Jarrad Seng

Jarrad Seng
Seng in April 2015
Born	(1988-02-02) 2 February 1988 (age 36) Newman, Western Australia
Nationality	Australian
Occupation(s)	Photographer, filmmaker
Years active	2009–present

Jarrad Seng (born 2 February 1988)^[1][2] is an Australian photographer and filmmaker. Based in Perth, his work often mixes with his interests in music, travel and volunteering. Seng frequently collaborates with English singer Passenger, serving as his tour photographer on seven tours between 2012 and 2015, as well as directing many of his music videos. Seng has also toured with American band Matchbox Twenty and Australian folk singer Stu Larsen.

His personal photographic work has seen him traveling to both Tanzania and Iceland twice. Seng has held four solo exhibitions — Portraits of Tanzania (2011), Alltervatn (2013), Spirit of the Masaai (2014) and The Space Between (2015) — and a collaborative exhibition, Parallels (2016), with Perth-based artist Amok Island.

Seng received international media coverage in December 2014 after a prank video, in which he walked around a music festival disguised as American DJ Steve Aoki, went viral. In 2013, Seng was a finalist in the Propel Youth Arts Award category at the 2013 WA Youth Awards. Seng competed in season four of Australian Survivor, which began airing in late July 2017.

Early life

Seng was born in the rural Western Australian mining town of Newman. His father, Kim, is Malaysian and his mother, Alice, is a Christmas Islander of Chinese descent. The family moved to Mandurah when Seng was three years old.^[3] He attended primary and high school at Frederick Irwin Anglican School, graduating in 2005.^[4]

After high school, Seng began studying law at the University of Western Australia (UWA) but found it did not fit his creative nature and soon switched to an arts and commerce degree.^[5] From 2008 to 2011, Seng worked in a range of roles at St George's College, the residential college he was living at, including Arts Representative on the College Club Committee, Student Director of Music and as an Arts Tutor in 2011.^[6]

Career

Although Seng always had an interest in photography, he never had any formal photography education.^[7] Seng began his photography career in 2009 while he was the music editor and writer for Pelican, the UWA student newspaper.^[3][5] While filling in the media accreditation form for the West Coast Blues & Roots Festival, Seng surreptitiously ticked the box for a photographer's pass even though he was only supposed to be there as a writer. Seng borrowed a friend's camera and researched how to take photos on the Internet. The photos turned out decently, leading Seng to buy his own camera and continue pursuing photography.^[5]

Seng soon found photography could further his interests in music, travel and volunteering.^[3] Seng says he "fell in love with the idea of capturing the beauty of the world on film" while volunteering at a school in Nepal in 2009.^[7] In 2009, Seng also started a marketing internship at the Perth International Arts Festival, allowing him to photograph events and begin to get his work noticed.^[5]

Seng frequently collaborates with English singer Passenger, both as his tour photographer and director of many of his music videos.

Since 2012, Seng has served as a tour photographer for a number of musicians and bands. Seng has been the tour photographer for English singer Passenger on seven tours between 2012 and 2015.^[8] In 2013, Seng toured with American rock band Matchbox Twenty on their Australian tour. An ebook, Going North, was released featuring Seng's photographs and written accounts of the tour experience.^[9] He also toured with Australian folk singer Stu Larsen on his 2014 European tour.^[10]

In addition to music photography, Seng has also directed many music videos for Passenger,^[11] as well as music videos for Emma Stevens,^[12] Stu Larsen^[13] and Patrick James.^[14] In October 2014, Seng's photo of an Amity Affliction concert in Perth won the 2014 Monster Children Photo Comp in the music category, winning him $5,000.^[15] In April 2015, a short film directed by Seng to promote North Queensland won a competition run by Tropical North Queensland Tourism, winning a $20,000 prize package.^[16]

In 2013, Seng was a finalist in the Propel Youth Arts Award category at the 2013 WA Youth Awards.^[17] He placed 32nd in the 2017 Australia's Top 50 Influencer Awards.^[18] Seng was the subject of an episode of the ABC program On Assignment which was released on ABC iview in September 2015.^[19] He was also featured in a video released in March 2017 promoting the Microsoft Surface Book.^[20]

Photography exhibitions

In 2011, Seng travelled to Tanzania to volunteer at a school and orphanage. On the weekends, Seng would visit various villages and photograph candid portraits of the Maasai people. The photographs formed his first solo exhibition, Portraits of Tanzania.^[5][21]

Seng travelled to Iceland in 2012 to take aerial photographs of the country's volcanic river systems.^[22] He hired a two-seater plane and photographed out the plane's window. "Every time I wanted to open the window my body disagreed. Opening the window meant pain. It meant a rush of cold air coming in. […] So by the end I had to psych myself up and really pick my moments," Seng said of the experience.^[23] The photographs were showcased in 2013 at Seng's second solo exhibition, Alltervatn.

