By Tan Kee Yun

HE is best known to fans across Asia for his energetic, no-holds-barred live performances on stage.

For more than 15 years, Taiwanese rocker Wu Bai, 41, has been entertaining music lovers with his fiery brand of Mando-Hokkien rock, making crowds go wild with his mean guitar solos.

However, in the last couple of years, the long-haired musician has discovered his passion for a vastly different hobby, albeit a much quieter and visually poetic one.

Photography is his new-found love, or as Wu Bai himself puts it, to quote legendary psychedelic rock band Pink Floyd, it's 'my dark side of the moon'.

'Taking pictures is akin to songwriting. It's one side of me that audiences don't see,' explained Wu Bai.

'They listen to the final product on the CD, or watch us (referring to him and his band China Blue) perform, but they don't witness the process of us crafting the song.'

When it comes to making music, 'that part is the most enjoyable', he said.

'Jamming away with your mates and practising the uncompleted tune in the studios, it's fun.

'In a way, I feel photography gives me the same fulfilment songwriting does. It's like holding a conversation with yourself when you need to, it can be really therapeutic.'

Dressed in a striped pink shirt, Wu Bai was all smiles when he met local reporters at Mandarin Oriental Hotel here last month. The singer was in town to promote his latest studio album, Spacebomb.

He didn't seem to mind one bit when journalists digressed from the main topic of his music to his photography work.

In fact, in a spontaneous display of enthusiasm, he took out his personal camera and began fiddling with it.

It didn't take us long to notice that in an age when everyone wants the latest digital gadgets, he was using a camera with film.

'I still prefer film,' he said with a grin.

'There is just something mysterious about film, as compared to digitised pictures.

'Some people say that the downside to using film is that you can't check your image after you've shot it, but I feel that's precisely how it should be - we shouldn't be deliberately capturing a scene, you should let the scene captivate you.'

He also confessed to having a penchant for black-and-white images.

'Shooting in black and white transports us to another world, you don't get that impact out of colour images,' he said.

'There is a lasting effect that the contrast in black and white brings forth. Yet, at the same time, you sense a tinge of sadness in the pictures as well.'

Lest you think he's being overly opinionated, mind you, Wu Bai's no novice.

He has published two collections of photography works, Scenery (2007) and more recently, Story (2009).

In conjunction with the launch of Story, he even had his own photography exhibition in Taipei, which ran from February to last month.

Not bad for someone who first started taking pictures simply to create personalised screen savers for his computer a few years ago.

Some photos he posted in his blog soon caught the eye of publishers, and the rest is history.

Wu Bai admitted readily that while he 'enjoys the recognition' he receives for his photography skills, there's no way he is hanging up his microphone or guitar to go behind the camera full-time.

He likens himself to one of his favourite Japanese authors, Haruki Murakami.

'Murakami is a great novelist, but at the same time, he's a long-distance runner who has successfully completed several marathons,' he said.

'I would like to see myself as somebody like that too, doing a fine balance between two things, rock music and photography.

'Both are my interests and I'll definitely continue with them.'

This article was first published in The New Paper.