DOUBLE DOUBLE
A Holly Lee and Lee Ka-sing online magazine
Published on Fridays since January 2019
李家昇黃楚喬網上雜誌，逢星期五出版
Writings/ Photographs/ Poetry/ Archives
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ARCHIVE
WORKS MAGAZINE
Assignments in those days of analog photography
Lee Ka-sing
WORKS MAGAZINE was in fact a printed matter, a promotional item for our studio in Hong Kong. It was published as a periodical, measured 8.5 x 11 inch, from 16 to 24 pages. In total, three issues were produced, from 1988 to Spring 1990. The first issue was Holly’s photography work on fashion, which was no where to be found at the time of this writing. What is being presented here are the second and third issue. These two issues covered a selection of assignments I did from 1984 to 1989, the beginning and especially green stage that I headed into the idea of handling photography assignments like an illustration, with personal style just like our creative peers; the professional illustrators in the design industry did.
In 1986, I was given an assignment from SAWASDEE, the Thai Airways in-flight magazine, to create one work to go with an article about the writer Somerset Maugh. From the article, I had to come up with an idea, a concept to construct such a photograph. This assignment changed my path of doing photography. I began to build up a style, with touch of personal signature, to construct, juxtaposing one object with another, play with association and metaphor, instead of just making a fine photograph. More free-hand commissioned assignments began to flow in.
WORKS MAGAZINE was mailed out to art directors of advertising agencies and design companies. The response was rewarding, providing positive feedback, most of which led to more assignments of this kind. That strengthened my initiate concept of blurring the line between commissioned and personal work. With more sophisticated assignments coming in, I became more mature. In 1993, I put up a solo exhibition at the Hong Kong Arts Centre, in which I showed a selection of thirty-one photographs from previous assignments. I claimed the exhibited photographs personal, reverencing them once, as commissioned works.
To construct a photograph, to me is similar to writing an article with words. Since I moved away from Hong Kong in 1997, I worked less on assignments except some projects for hotels and corporations. In the past fifteen years, I was able to spend more time on personal work. I’ve accomplished a number of projects such as the Mobile Poetry Lab and Z Fiction. It has never been clearer, that the manner of 'writing with photographs' can be rooted back to the way connected with my early assignments. Perhaps, the WORKS MAGAZINE was a crucial turning point.
Front cover: Shanghai series. Personal work, 1981
Left: Three bottles with scenario. Sawasdee Magazine, 1987
Right: Somerset Maugh. Sawasdee Magazine, 1986
Left: Before and after science. Personal work, 1981
Right: The Indonesian advertising scene. Editorial work, 1986
Left: Three men with hats (after shooting for a bank poster). Personal work, 1987
Right: Wire, Cable and plugs. Editorial work for Hong Kong Trade Development Council, 1987
Left: The fantasy of a man who’s living on an island. Editorial, 1986
Right: Crayon, watercolour and Mr. Picasso. Editorial work for Hong Kong Trade Development Council, 1987
Left: Yellow star and moon with stitches. Xinjiang series, 1987
Right: On the way to Turfan. Xinjiang series, 1987
Hello, Hong Kong. Mandarin Oriental Magazine, 1988
Left: Phoenix. Garment brochure cover, 1984
Right: Dragon. Garment brochure cover, 1984
Flower series. Mandarin Oriental Hotel calendar, 1986
The front and back covers for Ye Si’s short stories “A collection of three fishes”, 1987
Photographs for an annual report for a garment manufacturing company, 1987
Left: Remote-control cars in town. Editorial work, 1986
Right: The deluxe brands in Japanese market. Editorial work, 1986
Front cover: Cuisine culture. Publications magazine, 1988
Left: Whisky and Scottish Hogmanay. Discovery magazine, 1988
Right: The balance between a given pencil-sharpener. Design Exchange magazine
Left: Tea leaves and other growing ideas in early Spring. City magazine, 1988
Right: The Italian. Cathay Pacific menu cover, ad, poster, 1989
Left: Four objects. Publications magazine, 1988
Right: Neo-classicism. City magazine, 1988
Left: Chair in front of a painted sky. Mandarin Oriental magazine, 1989
Right: Two fake mounted cubes in front of an acrylic painted backdrop. Dragon Seeds Department Stores, 1989
One day among the sea wave of Greece white. Sawasdee magazine, 1988
Left: The golden temptation of December. City magazine, 1988
Right: The In-ward Expressionism. City magazine, 1988
Left: On the way to Tai-po and Shuo-lo-pun. Sawasdee magazine, 1988
Right: The French Revolution and Eiffel Tower. Discovery magazine, 1989
Back cover: French bread. Cathay Pacific Airways, menu cover, ad. 1989
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DOUBLE DOUBLE
Issue 0312-2021
A Holly Lee and Lee Ka-sing online magazine. Published on Fridays since January 2019. Published by OCEAN POUNDS and archived at oceanpounds.com
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Holly and Ka-sing currently live in Toronto with their daughter Iris, and their cat Sukimoto. Contact with email at - mail@leekasing.com / holly@xpecial.com
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