surfing

I have been going to the North Shore beaches with Blake in the morning these days to get some shots.




Hmm. Got some pretty sick shots, but the real good surf have yet to come….

Edward Hopper

"Chop Suey"(1929)




"Road in Maine"(1914)




"Automat"(1927)




"Lighthouse Hill"(1927)




"New York Restaurant" (1922).




"Nighthawks" (1942)



It all began as the mid term paper for my photo class in spring.
We had to go to down town San Francisco to visit the gallery.

But somehow it turned out to be one of my favorite paintings I've seen.

Edward Hopper’s work focused on the plain truthfulness, the silence part of the America life, and his unique perspective in his work later influenced various photographers’ style impacted American photography.

When looking at Edward Hopper’s works, it tells a story of the common American life style that we used to experience. Like gas stations, motels, restaurants, theaters, and street scenes. Showing a feel of emotional themes like solitude, loneliness, regret, boredom, and resignation in the paintings and photographs. A special feel we don’t really see in the major leading styles of painting and photography. Human character in the photograph and the painting, lack with motion, interacts with their environment; with solo figures, couples, or groups. It demonstrates the emotions of these human in various environments, including public places, in apartments, on the road. Hopper positioned his characters as if they have been captured just before or just after the climax of a scene, like stills for a movie or tableaux in a play. A quiet story happening in silence that transforms into a rush of emotion.

His painting somehow resonances the style I'm trying to approach in my personal photography works.

hmm.

photo about thoughts

bla bla bla again




So as being a photographer, an artist that masters the light and the camera:
One of the most important thing is to have your own distinctive style. Gotta separate yourself from others, the general public.
I haven't fully developed my own style yet, but I know what I am doing, and where am I going.



These days cause of the popularization of the digital cameras, photography no longer is that such a luxury hobby for the rich and famous ones. Cause of the more people out there doing photography, it's even more important to stand out from everyone. There is just too much photographers these days all doing the same photos, the same pose, the same composition. The beginners all just copy others style, they get lost and lose themselves in the "taste of the general public" tidal wave. Being a photographer is never as artistic as it was anymore.




To make an example, photographers we see today most frequently, wedding photographers.


There is nothing wrong being a wedding photographer.
But if everyone all does the same kind of photos, then thats not no longer art.

Most of the wedding photographers, especially female wedding photographers (nothing personal), they all tend to do the same kind of photos.

They love to make the bride and groom "gloomy" in the photo with photoshop.
They love to tilt the horizon, to make the photo look more "fun".
They love to do posing pictures, with both the boy and girl faking.
They love to edit the photo in photoshop and tune up the contrast, vibrancy, saturation to make it look more "vivid".

I mean, it's all faked up.

Okay okay, I'm more a documentary style photographer. So it's my problem, huh.

hmm
Nope.

Let me ask you
Isn't a wedding/marriage a on going process?
Isn't it real? Like happening?
Then why faking it by adding those things? Posing pictures showing how beautiful and how handsome the bride and groom is.
How beautiful is the smile is.


Oh please, you can get the most beautiful smile easier than posing and faking it.



"A lot of photographers spend their entire lives try to create the perfect picture, there is no such thing. The only thing that is perfect is the moment" Joe buissink



the Moment, the Real human emotions are something that you cannot make up.



Photography is about the real stuff. It's the real stuff in the photo, the moment that carries the emotion and the meaning.
The true beautiful thing is the emotions, not how it it looks on the surface.


I think a lot photographers do not know this.


Or they might have just forgotten it, cause to survive they must adopt the general public's taste.









this is just my own perception of photography.

A lot of people might disagree with me

I don't blame them.

Because the perception of art is subjective.

that gives me the right to criticize them too.



Sometimes I hate to let people know I'm a photographer, cause photography has just made itself cheap.

it's almost like:
Photographer=Cheap artist.



you get my point?



BTW, I hate doing wedding photography.



but here is a wedding photographer I truly admire:
http://www.joebuissink.com/

friend project #4

Jesus Molinar



Taken while visiting April Powell in Del Rio, TX.

He's a close friends of the Powell's/Mills. And a good friend of mine when I was in BYUH. Political Science Major. Graduating this December along with April.

Fujichrome Astia100F

Friends Project#3

The third set of the friend project.

April Powell.







Taken while visiting her family in Del Rio, TX.

She's Brooke's older sister, second oldest in the family. And a good friend of mine when I was in BYUH. She's an art major. Graduating this december.

Fujichrome Velvia100F

Friends Project#2

Brooke Powell.





