Through the Looking Glass with Shift Creative

Juliet (left) + Jess (right)

There is much more to editorials than lanky models being clotheshorses; the breadth of behind-the-scenes work to produce such photos can sometimes be phenomenal.  Hiding behind the scenes is exactly where these two pocket-rockets fit in!  Today, we introduce you to Juliet Chen (toting the cute factor of Mira Duma) & Jess Yeh (an equally cool and capable maven behind the lens) of SHIFT Creative - one of Perth's premier production companies.  Churning out editorial work that would be right at home in Vogue or Harper's Bazaar, this dynamic duo have garnered the interest of the Perth fashion folk in just a short span of time.

We caught up with photographer Jess & art director/digital artist Juliet over tea and mille-feuille to talk about their work.
Expect to see great things from these two!



Roll call:

We're two friends who love playing with all things creative and fun.  While our work is primarily focused within fashion these days, we have an appreciation for art in general.  We run a boutique production house called "SHIFT Creative".  The aim of our production house is to be able to take clients from the very early stages of business development, such as branding and identity, all the way through to photographing their look-books and campaigns, graphic design, web design and the final finishing stages such as printing and packaging. We also dabble in creative projects such as fashion editorials for publication. 

When did you start SHIFT Creative & what inspired you to do so?

SHIFT Creative officially started in 2012 but the two of us had previously worked separately for many years both overseas and here in Australia with different studios.  We had met on several jobs prior to starting SHIFT and after becoming good friends, we realised that we worked well together.  Working in a partnership as creatives can be very challenging when you aren't on the same vibe as the other person but when you do find that one creative that you click with, the creativity just flows.  
We feel very blessed to have found each other.

Who has been the most memorable person (Perth or abroad) to work with?

I don't think there is just one person we could mention.  The truthful answer would be 'everyone'.  There have been so many people who have helped us from the beginning and there are more and more people today that we meet and work with.  We've had all kinds of experiences with them and all of them have helped us grow.


Behind the scenes photos courtesy of SHIFT Creative

Juliet: What are the most challenging aspects of digital artistry & art direction?

Every project has their challenges.  For art direction, it is syncing everyone's creative energy to see the whole picture. Usually every creative (i.e. make-up artist, stylist, photographer) is focused on their own part and sometimes, you just need someone to link all of that into on cohesive idea or final product.  In terms of digital artistry, it is more so the time it takes to finish the images.  One image can take hours, if not days sometimes.

Jess: Name a person (dead or alive!) who you'd most love to photograph, and why:

I'd like to take more photos of my family and friends.  I know it's not one person or in the industry we work in but they are definitely a collective of subjects I'd love to put in front of my camera more.  Fashion and pop culture are both very fickle.  You could be the hottest thing one moment and a nobody the next.  In our work, we are constantly surrounded by beautiful or 'it' people and we use those beautiful people to create these illusive concepts and while I do enjoy that aspect immensely, I also feel that I've neglected the people who will always be dear to me.

Who or what are some influences on your artistic style & creative aesthetic?

Our influences come from all aspects of life.  A lot of Juliet's influences come from her time spent living in Asia as well as her travels abroad.  Jess' influences stem from her artistic family with both parents being professional musicians/artists.  Together, we both like to just explore and 'connect the dots' of our explorations into our work.  We have a very broad appreciation for things and that keeps our style very open - to us, everything and everyone has potential.  We'd like to say we love all things beautiful but I'm sure that's different for everyone and ever-changing for us too.   



Name 3 people who influence your personal style:

Our personal style is mostly dictated by practicality especially because we are very hands-on when we work - we tend to put the flare and personal style into the fashion in front of our lens rather than on ourselves.  In saying that, we like blank canvases which also applies to our own personal style so that includes a lot of monotones and playing with textures.  We love Ann Demeulemeester, Phillip Lim and Yohji Yamamoto for their clean, structured yet interesting aesthetic.

What is one interesting quirk about you?

We tend to be mistaken as sisters a lot.


"I can't leave the house without..."

Each other :)


Your favourite kind of tea?

Green tea! That's a bit of our Asian background...!

A sketch of yourself:




A huge thank you to Juliet & Jess who took time out of their busy schedules to chat with us!
Check out their website to see what services they offer, or hit up their facebook to view some of their phenomenal photos (featuring sneak peeks of recent work with Zhivago & Betts, just to name a few).  They also have Vimeo!


xx S & T