As part of our partnership with Huawei and its global smartphone photography competition Next-Image awards 2020, we went on a mission to share the Positive Power of Creativity. Enter London-based dancer and choreographer Windy Tsoi who captures her dance using a Huawei P40 Pro for the ‘Live Moments’ category in a way that’ll have you breaking a move in no time.
“My job allows me to do what I love—sharing my joy and passion for dance with other people. Simultaneously, it gives me a lot of creative freedom,” shared the dancer who works across music videos, live performances, dancing herself, choreographing behind the scenes and teaching.
Have you ever wondered what it takes to create the perfect dance video? Tsoi has perfected the art of capturing the live moments in her life through intricate choreographies and video. Tsoi looks back at her own creative process and her participation in the competition as she shares with us the exact steps you (quite literally) need to take to get your own dance videos out there.
For her participation in the Huawei Next-Image awards 2020 Tsoi, of course, owned the ‘Live Moments’ category. Using a Huawei smartphone she documented the little moments and the big ones that make up her creative process and resonate her positive power of creativity. “The Huawei P40 Pro helped me capture the live moments of my life; my choreographies, my routines. It allowed me to play with lights and effects. Slow Motion and Time Lapse are always great to use when it comes to dance moves. I can create anything I want based on my mood and the message that I want to share with my audience.”
By experimenting with the smartphone’s different features such as the multi-window, which allows her to both rewatch videos of her choreography and take notes from them on the smartphone’s screen, or using the camera’s Super Slow Motion feature in order to slow down her rhythm and see precisely if her steps are aligned, Tsoi documented her everyday, giving us a glimpse into her preparation for the classes she teaches and even some of her own practice time in the studio.
From choreography for music videos to being part of the dance crew on the X Factor and The Great Escape festival, Tsoi’s seen it all. On top of her impressive dance career, she regularly hosts open dance classes in different studios across London. Tsoi has mastered the ultimate teaching skills to share with fellow dancers and choreographers.
“So many factors influence and change my mood and, from that, my mood decides the song and what dance style I’m feeling,” she explains. Creating emotions is the goal, says Tsoi: “When it comes to me, I definitely live in the moment and I feel there should be no other way, as I believe dance is the perfect form of expression.”
For Tsoi, the most important thing you need to capture that perfect live moment is your creativity and the right device to capture it with. “I’m quite simple when it comes to using equipment and getting used to what I have. Really all I’m looking for is equipment with a good camera and speakers with great sound quality.”
All in all, dance is about living the present moment by transcribing emotions and sharing them through movement. In true form to her contagiously positive energy, Tsoi took the Huawei Next-Image awards 2020 as an opportunity to showcase her creativity and share the Live Moments that make her happy.
For her submission, Tsoi says that “The video ideas came to mind naturally because creativity is an integral part of my job. I enjoyed the whole process of this campaign as it reminded me why I love dancing and how I started at the beginning, which now makes me feel even more motivated to create more new things.”
As part of our partnership with Huawei and its global smartphone photography competition Next-Image awards 2020, May Tahmina Akhtar responds to the ‘Faces’ category as she invites us into her world of portraiture and helps us understand what goes on behind the scenes of capturing a captivating portrait using a smartphone.
British-Bengali Akhtar, a Manchester-based creative, content creator and makeup artist, uses her face as a canvas as she experiments with her own history and upbringing—unafraid to show her true self in a whole new way, while unpacking what the Positive Power of Creativity means to her.
“I loved the freedom of the category and being able to express myself. My inspiration was me. I’m really working towards having a type of work that screams me and I really think the look I did is a combination of the overall looks I love doing. It shows technique but also paints a picture of my culture and heritage!”
For Akhtar, photography has become an integral part of her work. By using the Huawei P40 Pro to film and photograph her makeup look, she draws from past experiences to inspire others in finding their own identity and to highlight the power creativity can have. Documenting her styles allows Akhtar to not only better her craft but also share her talent with the world. Using the phone’s camera features, such capturing her images using the 32MP Dual View selfie camera and in the Super Resolution RAW format, Akhtar was able to depict her face and the makeup look she created for her submitted images in a resolution like no other, showcasing the intricate little details that make her face; her identity unique: “I was able to highlight the details that made this look so special for who I am, and for my identity.”
After dropping out of her integrated masters and while waiting for different courses to start, Akhtar focused her attention on makeup, amassing over 40,000 followers across social media by posting simple and aesthetically pleasing makeup videos and photographs that encouraged more people to reflect on their heritage, their individualism and their creativity in unique ways. Akhtar sent out a clear message to her followers: you can do this too.
Akhtar saw her opportunity to further her approach to makeup while also redefining her British-Bengali origins: “I used to think makeup was boring and everyone did the same thing. But since finding the editorial side of it on social media and seeing the artistry behind it and how different people’s style of makeup was, I began to do simple but graphic liner looks to express my style in a way modest clothing sometimes couldn’t!”
With the power of photography at our fingertips, capturing unique portraits is something each and every one of us can do. As Akhtar says, “Makeup is so free—you can do whatever you feel like doing.”
To achieve and capture makeup looks as cheerful and fun as Akhtar’s, experimentation is key. Faces are unique to each and every one of us, and the real power lies in the ability to celebrate our differences. “Don’t be afraid to make mistakes as you can make a look out of it or run it out—it’s not the end of the world!” explains Akhtar. Using the Huawei P40 Pro’s Field-of-view fusion zoom has allowed Akhtar to capture her own interpretation of self-portraiture, adding her own mark on her ideas of faces, beauty and portraiture.
Last tip from the pro? Always remember that, whatever you decide to create, it is by capturing your creativity that you will make it stand out. Whether in makeup or in photography, “use your face as a canvas.”