B:  BP  F:  Felix

B:  Tell us who Felix Lim is and what do you do in your day to day.  Describe to us what a typical day/week looks like and how often you take shots within your daily routine.

F:  I am 25 years old. I’m currently studying Video Games Design here in the bay area. My daily routine is pretty simple, I go to classes on most weekdays and rest or have fun on the weekend. Between my schedules, I always try to make some time to go out and shoot on the streets because it’s what I enjoy doing the most on my free time. I found it relaxing and inspiring at the same time by just walking on the streets to observe things and life around the city. I would say I usually go out to shoot about 3-5 times a week. Oh, I am also as an avid gamer, I play video games on a competitive level by competing in events and tournaments, especially fighting games.

“pillars.and.soul” – decisive moment kind of shot, a reward from being extremely patience

B:  You’re originally from Indonesia and now living in San Francisco.  Tell us about the 2 environments/ areas and what makes these places interesting from the shooter point of view.

F:  I wasn’t exposed to art or photography back then, but looking back from what I know and remember, It was definitely a beautiful country with so many interesting cultures and places. If I ever go back someday, I’m sure I will enjoy shooting those places.  On the other hand, San Francisco is definitely what I considered as my playground. The city is full of life and interesting architecture. There is no shortage of subjects to shoot around here, that’s why I’m really grateful to live in this beautiful city

B:  You have awesome composure in your shots.  Have you been trained/ educated in formal photography?  If yes, where and who are your influences. If no, what is it that you look for to create those great shots?

F:  Thanks a lot!. I never really been trained formally in photography, I took a basic photography class just for fun a few years ago, I learned about some technical stuff of a digital camera and that’s pretty much it. But it got me interested to know more and so I decided to continue learning it myself by gathering information from the Internet and with just shooting just about everything I see everyday.

My influences are mostly from people I follow on Instagram, there are a lot of talented artists out there and it’s just amazing to be constantly inspired by other people’s works throughout the world with just a device that we carry around everyday.

But if I have to pick one, I would say Henri Cartier-Bresson. His works inspired me to look for shapes, lines, framing and patterns to make an interesting composition for my shots. I didn’t know about him or aware of his works until someone mentioned his name on my photo about a year ago. So I looked him up on the net and I was blown away by his photographs and since then, I’m a big fan of his work.

 “a.curious.soul” – portrait of an amish boy, 2nd picture from my trip to chicago. Took this shot in a lobby of train station.

B:  If I asked you to present to a photography class – DSLR/ Film – about mobile photography, what would that presentation contain? the reason I ask this is that with you still studying you may have ideas on what to do if given the chance to teach or present on the topic of mobile photography.

F:  My topic would be to encourage people to take mobile photography more seriously and to view it as a viable tool to create great images. I think the most common mistake photographers’ make is they worry so much about getting better gears and equipment, they forget to just go out and shoot with what they already have. Since most of us have a mobile phone equipped with a camera, why not use it to create images and learn the important aspects of photography itself such as composition and lighting. After all, no matter what we use to take photos, photography is… well photography.

B:  Let’s talk more about the bay area.  Tell us some of the spots that you frequent and why and what are your subjects. 

F:  I usually start my photo walk around the Financial District because I live close by. This neighborhood is always busy on the weekdays; crowds of busy working people are my subjects around here. There are also many buildings with cool structures and unique architectural design, it’s definitely one of my favorite spots to shoot. Embarcadero is another area that I go to frequently, I really like the atmosphere around here and the view along the piers is just amazing. When I can’t decide where to go, I usually like to walk along Market Street in downtown area, there’s always something to spot around here.

“a.father’s.guidance” – picture of a father and child walking down the stairs.

B:  Do you have a certain style that you can say you have?  If so, what is it and why do you feel this way? If not, how would you define your art and subject matter?

