Ming Thein of MingThein.com from Malaysia is a photographer first, a philosopher / writer second, a commercial photographer third, a teacher fourth and a blogger a distant fifth. In saying that, he has one of the most popular photography blogs on the web. If that's his distant fifth, you can imagine how good a photographer this guy is!
After receiving a master’s degree in physics at 16 and a successful career in business, Ming Thein became a full-time photographer in 2011. He's has since been named one of the worlds best street and commercial photographers today and appears to be working more hours and harder than any photographer I know yet he says it doesn't feel like work.
Here’s some of what we cover:
What is your big takeaway?
Following this interview, I’d love to know what your biggest takeaway is – what is the one thing that you’d like to implement or learnt from what was shared? Let me know by leaving your thoughts in the comments below.
I'm trying to give the best value to my clients – Ming Thein
If you have any questions that I missed, a specific question you’d like to ask Ming or if you just want to say thanks for coming on the show, feel free to add them below.
I'm a very binary person. Either I do it or I don't, and if I do it, I do it at 110% – Ming Thein
It really is not about how good you are. You can be good enough. As long as you're good enough and you can sell, you'll do very well. But if you're really really good and you can't sell, then you're screwed – Ming Thein
I would personally rather have fewer but better images – Ming Thein
I try and see the world in colors and shapes. If there's interesting geometries, colors, shapes and textures, I'll just shoot it anyway. I shoot anything – Ming Thein
Links to people, places and things mentioned in this episode:
Sebastião Salgado: Genesis Review
Equipment:
Hasselblad H5D-50c Wi-Fi Medium Format DSLR Camera Body
Nikon D810 FX-format Digital SLR Camera Body
Fujifilm Neopan ACROS Black-and-White Negative Film ISO 100, 35mm, 36 Exposures
Thank you!
Thanks again for listening to the show and thanks to Ming for coming on and experimenting with a new and different format for this photography podcast.
The main thing that unifies all of my images is control and precision. I'm a very precise and controlled photographer both in terms of composition and in terms of exposure , and everything – Ming Thein
If you have any suggestions, comments or questions about this episode, please be sure to leave them below in the comment section of this post, and if you liked the episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of the post!
That’s it for me, hope everything is going well for you in life and photography!
Thanks and speak soon
Andrew
Great interview! Thank you both for the straight forward conversation.
Thanks Joao – great to have you listening!
Loved how you let the interview continue at the end – lots of good stuff.
Ming – I don’t think I have commented on your blog or otherwise we have engaged, just a long time reader. I recomended you to Andrew just based on the quality of your thoughts, work and IQ (Image Quality).
Andrew – I’m in the States, not UK (I wish sometimes). 25-years+ as a photojournalist and in newspaper & TV management overseeing photoj. staff, now doing real estate photography as you said, along with other work.
Glad you enjoyed this one Rollin and thanks again for the referring Ming to me – great suggestion!
Yep, I did know you’re in the States, slip of the tongue in the moment, my apologies.
Keep your interview referrals coming Rollin, you’ve not let me down once and always throw up wonderful suggestions. Thank you.