travel photography are all subjects that I like to photograph. I dabble in the occasional fine art photograph, build my own cameras and so on as well. In a nutshell, I personally photograph whatever I feel like photographing.

 

How would you describe your photographic style?

This one is hard to pin down. I THINK I have a style, but it’s constantly evolving.

In general, for my personal work I’m inclined towards high contrast, high saturation photographs. I seldom make use of negative space and prefer filling the frame as much as possible. I rarely photograph people unless they are part of the background or are integral to the photograph, when I do I never ask them to pose for me. I tend to be more anal about composition than I am about lighting. I prefer to go in take the shot and get out as soon as possible, not much patience in most cases.

I’ve also been told that my photographs look very “architectural” even though the subject matter isn’t. I personally think that my photographs tend to have some kind of weight and silence to them.

 

I noticed all of the prints you put up for sale where shot on film, is there a reason why?

When I first started out, I too thought that film was dead and digital was the way to go. However after looking back at trips which I shot both on film and digital, I started to find that the photographs shot on film displayed a much richer and holistic image. Digital photos tends to be too clean, too perfect whereas film photographs often exhibit a more “analogue” and authentic feel to them. Not to mention the absolute rush when you send your rolls of film for developing, wondering if you managed to get the shot, grinning like a child when you do and sulking when you don’t.

Shooting with medium format film cameras, you only get 10-12 shots per roll of film and each time your trigger happy finger presses the shutter it’s $1+ down the drain. This makes you think more before you press the shutter, thinking more generally means better photographs.

If you had ever seen a well photographed shot on a light table through a loupe, you would fall in love with film as well.

Of course my prints are digital prints, at this price it’s impossible to offer them as traditional darkroom prints. All my negatives and slides are scanned and archived ready to be printed once an order comes in.

Despite my love for film, there are photographers who shoot landscapes (and do them very well indeed) with digital cameras too, but most of them use very expensive cameras which I can currently only dream of owning. If you wish to help me attain this dream you can click on the donate button found at the bottom right of this screen, haha!

 

Where are you located and can I drop by for a visit?

My studio is currently located at 6A Lim Tua Tow Road, it’s a small unit on the 2nd story of an old shophouse. Anyone can drop by for a visit, just make sure you contact me beforehand as I don’t maintain regular opening hours.

 

Why don’t you have a photograph of yourself on the site? Are you heinously ugly?

It’s a strange phenomenon that happens to most photographers in that they all have horrible photos of themselves, mainly because they tend to prefer being behind the lens instead of in front of it. I too have yet to find a good enough photograph of myself to put up, so until then if you are stalking me (I hope not) and would like to know how I really look, there’s always all powerful google.

 

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Why are you offering your photographs for sale?

I have quite a number of personal projects over the years, most of which have no commercial value to them but I figured there might be people or organisations out there who would like to purchase photographic prints to decorate their homes and offices. As of now the only place you can do so readily would be at a certain Swedish furniture chain and those are just mass produced prints. You can of course also purchase them directly from friends who are photographers but this rarely happens in Singapore.

I eventually hope that I can open my own physical gallery and have a steady stream of people purchasing my work so that I can make this into a full time career as opposed to being a commercial photographer.

Some of your photos have very vibrant colours, are they “photoshopped”?

Unlike my commercial work where EVERYTHING is touched up, most of my personal work are not, those that are have had work done were very minimally touched up, mostly to adjust or balance the colours and tones within an image, nothing a photographer couldn’t do back in the darkroom days.

 

Will the colours of your prints fade over time?

I have engaged a professional printer who ensures that all prints are of archival quality (75 years and more). All canvas prints are printed on high quality canvas with original inks and coated with a clear laminate to further protect the surface, the prints are then delivered pre-wrapped around a hardwood frame and ready to be hung.

 

Why are you limiting certain prints to certain sizes, what if I want something bigger?

The main reason is because some of these photographs should, in my opinion, only be printed at these sizes. Any larger and the quality of the photograph drops, any smaller and the impact of the photograph is lost. Another reason is because of shipping, it’s very expensive to ship something so big. However if you do have a particular request for a print in an extra large size please contact me and I’ll see what I can do.

 
Why are the titles of your works all so literal? “Bicycle in front of shop”? Don’t you have more imagination?

It’s just something I do for a lot of my work. I name them exactly what they are, how they are, where they were shot, no gimmicks, no fluff, just the title of the image as it honestly should be.

 

I think your prints are a little too cheap/expensive, how did you decide on these figures?

Pricing is a very touchy topic, some people think I should be charging more, some think I’m insane to want $200+ for a photograph. All I can say is I think the prices that I am selling the prints for is fair, not too expensive that it just becomes unaffordable for most people, not too cheap that it devalues the work itself.

 

Do you ship internationally, and if so how much is it going to cost me?

Yes I do, for pricing on shipping please either refer to my carrier’s website at http://www.speedpost.com.sg/Worldwidecomparison.html and look under “Speedpost Worldwide Courier”, otherwise just make an order but stop short of confirming it to know how much it will cost.

I hope in future to streamline shipping cost and make it more affordable for an international audience. In the meantime I’ll have to stick to these rates.

 

What modes of payment do you provide?

At present I only accept Paypal for international orders as well as direct bank transfers for local orders only.

Please note that the gallery store works on a “print on demand” model, meaning to say that a print will be made only when an order is made. This will allow us to keep logistical costs low and pass on the savings to you. As such we will only process the order once the money has reached us.

 

I received the print but it is damaged or I am otherwise not pleased with it, can I get a refund?

I ask that you inspect the print carefully upon delivery, in the unfortunate instance whereby it is indeed damaged during the course of delivery kindly contact me and I’ll provide you with a replacement on the condition that it is immediately reflected at the point of delivery. I will refund you the additional shipping cost if any.

If you are otherwise not pleased with the print due to any other reasons other than physical damage during delivery (eg. you changed your mind, or even if the print doesn’t fit your decor) return it within 7 days of delivery in its original state and I’ll refund you 75% of the money you paid for the print. The reason why I can’t refund you the full amount is because the gallery store works on a “print on demand” basis, a print is made only when an order is filled. As such I would have logistical problems storing and trying to sell off the print should you return it. I seek your understanding on this matter.