Dazza Pictures

For those of you who have recently tuned into this freak show, let me introduce myself.

Hello, my name is Darryl.

got dazza. courtesy of eadwine.

I’m Singaporean, male and 30-ish. I have been an Eastie-porean all my life, growing up around the beaches of Changi and East Coast. I get asked if I come from indie boy schools, but I’ve always been proud of the fact that I was bred in ‘neighbourhood’ schools. Coupled with the fact that the boys and girls that have stuck around since the days of blue shorts and pinafores, are the closest and oldest friends I have. Mandarin may be my mother tongue (termed second language in those days), but please don’t make fun of me when I stutter horribly and end up speaking english instead. Thank my chinese teachers in school for the hatred I have toward learning the language.

I headed up north to a polytechnic, against my will, to become a computer nerd. When what I wanted to be was an architect, a musician or an artist (even if I couldn’t draw). Coming out of the army, I jumped onto the dot com wave and nearly accept shares in a web-tech start up, but I realise visuals, colours, movement and aural sensations turned me on alot more than if and else statements. But then you realise it all happens for a reason when you head down under to Melbourne to learn about design and multimedia – mixing design with tech geek chic (shit).

So you spend nearly 5 years as a design student, production assistant, cameraman, assistant film editor, mk12/designer-republic/fabrica/tomato/emeryfrost-design/black-brigade crew wannabe, a multimedia designer in a architectural firm and celebrity designer getting-asked-for-autographs-at-seminars wannabe. You sip cafe lattes in alleys, eat some form of chinese noodles at Nam Loong 1, freeze nipples fishing off power stations and Docklands in winter, take photos of crimson sunsets, graffiti, deserted alleyways and the bush. Then you decide to come home to the Merlion land.

I join a local ad/design agency as a media designer, work for great bosses, make lifelong friends and I work my way to executive producer for interactive media in 1 1/2 years. Plan and strat regional web campaigns for the likes of Castrol, ParkwayHealth, Standard Chartered and New Balance. Then I quit. I freelance on web projects, go scuba diving and build dreams of becoming a full-time barista. I even start a blog about coffee – thecoffeejournal.wordpress.com. Reaffirming my inner voice to ‘capture light’, I start from the bottom and assist a photographer friend, who refers me to other photographers. I start assisting a fair bit and throughly enjoy it. From carrying light stands, setting up backdrops, reeling power cables, to twiddling thumbs and exclaiming how gorgeous and extremely humble local celebrities (including their hair stylists) can be. I even glee like a school girl when I see my name in a magazine, not for photography but assisting.

Today, I smile ever so often, when I get the chance to share the joy in the union of two as a wedding photographer. I’ve been blessed to have met many giving and sharing individuals who I wish to keep as friends that have advised and helped me along the way. Thank you. This is what I do and I think I do it fairly well. You don’t have to like me, but if you do, I’ll like you too and that’s when I do my best.

Hi, I’m dazza. Nice to meet you. :D

P.S: Why dazza? Urban dictionary’s definition of dazza. Pick one.