Shin Ling Photography

11/08/2021

Last of my photoshoot with the gorgeous Naba, what an honour to have captured (a part of) her beauty 🌿🌸

11/08/2021

Soft, moody vibes with Naba 🌸

11/04/2021

A bit of a fun experimental one inspired by Raveena 🌸
Model: Naba

11/02/2021

A throwback to my second shoot with the GORGEOUS Naba. We played Raveena throughout the shoot and it's a very fond memory of mine 🌸

Gonna be posting a lot more throwbacks for a bit so bare with me, I'm trying to revive this account!

10/30/2021

Big final thank you to Aliah Nazamusa for trusting me with her photos for such a big day of her life!

10/28/2021

Another post from Aliah Nazamusa's graduation in 2018. It was beautiful to see how loved and supported she is by her family and friends! Montreal misses you, Aliah 🍂

10/26/2021

In the spirit of fall and convocations, here's a very VERY late posting of Aliah Nazamusa's graduation! It was such a fun shoot, thanks for trusting me with it ✨

03/20/2018

Hi so, I'm starting a personal project:

Over the next week or two, I'm going to be collecting and posting your thoughts, secrets, or stories on my Instagram account in the attempt to connect total strangers through vulnerability. I understand English, Japanese, Mandarin, (a little bit of) Malay, and some French, so do write in a language that you're comfortable in and I will translate it as necessary.

I'd love it if you could participate!

Link:

In this digital age, we are much more connected, yet ironically, it can be very difficult to feel connected to people. Humans are social creatures and we tend to hide some things about ourselves due to our fear of judgement, exclusion, isolation etc. Opening yourself up to vulnerability can be scary...

03/04/2018

Flowers Still Bloom
by Har Leen and Shin Ling • Photo series

The concept for this shoot came from reflections on how depression is normally represented through the media as well as through social and political discourse. We know that stereotypical image of someone experiencing depression: often in black and white, someone with their head buried into their knees, or in fetal position on their bed. There is not only this stereotype that people look very sad and depressed in a very particular way, but it becomes a social requirement that you reflect this image every single moment of every day in order for your experience of depression to be seen as legitimate and valid. There is, of course, nothing wrong with relating to such images, but the experience of depression is so different from one person to the next that it is a problem that these are the only representation depression gets through mainstream media.

The photoshoot itself was an act of reclaiming the narrative. We shot the entire series in Har Leen's bedroom, where she spends most of her time during her depressive episodes. We deliberately captured the evening sun and played with it in our photos, to show that depression does not necessarily mean one cannot see the light, it sometimes means they simply cannot experience it the way they could on better days. The hues of the photo series were also made to look warmer in order to create a contrast from the stock photo of depression we are used to seeing. Har Leen chose her outfit, a simple pink dress, illustrating the moments of softness and hope despite experiencing a chronic depressive cycle.

Although depression is not beautiful, and although we struggled with carrying out our vision without reinforcing a romanticization of depression, reclaiming the narrative of depression did mean seeing beauty in the ways someone continues to survive despite the suffering depression brings. The juxtaposition of the poem Flowers Still Bloom is intended to show the internal experience of our thoughts and emotions through moments of depression. The poem constitutes 9 mini-poems, which are attached to each photo of the series.

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Har Leen is a South Asian writer, artist and educator whose practice is entrenched in feminist and anti-racist principles and community-building approaches. As an educator, Har Leen uses arts-based approaches, ranging from visual arts to spoken word, to facilitate grassroots youth programming. She knows that artistic self-expression in safe and community settings can become a catalyst for collective healing and inducing transformative change. Har Leen's primary artistic practice is spoken word and writing, and she currently lives in Montreal writing her book of poetry.

01/28/2018

Another sneak peek of the shoot with the beautiful Harleen Bhogal, in which we tackled the theme of depression. She let me into her home, her bedroom, and opened up to me about how she experiences this illness. It was the most courageous act that made this shoot such a special one. One thing we both were in agreement of when we first established the theme was that we didn't want to have a photo shoot that portrayed the stereotypes of it. This will be her story told through my lens, in attempt to break boundaries on how stories of mental illness is told. This series will also be captioned with excerpts of her poetry, in hopes that it adds some context to your experience. I hope you absorb, learn, and grow through the art that we have created hand in hand. I am so excited to share them with you Stay tuned!

01/20/2018

A sneak peek to a recent photo shoot with the lovely Harleen Bhogal. She bravely showed her soul in this photo shoot, which produced an incredible result through the camera, so please send her some love

01/13/2018

I had to cancel a photo shoot today because of the snow. I was looking forward to the concept we came up with together but it had to be postponed. What a shame :(