Lee Yik Keat
Lee Yik Keat (born 30 July 1993) is a Singaporean street photographer and content creator. He is known for his distinct visual style in urban-architectural photography, his 1-minute video tutorials, and having worked with many famous brands.[1] He commands over 1 million followers on Instagram (@yk), and over 1.7 million followers on TikTok (@yk).[2][3]
Background
Education and Personal Life
Little is known about Yik Keat’s personal life, other than the fact that his parents were Malaysians who moved from Ipoh to Singapore.[4] His father is a chef at a vegetarian restaurant, and his mother is a technician in a manufacturing company.[4]
Yik Keat previously studied aerospace electronics at Temasek Polytechnic.[5] He was subsequently accepted into Nanyang Technological University (NTU) to study aerospace engineering, however he has since given up that opportunity to pursue photography full-time.[6]
Photography Career
Yik Keat first started his photography career in 2014 when Instagram was first launched, with an outmoded iPhone 4.[7] According to him, photography “started out as a curiosity”, and eventually grew to become a passion.[6] According to Yik Keat, his photography style is “documenting daily life in a visually cinematic way”, taking inspiration from “everyday life, even the little details in between, such as how food-stall owners interact with one another. Anything that is human-centred in this digital era inspires me.”[8]
He cites street photographers such as AikBeng Chia and Alex Webb as key inspirations for his work.[7][9]
Yik Keat is also known for shooting various landmarks and iconic sites around Singapore.[10] When asked if he thought of Singapore as a ‘boring’ city, Yik Keat said:
“Photography wise, it’s not boring at all. Every street you see has something new to offer. You can be on Duxton Hill, and then walk five minutes down the road and find yourself in a completely different environment. Singapore is so diverse, and our architecture is ever-changing.”[9]
Yik Keat first started out taking photographs with his mobile phone and from there he managed to secure a number of small photography gigs.[11] Initially, he shared that these opportunities were not enough for him to depend on photography for a living. After a period of about 3 years, he purchased his first DSLR camera. It was then that Yik Keat thought about pursuing photography seriously as a full-time career.[11]
Pivot to photography hacks and tutorials during the pandemic
During the pandemic, the inability to travel made Yik Keat resulted in all Yik Keat's work coming to a stop.[11] During this time, Yik Keat pivoting his content direction into education people on how to replicate some of his photography tricks. These ranged from tutorials on how to shoot "Double Exposure" pictures to how to take surreal videos with the use of everyday items such as a laptop and a glass.[11]
Notable Involvements
Yik Keat has an established name in the Singapore street photography scene, having worked with various famous and notable brands such as Mandarin Oriental Tokyo, Longines and Adidas.[7] He was involved with the Singapore launch for the Louis Vuitton’s Men’s Spring-Summer Collection 2021, as well as having accompanied American singer-songwriter Lauv on his Asian tour as a tour photographer in 2019.[12]
Yik Keat is one of the content creators featured on Apple’s “Create Your Way” series.[13]
Media coverage
In an article published by CNA Lifestyle on 7 August 2022, Yik Keat revealed more about his photography past in an interview with the journalist, Aun Koh.[11] He mentioned that the first photo he ever uploaded onto the social media platform was a "plain look-up image of a HDB building, heavily edited with filters and puffy clouds".[11] He goes on to talk about how his style has evolved over time with a lot of research in the form of consuming social media to "understand how different people approach architecture, streets and design."[11]
"Then I improvised and refined. I also experimented according to the different environments I was in. Practice is really important. There are some days where I get zero satisfactory images and that is actually okay. As long as you train your eyes to notice the details in life, that’s what is important."[11]
References / Citations
- ↑ Pillay, Navin. “7 Things I Can’t Live Without: Photographer Lee Yik Keat”. Harpers Bazaar Singapore. August 18, 2021. Accessed 17 May 2022.
- ↑ Yik Keat. “yk”. Instagram. n.d. Accessed 17 May 2022.
- ↑ Yik Keat. “yk”. TikTok. n.d. Accessed 17 May 2022.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Goh, Serene. “Photographer-Influencer Lee Yik Keat On How He Built His Empire”. Harpers Bazaar. April 11, 2022. Accessed 17 May 2022.
- ↑ Lee, Jan. “One million followers for one-minute photography lessons”. The Straits Times. January 30, 2021. Accessed 17 May 2022.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Wong, Adora. “Lee Yik Keat Is Known For His Photography Tutorials”. Her World. November 12, 2021. Accessed 17 May 2022.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Sng, Ler Jun. “This Singaporean Taught Himself Street Photography & Built An Instagram Business – Lee Yik Keat”. Hype & Stuff. n.d. Accessed 17 May 2022.
- ↑ Ohmyhome. “Most Interesting Person Now: Lee Yik Keat”. Ohmyhome. September 22, 2021. Accessed 17 May 2022.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Nurjuwita, Dewi. “The best local photographers you should follow in Singapore”. TimeOut. August 19, 2020. Accessed 17 May 2022.
- ↑ Tay, Shi Ting. “A bird's eye view of Singapore shot by local photographers and Instagrammers”. SG Magazine. March 2, 2017. Accessed 17 May 2022.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 11.6 11.7 Koh, Aun. "This former aerospace engineer is now one of Singapore’s most followed young photographers". CNA Lifestyle. August 7, 2022. Accessed 8th August 2022.
- ↑ Nurin Hashimi, Hashirin. “Singaporean Street Photographer Lee Yik Keat on Finding Beauty in the Everyday”. Tatler Asia. July 26, 2021. Accessed 17 May 2022.
- ↑ Zaid, A’bidah. “From Aerospace To Photography, Singaporean Content Creator YK Shares How He Finds Creativity In Everyday Life”. Geek Culture. October 20, 2021. Accessed 17 May 2022.