Based (very) occasionally out of Melbourne, Ying Ang is a photographer of stories, journeys and contemporary quirks. She has lived and worked in Singapore, New York, Melbourne and Sydney, although spent most of her life growing up in a small town by the sea.
Ying is a voracious consumer of pop culture, subculture, radiohead songs, short stories, long stories, true stories, false stories and bedtime stories. She is currently enrolled in the 1 year Documentary and Photojournalism Certificate course at the International Centre of Photography in New York.

She also keeps very good company. www.wearemjr.com and yingangphoto.com/doctordoctor/

When and how did you become interested in Photography?

I began taking photographs when I was 22. My dad gave me a camera and made me read the instruction manual. I took off to Europe for a few months and haven’t stopped taking photos since.

What gear do you mainly shoot with?

I don’t really shoot on a single format. It depends on how I visualise a situation and then use the equipment that is going to deliver those results. I have to confess that collecting cameras is a serious personal vice…

What is your #1 source of inspiration?

Oddities.

Many times photographers find themselves with a full schedule of paying gigs, and end up with little time for doing the work they truly love. Do you struggle with finding time for your personal work?

I basically devote the majority of my time to personal work. I was told once that there are 2 kinds of photographers in this world. One being the kind that takes photographs to make money and the other being the kind that makes money to take photographs. I’m hoping to find some sort of middle ground.

What is your all time favorite genre to shoot (portraiture, conceptual, commercial, etc..)?

Documentary and holiday snaps – mainly because it means I get to be on the road.

What is one thing that makes your work unique>?

I’m not sure that it is particularly unique, but I’ve been told that there is a sense of freedom about the way that I shoot. Ultimately, the only thing that separates one photographer from the next is a point-of-view… so the way I see strangeness, beauty and humour in certain situations hopefully comes across in the images I am making.

if you could photograph anyone, dead or alive, who would it be and why?

Che Guevera and his journey through the Americas and revolution. Who wouldn’t?

what’s your dream photo field trip?

Kim Jong Il’s private domain and a long-term survey of North Korea

what’s your post production photo process?

Step 1: Drop off film to be processed.
Step 2: Wait impatiently for 5 hours to pick it up
Step 3: Carefully cut the roll into strips
Step 4: Burrow into the darkroom and not come out until I absolutely have to.

if you had unlimited resources to purchase any type of camera, what would it be and why?

Probably some big, beautiful mahogany large format view camera, because I’m a sucker for the romanticism of glass plates and bellows.

who are your favorite shooters and why

Of my peers, the other members of the MJR photo collective: Mustafah Abdulaziz, Gareth Phillips, Brandon Thibodeaux, Matthew Craig and Julius Metoyer – my photo family, support, inspiration, idea board and home away from home. Of my contemporaries: Josef Koudelka, Luc Delahaye, Malick Sidibe, Sally Mann, Antoine D’Agata, Alessandra Sanguinetti, Daido Moriyama – for their individual visions and the mastery of their craft.

what has been the shining moment of your career thus far?

It’s a continual and upward curve :)

samples of Ying’s work: