Hubert Kang Photographs ‘Schitt’s Creek’ Star Annie Murphy on Nintendo

Renowned advertising photographer Hubert Kang is known for his authentic and emotional style. He is always looking for moments and layers in an environment to build a visually rich image. He doesn’t ask models to pose. Instead, he gives them a story and lets them loose. In that process, he captures something that’s believable and relatable, while at the same time useful to the client. With a background in photojournalism, he is always looking to tell an honest and compelling story, which is evident in his work.

Recently, Kang has teamed up with Destination Vancouver, Destination B.C, Travel Alberta, and Destination Canada on many advertising campaigns. These projects are extremely meaningful to him because they all have one thing in common – helping people and small businesses recover from the economic challenges of Covid, the highlight of Kang’s career.

“I was able to make some beautiful images that really speak to my strength as a photographer. The images were authentic, emotional, and compelling. It really jumps out of the mold of typical tourism photography, and I was very proud of the work I was able to produce. The images are currently being used worldwide,” said Kang.

Despite the many challenges that Covid presented artists, Kang has kept himself busy. In addition to his work in tourism, he has worked on many major campaigns for internationally recognized brands, such as Snoop Dogg’s 19 Crimes wine and Nintendo America.

The Nintendo campaign featured Schitt’s Creek’s award-winning star Annie Murphy. Throughout the shoot, Kang worked closely with Murphy to create a series of photographs showing how the actress plays the Nintendo Switch with her friends and family. The images were used to market Nintendo Switch all over America in 2021.

Kang was commissioned by We the Collective, Nintendo’s advertising agency, to work on this project. He has an exemplary reputation of being able to quickly create special connections with his subjects, and therefore make portraits that feel more personable and relatable. This is exactly what Nintendo was looking for in this project. 

“I worked alongside Hubert Kang on the Nintendo Annie Murphy campaign. When we were looking for a photographer for this shoot, we selected Hubert because he is excellent at working with people and getting great performances out of talent in the short time allowances he had working with the motion team. He has a great energy on set that transfers seamlessly to the energy of the photographs. We couldn’t have been happier with the shots he captured for this campaign,” said Producer Amy Jones.

Kang has been a fan of Nintendo ever since he was a child, so working on the campaign was a dream come true. However, it did not come without its challenges. Because this shoot took place at the same time as the TV commercial shoot, he needed to be able to work quickly to ensure everything stayed on track and within the set agenda. He worked right alongside the television crew, taking still photographs during their shoot to save time while capturing authentic and relatable images. The final images portrayed Murphy’s lifestyle in an approachable way.

“I really enjoyed meeting Annie in person. Meeting her made me realize why she is so successful. She is not only talented, but also very hard working and professional. I also enjoyed working with We the Collective and Nintendo. They were very knowledgeable clients, providing me with a comprehensive brief and lots of room for creativity when it came to my own interpretation,” said Kang.

The project was a great success for Nintendo. The images Kang shot were picked up by several media outlets when writing about Annie Murphy’s quarantine hobby of playing the Nintendo Switch. This helped promote the Switch to more casual gamers, reaching an audience that they don’t typically have a lot of support of. Sales of Nintendo Switch went up in the Spring after these images ran. It was a big win for both Nintendo and Kang.

“It was very satisfying to know that the campaign was a success because I know my images were a key contributor to that. I am also very grateful to have had the opportunity to work with so many people to bring this project to life. It’s a privilege having Nintendo trust me on such an important project with such a high profile subject. I am very proud of what was accomplished,” he concluded.