Finding New Perspectives on Beauty Through Photography

Could you tell me about yourself? Where you're from, what do you do? Anything you’d like to share.

My name is Jeremy Pang. I’m a Canadian photographer and videographer. I was born in Vancouver, but I grew up in Hong Kong, where I lived for about seven years, from 1997 to 2004. After that I returned to Vancouver and stayed there through university. After graduating, I moved around a lot. I worked different jobs in different places — I spent time living in Eswatini and South Africa, stayed for a while in the Philippines, and eventually went back home. Two years ago, I moved here to Tokyo with my wife. I feel very blessed to have had the chance to live in so many places and experience different cultures. I know it’s not the most typical path, and sometimes I forget how unusual it is, but I’m really thankful. I try to hold on to those stories because they remind me the world is so much bigger than what’s right in front of me.

Can I ask about photography? How is your creative journey going?

Growing up, I don’t know if I’d call myself creative. Like any other kid, I liked drawing, doodling, imagining stories. But during high school I didn’t really spend much time on creative things. I tried again in university, but I was a science student studying kinesiology — basically the path to becoming a physiotherapist. When I applied to university, my first choice was kinesiology, and my second was filmmaking. But growing up in a traditional Asian household, that second choice wasn’t really acceptable. So I changed it to general science. Even so, I found myself drawn to taking photos. At first I just thought it was cool. Over time, I realized there was so much more to it. Sorry, that was a bit scattered. Let me reframe it. My creative journey started because I thought photography and video were cool. As a young guy in university, I wanted to build a cool image for myself, and cameras felt like part of that. But as time went on, I fell in love with the process. I loved that with one photo, I could capture a moment and show someone exactly what I was seeing. They’d be looking at the world through my eyes. That idea really hooked me, and that’s why I fell in love with photography.

You said you didn’t think of yourself as creative when you started.

Yes, I think I didn’t allow myself to be creative. I was worried that if I enjoyed it too much, I’d never want to do anything else. As a child of Asian immigrants, the stereotype is you have three options: doctor, lawyer, or engineer. Photographer or filmmaker definitely weren’t on that list. But deep down I wanted to do graphic design, draw, make movies, create things, tell stories. I was scared that if I let myself try, I wouldn’t be able to turn back. I also understood my parents’ perspective. They wanted me to choose something stable, something that provided money and security. In a city like Vancouver, with such high living costs, that point of view made sense. So my creative journey came with a lot of worry. I felt if I rejected it, I’d be depressed going back to science, but if I pursued it, I’d face uncertainty.

But even with that pressure, you still started.

Yes. When you’re living with your parents and relying on them, you have to consider their opinions. To be clear, my parents never punished me or anything like that. They were just worried, and they wanted me to succeed. Choosing a clear, stable path isn’t necessarily wrong either. If I became a physiotherapist or a doctor, I’d be earning well. But as I grew older, I had my own time and my own money. That gave me the freedom to explore without feeling guilty about disappointing them. I still care deeply about what they think, and now they’re very supportive. If I ever have kids, I’d probably want them to choose something stable too. So I do understand my parents. But once I stepped outside that pressure, I pursued photography as a hobby — and I just fell deeper in love with it.

You mentioned being interested in many creative things. Why did photography stand out?

At first, it didn’t. I actually wanted to be a filmmaker. That’s why I first got into cameras — to make videos. Growing up in North America in the mid-2010s, YouTube was huge. I saw people telling amazing stories online and thought, I want to do that. Not vlogging, but storytelling, writing scripts, making short films. A big inspiration for me was Wong Fu Productions, a YouTube group that started around 2004. I admired what they did. But making videos is tough, especially alone. It’s expensive too — cameras, mics, lights, organizing people — it all adds up. When I started traveling, I leaned into photography instead. It was simpler than filmmaking, and over time, I realized I was better at it. I do freelance photography, but only as a side thing. I actually came to Japan to teach English, so I’ve never been a full-time creative, even though I always have side projects going.

Do you remember your very first project as a freelance photographer?

Yes, two come to mind. The first wasn’t paid — my mom volunteered me. She knew a family who never really took family photos and asked me to shoot for them. At the time, I had never done family portraits. I didn’t want to do it because I was afraid of giving them bad photos. But I did it, and they loved it. That’s when I realized photography can be a gift. It can bring real happiness to people. When you’re in photos, you just smile and say cheese, but later those moments become precious memories. For the first time, I was on the other side, giving that gift. My first actual paid client was my uncle. He asked me to take family photos of him and his family. He’s a Christian missionary and an architect who works with an organization called Engineering Ministries International. They design hospitals, orphanages, and other buildings in developing countries. They needed photos to show potential donors. That was one of my earliest paid projects.

