Despite frequent appearances on notable photography and art websites, little is actually known about Puzzleman Leung. In that regard, the Puzzleman moniker seems like a perfect fit, appropriately encapsulating the photographer’s mysterious nature. While the photographer’s Facebook and Instagram feature a girl’s portrait, it’s actually rather difficult to even ascertain Puzzleman’s gender. On websites that feature Puzzleman’s work, the pronouns of “he” and “she” are often interchangeable. Even on Puzzleman’s “About Me” page, little information is offered beyond age and geography, with one line stating “Born in Macao and living in Taipei.” But Puzzleman’s latest photo series doesn’t take place in either of those cities. Titled Tokyo Tokymeky, the new project sees Puzzleman roaming through the streets of Tokyo with frequent collaborator and model Bee Ke, snapping images that contrast her against the surrounding city scenes. With the recent release of this photo series, we were fortunate enough to catch up with this enigmatic photographer for a quick chat. In our conversation, it was easy to see that Puzzleman’s quirky images are simply an extension of the photographer’s own personality. Scroll down to check out more photos from the new photo series and read the highlights from our interview.
摄影师Puzzleman Lueng，正如Ta的名字一般，像一幅散落四处的拼图碎片般带有些神秘色彩。Ta的作品经常出现在各大摄影艺术网站，然而对于摄影师本人，你能从互联网上获得的资料甚少，只知道Ta是一位来自澳门，但居住在台北的摄影师。你甚至很难推测出Ta的性别，Ta的Instagram及脸书账号被清一色的魔幻少女照片占领；而翻看各网站的报道，也会看到竟然有用“He”也有用“She”的称谓来形容这位神秘人士。最近，我们很开心联系到这位“拼图男人”本人，Ta刚带着自己的御用模特Bee Ke漫游东京，完成了这辑最新摄影作品《Tokyo Tokymeky》。和Puzzleman交流的过程中，发现Ta的文字和影像一样有趣，下面我们一起跟着Puzzleman的镜头去东京逛一圈，和拼凑一下这次聊天中Ta留给我们的“拼图线索”吧。
Not Interested
“Since I was little, I haven’t been interested in photography because of people who think they need to spend a lot of money on equipment to shoot photos – I think it’s stupid. I feel nothing when I see these commercial shots or landscape shots of sunsets.”
Action
“For me, photography is just the action of pressing a button when I find something interesting.”
没兴趣
“从小我对摄影并没什么兴趣，因为知道玩摄影的人要花大钱去买器材就觉得是一件很蠢的事，而且看到那些商业的照片或夕阳的风景照完全无感。”
动作
“目前摄影对我来说只是对自己有兴趣的画面去按下快门的一个动作而已。”
Sculpting
“When I’m creating an image, I feel like a sculptor. I’m turning my subject or my thoughts into my envisioned image.”
Girlfriend
“The subject I photograph the most is my girlfriend. When we work together, we find ways to push each other, to prepare for a shoot. I like this process of mutual agitation.”
雕塑
“在创作那些画面的过程中，我觉得自己更像在做一个雕塑，把被摄物体或自己的思想弄成自己理想的样子。”
女友
“目前最常拍的人是我的女友，在和她合作的过程中，我俩会不断作出有趣的想法来刺激对方，去准备拍摄，很喜欢这样互相激荡的过程。”
Accidents
“I like spontaneous shoots, but I also like planning. I feel that the most interesting images happen somewhere in between the two, so I suppose those would be the ‘accidents.’ Sometimes when I nail a shot and it turns out just exactly as I envisioned it, I find it unbelievably boring. I’m always looking forward to making these ‘accidents’ whenever I’m shooting. I’m pretty infatuated with this idea of accidental shots, and I’m pretty stubborn, so I’ll do anything to try and make them happen.”
意外
“我喜欢随手拍，也喜欢先构思，但我觉得最有趣的画面通常出现在这两者之间，那就是‘意外’了。有时候当我把先构思好的画面可以完整呈现出来的时候我反而会觉得很无趣，所以我特别期待每次在拍摄过程中出现的“意外“画面了，我对它总是特别的着迷，甚至会执着到想尽办法去让它出现。”
Contradiction
“To me, Tokyo is a wonderful place, an amazing city filled beautiful sights and colors. I’ve always been quite infatuated with this place. But on the other hand, I feel that I try to distance myself between Tokyo’s inhabitants. I’m afraid of offending them, so I’ve always been terrified of any interactions with them. It’s pretty contradictory, loving a city but being afraid of its inhabitants. I’m always left scratching my head when I think about this. I suppose it’s because I don’t know them so I don’t fully understand them. The best thing for me to do is to probably go and learn Japanese.”
矛盾
“东京对我来说是一个很好的地方，很好的城市，充满了各种各样我喜爱的画面和颜色，我一直对这个地方充满好奇心。而相反东京人常让我觉得有点退避三舍，因为很怕会冒犯到他们所以一直很害怕和他们接触，其实在这样的关系下是挺矛盾的，喜欢一个地方却对当地人退避三舍，每次想到这都让我觉得很奇怪，可能是因为我不认识他们还不了解他们吧，所以只好去学日文了解。”
Time Machine
“A great photo should be an image that inspires others or one so powerful that it refuses to leave the minds of viewers. The most important part is the inspiration. The definition of a great photo now and what can be considered as a great photo in the past have drastically changed. Fifty or sixty years from now, I wonder if photos from modern times would be as intriguing as the older, classic photos that we look at in awe today. Sometimes I wish I had a time machine so I could go into the future and find out.”
时光机
“好照片应该是可以让人产生灵感或不断在观者里不断浮现的吧，最重要的还是那一道灵光。现在好照片的定义和以前已经不太一样了，我不知道这个时代的经典照片在五六十年后再看会不会和我们现在在看过去经典的照片一样有吸引力，这是我一直很想坐时光机去看看的事情之一。”
As we concluded our conversation, we asked if Puzzleman had any specific message that he wanted to communicate to viewers. Instead of answering, Puzzleman asked us: “What I want to know is, with the way that people mass consume photography nowadays, don’t they get tired of it? Have you thought of what happens if one day people get tired of photography?” If you have any thoughts to share on the matter, drop by any one of Puzzleman Leung’s social media pages and share your thoughts!
最后，当我们问起关于摄影有什么想和读者分享的时候，Puzzleman反而回赠我们一个疑问：“其实我反而想问大家，每天看那么多照片，你们会腻吗？有想过如果有一天大家对影像已经没感觉的时候怎么办？”。如果你对于这个问题有任何想法，或者想更了解这位有趣的摄影师，不妨去他的社交网络页面给他留言解答吧。
Website: puzzlemanleung.com
Facebook: ~/Plzmanleung
Instagram: @puzzleung
Flickr: ~/puzzlemanleung
Contributor: Ye Zi