In 2013, Seng returned to Tanzania to help film a short documentary about the orphanage and shoot more portraits, this time focusing on the Maasai children. The portraits were featured in 2014 at Seng's third solo exhibition, Spirit of the Maasai. The documentary, My African Home, won the award for Best Documentary Short at the 2015 Winter Los Angeles Movie Awards.^[24][25] While in Tanzania, Seng also tracked down the Maasai people he had photographed two years earlier and presented them with canvas prints of their earlier selves.^[3][26]

Seng returned to Iceland in 2015 to take a series of self-portraits against the country's landscape. Seng said the portraits explore "the sense of feeling both significant and totally insignificant simultaneously in the presence of nature's grandeur." The series of 12 photos formed his fourth solo exhibition, The Space Between.^[27]

In December 2016, together with Perth-based artist Amok Island, Seng held his first collaborative exhibition, Parallels. The exhibition featured Seng's aerial photographs of Rottnest Island's coastline, alongside Amok Island's interpretations of the photos as minimal, geometric paintings.^[28][29]

Other projects

In the late 2000s Seng played keyboards with the band John and the Inverarities.

Since 2013, Seng has participated in the Perth Fashion Festival's annual Windows of the City competition which sees Perth creatives partnered with a local business to create a store window display.^[3] In 2013, Seng worked with artist Annabelle Gordon on a paper cut display for the Sneaky Monkey Cafe at Raine Square.^[30] For his 2014 window display for Telstra's Hay Street store, titled Perth24 — A Portrait of the City, Seng spent 24 hours taking 300 portraits of people on the streets of Perth.^[31] In 2015, Seng created a photo installation for The Flour Factory, a bar on Queen Street.^[32]

In 2014, Seng created The Hidden Sound, a planned series of music gigs where the artist and venue remained secret until the last minute. Australian singer-songwriter Kate Miller-Heidke performed the first gig in August 2014.^[3]

Seng received international media coverage in December 2014 after a prank video he uploaded to YouTube and Facebook went viral. The video depicts Seng walking around the Stereosonic music festival in Perth disguised as American DJ Steve Aoki, whom Seng is occasionally mistaken for. Festivalgoers are seen calling out Aoki's name and taking photos with Seng and Seng is shown dancing in the crowd while the real Steve Aoki is performing on stage.^[33][34][35] Aoki saw the video and the following weekend, at the Melbourne Stereosonic, Seng and Aoki conducted another prank, with Seng dressed up as Aoki and Aoki posing as his photographer.^[36]

In May 2015, following earthquakes in Nepal, Seng raised $10,000 for the Australian Red Cross by fulfilling various requests from individuals and businesses over a 24-hour period including taking photos, giving a talk to photography students and streaking through Hay Street in the Perth CBD.^[37][38]

Seng competed in season four of the reality game show Australian Survivor, which was filmed in Samoa and began airing on 30 July 2017.^[39] He was the 13th contestant voted out, making it to day 36 and becoming the first member of the jury. Describing his time on the show, Seng said "It was so surreal, to be involved as a player on this show that I've been watching for years and years. It was really great, but it was really brutal as well, and that's what I loved."^[40]

Personal life

Since 2015, Seng has been dating Rebecca Williams, a former Miss Universe WA finalist.^[41]

