Leslie Kee
Leslie Kee (born April 5, 1971) is a Singaporean photographer. He is currently based in Japan, having once worked in the United States.
Early life
Leslie Kee was born on April 5, 1971,[1] in Singapore. His biological parents were never legally married; Kee's mother juggled between working at a bar and raising Kee on her own. Kee and his mother lived in a one-room housing estate in Tiong Bahru. He attended Bukit Ho Swee East School and Victoria Secondary School. In his early education, Kee was reserved and seldom spoke in school. A few months leading up to her death, Kee's mother gave him a Minolta camera — it would later prove to be Kee's influence in becoming photographer. After his mother died in 1984, Kee's maternal aunt became the guardian of both him and his half-sister. Kee took up a job at a Japanese electronics business in order to make his ends meet. Subsequently, Kee studied at Ngee Ann Polytechnic but dropped out after one year. After his mandatory conscription in the army, Kee relocated to Japan, a country which had greatly inspired him since his teenage years.[2]
Career
Arriving in Tokyo in 1993, Kee was faced with a language barrier. To overcome it, he learnt the Japanese language at a local institution. After much scrimping and saving, Kee applied to join a photography diploma course at the Tokyo Visual Arts School. He graduated from the school in 1997. Unfortunately, he was jobless for around a year, until in 1998, when City Magazine hired him to work on a cover shoot featuring Takeshi Kaneshiro. The magazine company Vogue Taiwan, impressed with Kee's skills, asked him to work for them. The negotiation was successful and since then Kee has been shooting for Vogue.[2]
In addition, Kee used to be based in New York City, where he worked for Jed Root. During which, he photographed prominent figures such as Lady Gaga, Naomi Campbell, and Beyonce Knowles. He left the United States in 2006 to continue pursuing his career in Japan. To date, Kee has published forty-five photo books. The uncensored version of Super Stars, released in 2006, which features some sixty photographs of nude models, is banned in Singapore although a censored edition is available for viewing. In February 2013, Kee was arrested in Japan for his uncensored nude photographs, which constitute around fifteen percent of his craft. He was ordered to pay a fine of a million yen.[2] The incident had majority on Kee's side, with prominent writer Yamamuro Kazz panning his arrest.[3]
References
- ^ "Biography". Leslie Kee. Retrieved September 10, 2013.
- ^ a b c Huang, Lijie (September 9, 2013). "Snapping celebrities a dream come true for photographer Leslie Kee". The Straits Times. (subscription required)
- ^ "Photog Leslie Kee nabbed for selling genitalia pics". The Japan Times. February 6, 2013.