F:  I tend to incorporate elements like shapes, lines, patterns and spontaneity in my shots. I also like to frame a walking figure in my composition, it’s becoming my approach of street photography because I always try not to get too close to people and have them noticing me taking their pictures. So with these kinds of shots, I usually look for an interesting background first, then wait for a person to walk by and click at the right moment. I’m a little bit picky when it comes to my subject, so it takes a lot of patience and waiting for me to get the right shot, but it usually pays off most of the time.

B:  On your feed you say that you are an iPhone purist.  What does this mean?  What are the beliefs that stand behind this statement.

F:  I only post photos taken with my iPhone on my feed, and I am doing it because I want to challenge myself to keep on shooting with it. Sure, the iPhone has its limitation as a camera, but I feel that it’s up to us to make those limitations into advantages. I feel that with less buttons and settings, it makes us focus more on composition instead of worrying about other things like exposure or white balance.

“umbrella.wars” – one of my earlier work, it was buried under my camera rolls for a long time, glad I found and posted it.

B:  Mobile photography and mobile arts is still a very young art form.  When did you begin?  How did you begin? What inspired you to begin?  (if you have your first shot ever, would you email that to me also?…would love to have you walk us through where you started and where you are presently)

F:  I found out about mobile photography around 2 years ago when I was trying out some apps on my iPhone 3G, I thought it was a cool idea but I didn’t really feel serious about it back then. And since I downloaded Instagram in January 2011, I began to take more pictures with my iPhone 4, my subjects was pretty random at that time, I shoot almost everything from buildings, landscape, and street scenes.

B:  Where do you see yourself within the mobile arts/photography arts in the next 6 months to a year?

F:  I think it’s pretty safe to say that I’ll still be shooting with my phone a lot, and since I’m graduating in a few months, it would be really cool if I can get a job revolving mobile arts or photography. Regardless of what’s going to happen in a year, I’m excited to see what others can do to push the limits of mobile arts.

B:  You tend to edit into BW.  As a BW editor myself, I totally understand.  Can you tell the readers why you’re inclined to edit into BW?

F:  Sure, I tend to edit in black and white for the simple reason that it works well with my subjects of interest, it just makes lines, shapes and forms look more defined without any distractions from colors. And I love black and white for the minimalism aspect and classical look that it gives on images, colors are great and works better on some image, but there’s something about black and white that makes a photograph look more dramatic, don’t you agree?

“puddle.of.dreams” – a reflection shot, taken at the embarcadero SF.

B:  Tell us more about some of your post processes.  What are your favorite apps?  What do you look for when editing your shots.

F:  There’s a few apps that I like to use; ‘Noir’ for black and white conversion, ‘Camera+’ for the clarity effect filter, ‘Qbro’ for the cool lomo filters and ‘Snapseed’ for everything else such as cropping, straightening and sharpening. I used to messed around with lots of different apps in the past because it’s so much fun playing with those apps, but now my editing process is pretty straightforward and usually done within a few minutes.

B:  Can you any stories about shooting street?  For example, I tend to talk to folks if I’ve gotten caught taking their shot.  Most of the time, 99% of the time, it’s all good.  The other 1% makes for some cool stories.  What are some of your stories?

F:  There was this one time, I was trying out to take some portraits of strangers on the street, I saw this interesting looking old man selling flowers on the street, I approached him with my “talking-on-the-phone” method, everything was perfect until I realized my iPhone was not on silent mode. He heard the shutter sound effect and caught me taking his picture. He wasn’t too happy about it and asked me if I took his picture, I panicked and answered him “No, that was my… Ringtone” and then I ran away immediately, hahaha… But yea, It was quite embarrassing but memorable moment of my street shooting experiences.

B:  Lastly, can you tell us why your name is @fixelzero.  What does it mean if it has any meaning at all.

F:  ‘fixel’ is an anagram of my real name, I picked up that name because I like the word ‘pixel’ and for the fact that it has a relation with photography and digital arts. ‘zero’ is another play on word of my last name in Chinese. So basically ‘fixelzero’ is just my name in a modified form 🙂

Juxt thanks you for your art and words.

Contact Felix on Instagram and Twitter @fixelzero and his website www. fixelphoto.com

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Brad Puet

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