You shoot a lot of architecture and buildings, right? Do you still take portraits?

I do, but only if someone asks me. My main style is street photography with a focus on architecture, minimalism, and light and shadow. That is what I personally like to shoot, even if it does not always pay the bills.

How did you find those subjects interesting to photograph?

Why did I start shooting street and architecture? I am not totally sure. Somewhere along the way I realized I really like finding stories rather than creating them. Writing a story is creating one. With street photography I notice something happening. A person is doing something, living a life very different from mine. I cannot fully know what they are doing or feeling, but in that moment I can capture one slice of their life. It might just be a simple daily task, but it is still a story.

My next question is: when do you feel the happiest in your creative process?

The moment I enjoy most is when I can see the photo before I take it. When I am walking around, just exploring without thinking too hard, something catches my eye. I think, this would be cool if this happened here. Then I ask myself if it is possible, bring up my camera, and figure out how to frame it. I see in my mind what I want the photo to look like. If I can get it, great. If I cannot, then I know it is something I want to try in the future. It might be a patch of light, a window, a building. Sometimes I find a location on Instagram or Google Maps and think, I could take this photo here. That dreaming stage, imagining the photo I want to make, is one of my favorite moments. When you are walking, you look everywhere. Different days, different things catch my eye. I think it is the same with design. One day you want to use a certain typeface or make a certain kind of poster. One day you are inspired by the 60s. Another day by something futuristic. For me it could be trees, bikes, a salaryman, daytime, nighttime. Listening to what you like matters. Going back to the question, my favorite part is seeing the image in my mind and trying to make it real.

On the other hand, have you had tough moments when you felt like stopping?

Yes. It happens when I am doing something simply because I know how to do it. If I get very comfortable with one style, like architecture, I start to worry my growth is slowing. I stop seeing other kinds of photos. I forget how to see them. Then I no longer want to shoot architecture, and I get frustrated. I do not know what I like anymore or what I want to photograph. I know I am good at one thing, but I want to be good at other things too. I feel lost about my next direction. In those times I step away for a while and come back later. But fully quitting, no. Maybe some people feel that after bad client experiences. If I did weddings, maybe I would feel like quitting. I always say no to weddings because I know I do not have it in me. Maybe one day I will ask my wife to help and we can shoot together. My wife shoots photos too. I think she is a better photographer than me, but our styles are very different. Did photography bring us together? No. We went to the same church in Vancouver. We are both Christians. We worked with the high school group as counselors. We became friends and then started dating.

Wow... if my partner were better than me at the thing I care about, I might feel jealous.

It helps that our styles are different. In design there are so many types, like illustration, graphics, typography, typesetting, print. You probably do many of them, but you like some more than others. If your partner is great at a different style, you can want to try it and learn from them. That is how we balance. Sometimes I see her photo and think, I wish I had seen that. Then I try to follow along, see what she is seeing, and learn from her. There is a little jealousy, but above that there is deep respect. You see the world so differently than I do. That is why I kept pursuing her, why I listen to her, why I married her. I would not marry someone I do not respect. Because I respect her, I keep learning from her. Our styles and perspectives are different, which helps me grow. A lot of my current photography is inspired by her. I used to be rigid and formulaic. Over time I learned ways to soften my images and make them more gentle, both in how I shoot and how I think about people I photograph. I learned that deeply from my wife.

I have a more conceptual question here. How did photography impact your life? How did your life change after you started taking photos?

After I started shooting, I began to look at the world more optimistically. Not like I thought the world was doomed before, but I started looking for unobvious beauty. We grow up being told what is beautiful. Flowers, mountains, movie stars. But that is not always the whole picture. I never thought I would look at a concrete building and think it is beautiful. It sounds strange, but it can be visually satisfying. When I was a teenager, a cup was just a cup. It holds water. Now I look at a well designed cup, like this one from Kinto, and think, what a beautiful cup. Our perception of beauty changes as we mature and as we look for it. When beauty is handed to you, you accept it. When you search for beauty, you discover new kinds. You decide what you want to become beautiful to you. It is like food you do not like. You see others enjoy it, so you try it in different ways until one day you think, this is pretty good. I am still working on natto(laugh). So photography changed my life by making me look for new kinds of beauty as I go through life.

I feel a lot of positive energy from you.

