We all have two eyes to explore the world, but Jelly Guo, our YCIS Beijing alumna uses her third eye to capture the world! She gives meaning to the world and creates connection between her, the audience and the world.

Hi everyone, I'm Jelly. I'm from YCIS Beijing Class of 2015, currently a 4th Year BFA student at Emily Carr University of Art + Design, Vancouver B.C. majoring in Photography.

Photographer is a very diverse job in my opinion. Personally, I like to use my art to express my inner feelings and convey messages to a greater group of audience as a fine art photographer. But there are a lot more to photography, you can become a freelance photographer, photo journalist, fashion photographer and many more. But I think the instinct of photographer or an artist is to discover the unpredictable things around us through our "third eye" (our lens). We then use our technical expertise, creativity and knowledge to produce successful pictures and tell stories to our audience.

I plan to create a diverse art studio/ art integration salon in Vancouver in the next few years, and I hope to commit to providing independent artists with a full range of communication demonstration and experimental space.

Jelly's Yew Chung Story

I remember I got my first camera from my parents when I was in Year 11. With this camera, I've learnt a lot of basics and foundations while being assigned as the photographer for Sports Day and being a member in the Performing Arts Council. These were all great opportunities for me to pick up the skill and interests!

But I think what Yew Chung did for me as a person was to help me shape a positive global vision. My parents always emphasise we become a global citizen, and this is exactly what Yew Chung taught us in school. I was able to broaden my global perspective and formed a positive mindset in Yew Chung while I found my passion and learnt how to dedicate myself to the passion! I think these are some key features to becoming a part of this world, and these are what I cherish the most from the Yew Chung education.

The Magic of Photography

It was during my foundation year at college, when I had this project in the multi- disciplinary core studio. I was curious about art but did not know what I wanted to do with art, so my professor told me to do something I had never done before. It was back then when I first thought about trying photography as a medium and did my first ever installation piece: "Binding, constraint, limitation"

Well, this is certainly not an easy job, especially for a girl. There are a lot of things we need to handle by ourselves. We need to work on planning, equipment, location, model and photo shooting all by ourselves and most of the time we go home exhausted. But I slowly got used to it, and though it could be quite painful sometimes, the rewards were very appealing!

I would arrive home with excitements during midnight, quickly upload all the photos on my computer and start admiring them, though there might still be things I was not quite satisfied with, but at that moment, I would stay up all night in pure joy and happiness while looking at the photos.

Different Forms of Art: Painting vs Photography

In my opinions, I believe there's no certain boundary in the world of art. Therefore no matter what medium you choose in your practice it becomes part of you.

I always enjoy doing fusions between painting and photography or pictures and art with poetic quality. To me, painting and photography are similar but different. They both are used to capture pictures, but while photography is to record what's real in life, and capture light and shadow, painting on the other hand can be limitless!

There's this one series I did, a combination between Chinese calligraphy and character, photography and painting. I did both the painting and the photo shooting for this series. Well, the reason why I particularly like this piece is because, I grew up in China but then moved to Canada later on, and I take this as an absolute advantage so I like to explore the connection between Chinese and Western cultures with different art elements in my personal work. I want to understand the trend of Eastern art culture and hope to present them in my future work!

Mentors on the Path of Art

My parents are the biggest influence on me in the field of art. My dad used to do painting and my mom were a photographer once. Though they are not in this field anymore, but it is them who influenced me in art. I also like to visit various artists and learn from them. I still keep in touch with some artists I've met during my days at China Academy of Art (CAA) for exchange. There are also a few photographers I'd like to share with you who I admire a lot:

How to Capture the World with Our Third eye?

First of all, congratulations! On your first step towards success! And secondly, this is not an easy job, but you need to believe in yourself! Bring your camera wherever you go, especially when you are travelling and shoot whenever you can!

It is also very important to build a good portfolio. I recommend working in series. Students often are misdirected and put one piece per page. What I did back then was I created a book; instead of a piece per page, it was a series per page. This not only makes you more professional, but also helps you create a better template and a more organised portfolio.

Be confident is also the key to success. There are no bad photographs or bad photographers. Though it is a very competitive world now, but as photography is more widely used, everyone can become a photographer. Giving your work the most energy is probably the greatest ability of a photographer.

I also recommend going out and participating in competitions and different talks. Participation is the first step to becoming professional. During the process you'll also be able to meet a lot of people, and it will be a great help for you to get in touch with them! It can only be good but no harm for you to participate and seize your chances, no matter if it is work, internship or exchange!

The Power of Alumni

Connection and network are the key to success! I feel like alumni network is a life-long treasure. We are a big family no matter which school you graduated from.

Alumni network has created the platform for us to share experience in life. We can also use this opportunity to learn about the stories of other alumni. I believe these are all important and valuable factors that broaden my vision.

Everyone has the ability to discover beauty, and everyone has the right to discover and record every moment of our life. Let's hold on to all opportunities to spread the beauty of the world and give a meaning to it.

Website: http://jellyguo.com/

Instagram: jelly0829