"Look, I'm not an intellectual - I just take pictures." - Helmut Newton

Ontoshiki is a pseudonym and a literal translation of the photographer's Chinese name to Japanese.  温(i.e.warm) 俊 (i.e.excellence) 輝 (i.e. shining brightly ; in this case, "輝" ki as in "あきら" akira) 四季 (shiki) itself in Japanese also means "four seasons."

Ontoshiki is an Australian Chinese photographer born in Malaysia, raised and educated in Australia. He specialises in customised portrait, documentary, event coverage, band portrait & concerts and nude & erotica. He has lived in Tokyo since 2006, speaks English fluently and can converse in Chinese Mandarin and Japanese. 

main themes: life, death, angst, alienation, lust and love and the exploration of the urban environment, elements and life and the human psyche and body.

many years ago, a friend of mine was reading a book about people's personality types and told me that i was an introvert. not fully knowing what that meant, i was in denial and was even slightly offended. several years later, i have understood myself better as a person and fully embrace that i am one.

"contrary to what most people think, an introvert is not simply a person who is shy. In fact, being shy has little to do with being an introvert! Shyness has an element of apprehension, nervousness and anxiety, and while an introvert may also be shy, introversion itself is not shyness. Basically, an introvert is a person who is energized by being alone and whose energy is drained by being around other people. Introverts are more concerned with the inner world of the mind. They enjoy thinking, exploring their thoughts and feelings. They often avoid social situations because being around people drains their energy. This is true even if they have good social skills. After being with people for any length of time, such as at a party, they need time alone to "recharge." When introverts want to be alone, it is not, by itself, a sign of depression. It means that they either need to regain their energy from being around people or that they simply want the time to be with their own thoughts. Being with people, even people they like and are comfortable with, can prevent them from their desire to be quietly introspective. Being introspective, though, does not mean that an introvert never has conversations. However, those conversations are generally about ideas and concepts, not about what they consider the trivial matters of social small talk.

  I've had times that I've been overly introspective that I feel like I am watching my life go by from inside a fishbowl. Inner anxieties act like a domino effect until I am able to grab a camera and focus on the world around me instead of in me.

“A man can be himself only so long as he is alone; if he does not love solitude, he will not love freedom; for it is only when he is alone that he is really free. ” - Arthur Schopenhauer

"To watch the sun sink behind a flower clad hill. To wander on in a huge forest without thought of return. To stand upon the shore and gaze after a boat that disappears behind distant islands. To contemplate the flight of wild geese seen and lost among the clouds. And, subtle shadows of bamboo on bamboo." - Zeami Motokiyo

"We all die. the goal isn't to live forever, the goal is to create something that will" - Chuck Palahniuk

"...at a certain point you are, or, were alive. To be photographed is to be close to death or to be dead. Your image will outlast you." - Nobuyoshi Araki

Ontoshiki's thoughts:

Once, someone asked me rhetorically why I always analyzed everything. I responded, "I don't know...I ask myself the same question all the time."

"the mysterious allure of a person in urban architecture and landscape is a metaphor for social environment and sense of community. It may conjure thoughts and feelings of relationships manifesting in the form of intimacy, alienation,decay,deterioration or rejection"