Michael Soo, From Engineer to Photographer of the Year

February 16 2010 – by Ron Egatz | one comment | Tags: commercial photography, D4, Michael Soo, portrait photography, product photography, wedding photography

Michael Soo, From Engineer to Photographer of the Year

“Every different type of photography requires different skills,” says Bay Area photographer Michael Soo. Named Photographer of the Year by Popular Photography and Imaging, The Star Online [ http://allmalaysia.info/news/story.asp?file=/2005/10/10/msiansabroad/11714971&sec=mi_msiansabroad ] , The Cupertino Courier [ http://www.community-newspapers.com/archives/cupertinocourier/20050921/cu-news1.shtml ] , and The San Francisco Chronicle [ http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/10/21/PNGBLF8OG41.DTL ] , photographers tend to listen to what he has to say about the art and the business of taking pictures. With his own site [ ] broken out into the subsites of Lifestyle, Beauty, Fashion, and Glamour, there’s a lot to learn from this Bay Area-shooter.

“If you’re a landscape photographer, you need to be in tune with meteorology and where the sun is rising, for example,” Soo explains. “If you’re shooting food, you need to know about food styling. Another extreme is wedding photography. You can take a photo of a bride on a beach. It’s a landscape photo and she’s 20% of the shot, so that’s a combination landscape photography and portrait photography. Later in the day you’re shooting a $2000 wedding cake. That’s food photography. She may be wearing a $10,000 Vera Wang wedding dress. That’s fashion photography. You’re applying many different genres of photography skills to that single day.”

When asked his favorite genre from the wide swath of his practice, Soo is eager to break it down. “My main focus is commercial work. One-third is weddings. A little bit of fashion and food on the side. Commercial and corporate advertising is our mainstay. It’s also my favorite.”

Soo worked as a corporate software engineering manager in a large firm for fifteen years. Being laid off two years ago helped pave the way for his dream job to begin full-time. His career was jump-started when named Photographer of the Year by Popular Photography and Imaging. “It’s the largest photography magazine in the world. Ever since then, things have just skyrocketed. It’s a blessing.” A native of Malaysia, Soo has been living and working on California for twenty years.

Regarding marketing, Soo has interesting thoughts on testimonials from clients. Written quotes are boring easy to fake. “There’s nothing like watching a video of a person say amazing things about you. They can explain how you work and how things happen during a shoot,” he says.

“I have a Profoto D4 power pack [ http://www.profoto-usa.com/products/d4/d4_why.asp ] ,” says Soo. “I use 506 lights and the Profoto R600 I use for travel. They’re really light compared to what’s out there–only about thirteen pounds. They’re reliable. We just buy extra batteries. They’re brighter, they don’t suck as much energy, and they run cooler than anything else. You can use them as the daylight, too, instead of tungsten.” The R600 was used extensively while shooting the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Cheerleaders Swimsuit Calendar [ http://www.soophotography.com/blog/2008/08/nfl-tampa-bay-buccaneers-cheerleaders.html ] . Profoto gear was used exclusively during a shoot for some colorful batteries [ http://www.soophotography.com/blog/labels/external%20battery.html ] . For color calibration, Soo uses the X-Rite [ http://www.xrite.com/ ] Colormunki [ http://www.colormunki.com/ ] on his Eizo monitors [ http://www.eizo.com/global/ ] . A Sekonic [ http://www.sekonic.com ] 558 meter [ http://www.sekonic.com/products/products.asp?ID=1 ] keeps his exposures on target, and he sometimes employs an Induro monopod [ http://www.indurogear.com/products_catalog_Carbon-CM-Series-8X-Monopods.html ] .

Soo is also an active educator, hosting seminars whenever his shooting schedule permits. “It’s always a lot of fun, and well-received. Every time I give a class it’s always full,” he says, but photographing jobs is where his heart lies.

One interesting aspect of Soo’s rise to being a top shooter is he never assisted anyone, a rarity for any shooter starting out. He’s entirely self-taught. “Engineers are typically not people persons,” he explains. “I do have to work with creative directors and other people, of course, but in the end all they’re concerned about is the quality of the photographs. A wedding photographer especially needs to really have their people-skills together. It’s all about personality. For a whole year I worked on this, and within that year I transformed myself from an introverted engineer to being able to speak with confidence.”

A huge fan of autodidacticism, Soo has some strong thoughts on the ability photographers have to become their best. “You hear people saying you need a good eye to be a photographer. I don’t think that’s totally the case. Many talents can be picked up as you practice. I was teaching composition two weeks ago. That’s basically what people mean when they say, ‘an eye.’ You simply need to stretch your creative thinking. It all can be learned.”

Whether it’s food, fashion, commercial or wedding photography, Michael Soo’s clean, perfectly-lit images continue getting him attention across all generes of photography. We look forward to watching this former engineer on his self-taught rise as a multi-disciplined photographer of note.

Michael Soo Photography:

http://www.soophotography.com

Michael Soo Blog:

http://www.soophotography.com/blog/

Michael Soo Facebook Fan Page:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Soo-Photography/110770663803?ref=ts

Michael Soo on Twitter:

http://twitter.com/soophoto

Popular Photography’s Photographer of the Year award

http://www.soocool.com/poty/

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“Every different type of photography requires different skills,” says Bay Area photographer Michael Soo. Named Photographer of the Year by Popular Photography and Imaging, The Star Online, The Cupertino Courier, and The San Francisco Chronicle, photographers tend to listen to what he has to say about the art and the business of taking pictures. With his own site broken out into the subsites of Lifestyle, Beauty, Fashion, and Glamour, there’s a lot to learn from this Bay Area-shooter.

©Michael Soo

Soo worked as a corporate software engineering manager in a large firm for fifteen years. Being laid off two years ago helped pave the way for his dream job to begin full-time. His career was jump-started when named Photographer of the Year by Popular Photography and Imaging. “It’s the largest photography magazine in the world. Ever since then, things have just skyrocketed. It’s a blessing.” A native of Malaysia, Soo has been living and working in California for twenty years.

©Michael Soo

Regarding marketing, Soo has interesting thoughts on testimonials from clients. Written quotes, he feels, are boring easy to fake. “There’s nothing like watching a video of a person say amazing things about you. They can explain how you work and how things happen during a shoot,” he says.

©Michael Soo

“I have a Profoto D4 power pack,” says Soo. “I use five to six lights and the Profoto R600 I use for travel. They’re really light compared to what’s out there–only about thirteen pounds. They’re reliable. We just buy extra batteries. They’re brighter, they don’t suck as much energy, and they run cooler than anything else. You can use them as the daylight, too, instead of tungsten.” The R600 was used extensively while shooting the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Cheerleaders Swimsuit Calendar. Profoto gear was used exclusively during a shoot for some colorful batteries. For color calibration, Soo uses the X-Rite Colormunki on his Eizo monitors. A Sekonic 558 meter keeps his exposures on target, and he sometimes employs an Induro monopod.