Remote Advertising Campaign for Danone

I recently shot a campaign for European conglomerate Danone, and this was done with remote supervision from creative agency BETC and clients from France. The shoot was conducted in Suzhou, China, and we had multiple conference calls during pre production and on location production in order to arrive at the final result.

I have since done multiple remote shooting projects, and while it took some getting used to, I realise some of these operations and procedures will remain even after the pandemic is over.

This is the final result. After weeks of preproduction, shooting on the ground and post production communications.

We had Covid-19 measures, including making sure our Chinese location pandemic apps indicated we were in the green zone and being healthy.

We did the shoot while my clients and creative agency was sitting by their computers in France. I communicated with them via a video conferencing app and they were able to see the output direct from my camera. This was hooked up through a tethered cable and viewed on Capture One.

Advertising is always a process, and I enjoy the journey of discussion and tinkering from concept to result.

From concept sketch to finalised result.

In the end, advertising campaigns are always a team effort. If you want to do something, at least have fun doing it. Grateful to the clients, advertising agency and my team on the ground to make it work. Till the next one!

Credits

Client: Danone

Agency: BETC Paris

Production: Eagle Media

Producer: Mia

First Assistant : Taylor

DIT and Retoucher: Emma Liao

Equipment Rentals: YY Rentals

Gaffer: Zen

More at http://www.stefenchow.com

Advertising Campaign for Zhende Medical

I recently photographed an advertising campaign for Zhende, a Chinese company specializing in medical supplies including facemasks. Shot two months ago, and the campaign was just released.

The concept of the campaign is how anyone can be a non professional medical personnel at home, be it a mother, a younger or older partner. I love the thoughtfulness of the campaign, as I am too a partner, a parent at home. I find the campaign very relatable.

This shoot had massive logistics, involving close to 100 people on set, with multiple locations shot in a 4 storey mansion in Shanghai over one long shoot day. This was shot concurrently alongside a TVC production.

Some of the behind of the scenes on what made the shoot possible. Its a team effort!

I worked with professional actors, and their acting credits are longer than my cv, including the boy in the ad. He has acted in a few movies, and he’s just 8 years old. This is also the first time I used the 100 megapixel medium format Fuji GFX100. What a beautiful camera.

These are some additional photographs shot for their social campaigns, utilising the same models in similar settings.

Credits

Client: Zhende
Creative
Agency: Oglivy Shanghai
Production: Gree Productions
Photographer/Director: Stefen Chow
Some of the Equipment Used: Fuji GFX100, Broncolor, Apple Computers, Capture One Pro, Adobe Photoshop, Tethered Tools

More can be seen at www.stefenchow.com

#fuji #gfx100 #broncolor #captureone

Thank you!

Stefen

Beijing

4th August 2020

Photographing Winter Sportsmen in Summer

While our commissioned projects were put on hold during this second wave, I reached out to various sports athletes in Beijing and we did various shoots at studios, ice skating rinks and outdoor locations. One of them is national sportswoman with a podium finish at the Winter Olympics, another was a X Games champion and all of them were red hot passionate about their sport.

Chadui, 37 is an extreme sportsman, having dabbled in competitive snowboarding, rock climbing, surfing and mountaineering

There is also an undeniable vulnerability in these strange times as it was challenging for athletes to train without being hampered by the challenges of the pandemic. I loved making this series; I was a mountaineer and I can appreciate the dedication and sacrifice they put into the sport.

Behind the scenes and preparation for a shot done in studio.

I always approach my personal projects with a purpose to photograph subject matter that I have personal interest in, and I am always pushing what I can do on the technicalities end – Camera, lenses, lighting and ability to translate that into an emotive visual.

Thank you,

Stefen

Beijing, 6th July 2020

Photographed with the following equipment.