Taken while visiting her family in Del Rio, TX this July.

She's April's younger sister. She's a photography major in BYU-Idaho. She's also heading to BYUH for the fall semester.

Fujichrome Astia100F

the first few of FRIENDS project.

My still on going FRIENDS project on film,

The very first few photos that came out, featuring me dear friend Chelsea.







These was taken while she was visiting California with her best Carla.



More to come soon.

the waiting

Fujicolor PRO400H

there has never been a deal out there for me

so here I am, May Day's

(not the distress signal...)





5 months has passed, still nothing for me to do around the place.
Not a singe interview, negative income, one big travel(Guatemala),
too much time, too less to do(and no income to support big projects).



Although it sounds nasty boring
there is still some things going on these days

I've been trying to put together my portfolio for a long while, but never finished.
Cause of the photo class recently, it gave me a chance to go over the photographs I took before.
So one by one each time, the portfolio selection is building up.


Mail is one thing I do too.
For example of all the postcards I sent everyone recently.
I just got some more 28cent postage stamps for postcards, so I'm gonna do more of it.


Birthday presents.
Like Erika dear's 20th anniversary's coming soon next week.
It was a great process doing her birthday present.
I have to say thats the first time I spent that much of an effort on a birthday present itself.
Haha lucky Erika.

But don't get me wrong, thats doesn't mean I love erika more than you guys as a friend. She was just lucky.


Oh, and I'm also thinking of selling one of my lens too.
Hard decision though.



BTW the AT&T internet service broke down with no reason last night.
So now I'm living on a public shared Google Wifi provided in Mountain View(Where Google's headquarters are based)

Cruel. Really cruel.

Wish when the tech person from the service department comes tomorrow can save my miserable life from lack of good quality internet service.

the hardester pancake afternoon

so today afternoon I went to hang out with my old roommate, ryan.

he just got back from Provo.

and we went to pick up Chantal to hang out.









we didn't know what to do

so Ry-ry(thats how ryan's mom and chantal call him) thought of doing the contest for a family recipe food photo contest just to kill the time
and thank god I did bought my camera.

we spent the afternoon doing all the pancake making and photo taking process


the syrup was the whole deal


we accidently over cooked the butter we used for the syrup
made the syrup brown.(it was supposed to be white)

still tasted good though.


did a bunch of different experiments to see how to make all the things work in the photo.

we dipped the syrup on the pancake and wiped it off like ten times

the butter kept slipping, like it has feet of itself kept walking away



on the dinner table.

around the garden with flowers and greens

by the pool

or in the pool

sure was fun.




it was my first food photography try out.

sure was fun.


we will be the winner
indeed.


but
will that photo make me tons of $?


I don't think so

We passed treasure island while crossing bay bridge.

"Geary Street"




So here's the thing.


How do I make up a 3 to 5 page paper after checking out a painter's and influenced photographers exhibition? which I do like the photos a lot, but I really have nothing to say though.

You all know I'm not the kind of person that BS about things I don't know.


That paper is for my exploring visual expression art class(a.k.a. Friday Morning 4 hour photography class) mid term.




that was the deal.






So the story, I drove my bro and sis to a friends house in Pleasanton, CA. Dropped them off, set them "free".
And I went to San Francisco with Mom taking the interstate 580.

I was the one driving this time.

We crossed the bay bridge.

landed on San Francisco.

it was a immediate impression.

nice place to live, crazy traffic(nobody is letting me switch lanes), cool people, cool place.


hardly to find a place to park.



Went to 3rd St./Geary St.

An Art gallery called Frankel Gallery

Edward Hopper and Company Exhibition.


Photos I appreciate a lot.


Seriously.


But I cannot form a ideal how I feel in my mind and write it into a 3 page minimum paper.


Bummer.




while walking on Market St.
I saw the Collette's doppleganger.

Dressed stylish, Metro, cute for sure.

around the old navy, with two other girls.

just too bad the other two weren't as alike to alyssa and erika(if it did happen, I would not even believe my eyes.)


Sat in Starbucks drinking coffee with Mom. We chat, observing people on the streets.

"A mommy/son moment"?

Lovely.

then later I saw a brett doppleganger in starbucks too.

WTH?




On the way back, got lost in the crazy one way streets in SF, somehow accidently getting back on the bay bridge.

Big relief.

