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HTC SPECIAL

No stranger to the nightlife scene, Malaysia’s favourite party photographer, Paulius Staniunas is now armed with a greater and lighter sidekick - the all-new HTC One M9+. Thanks to him, most of our Facebook friends have cool profile picture to display with his eclectic nightlife photography. HTC reeled him in to become the next influencer and aptly so as the One M9+ sports a dual-camera feature that lets you capture images in great detail. Being always behind the lens, we at #TeamNewman decided to put him in the spotlight for once and talked to him about his work as well as his new sidekick.

BESIDES THE GREAT HONOUR, WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE A HTC INFLUENCER?Well, I guess it’s also an opportunity to try new gadgets and find out how far mobile technology has gone in comparison to digital cameras. I’m really curious about the limits of this phone’s camera as I love having any camera by my side all the time. Since my own DSLR cameras are heavy and bulky, it’s good that I finally have something lighter to bring with me. YOU’RE QUITE RIGHTLY, KNOWN AS THE PARTY PHOTOGRAPHER. DO YOU FEEL THAT IT BRINGS A PRESSURE TO ALWAYS DELIVER A SPECIFIC SHOT?I’ve spent more of my time photographing nightlife because that’s when I’m free from my daytime duties. Besides that, I’ve put lots of emphasis and communication on my nightlife photography, so I guess, it’s just part of what story you tell to the people. There’s of course another story of me, a story of where I do lots of different styles of photography such as street, interior and portrait. Essentially, I love taking photos of people the most because I think that’s when we’re able to convey the meaning of our surroundings, no matter good or bad. Also, to be honest, I don’t think there’s a pressure to deliver a specific shot. The only pressure is for me to always take a better shot than the last. HAVE YOU NOTICED ANY PARTICULAR TRENDS IN REGARDS TO PHOTOGRAPHY?At times like today, when news travels the world in milliseconds, trends in any form of artistic expression are quick to appear and disappear. I do notice some trends which come and go, but they come quickly and die quickly too. In my opinion, one should stick to her or his style and master it. Tell a story, share it with the world, influence, and make people think instead of chasing trends.

HOW TO CAPTURE?Together with HTC One M9+, Paulius Staniunas is now able to capture

more great moments as a professional photographer

Dato’ Seri Chew Weng Khak

HOW DID YOUR INTEREST IN PHOTOGRAPHY START?It happened when I was studying. I had a scholarship to study in Holland and borrowed my parents’ camera. It was a tiny digital camera and I borrowed it because I felt the pressure from friends back home to document my life abroad. I started photographing everything around me but it became boring quite quickly so I started exploring what else I could do with a camera to make visually impactful pictures. The rest they say is history. YOUR PHOTOGRAPHS ARE VERY DISTINGUISHED; SOMEHOW THEY’RE MORE LIKE INTIMATE PORTRAITS OF THE NIGHTLIFE CROWD, RATHER THAN JUST A DOCUMENTATION OF THE PARTY. HOW DO YOU CAPTURE THESE MOMENTS?Rule of thumb when photographing nightlife, you’ve to always do what your subjects do. If they dance, you dance and if they scream, you scream too. You’ve to be one with the party and you’ve to be a part of it. You’ve to convince people that you’re one of them and only then will they open up. Nightlife photography isn’t an easy craft and it’s definitely not for everyone. TELL US HOW YOU COMPOSE YOUR PHOTOGRAPHS. WHAT CHARACTERISES IT?There’re many rules you can read about composition of photography. But, I do believe like in any craft that you should break the rules while you are mastering them too. Your photographs will become more interesting and unconventional, and eventually you will find your style and be noticed for its uniqueness. HOW WOULD THE M9+ ASSIST YOU WHEN IT COMES TO PHOTOGRAPHY?I started taking more street photography shots, especially during my trips. The camera on the HTC One M9+ has a great depth to it. Once I transfer the images taken from the phone and into my computer, I was really surprised with the level of details captured from one tiny device. DO YOU PLAN PROJECTS OR DO YOU TAKE PHOTOS WITH A PARTICULAR SHOT IN MIND?Yes, I do. I look at photography as a way to tell my stories via visuals. That influences the next image I capture. For example, if I’ve a lot of crowd images, I would go for more details or if I photographed a lot of daytime, then I will for sure try to capture something at night. WHAT’S THE BEST THING ABOUT BEING A PHOTOGRAPHER? I’d say it’s the way you see the world. With photography, you train your eyes to see different details, angles, perspectives, faces, and moments. You notice them within a matter of seconds and you will try to capture them and thanks to HTC, I’m able to capture more moments like these in an instant.

Images taken by Paulius using HTC One M9+

Photo Credit to Jeremy Choy

WEIGHT 168 g (5.93 oz)SIM Nano-SIMDISPLAY Super LCD3 capacitive touchscreen, 16M colorsSIZE 5.2 inches (~68.6% screen-to-body ratio)RESOLUTION 1440 x 2560 pixels (~565 ppi pixel density)CHIPSET Mediatek MT6795TCPU MediaTek helio™ X10, Octa-Core (8 x 2.2 GHz) MEMORY CARD SLOT ROM: 32 GB/RAM: 3 GB microSDXC™ card slot, up to 2 TB PRIMARY CAMERA 20 MP Duo Camera with auto-focus and 4K video recording

SECONDARY CAMERA HTC UltraPixel™, 1080p HD video recordingFEATURES Automatic simultaneous video and image recording, geo-tagging, face/smile detection, HDR, panorama, Fingerprint sensorNFC Yes (market/operator dependent) USB micro-USB 2.0 (5-pin) port BATTERY Non-removable Li-Po 2840 mAh batterySTAND-BY Up to 598 h (2G) / Up to 626 h (3G) TALK TIME Up to 23 h (2G) / Up to 13 h (3G) COLORS Gunmetal Gray, Silver Gold, Amber Gold