Camera and lenses – Nikon D850

Lenses – Various prime lenses, Nikon 35mm 1.4, 85mm 1.8. Sigma 50mm 1.4

Lighting – Profoto B10s and A1

Lightstands – Manfrotto

Tripod – Gitzo Tripod

Computer – Apple Laptop with Tethertools cables

Software – Capture 1 Pro, Adobe Lightroom, Adobe Photoshop

First Assistant – Shawn Koh

Producer Assistant – Ling Ling

Campaign for HPE Tokyo

I was commissioned by Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company (commonly referred to as HPE) to do a campaign shoot for their Japan operations late last year.

The American multinational enterprise information technology is a business-focused organization with two divisions: Enterprise Group, which works in servers, storage, networking, consulting and support, and Financial Services. HPE ranked No. 107 in the 2018 Fortune 500 list of the largest United States corporations by total revenue.

It has been an amazing experience working with a full service production company, Twenty First City in Tokyo, while my clients flew in from Oakland and London. I served as the motion director and stills photographer as we traversed Tokyo to photograph different locations, scenarios with multiple talents from day to night in this multi day shoot.

Few shoots are as enjoyable as being with a crew and clients who are as understanding, professional, and love a good laugh on and off sets. It always feels like magic when that happens.

Behind the scenes. We have lots of fun doing this.

Thank you.

Stefen Chow

2nd June 2020

Credits

Client: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company

Creative Agency: Image Design Works (IDW)

Production: Twenty First City, Japan

Director/Still Photographer: Stefen Chow

Director of Photography: Nelson Quan

Producer: Kay Ueda, Tak Inoue

1st Assistant: Bruce YK

1st Assistant for Film: Mizuki Nishida

Make Up, Costumes, Styling, Location, Catering, Transport : Twenty First City, Japan

More at www.stefenchow.com

Campaign for KHOS Hotels

I had the privilege working with KHOS Hotels, a new hotel concept by Rosewood Hotel Group on their inaugural hotel launch. KHOS is an upscale hotel brand that aims to seamlessly blend business with lifestyle, drawing inspiration from the energy, art, innovation, creativity, style and dynamism of modern Asia.

I was commissioned to photograph the official still imagery of the first KHOS hotel, and it has been a wonderful experience working with the Rosewood Hotel Group team from the start to finish.

Thank you. The hotel website can be seen at https://www.khos.com/en/

More of my hospitality and architecture portfolio can be seen at https://www.stefenchow.com/Portfolio/Spaces/thumbs

Best regards,

Stefen Chow

15th April 2020

Credits

Client: Rosewood Hotel Group

Location: KHOS Hotel Langfang

Still Photographer: Stefen Chow

Assistant: Shawn Koh

Retouching: Emma Liao

Corporate ESG Portraits for Denis Group

I was recently commissioned by French Denis Group, the parent company for Ayam Brand to photograph a series of environment portraits for their latest E.S.G (Environment, Social and Governance) report. I had a long working relationship with the 158 year old family owned company, and they have sent me around the world more than once to photograph their corporate facilities, and global advertising campaigns. I grew up with Ayam Brand products: my mother used to make me Ayam sardine sandwiches, and I grew up healthy and strong because of that.

These are some photographs from the assignment. I did a road trip from North to South of Peninsula Malaysia, traveled 4 days, and photographed passionate, happy and caring people.

The Report can be seen online at http://denisgroup.net/sustainability.html

Thank you,

Stefen

6th March 2020

Credits

Client: Denis Group

Group Marketing Director: Herve Simon

Still Photographer: Stefen Chow

Assistant: Kuik Yi Ke

Retouching: Stefen Chow

Print and Video Campaign for Nestle

It has been a pleasure working with Nestle Global to launch its newest product line, Nesqino into the Chinese Market.

I worked with clients from Nestle Switzerland, Nestle China with creative direction from Publicis to create a set of lifestyle imagery that embodies the brand values and direction of their product. The project was produced by Getty Images and Feng Studios. The shoot took place in Shanghai.