Funki Porcini - Mixer - New York
Phillip Wong Photography
Portrait/Editorial
Funki Porcini – Mixer Magazine
While in London, I became friends with models who often spent nights going from pubs where they would gather information about various raves, and we would be invited to squats and warehouses, junkyards and undergrounds.
I knew something about the House music scene emerging from Chicago, and London blew the scene up. When I came back to New York, I began working with a small publication MixMag, which changed to Mixer, which highlighted the DJs who emerged to become the stars of the underground scenes.
Funki Porcini was one of the many artists who I was introduced to, and his mocking of money in his work made me hunt down handfuls of play money to burn in our shoot.
Like the London publications, young American designers were seeking to push the edges of design, but with a constant pressure of deadline and budget, we can see differences.
Brands - London
Phillip Wong Photography
Fashion/Editorial
Blitz Magazine – Brands
While I have worked for established publications and designers, I have also sought to work with smaller, newer, developing and potentially influential magazines and designers.
In London, The Face, ID, and Blitz came from the street to make influential statements in graphic design, photography and styling. The editors and graphic designers at the emerging publications shaped the publishing of France, Italy, Britain and New York as their work was recognized.
Neville Brody, at The Face, commented on my choice of framing and composition, as editors from all three publications called when I went back to Milan, and they wanted content from the Continent.
Branded was conceived by Blitz in London, but as all these publications were constantly on a tight schedule, they gave me a day to plan, shoot and send the material back to London.
I was given a handful of branded items, booked friends who were available that night, shot everything on black and white Polaroid film, turned everything around in hours and had it going back to London by morning. It reminded me of spot news photography in speed and production.
The graphics on the vertical page sides echoed the the extreme sharpness of lighting and starkness of the black and white but was done in London.
Anna Lingerie - London
Phillip Wong Photography
Fashion/Editorial
Anna Magazine – Lingerie Story
When I arrived in London from Milan, I wasn’t planning on shooting, but I went to visit publications, modeling agencies, people in the industry, just to introduce myself.
I had viewed British fashion as going in two separate directions for a very long time – the classic, society designers and retail establishments, and the “street,” more irreverent, politically opinionated, structurally diverse, newer designers.
Anna Magazine contacted me soon after I arrived. I was dependent on the first agencies I visited to point me to studios, labs, make-up, hair, stylists, assistants and of course, they helped me with the models.
In New York, I had developed a black and white toned look that had a classic feel. Because I did everything myself, and each part of the process had been developed myself, I needed access to a lab, chemistry, equipment or use of these elements.
Beauty Sun Care (German)
Phillip Wong Production
Editorial/Beauty
Beauty Sun Care
Over the course of two weeks, when working with the German publication Madame, our production shot content for multiple articles, from fashion, to beauty, to lifestyle and covers.
Balancing between the models that editors (and I) wanted, and location availability, transportation, small item (usually accessories), hair and make-up, we ended up with a beauty shoot, and a cover that we had to shoot on the last day.
The beauty story was about an awareness of sun on the skin of fair skinned people (our model had red hair). The hair and make-up was light and natural, but we needed a location.
I went in back of our editors’ hotel, and finding a few palm trees and a view of the ocean, asked hotel management if we could shoot there. Since the editors had rooms there, management had no problems with our using the area.
Using the palm trees as a backdrop, some gauzy material, a white swimsuit bottom that we hadn’t used on any other shoots, I stripped the beds, and asked one of the housekeepers for additional sheets, climbed the trees that would be on of our backdrops, and wrapped them in white.
Wrapping the model’s white bikini bottoms with a gauzy wrap (to echo the wrapped trees), and leaving her topless (to emphasize the skin and sun and cloudless skies), we finished the shooting within an hour. We shot her as one potential cover, and another model (who was being made-up as we shot), for the cover the editors guessed would be used.
In both cases, we had to work fast – the sun was burning and tanning both models with each moment in the sun (which we would later see in our shots as time progressed).
Gold Richtig (German)
Phillip Wong Photography
Editorial/Fashion
Gold Richtig
Working from one country, for another country or to produce editorial work that has relevance and interest to multiple audiences takes understanding not solely what MY tastes are, but what THEIR tastes are.
I had spoken to the editors of Madame Magazine initially in Munich, and did follow up discussions when I returned to a base in New York. We met in Miami to shoot multiple stories for a few issues.
I started with the premise that their German audience (cold weather), would want to see sun, sand, glamor, and something different.
In producing Gold Richtig, I found that Hialeah racetrack was not in session, and immediately inquired about the availability. We gained access to some of the public areas (we didn’t want to bring in ground crews or open paddocks, and backstretches because of the cost), but the grandeur of “The Sport of Kings,” with palm trees and long stretches of roadways, gave balance to the opulence of the wardrobe we were working with.
The model was German, superb and had a great tattoo on her foot which (for me), revealed her understanding of the clothing. Make up and hair was perfect.
Catalog and Inventory
Phillip Wong Productions
Catalog And Inventory
Cataloging and Inventory of items for sale is a matter of finding consistency and understanding what viewers will see.
Floral Icon Events
Phillip Wong Photography
Floral Icon Events
Floral Icon Events was a company was focused on creating decor and floral arrangements for corporate events, product and venue launches, non-profit fundraisers and cultural galas.
In growing quickly through marketing outreach, communications and proposals, we photographed samples of complex arrangements to explain and teach our clients what we would do, and how it could be done.
Like the current pandemic, 2008’s financial meltdown erased many of our existing clientele, and we transitioned into different areas.
