Kai Z Feng
Demand for Shanghai-born, London-based photographer Kai Z Feng is growing rapaciously. His Flickr blog updates with quality images of famous faces on a frighteningly quick basis. Though he turned his hand to commercial photography just two years ago, Burberry and Aquascutum campaigns and prestigious covers have solidified his reputation. His skilled, natural portraiture of young faces (like the new Skins actors above) always grabs the attention. For Feng, “Everything is about desire, love and intimacy. I love human anatomy. With the human body I can always find something beautiful. It’s not just about the face.”
A shoot takes Kai just a day or two to prepare, and afterwards he uses surprisingly little retouching: “Most of my favourite works aren’t too retouched at all. I wish they’d never invented it!”
Kai often photographs a small souvenir of himself with the celebrity he’s shooting, and he appears to enjoy working with such a diverse pool of people: “I loved the Mischa Barton shoot. I know there is lots of bad press about her being difficult but on the shoot she was surprisingly relaxed and trusting.”
As I interviewed Kai, he was rushing off to shoot for British and French Vogue, but he has worked further afield for Vogue China. Kai believes that there has been a definite growth in the role of fashion in his homeland: “the industry in China is definitely reaching an international level; more and more Chinese designers are emerging.” Kai acknowledges that fashion photography can place limits on his creative impulses, but is fully booked for the near future. He is also working on “an exciting project for Shanghai Expo 2010”.
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