I was waiting for the 2009 PDN’s 30 website to be released (as I do every year) but it’s extra special because my friend/occasional boss, Darren Soh, is featured this year. Darren is a commercial and editorial photographer based in Singapore.
Darren made his decision to go full-time when he returned from a mission after the Indian Ocean tsunami sometime in 2005. Since then, he has shot for major corporate clients and editorials.
To build a career in a small market like Singapore, says Darren Soh, you have to be a generalist. “If you specialized in any genre or field of photography, or if your pictures were only of a certain distinctive style, there’s a very good chance that you would go hungry.”
This basically sums up how hard it is to survive as a professional photographer in Singapore. We were talking about it last week and he was reassuring me that it’s actually possible to do well here. What struck me was how hard he worked and his obvious love for the medium, which I think are probably the main reasons for his success. (Besides talent, of course.)
Once again, congratulations to Darren for being featured in the magazine. It makes me feel über proud to be a Singaporean.
Click here to see his commercial work and here to see his personal work.
Side note: I absolutely hate it how badly the PDN site worked. Way too many popups and the iffy navigation just puts people off. I guess they want you to buy the physical copy instead.
Darren Soh
I was waiting for the 2009 PDN’s 30 website to be released (as I do every year) but it’s extra special because my friend/occasional boss, Darren Soh, is featured this year. Darren is a commercial and editorial photographer based in Singapore.
Darren made his decision to go full-time when he returned from a mission after the Indian Ocean tsunami sometime in 2005. Since then, he has shot for major corporate clients and editorials.
TOP, from (“Singapore XL”), MIDDLE, from (“While You Were Sleeping”), BOTTOM, from (“The Library Project”)
© Darren Soh, 2004-2009
From the PDN interview:
This basically sums up how hard it is to survive as a professional photographer in Singapore. We were talking about it last week and he was reassuring me that it’s actually possible to do well here. What struck me was how hard he worked and his obvious love for the medium, which I think are probably the main reasons for his success. (Besides talent, of course.)
Once again, congratulations to Darren for being featured in the magazine. It makes me feel über proud to be a Singaporean.
Click here to see his commercial work and here to see his personal work.
Side note: I absolutely hate it how badly the PDN site worked. Way too many popups and the iffy navigation just puts people off. I guess they want you to buy the physical copy instead.