A New Tempo #2: Colossal Photos Adjusts Its Focus For The Frontier Ahead

Colossal Photos, are you okay? (Credit: Colossal Photos)

If you've combed through post-gig photos hoping to relive those highs, then you've definitely come across the Colossal Photos identity. From major clubs like Headquarters and Kilo Lounge to large-scale festivals like Garden Beats and ZoukOut, these developments of the nightlife industry have been flawlessly documented by the Colossal team, often on the ground and on the hunt for opportune, snap-worthy moments. The progress of the music industry has been immortalised by their sharp-eyed efforts, and they themselves are significant pillars that have embodied world-class professionalism in regional nightlife photography for more than seven years.

The Colossal team has documented milestone moments in the industry like ZoukOut (Credit: Colossal Photos)

The lifeblood of Colossal Photos, however, flows smoothly when there is a continual stream of events in the city, and that equilibrium’s been toppled by the turbulent ripples of the pandemic. With events at a standstill and clubs remaining closed, the movements of Colossal have been severely disrupted. In recent months, the brand has had to rely on the viability of its other departments outside of nightlife – Colossal Weddings and Colossal Pro – to make ends meet, and it’s been hanging in there thanks to these commitments, bolstered further with strong community support.

Colossal was founded by Afiq Omar [kneeling] (Credit: Colossal Photos)

In this instalment of our A New Tempo series, we check in with Afiq Omar, founder of the Colossal brand. He shares with us the corporate and community campaigns that have kept them afloat, new pivots for their business, and the psychological impact of this pandemic. Colossal, are you okay?

“Like most businesses, both Colossal and the team have been hit severely by the event restrictions put in place since the Circuit Breaker. We have three main operational branches that focus on nightlife (Colossal Photos), weddings (Colossal Weddings) and corporate photography (Colossal Pro); all genres that are very event-focused.

We started seeing the signs early on when conferences and private events were starting to get called off, but fortunately enough, we started to prepare contingencies almost immediately. This helped prepare the Colossal family for what to expect in the coming months, and we knew what to do every time a new announcement by the government was made.”

“So far, we’ve had to shut down the nightlife branch temporarily until the clubs get back up and running again (or convert into restaurants). We had big plans for our nightlife branch in the works before COVID-19 struck, and we’ve put that on hold for now. But the team has planned something really promising, and I can’t wait to get them back on the project. Colossal Weddings took a break for a couple of months, but we’re seeing a little ray of hope now that smaller ceremonies are allowed to take place. And lastly for Colossal Pro, all events have been called off, so we’ve been focusing on commercial photography, providing product, food, interior and lifestyle photography for our existing clientele.”

“Aside from government support, we’ve called upon our previous and prospective wedding clients to rally and support us through our Keep Us Going campaign. The campaign is an initiative to help us with cash flow, by having couples pre-purchase photography sessions, prints and gift cards, and redeeming them in the future. The campaign has literally kept us going, and we’ve managed to sort out our rental for the rest of the year, all thanks to our loyal clients from Colossal Weddings, which is something we will be eternally grateful for.

Our Keep Us Going campaign is the best way to support Colossal right now. The additional cash flow goes towards our studio rental, photographers and our business subscriptions, all of which allows us to keep doing what we love every day.”

“My struggle with pivoting lies in the potentiality of the brand pivoting into a business that I am not passionate in, resulting in a stopgap solution that will not hold much significance once we get out of the pandemic. I also struggle with how the word “pivot” has been used too often without much thought put into it. What most people overlook is that pivoting requires intense resources and investment, and a lot of businesses do not have that bandwidth right now to perform a complete overhaul of their business, or to dive into a new genre altogether.

Understandably, I did not have the luxury of time and choice, so I had to make several difficult decisions quickly. To help me with this effort, I’ve rallied a few of my team members to truly understand their thoughts on the brand, list down all the resources at our disposal, as well as where we want the brand to be 10 years down the road. We’ve managed to find a pivot that makes sense for the brand now and 10 years down the road. At the same time, we’re making several investments now which I feel will develop the brand in a more holistic way, and provide a platform that will have a big impact on our photographers.

We will be working on this for the next six months before announcing it, but for now we’re keeping it under wraps.”

“I took two months to recover from the psychological impact of COVID-19, before deciding it was time to get back to work and get back to living my life. I think it is totally fine to take your time and truly recover from this as best as you can, and nobody should be pressured to do what others are doing on social media. You do you!

I first did a social media detox, and kept away from Facebook and Instagram for as long as I could every day, and filled my days with conversations and great times with my wife and lovely family. Once I was feeling better, my thoughts became a lot clearer and that’s when the motivation started kicking in. I’ve also started exercising daily to keep my body and mind sharp, something which I’ve not done since I started on my journey with Colossal 10 years ago. It has changed my life completely and I am definitely in a better position to make decisions now than I was in March 2020.

I’d say the best thing to do if you’re in a rut now, and you’re ready to get out of it, would be to surround yourself with people who make you happy first, and then slowly remove everything that makes you feel unhappy. Small steps, bite-sized goals and consistency!”

You can support the Colossal team via their Colossal Pro channel for corporate photography, or their Colossal Weddings channel for wedding photography. Colossal is also having a Keep Us Going campaign where you can help it further with it pre-purchased packages.