Let's take a closer look at what Zhang Jingna is all about. Although most know her for her e-sports work, she is an award-winning photographer that has traveled the world for the better half of a decade, capturing breathtaking moments through the lens of her camera.

This column is the sole opinion of the author and does not represent the opinion of Heaven Media Ltd or the opinion of any affiliates.

Zhang Jingna, a young woman born in the suburbs of Beijing, has become one of the most respected photographers not only within the e-sports scene but also the deviantART community, earning the coveted Deviousness Award, an award of excellence to pillars of the community that have gone above and beyond -- something only 152 people have received since 1999 amongst the nearly 20,000,000 users that roam the site actively.

As the regular visitors may recall, once every few seasons I try to expose someone totally unrelated to gaming in an attempt to bring 'the outside world' into the realm of e-sports, something we may not have the pleasure of seeing too often.

Last year we all traveled to Los Angeles as we took a look at what Sam Aotaki had to say about her modeling career and how being featured in a famous YouTube video felt. This past April before the masses broke loose for summer, we traveled to Detroit and dove into Ross Capicchioni's life and revealed his past, teaching us that with dedication, strength and a bit of hope, we can get through anything. Today, we're grabbing a pillow and a few snacks as we strap ourselves in for a long flight to Singapore.

This is her story.



Jingna in Toronto, Canada


Jingna, it's wonderful to have you here with us today. If you'd be so kind as to inform us about your childhood and how it was growing up in Beijing with its unique culture, then later moving to Singapore.

Hi Jeff! Thank you for having me.

I was born in the suburbs of Beijing and grew up at the Beijing Shooting Range under my mother’s care. Around 4 or so I moved into the city with my father so I could learn piano. Then I went to an arts elective school instead of a regular pre-school where I learnt drawing and dance.

I think there’s a lot of stereotyping about Chinese kids being forced to pick up all these things but I had always been interested in art and music I guess, so it was a lot of fun for me and definitely made an impact upon my interests in later years.

You're quite the shot -- many people may not be aware, but you're actually a very talented air rifle shooter, breaking a national record 10 years ago and even going on to win Sports Girl of the Year via Singapore's Olympic Council. How'd you ever get into air rifles?

With the previous answer I don’t think it’s hard to guess. My mum was a sports psychology researcher at the Chinese national shooting team for eight years, then later became a coach for air rifle and pistol shooting in Singapore. When I moved to Singapore I would often go to the shooting range with her while I tried to study English, so when the time came to pick extra curriculum activities in secondary school I ended up trying air rifle.

Porcelain

Later on, just over a half decade ago, you picked up the lens and that's where it all began. A natural talent at photography, you dropped the air rifle team and became a full-time photographer. Have you always been interested in the art of photography, or was this just a random urge? You've said in previous interviews that you were documenting your own work while you became interested.

Yes, I was in fashion school at that time. As I mentioned I’ve always had some sort of fascination with art when I was young. But I think the inkling to photography really only started with my interest in Japanese visual rock. I just wanted to do something that could bring me closer to being part of it, so I learnt fashion design and went to makeup school. I think the original idea was so I could eventually be part of the image creations and make things could look like those from the jrock magazines. Then, after I got a camera, I realized 'hey I could be one to make the actual image!' Haha.

When it comes to working with brand names and more known celebrities, you're a veteran. Your portfolio shows beautiful work with Mercedes-Benz, Canon and even Rain, one of Korea's more loved figures in music. Is it somewhat surreal to be approached by such companies, or are you the type that looks at everyone equally?

I tend to think everyone I get to work with is special, be it an unknown model or a celebrity. Because if I don’t feel excited about working with the subject, then the work itself will probably fall flat as well. But of course I won’t deny the bigger names definitely generate more interest in terms of commercial value for me, but for myself, at the end of the day, I try to do my best with every single shoot and make them all count.

The Journey

Once again coming back to your achievements, you've won numerous awards including Master Photographer of the Year for Singapore's Print competition, the Elle 2011 Photographer of the Year and beside that nearly a dozen other related awards. How does this affect your take on photography if at all, and what impact does it have regarding your motivation?

