The fox that has the soaked tail

All images by Youngho Kang. Used with permission.

Photographer Youngho Kang has one of the most beautiful stories that we’ve ever heard on how he started out as a photographer. His college girlfriend asked him to shoot photos of her, and he did it as an escape from his anxiety and to simply spend time with her. But the images were so good that they were pitched to ad agencies. Based in South Korea and born in 1970, he was a commercial photographer turned Fine Art photographer that got the nickname “The Dancing Photographer.” This is because he communicates with his subjects through dancing or with music in the background and acting as a conductor.

In 2009, he started the 99 Variations project, which is a complicated series of self portraits featuring him facing into a mirror and dressed as many different characters. But even more interestingly, Youngho tells us that there is no retouching to the images.

We talked to Youngho about the project; which we find incredibly fascinating.

Phoblographer Talk to us about how you got into photography.

A modest king walks across the river

Youngho: Photography came to me in a very natural way, I did not intend to be a photographer. During the time that I studied in the University, my major was French Literature, which is humanities as well as a liberal art. This major was of no good use when trying to get a hold of a job that offers a good salary, which in turn caused me great anxiety about my future. It was during my time at the University that I met with my then girlfriend, I soon fell in love with her and it did not take long for me to realize that she was my best means of escaping the anxiety I was dealing with concerning my reality. She wanted to pursue a career as an actress but did not have proper portrait images, and of all thinkable people she chose to ask me.

This did for me, in all honesty, mean that I could spend more time with my girlfriend so I accepted. I did however all the time think to myself that I actually had never done photography before. When taking her portrait photos I made sure to choose the right music to create a good mood for her as well as engage with her through directing by performing dance-like movements. The final images turned out to be better than expected and by chance a marketing director from a fashion company saw my images and advised me to have my images applied to various advertising companies, which turned out being the best thing to do.

Phoblographer: Where did the idea for the 99 variations project come from?

A skinny pig

Youngho: After having started doing photography in the very natural manner that I had, the next natural advancement turned out being to do commercial work. As a commercial photographer I met with a variety of celebrities as well as advertising companies, and a whole lot of them really liked my shooting style. “The Dancing Photographer” is what I came to be known as. What also made me stand out was my ability to create a sense of story-telling within the images, which was of interest to them. This gave me a chance of getting a lot of assignments, within my portraits they could always sense a sort of hidden expression, deeply hidden. So the commercial works were with me for a little more than 10 years, it was by this time that I was starting to comprehend that the commercial sphere had limitations within itself that I could not be completely at ease within.

“She wanted to pursue a career as an actress but did not have proper portrait images, and of all thinkable people she chose to ask me.”

Instead, I began attempting to find other means of creative expression. Peering into myself, there was an understanding that it would be a natural change. What then happened was all a matter of a natural process, since I yearned to express myself and my idea of art “A continuous effort and passion that only I can do” and there was a desire for me to specialize my shooting style to liken it with dancing, and a...