Driving way above the speed limit(people were way faster than me), somehow not getting caught by the overwhelming cops during the time when sun is setting and getting back home safe and sound.

amazing huh?


but the worst was finding out the Yankees been defeated by the Indians with 22-4 overwhelming score. WTF
14 runs in the second?! GOD!
that screwed up the wonderfulness of the whole day.



tomorrow is family golf day.

I going to practice using the driver. for real.

snap!

take a photo
with a mechanical device called "camera"
it stoles part of the beauty from the world
from the constant flow of time
just like poking your finger into a cake and put it to your mouth
you taste the wonderfulness of the moment
rather than a flash in time, but to an eternity


take a photo
with a few piece of glass and a sheet of crazy chemicals
you tell a story
an untold story that people never seen
just like daddy telling a new fairy-tale to her beautiful little daughter
you always feel the fascination
rather than the voice of daddy, but with a picture


take a photo
with her imagination
an artist makes a statement
a statement that how she sees the world
just like mommy's special recipe
so unique that nothing of a kind is ever seen
rather than mommy's cooking, but with the artist's soul


Snap! Snap! Snap! You just found out that you forgot to put film in your camera.

colors

mother nature is the best artist, makes the best colors on the best canvas know as the sky.







somewhere on the road from Salvador back to Guatemala.

Project proposal.

So I been thinking about this for a long while.

A photography project. Indeed.

Topic? hmm.

People? Yes. People.

Who? hmm. You. Yes. You.

Location? Where you are at.(In the tub, on the toilet, at your grandma's party, it all works.)

Materials? hmm one 35mm film camera.

Film? yes. Film. (screw you digital.)

What film? Fujichrome RVP100 color reversal film.

Color reversal? Slide film. exactly.

How many photos do we need? 2+.(this depends how your face likes the camera.)



what kind of project is it exactly?!

"it's taking photos about you"


hmm. When will we start? a few days later. As soon as I see you. with my bare eyes.


How long is it gonna take? A while. As long as there's someone I didn't take a photo of, it's still gonna keep on going.




Does anybody know what I'm talking about? Raise your hand if you got any questions. Good. Class dismiss.

Guatemala on Slide Film

Taken with EOS3. Fujifilm Provia100F, Velvia50, Velvia100 color reversal film used. Scanned with Canon CanoScan5600F scanner.

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/thirteenguy/collections/72157615713985962/



there are still a few rolls to come

Guatemala or Alaska?

Exactly.

Guatemala or Alaska?

This question popped up after I finish chatting with Sara.
She invited me to go visit her in Guatemala.

Hmm. Since I haven't been to any other country in central america, hey, this is a perfect opportunity!

But still?

Which one will you choose?



Two totally different places.

Both quite exotic(maybe Guatemala a bit more than Alaska?)

Both cost almost the same airfare.

Both got friends to crash with.

Both doesn't require me VISA or any application things.
(In fact, I was surprised that Taiwan has a diplomatic relationship with Guatemala, so I can visit for 90 days the longest. )

Both going to be great places to take a lot of photos.

But I can only choose to go to one of them this summer.

Alaska or Guatemala?




Guatemala?

Hmm.


I got 1300 bucks to save before summer comes....thats basically the only issue I got now.

film junky.

okay.

So a few days ago while going through craigslist trying to sell my keyboard, I accidently found the camera that I was looking for decades(you know what I mean)

it's a film camera.

A Canon EOS3 film camera.

Came out in 1998.

it's like one of the best 35mm film camera still can compete with the wave of digital age.


It's in good condition.

The seller posted it for $250.

For that camera, it seriously is a pretty good price.



And talking about film camera's. I was thinking about building a darkroom in the storage.

I always wanna to develop the film by myself.

Brought a book, called "Build Your Own Home Darkroom"
it has almost every information I needed to build up my dark room.

Excellent!

Doesn't it sound crazy still doing film during these digital days?
I donno. I started photography by shooting film. I missed it. I loved it.
Digital did deliver the convenience, the speed, the low price tag.
But film still has great advantage over silicon sensors these days.
The color, the dynamic range, the gratitude, the personality of each film.
It's all something that digital lacks of.
It's like the classic chucks that never goes out of fashion.



Since I got no funds right now (I put all the money on the camera)
Gonna study it for a while, make up a plan, and wait till I get the time and money to do it.



If I can get that darkroom working. It would be dream come true.



Oh so I'm gonna get the camera maybe tomorrow, super exciting.

Art312 Intermediate Photography

so these are the images for my final assignment for the class.


Any feedback will be appreciated.

freedom

wish I could fly like a bird.

time

hmm hmm hmm.



I'm never good in scenic and studio, or I just need more time?