References

1. Jarrad Seng [@jarradseng] (3 February 2015). "feelin tha' love. thanks for the birthday wishes everyone. i'm old" (Tweet). Retrieved 22 December 2015 – via Twitter.
2. Seng, Jarrad (21 June 2013). "How old are you". Jarrad Seng Tumblr. Archived from the original on 28 January 2016. Retrieved 31 December 2015.
3. Symonds, Kristy (5 September 2014). "Photographer Jarrad Seng captures daily life in Perth Fashion Festival's Windows of the City project". PerthNow. The Sunday Times. Archived from the original on 27 May 2024. Retrieved 31 December 2015.
4. "Where Are They Now?" (PDF). Frederick Irwin Anglican School. November 2012. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 31 December 2015.
5. Masters, Melita (2 September 2014). "Jarrad Seng » Spirit of the Masaai". Oh 8. Archived from the original on 8 September 2014. Retrieved 31 December 2015.
6. Seng, Jarrad (December 2011). "Arts and Music" (PDF). The Georgian. 35 (4). Perth, WA: St George's College: 13. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 31 December 2015.
7. Ash (26 October 2012). "How to Shoot a Feather Storm". Pedestrian.tv. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 31 December 2015.
8. Seng, Jarrad (15 December 2015). "well that marks the end of my seventh tour with @passengermusic!". Instagram. Retrieved 31 December 2015.
9. "Free eBook! Going North by Matchbox Twenty". Matchbox Twenty official website. 20 November 2013. Archived from the original on 30 October 2015. Retrieved 31 December 2015.
10. "Jarrad Seng". LinkedIn. Archived from the original on 3 January 2011. Retrieved 31 December 2015.
11. "Music Videos Directed by Jarrad Seng". YouTube. 3 December 2014. Retrieved 31 December 2015.
12. "Emma Stevens – Once". YouTube. 15 May 2013. Retrieved 31 December 2015.
13. "Stu Larsen – Thirteen Sad Farewells (Official Video)". YouTube. 28 May 2014. Retrieved 31 December 2015.
14. "Patrick James – Message". YouTube. 15 July 2014. Retrieved 31 December 2015.
15. "2014 Monster Children Photo Comp Winners". Monster Children. 18 October 2014. Archived from the original on 28 November 2015. Retrieved 31 December 2015.
16. "Filmmakers capture a touch of tropical north Queensland's paradise" (Press release). Queensland Government. 16 April 2015. Archived from the original on 29 February 2016. Retrieved 31 December 2015.
17. "2013 WA Youth Award Finalists Biographies" (PDF). Department for Communities. 2013. Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 April 2015. Retrieved 31 December 2015.
18. Dawson, Abigail (17 March 2017). "How Ridiculous channel tops Australia's Top 50 Influencer Awards". Mumbrella. Archived from the original on 17 March 2017. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
19. "WAMEDIA WATCH: News from Troye Sivan, Methyl Ethel, Sable, GRRL PAL & more!". West Australian Music. 17 September 2015. Archived from the original on 7 March 2016. Retrieved 31 December 2015.
20. Schmidt, Chantelle (9 March 2017). "14 Globetrotting Instagrammers To Follow If You Get Tingly Over Travel". Pedestrian TV. Retrieved 13 June 2017.
21. "Jarrad Seng: Picking up on the Vibe". Venture Photography Workshops. 23 January 2012. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 31 December 2015.
22. "Jarrad Seng". Seamless. June 2014. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 31 December 2015.
23. "Focus: Jarrad Seng 'Alltervatn'". Pilerats. 2013. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 31 December 2015.
24. McDonald, Katie (19 June 2017). "Artist in residence with Jarrad Seng". Business News. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
25. "LAMA Winter 2015 Winners & Selections". Los Angeles Movie Awards. 2015. Archived from the original on 26 August 2015. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
26. "Former Mandurah photographer looks into the Spirit of Maasai". Mandurah Mail. 27 August 2014. Archived from the original on 22 January 2016. Retrieved 31 December 2015.
27. Cade, DL (November 2015). "Brilliant Self-Portraits Add a Human Touch to Iceland's Epic Landscapes". ISO. 500px. Archived from the original on 2 December 2015. Retrieved 31 December 2015.
28. Clarke, Connie (6 December 2016). "Perth photographer Jarrad Seng is 'up for anything'". PerthNow. Archived from the original on 2 January 2017. Retrieved 2 January 2017.
29. Gartry, Laura (16 November 2016). "Rottnest Island from two perspectives". ABC News. Archived from the original on 3 January 2017. Retrieved 2 January 2017.
30. Bergmeier-Varian, Emma (31 August 2013). "Windows of the City". Dropstitch blog. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 31 December 2015.
31. Symonds, Kristy (24 August 2014). "Windows of the City artist and retailer collaboration competition brings Perth CBD to life". PerthNow. The Sunday Times. Archived from the original on 11 June 2022. Retrieved 31 December 2015.
32. Bainger, Fleur (25 August 2015). "Windows of the City transforms Perth CBD with edgy new look". PerthNow. The Sunday Times. Archived from the original on 27 May 2024. Retrieved 31 December 2015.
33. Ramley, Ziad (6 December 2014). "The Weird World of Steve Aoki Impersonators". Thump. Vice Media, Inc. Retrieved 31 December 2015.
34. Bagshaw, Eryk (4 December 2014). "Fake Steve Aoki 'trolls' Stereosonic festival". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 4 August 2015. Retrieved 31 December 2015.
35. Symonds, Kristy (3 December 2014). "Perth photographer Jarrad Seng fooled Stereosonic festival goers into taking selfies with him impersonating US DJ Steve Aoki". PerthNow. The Sunday Times. Archived from the original on 10 June 2022. Retrieved 31 December 2015.
36. "Watch #FakeAoki and real Steve Aoki troll Stereosonic. Again". Triple J. 12 December 2014. Archived from the original on 21 July 2016. Retrieved 31 December 2015.
37. Gabrielle, Sophie (2 June 2015). "Zooming in on quake aid". Guardian Express. Community Newspaper Group. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 31 December 2015.
38. Dowling, Emmie (28 May 2015). "Baring All for Nepal". Perth Voice. Fremantle Herald. Archived from the original on 6 March 2016. Retrieved 31 December 2015.
39. Gartner, Annelies (17 July 2017). "Survivor host says WA fans 'won't be disappointed' by our contestants". The West Australian. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
40. Dennehy, Luke (17 September 2017). "Jarrad Seng blindsided in surprise elimination on Australian Survivor". News.com.au. News Corp Australia. Archived from the original on 17 September 2017. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
41. Parri, Linda (23 July 2017). "Perth photographer Jarrad Seng will be on Australian Surivivor". PerthNow. Seven West Media. Archived from the original on 23 July 2017. Retrieved 23 July 2017.

External links

• Official website