I’m trying. I can be cynical and sarcastic with myself, but positivity is a practice. I have to think about it and work at it. The world feels heavy these days for many reasons. Where are we looking for joy and beauty amid the ugly and the pain? Some people can find beauty even in their own hardships, and I respect that. I think we can all try to look for beauty in ourselves too, and ask where that comes from.

Tell me your thoughts about Tokyo. What kind of place is it for you?

Tokyo feels mysterious until you come here. I grew up in Hong Kong and around the early 2000s I heard of people coming to Tokyo for Disneyland and DisneySea. What I knew of Japan was mostly from media and toys: Pokémon, Bomberman, Gundam, anime. Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew Sony was Japanese. Japan touched many parts of my life, and I had heard about Tokyo, but I never thought of coming. Then one day I came, and I thought, this place is really interesting. People think it is futuristic but in many ways it's not.For example, while the shinkansen is amazing and modern, you'll also see people use fax machines and sometimes even floppy disks. So Tokyo is retro-futuristic. In many ways it is still in the 1980s. It is cultural and historical with many temples, and yet you have the Skytree. You have fax machines and shinkansen. So many opposites that somehow work together. I work at a high school here. English levels are not very high, yet there are so many foreign tourists. Many people do not speak much English, especially outside central areas where I live. Tokyo is a place of opposites. It is conflicting, yet it works because those opposites balance each other.

It is philosophical. How hard was it to decide to move to Tokyo or to Japan?

It was not so hard actually. I have moved to many places for fewer reasons. Sometimes I just had an opportunity and took it. If it did not work out, I could go home. The worst case is you go home, and you still learn something. Tokyo felt interesting. As a photographer, Japan is amazing to shoot. I feel creatively full here. My wife had never lived outside Canada. She had traveled, but living somewhere is different. We decided to get married and move to Tokyo. We married in March 2023 and moved in August 2023.

We are quite monocultural and do not speak much English, but you still came without fear.

Coming with someone makes it easier. You are not as lonely. If I were alone in a small one-room, that could feel depressing. I might not have space to cook and end up at Yoshinoya every day. That is a reality for some people. I came with my wife. If I felt lonely, I could go to the next room and tell her.

My next question is very different. I want to know your goals as a storyteller. What is the furthest you can imagine yourself going?

As far as I can imagine, I want to be a well-rounded creative. If someone asks for help with almost any camera-related project, or even some design work, I want to do it comfortably. Recently I made a video and photos for a clothing brand and also designed their lookbook, so I had to learn a lot of graphic design. I struggle with it because it is hard and I am not used to it, but I want to reach the point where I can say, you want this, let me think about it, how do I tell your story, and then propose something with confidence. I want to do that across mediums: video, cinematography, photography. If I think of something, I want to be able to make it.

Like a creative director. As a future creative director, what is your dream project?

Yes. Actually I was a creative director for a small clothing brand in Los Angeles. I just finished their video today. My dream project goes into my work history. Before I moved to Japan to teach English, I worked in fashion. I used to want to design clothes. Now my friend designs clothes, and I would love to work with him on a full collection: design the clothes, the lookbook, and the whole campaign from start to finish.

Do you want to start your own brand?

Not necessarily, starting a brand sounds intimidating. I would rather work with someone who already has a story so I can learn from it. I like supporting others and sometimes taking on that burden for them. Maybe one day I will design my own piece, once in a while, when I feel inspired.

Last question. What would you tell your younger self who is just starting a career?

Do not be afraid to find out what you do not like. Try many things so you learn what is not for you. People are afraid to start because they worry it will not be the right path. There is value in knowing what you are not interested in, even if it sounds cool. If you asked me to create video games, it sounds cool, but I do not want to code or 3D model. Be willing to explore and to challenge what you already do. If you say this works and you do not want to change, you are not learning. What if there is a better way? If you explore and find there is no better way, then you know you are doing it well. Be gentler with yourself and with other people.

Interesting. Do you think you were too hard on yourself back then?

Yes. I expected a lot of myself, and because of that I expected a lot of others. I did not give enough grace and I was impatient, partly because I was angry at myself for not being as good as I thought I should be.

Is that changing as you grow?

Yes. People say they want to be good enough, but what does that mean? It is not like running 10 kilometers, where you know when you reach it. If you want to be good enough, for what purpose? What do you want to do with it? Who do you want to help? What do you want to create that has not been created? When you have that in mind, you can say, now I have the skill, the mentality, the strength. Now I am good enough for that purpose.