To be honest I don’t really think much about it. Of course it’s always a great honor and many times unexpected. But maybe it’s training from our air rifle days about how you have to put media and achievements behind you, so as to not have it affect your upcoming performances, I just generally not let them get to me? I’m certainly not shooting to win an award. :D

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We've learned where she grew up and what her inspiration is; let's take an even deeper look into her career itself and what all the gaming stuff is about.

This column is the sole opinion of the author and does not represent the opinion of Heaven Media Ltd or the opinion of any affiliates.

Was there ever the thought of risking a stable income or career for the chance to become a successful photographer that came across your mind? It's been said as a stereotype that photography is one of the industries where you either go big or go home, and many individuals despite being drawn to the art choose to study a more reliable field and keep photography as a hobby, opposed to a career. What's your take on that, being a top tier professional that's surely seen the industry go both ways for people?

I’ve never really thought about it that way or worried about it. Sure I guess when I decided to quit school to do photography full time I did think about what I’d do if I failed and can’t support myself. But so long as you do something worth doing I think it’s better than living a safe path and regretting having never tried.

Out of the individuals you've worked with, who would you consider the most memorable as far as the experience you had with the person and how well they fit in with your style?

Sugizo from Japanese rock bands Luna Sea and X Japan. I first saw him in a movie when I was about 14, and I grew up listening to the music of those two bands. He’s an amazing guitarist, but besides that power, there’s an undeniable beauty and grace to the way he plays the violin that I’d always been attracted to.

Working with him was definitely one of those super surreal moments where I realized that wow, it isn’t just a dream anymore, I’m right here. I never even thought I’d one day watch their concerts live and suddenly I’m getting introduced and backstage at their reunion live and having dinner together.

Buried Memories

Bouncing off the last question, style is something very unique in photography. For instance, someone like Annie Leibovitz will go after something more serious, whereas Terry Richardson is more gritty and humorous in his work. If you were to lean towards an approach to photography, what would you consider it to be?

I think beautiful, yet, sad.

As one skims your portfolio and sees works of various models, settings and themes, there's somewhat of a dark undertone that is captured in a unique and interesting manner, as if it's intended but at the same time not. In contrast to many photographers that capture scenery or animals, your works appear to contain more crushed colors that compliment each individual as if the surrounding adapts to them, not vice versa. Give us some background on this -- is this intended?

I think colors are extremely important in setting the mood for an image, so I focus a lot on getting it right, so yes, it is intended.

Sean 'Day[9]' Plott

Regarding the gaming scene, you've been keen on Starcraft for quite some time. What inspired you to delve into video game photography and what, if anything, makes it unique from your usual pieces?

I grew up with a lot of guys who work in video games, concept artists, animators, art directors. So out of not wanting to be left out on all the jokes and puns from projects they’ve worked on I make an effort to check out the games. StarCraft II kind of started that way for me.

As I made friends and started hanging out with a couple guys often, we decided to make a clan, then eventually turned it into a team last year and that’s how Infinity Seven was born. Going along with the team to various MLGs I started taking photos at the events, and when TeamLiquid featured my blog posts for the pictures on its frontpage people started to notice my pictures.

One of the really interesting things to me is the lighting at events that make images super vibrant, colourful and dramatic.

I don’t have a habit of using too much artificial colored lighting in most of my work, so it’s a very interesting exploration to work with such different setups. And of course seeing my work as Day9’s profile picture on Forbes was pretty cool too.

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Moving on from gaming, let's hop into YouTube for a second and check out what she's done with Michelle Phan and what type of gear she uses to get the job done!

This column is the sole opinion of the author and does not represent the opinion of Heaven Media Ltd or the opinion of any affiliates.

Michelle Phan is a personal favorite YouTuber that I've followed for many years from when she first started her videos. Recently, you've done a few shots with her. How'd you two get to meet up and are there any future projects we should be aware of?

I think Michelle first saw my work on deviantART, where I had been posting my work ever since I started photography. We never really talked, then one day someone pointed her link to me where she was using one of my photos as her twitter background, and from there we sort of just started talking.

At that time I was in and out of Los Angeles pretty often, where she’s based, so before I left we made it a point to meet up and collaborate, she was super amazing to work with! I’m currently working on moving to New York and I think we’ll definitely be doing something again after I get there.

