Ricky Boy the Skater

Action shots. Action shots of skateboarders. What more is there to love? Stopping a skateboard trick that happens in the blink of an eye is too fun, especially when the photo comes out.

This was shot on 120mm film so I had no idea if I had timed the photo right until I developed it in the studio. Once I pulled the negative strip out of the development tank and looked for this image, I was ecstatic to see the image and that I had timed it right. It isn’t everyday you time a quick photo opportunity right with a good composition. I love how he is 2/3rds on the right in between basketball goal and the light post.

A dream job for me is to be a photographer for Thrasher magazine. The skate culture is such a tight-knit group of people who love each other and love skating. Skating is an art really. The time and practice to reach that skill to simply do a kickflip will always be impressive to me; and I would love to be able to photograph that, and also get cool photos to look at.

Simply put, this is just a cool photo.

More photos of Ricky down below.

Mullet, Trumpet, FFA

Every once in awhile I take a photo that blows my mind. It doesn’t happen often, but it happens and that’s what’s important. To me, as of right now in 2021, this photo is perfect.

The exposure is spot on, his expression is relaxed, the position of the trumpet and his right hand is perfect. Also, I didn’t have to tell him what to do; he was a natural.

To me, natural portraits make some of the best portraits.

This photo reminds me a lot of Richard Avedon’s work. The plain backdrop, the expression, the lighting. The person is the subject and they make the photograph powerful; I don’t. I use Avedon’s work as inspiration for my portraits. It’s all simple effects but they add up to make a powerful statement for an image.

This is Jake.

I met him at school, thanks to my girlfriend. He is a crazy funny freshman at my school, which is Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, MO. The fact that he has a super curly mullet, was a member of FFA (Future Farmers of America) and plays the trumpet at university is just an awesome and interesting combination for someone.

Peach and Blue Composition: a color palette study

I call this piece “Peach and Blue Composition.” I’ve recently got into painting and found a love for non-objective paintings. I’ve always loved the modern artists from the 1950s including Robert Motherwell, Franz Kline, and Helen Frankenthaler. You can add to that list Morita Shiyru, who was an avant-garde calligraphist in Japan also during the 1950s. I study those artists and what they made and I try to make something similar. Sometimes it takes hours of staring at the piece or it happens in 15 minutes. I’m not skilled enough to know what I’m doing yet. That time will come.

If this piece interests you or resonates with you, and you would like to add it to your collection, feel free to email me at collinyung@gmail.com.

Christmas Day: starting my website

I’ve been meaning/trying to make a website for about a year and a half now, and I finally did it. What I’m hoping with this website and blog is that I mainly want to show what I am making and how the process of making it is. I am very into the process of making something intuitively. Let that be portraits, landscape or architecture photography, paintings, longboards or other 3D objects, and food.