The Lounge: Reynard Li

© Reynard Li

An ex-pat from Calgary, Reynard Li has spent the last 8 years in NYC. Perhaps the most striking body(s) of work on his site are his Journals. I asked him about his experiences in New York and his recent move to Toronto- more on that below but I wanted to jump right in and share this contextualization for the Journal work and some thoughts on how it influenced his practice:

I was so enamoured with NY when I moved there that I became obsessed with documenting it. I started to shoot daily. I’d always have my camera with me and whether it was for my portfolio or not I’d just shoot and shoot and shoot. Looking back on it now, I really feel like this is when I really became a ‘photographer’. It was almost like I was training myself. I was always looking for a good photograph. I was constantly aware of my surroundings, who I was with, where I was, what time of day it was and how the light was affecting everything. My brain, and my eyes, were constantly engaged. This eventually became the ‘Journal’ section on my website. It started out as a way to show my friends and family back home what I was up to. But it grew into something much more than that. It was a way for me to express not what living in New York was like but how living in New York felt. I think this ‘daily life’ shooting really molded my vision and is very much the reason why my work looks the way it does now.

Because HMAb has a new look and feel and Rey’s cranberry-saturated images caught my eye (and he’s got quite a archive to choose from), here’s a colour themed selection of his work:

And I like these bursts of yellow too:

All images © Reynard Li

Some questions:

NYC to Toronto – why?

The reason I moved to Toronto was because of a few things. Firstly, I felt like after living in New York for almost 8 years I needed a change. I needed something different. I knew from the beginning that I didn’t want to live in NY forever. Everyone who lives in New York has a love-hate relationship with the city. I didn’t want to leave the city at a point when I hated New York. I wanted to leave the city on good terms. New York was a place that found a deep place in my heart. It is a place I love and will always love. But something inside me told me it was time to move on. Toronto seemed like the best logical step.

Another reason I moved here was because I really missed Canada. I’m from Calgary originally but I really feel at home here in Toronto (and it’s only been two weeks!). Plus I have really close friends that live here as well. I recently turned 30 and I think that the older you get, the more you realize how important it is to surround yourself with good people.

And lastly, I moved to Toronto because some friends and I are starting a little boutique creative studio. I really can’t say too much right now because we’re really just in the beginning stages. What I can say is that we all come from different creative backgrounds and we’ve all had experience in the field working with some pretty great clients. The idea was that we wanted to come together as a collective and work on projects together as a whole. We’re going to handle Art Direction, Design, Film (music videos, commercials, etc) and Photography. We want to be able to work with clients from concept to delivery. Right now the key thing for us is finding a way to make this work in Toronto. But we’re all super excited about it and hope to have an official site launch sometime this fall. Please stay tuned!

Experiences in NY?

Work wise, I was lucky enough to shoot some really talented people – designers, illustrators, architects, musicians, artists, etc. Every experience I had was an adventure. It’s the reason why I love doing what I do. Taking someone’s portrait is unique in that it’s this strange little intimate experience you have with a complete stranger, where you’re learning about one another, engaging in interesting conversation, and ultimately, trying to make a beautiful picture. I was lucky enough to meet and photograph a lot of really talented people in New York, which to me, was incredibly inspiring.

What are your expectations here?

When I first moved to New York I convinced myself I was gonna be a superstar within a year (I’m cringing as i write this because I realize how incredibly naive I was back then). I was overly confident about my portfolio, even though I was a fresh out of art school and had a grand total of zero clients. I thought that every photo editor was going to want to work with me because my work was the shit. I really thought I had it all figured out. I was gonna own New York City!! Fuck Yeah!! A couple months in I landed a meeting with Angela Boatwright, the photo editor for Mass Appeal Magazine at that time. I’m not gonna go into detail about what she said but basically she told me I really didn’t have a vision. She wasn’t negative by any means. But up to that point, I hadn’t really experienced the joy of ‘Constructive Criticism’. I was totally crushed. But after the meeting, along with some long, internal realizations and a heavy dose of alcohol, I realized she was totally right. I had a lot of work to do. My expectations were way too high. I expected too much, too soon. New York is a fast paced city, but things don’t happen overnight. At that point I pretty much ditched my book and started over. Meeting Angela was probably one of the best things that ever happened to me. That said, I’m a little older, a little wiser and though I’m at a point where I’m quite comfortable with my work and what I’m capable of, I’m gonna keep my expectations low. At least for now.

Your work is interesting but quite different from most of what I see here – how will that influence the kind of work you get?

I really don’t know too much about the Toronto market. I’ve seen some of the work here over the years and yes, I agree, my work is a little different. But I’m hoping I can use that to my advantage. I know it’s gonna be a rough road ahead. But that’s something I’m used to. I battled New York for almost 8 years. I don’t feel like I conquered it by any means but I think I don’t think I failed either. I’m gonna try to approach editorial work here. And I’ll continue to pursue work in the US and abroad as well. I’m hoping to dip my toes in the ad world too (although I really have no idea where to begin). It may work out, or I may fall flat on my face. I really have no idea how things are going to turn out.

I spent the majority of my 20′s living in the most incredible place in the world. I learned a lot about myself. I learned that I have a very strong work ethic. And at this point I can tell you, in all honesty, that I’m super excited to be in Toronto and that I’m ready and willing to see if I can make it work in this city.

You’ve recently published a MagCloud book of your Journal series:

Tell us about it.

At the end of 2009 I decided that I really wanted to share my journal photos in some sort of physical format. I did some research and discovered MagCloud. I had no budget for any of this so this ‘print-on-demand’ type service was perfect. I spent 2 week straight going through shoeboxes of negatives. 5 years worth! It was an interesting experience for me because I hadn’t looked at many of those images in a long time. I had forgotten a lot of the places I had been and all the strange and wonderful things I’d seen.

Once I decided on the images I wanted to use I started to lay things out in Photoshop. I decided on the title “Young Once” after one of the very first photos I took in New York of a wall where someone had spray painted “Yr Only Young Once”. After I finished the layout and design I uploaded it as a PDF file and that was it. Easy as pie.

I received a lot of good feedback . I even sent a bunch out as promos and got some great comments from a few photo editors. I wouldn’t say the magazine is selling like hot cakes. Or even cupcakes. But I really didn’t do it to make money. For me it was more of a release of something that was very personal for me. I’m really proud of how it turned out. Young Once is a diary of a period of my life I will never forget.

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I happen to know that Rey keeps some pretty good company here in Toronto so I’m eager to hear more about the boutique creative studio that he quietly references above. We’ll also check back to see if there’s a Toronto Journal in the works (it’s not all NYC for Rey- do not miss his 4-part Iceland Journal series, find it here). I’d love to see our city through Rey’s eyes.