March 26, 2024

Photographer Henry Wu couldn’t believe his luck when he got an email from Wendi Murdoch. 

She was offering him and his partner Zory Shahanska a lucrative assignment abroad for an exhibition connected to the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.

Now divorced from media mogul Rupert Murdoch, she chaired events at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, and worked as a film producer and art investor. 

So her email, describing the pair’s work as unique and “the kind of voice I was looking for”, was both flattering and entirely plausible.

Based in San Francisco, Henry and Zory were joint editors of an online travel photography site, called This Life of Travel.

Henry Wu and Zory Shahanska thought Wendi Murdoch was giving them the opportunity of a lifetime. (Instagram: @zorymory)

They were completely taken in by Wendi Murdoch’s invitation to “capture the essence of China” among Chinese immigrant communities in South-East Asia.

“She complimented us on our photography and went on to talk about how our style was exactly what she wanted,” Henry Wu wrote on his blog.

Soon after, Henry answered a call from Aaron, who introduced himself as Wendi Murdoch’s assistant and wanted to talk about the details of the project.

“He had a thick New Yorker accent and connected us to Wendi after a momentary pause,” he said. 

“When she got on the line, she introduced herself with an interesting accent that was a mix of Asian, British, and East Coast drawl.

“If any of you have seen Crazy Rich Asians, she sounded…

Read more…

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *