Meet Cham Phan | Infrared/Full Spectrum Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Cham Phan and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Cham, how has your perspective on work-life balance evolved over time?
When I first started as a Photographer I was in the fashion industry during the week and shooting weddings on the weekends. I loved the high stress nature of both types of photography but over time the stress got to me. One morning the blood vessels erupted in both of my eyes and I ended up going blind from undiagnosed diabetes. After a few surgeries and 6 months of healing I realized I would never be able to shoot at the level I was at before. I was now color blind and extra sensitive to light. Both of my eyes have cataracts and due to my previous operations I cannot get the cataracts fixed.

Doing whatever I could I turned to making a podcast but then that lead to it becoming a daily livestream as it picked up traction and once again my eyes were bleeding. At this point I gave up on photography for a few years and focused on commercial video work as I could control the environment more but over time my eyes were bleeding again from the stress. Recently I have been working on developing full spectrum and infrared cinematography after retiring.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I Shoot Infrared Photos and Video out of necessity. My eyes are so sensitive to light that any direct light immediately blinds me and my vision is impaired by black spots for a while so shooting into the sun is extremely dangerous for me. After researching the infrared process I learned that the ideal time to shoot infrared is when the sun is high in the sky. So what sets my art apart from traditional photo and video is my false colors, day for night and deep infrared black and white color pallets. Also its easier for me to get my shots because no sane landscape photographer is outside shooting direct hard lighting in the middle of the day at these parks and locations so I have as much space to frame and compose as I like. Its a very zen process for me because I have the luxury of being the only photography at a location usually.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
For breakfast spots we would pick between, Mr. Donuts, Manna Bakery, Gilibertos or I’m making a pot of PHO. For lunch and dinner Sioux Falls has about 6 trillion options so we will throw a rock and whatever spot it hits we are going there. We are going to exactly ZERO bars. We will instead hit all the parks in the area and they will end up carrying camera equipment. Okay I lied we will go to 81 Arcade which is a barcade downtown that has pizza. Also we will watch a film at the State Theater a few times at least unless its Michael Bay week or something.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I want to shout out Tony D! Not only does he keep me accountable by being my gym buddy and production sherpa but the way he cares for others inspires me to be better.

Website: http://www.cham.life/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cham_phan/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@champhanlife

Image Credits
portrait by @aud_k Infrareds by CHAM