Jemapela Photography

INTRODUCTION

Jemapela Photography is the professional identity used by Jeremy Chua.

Jeremy in Melbourne.

Born in Singapore, Jeremy came to Melbourne for further studies at RMIT University graduating with Honours in Electronic Engineering. He is an Australian permanent resident living in Melbourne.

Photography is his strongest and longest hobby since 1990. From 1999, the hobby brought him income on a self-employed and full-time basis for several years mostly photographing events, weddings and portraits. At the height of his photography, he was hired to be one of several official event photographers for Singapore’s National Day Parade in 1999 and 2001. In Melbourne, he was hired to photograph the Singapore Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng accompanied by Melbourne Lord Mayor John So at Singapore Day 2008.

Jeremy on-location photographing a Caucasian model.

Jeremy’s current interest is in portraiture, and has worked full-time in a photo studio in Melbourne. Living in multi-cultural and liberal Australia, Caucasian and Asian women have posed for him in lingerie and in the nude, and he is comfortable photographing female and male nude bodies. Being open-minded, Jeremy does not consider nudity to be obscene.

In Australia, Jeremy has photographed a wide variety of people whose birthplaces include Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, Thailand, Korea, Japan, China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, India, Pakistan, Oman, Turkey, Mauritius, Sweden, Norway, Germany, France, Italy, Ukraine, UK, US, Canada, and more.

Jeremy repairing a Canon DSLR camera.

Today, Jeremy works as a camera repair technician in Camera Clinic Pty Ltd. Based in Melbourne, Camera Clinic is the biggest independent authorized camera repair company in Australia and in the southern hemisphere. He repairs professional Canon DSLR cameras and lenses. He also modifies digital cameras for infrared photography which can be used for security, surveillance, scientific and law enforcement purposes. From photographer to camera repairer, Jeremy understands cameras and enjoys his job working on cameras.

Away from all the nerdy technicalities of his job, Jeremy still photographs portraits as a creative leisure to maintain his skills and exercise his mind. On rare occasions, he comes in front of the camera to model himself even though he would never win a beauty pageant. He constantly seeks confident, courageous and creative individuals to model for him. He is also interested in infrared photography.

His pastimes include photography, digital imaging, cooking, cycling, going out with friends, and driving to the countryside.

LIVING IN AUSTRALIA

Born and raised in the boringly conformist, strictly conservative, and heavily censored country of Singapore where buttock-canning and neck-hanging are favourite forms of punishment, Jeremy prefers life in Australia where her free, democratic, and egalitarian society, and racially diverse population allows him to be more liberal with his mentality and more truthful with his comments, and less suppressed by Asian superstitions, narrow-mindedness, male chauvinistic double standards, one-track social expectations, insecure materialistic obsessions and soul-less shopping habits.

Unlike many conservative Asian immigrants living in Australia, Jeremy considers himself different from many of them. He puts significant effort to adapt to the western society of his adopted Australian homeland, and truly understands the importance of speaking proper English in Australia.

Jeremy at an Australia Day house party.

Melbourne is a multi-cultural city, and home to immigrants from about 150 countries where over 70 languages are spoken. As a portrait photographer whose job required frequent and close interaction with people, Jeremy is open towards mingling with people from other countries, including Caucasian Australians. In Melbourne, he seldom mingles with fellow Singaporeans, but enjoys time with people from other cultures. He thinks this is important to survive and live happily in Australia, and also in an increasingly globalising world. Thanks to life experiences in Australia, Jeremy believes that “conservatism retards progress and fear stops advancement”. This truly applies to all aspects of our lives; social, love, career, everything.

Jeremy learnt to cook his own meals in Melbourne.

In Melbourne, Jeremy lives a very independent life cooking and cleaning with his own hands. Unlike many young Singaporeans who live with their parents and are served by their live-in maids, Jeremy manages his own life, everything from doing laundry, washing dishes, buying groceries, paying bills, planning road trips, etc. He lives harmoniously with a Malaysian woman housemate.

Jeremy at the 12 Apostles along Great Ocean Road.

On the weekends, Jeremy enjoys the food and cafes of Melbourne with friends, photographs confident persons who agree to model for him, or takes a holiday drive to the scenic countryside.