one year

Can't believe it's been a year since I first started shooting in DSLR and writing this blog.  I guess time moves much faster when you're passionate about certain things in life!

When I first started learning tennis, my instructor told me that people generally learn most at the beginning and then after you get better, improvements come in much smaller increments and that's when the real challenge begins.  I of course never became a real good tennis player, but I went through the learning curve and understand what he meant.

As I move on to the 2nd year of my photography study, I remember what it was like when I first started playing tennis.  Looking back this past year, I can see my skills improved noticeably.  I still take lots of crappy photos, but at least I kind of know what I am doing now.  But as I continue to learn more and be happy with what I've achieved, I should also remember that the real challenge is always ahead and the learning never ends.

Last week I was at the Cincinnati Art Museum for my new AAC Photojournalism course assignment.  This was my second visit and it's been 6 months since my first.  I am breaking the rule by showing 6 photos in this post because I want to celebrate my newbie achievement.  With this post, I can now pat myself in the back, be happy with what I've done so far, and look forward to many more years of learning!


October 20, 2012

 March 31, 2012

solitude

It's been a while since I did my last post.  Lots went on since then - taxes, traveling, family visiting etc.  Happy to say that life has been good and I've been continue shooting!

Since my cherry blossom and neighborhood project, I did another assignment in March before finishing the photography class at AAC.  I chose to use my flimsy little tripod and spent a few consecutive evenings outside of National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.  What a beautifully designed building and I am amazed at how successful this exercise turned out to be.  I've learned a lot and this has ignited my interest in both night photography and architecture photography.

While I was there, I thought of an interview on Michael Kenna's Hokkaido project.  Of course I'm no where near his caliber but I realized at that moment how much I enjoy shooting things like this and similar to Michael, I can spend a long time, alone, framing the shots, trying different exposures, and experimenting different perspectives.  Just being able to explore the serenity of a place with no distractions is already a wonderful experience on its own.

spring is here!

Last week's assignment was neighborhood/tree.

The class kind of knew that if the weather gets much warmer, cherry blossoms would start blooming and we would be able to take lots of wonderful photos.  Luckily that's exactly what happened on St. Patrick's Day.  The weather was wonderful - the sky was blue with beautiful clouds.

I love when the cherry blossoms first bloom in spring.  You don't have any green leaves on the tree yet and the flowers are so fresh and clean, you just wish they could stay like that forever.

Amazingly, Cincinnati is full of cherry trees and you can see the blossoms everywhere you go.  I feel so blessed to be able to experience this.

I took these shots with my 18-200mm lens with no tripod.  I had to drop my arms and take a break every few shots to make sure that my arms are not too tired from holding the camera for too long.  I could feel my arms shaking and I wasn't sure if that would cause motion blur when I zoom in so much with no tripod and everything was on autofocus.  I wish I have a macro lens and a solid tripod for these shots because I am sure I can get more beautiful and abstract photos if I get much closer!  Oh well, they will have to go on to my B&H's wish list...

more on "a day in the life"

The more I work on this project, the more I appreciate the intricacy of B&W photos.  I will present about 10 of these tomorrow in class and make sure I get lots of feedback from our instructor Lisa on how I can do this better!

a day in the life

Next week, I will be sharing "a day in life" photos with my AAC classmates.  This is a pretty open-ended subject and it certainly allows us to present a series of cohesive photos with narratives.

I've determined to use this project to practice my B&Ws so I can get more feedback from my instructor Lisa.  So here it is, a day in my life - just an ordinary day.

We're all inspired to be extraordinary.  But sometimes, you wake up in the morning wishing you can just be ordinary.  There are no expectations to accomplish anything, no anticipations to achieve anything, we can just live through the day as is.

This may sound uninspiring but really, being ordinary has its beauty.  A day like this means you don't have unnecessary dramas and chaos.  I think we all deserve to have a day like this every once in a while.  This is certainly the cheapest form of therapy.  After an ordinary day, we can have more energy to charge forth and face many unknowns in life.

hands

We've just relocated to Cincinnati Ohio in the new year!

Moving away from New York City is a very sad thing.  I felt really connected to the city.  It really is a photographer's paradise with endless inspirations.  Having said that, the move to Cincinnati is a great opportunity for me to shoot a very different environment.  It definitely allows me to gain new perspectives.

After arriving here shortly, I eagerly registered for a photography project course at Art Academy of Cincinnati.  Here is my first project - hands. Three very different approaches yet similar in some ways.  I'm glad that I got creative with this.  Hopefully I can continue to push the boundaries and test my capability.