Michelle Phan

Do you think an art like photography requires the person to be passionate about their work, opposed to something like game design or programming where someone can bust open a textbook and become a guru? What's your take on those that are forcing themselves to "be cool" and get into photography -- is it still possible for them to succeed?

Actually I don’t think someone can be super great at something by just studying a textbook, without your own time and passion put into it whatever it is that you’re doing it’s just going to be stale and textbook-like... ;_;

The equipment photographers use can be the difference between a great picture and a picture that takes your breath away. Fill us in on the main components to your gear collection for those interested -- cameras/tripods/the lot.

I use a Canon 1Ds Mark III and Profoto Lighting.

You've achieved more in roughly a decade than most have in two or three. How do you remain so humble while winning awards and taking the photography scene by storm, is it just your nature?

It’s perhaps the Chinese upbringing in me, we have a number of sayings that goes something like, there are mountains beyond mountains, people beyond people. The gist of it is there’s always room to improve, always something and someone better and greater, so I am always chasing to better myself, there’s little time to dwell on what I’ve already done I guess.

Various Photographs by Jingna (click to enlarge)
As we look at photographs from years past, each embraces a certain moment in time or memory. Do you think that when you're doing what you do best, it's more important to capture these moments than worry about how clear the photo is or if the lighting is right? In other words, does emotional properties supercede the actual photo's quality in your opinion in any way or is it a balance of the two?

Emotional value definitely supercedes the technical aspect of things.

Have you ever considered going into videography/motion graphics?

For sure, I’ve always been interested but feared learning and sucking at it. But recently I bought a new camera that I can do video with, so I’ll be experimenting.

Speaking of motion, where'd the alias "zemotion" come from? Break it down for us.

It’s actually really nerdy, it means zero emotion and came about from the anime Gundam Wing.

In the show there was something called the ZERO system that could be installed in the giant mechas which pushed the pilots beyond regular human limits for pain during battle (or at least that was my impression back then), and I thought, I wanted to be strong like that.

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Congratulations! You've survived three pages. Don't worry, the end is near. Let's wrap things up and check out where we can keep in touch with Jingna!

This column is the sole opinion of the author and does not represent the opinion of Heaven Media Ltd or the opinion of any affiliates.

There's countless numbers of aspiring photographers that are yearning for tips that you can't find online or something that classrooms don't tell you. For you, what would that tip be? How does one progress from amateur to professional?

That is usually the misconception I think, I honestly don’t think there’s any tip that could be a shortcut that people are trying to be secretive about, it’s just a lot of practice, and there’s no quality without quantity.

Of The Night IV

What exclusive projects do you have in the future that we should be looking forward to? Any secrets you can reveal a bit early?

Anything super secretive I probably can’t really talk about anyway, but I guess I can say that I’ll be on a major reality TV show this year. I’m not gonna be in it for a whole season or anything but it’s still pretty cool! :D

Care to share any wise words of wisdom as motivation for those of us looking to get into photography for the first time?

Don’t be afraid to experiment, study the light and colours in images you like and take lots of pictures!

It's been a wonderful interview and experience, thank you tons for stopping by Cadred and having a chat with us. We'll keep in close touch and look forward to your return every now and then so you can keep us updated on your journey through the realm of photography. Any last words to wrap this up?

Thank you Jeff for having me, and anyone who’s read this whole interview -- my fans, my agents, my team Infinity Seven, and our grand sponsors SteelSeries, deviantART, GGWP Apparel and ScienceWerk.

Cold Flowers

That concludes my time with Jingna as we move towards closing out this summer just a week-ish after the last hurrah for the Counter-Strike: Source scene at i46. With the transition to CS:GO upon us, the transition of some younger individuals' lives may soon follow, whether it be an introduction to the work force or their first step into college or university.

Regardless, take away this if nothing else: open your mind to new things, explore what you wish and never let anything come in the way of your dreams, however silly or serious. Want to keep in touch with Jingna? Click the icons below to take you to her page on that website. Expect some KESPA pieces coming up in the near future before we switch back to the nostalgia pieces.