UHM: Tell us what you have been up to since leaving UH.
ZQ: I attendedUniversity of Southern California's graduate program in Film Studies. My thesis project "Point of Entry: An Intimate Look at Modern Immigration" was screened at over 30 film festivals and won several awards. PBS World acquired the rights and broadcast it via their Global Voices program.
Since finishng my master degree I have mainly worked for NFL Films and NFL Media. The resulting work has been featured on ESPN, NFL Network, Fox, NBC, CBS, ABC, Showtime, and HBO. Two won Sports Emmy awards and others have garnered Emmy nominations.
UHM: Do you still pursue your own work outside of commercial practice?
ZQ: While shooting professionally I have never stopped doing it on my own. My image of lava off of Kupapau Point, Hawai‘i was fortunate to win the 2019 Hawaii Magazine Photo Contest.
I’m also in production on a documentary about an Iraqi refugee working to gain his American Citizenship called "Me, Saddam and the Heavy Metal."
UHM: Did your time at UH contribute to what you are doing now?
ZQ: I studied under Gaye Chan and Stan Tomita. They opened my eyes to other ways of “seeing things”…different ways in approaching photography and to question its impact from different perspectives. How will my documentary projects affect my subjects? The audience? How does a photograph of lava make me feel in relation with those truly affected by its power? I’m happy to say that Gaye and Stan influence my work to this day.
On a side note, I was very close to not taking the photography class at all. My wife and I had just moved to Hawaii and we were pretty darn poor. One of the requirements for the class was having my own 35mm camera (which I didn’t have). We cobbled together some money and went to pawn shop off of Kapahulu. I ended up buying a beat up Olympus OM-1 with a pretty gnarly fungous 50mm lens for $100. I don’t even think that place exists anymore but I still have that camera.