My name is Adrien Chan Wei Leong – a Penang Boy in all respects and started to get interested in photography five years ago from date hereof. Only in 2008 the photography interest has morphed into a passion now. I have always been in tune with expressing my thoughts in the form of an image. I believe it is my imagination which guides me when I make a photograph. Obviously I also have a passion to share what I have envisioned, hence my love for photography.

I am flexible, however I shoot a lot of documentary photography in recent years. I prefer to shoot ‘unstaged’ kind of photos which captures candid, street life & heritage images. I also like to shoot travel photography & will do so whenever I have the opportunity.
I am pretty much where I am in terms of the type of photographer that I’d like to be. It wouldn’t hurt to get into other kinds of photography like macro, portraiture & perhaps some fashion photography. I would however like to be able to display my work in a gallery & be able to market some of my limited prints.

I am inspired by early 20th century photographers like Henri Cartier-Bresson & Ansel Adams. I have always liked the gritty work of black & white film photography.

Everyday life is my subject! I go to the same locations & most of my photography are on the streets of Penang, including some heritage images as well. I often challenge myself going to a place which many of my peers go to but while they go about shooting cliches, I look for subjects, angles & compositions which other photographers never think of. Very often my photographs are of everyday objects which people use & rely on, but never really about the people who use it. I just leave a photo cropped for the audience to fill in the blanks.

I believe that the photographer makes the photograph, not the gear or equipment. If you pay less attention to gear aquisition, you would be a better photographer.

I shoot mostly in natural light & the end results of my photos often mimic film. Muted colors with some magenta or brownish tinge, accentuated by exaggerated contrast & glow. I sometimes do black & white or sepia like photos & I look for narrow depth of field in my shots. I prefer short prime lenses as opposed to zooms or telephotos.

I do not specialize in one type of photography. However I do consider myself an opportunist & like documentary & street photography. I shoot with multiple mediums. I have a Canon DSLR, some Canon 35mm film SLRs & an iPhone 4.

My gears are:

Cameras
Canon EOS 7D (DSLR)
Canon EOS 5 (35mm SLR)
Canon AE-1 (35mm SLR)
Canon A-1 (35mm SLR)
Apple iPhone 4

Lenses
Canon EF 17-40mm f/4.0 L USM Lens
Canon EF 24mm f/1.4 L II USM Lens
Canon EF 50mm f/1.2 L USM Lens
Canon FD 28mm f/2.8
Canon FD 50mm f/1.8

Other equipment
Canon Speedlite 430EX II Flash