AUSTRALIAN photographer Scott Wright has packed plenty of experiences into his time in Shanghai - but there are some he would like to forget, writes Sam Riley.
Australian photographer Scott Wright knew he had hit rock bottom in China when he spent two days sleeping on the streets of Shanghai.
With his business gone bust and a loved one on a plane back home, many people would have given up, but Wright says his background as a boxer made him persevere.
"The boxing-learning experience kept me going - to never give up, to meet a challenge and to just keep going," he says.
Wright found himself in difficulty after a year in Shanghai when his photographic business and his girlfriend's business both faced financial strain towards the end of 2002. He lost both his apartment and his studio and ended up sleeping around Madang Road.
"It wasn't too cold at the time. But you don't sleep very much. You just find a corner to crawl up into and you start thinking 'what am I doing here?' There were lots of tears," he recalls.
Wright admits it was the lowest point in a career that has seen him take pictures for prestigious Australian magazines Elle and Vogue while his new Shanghai company, Limelight Studio, now counts five-star hotels, multinational companies and luxury fashion brands among his clients.
Sitting in his funky studio with high ceilings and polished wooden floor boards, it is hard to believe Wright once had to sleep rough.
But for a photographer who has rubbed shoulders with celebrities and beautiful models, life was not always so glamorous.
Before getting into photography, Wright did a range of odd jobs, from a light engine mechanic to building jobs, marketing and even hairdressing.
But being told he could never be a photographer because he was partially color blind sparked his determination to succeed. "A career adviser said if you study photography you will probably go to university for four years - but nobody ever really makes it. I thought, 'Okay, give me photography, I'll do it anyway'."
Instead of believing his partial color blindness might inhibit his ability, Wright says he used it as positive motivation to develop a unique style.
"I'm partially red-green color blind but I am fine now. I suppose it's training, you see what you see and I see what I see and I think it affects my tonality," he says.
"There are completely color-blind photographers who do some of the best work in black and white because of how they see tones."
In Shanghai he does a range of corporate photography and his fashion work includes Georgio Armani and Dolce & Gabbana's Asia catalogues.
Wright says it has been a gradual process of rebuilding his business, since he hit the skids in 2002. A Texan friend offered him a place to stay and over the course of the following year he gradually got back on his feet.
"I have been so poor in Shanghai that I would put my hand in my pocket and fear I didn't have enough money to buy a can of coke," he says.
To make ends meet, Wright, who has fought 10 amateur fights, went back to training boxers, something he had done in Australia where he was also a personal trainer.
For several years he has conducted training in his studio in Huangpu District, which is kitted out with boxing bags and equipment.
Wright is constantly looking for the next opportunity and he plans to open a New York-style, 888-square-meter boxing center in Shanghai in the near future.
Source:Shanghai Daily
