Construction Worker, Near Broadway

Labels: photographs, Vancouver, wandering

While I was in Korea visiting my girlfriend(who is now my wife) I got a chance to observe some interesting phenomenon which I've been hearing for some time - Koreans as to all Asians in general embraced technology and any new high-tech gadgets that are put out there on the market. Their love for the new 'toys' are so incredible that in order to keep up your trend you have to constantly replacing new gadgets like cell phones, MP3 players, TVs......etc to the point that a person's familiarity to the object he or she bought could not keep up with the speed of replacement. This was a real eye opener to a person who live on the other side of Pacific for almost 15 years.

But the point in case here is not about Korea. Sure they may be blamed or laughed at for their worship on latest high-tech consumer products but it is only a small picture of a wider issue that are debating among people in the developed and some developing nation today - Does our craze over technology actually help us or hurt us? On one side the supporters say these technologies are helping us in every way from communication to getting information to organizing works. On the other hand however there are people who have serious doubt if they are assisting ours lives. In fact, they believe that technologies isolated us and kept us distracted, as well as the potential to paralyzes us if these high-tech product are defunct.

As to my opinion, I do agree that technology does help as far as organizing your workflows or absorbing informations. But this is where my support ends. The fact that technological advancement are limiting our imagination and creativity is serious. Take a look at photography which had huge advancement in the last 10 years as far as moving from analog to digital to now digital capturing still image in a cell phone or video camera. Functions on camera and other image capturing devices are tripled compare to the film era and graphic-related computer softwares are making editing job quicker and smoother. But how about the quality of pictures which photographers and amateurs bring? Well, just goto any of the popular photo sharing site and you'll get the idea.

So, Does technology helps us or hurts us? I guess the answer is best to leave you the reader to judge........since I already told mine

Labels: Notes and Thoughts, technology

Chinatown, New York City

Labels: new york, On the road, photographs, wandering

While I was in New York an unfortunate event occurred to me which gave me a chance to take a shelter and visit my distant relatives' home for the first time. Though I've known for years that I have some distant relatives immigrated to New York but I did not realized the scale until I started to talk to my uncles and aunts.

To understand why so many of my relatives move to New York you have go back to the 1990s. It was the time when 'going to NYC for better money' was a hot trend among people of my relatives' hometown in central Fujian province and people are willing to pay anything to go there legally or not. As the result during the decade news of Chinese migrants died or end up in slave labor occurred quiet frequently in the US. Luckily, my relative are safe and sound.

Aside from their struggle in the US, what's really excited about staying with them is the fact that I can re-live my childhood memory all over again. Ever since my grand father passed away there's almost no chance of having the kind of foods my grand father made because they are very specialized foods and can be found only in his hometown. But because these relatives are from grand father's side so these foods are their daily diet, although to me they're treasure(and that's what they told me literally....our ordinary food is your treasure......).

So, In the end, even there's an unfortunate event it was worth a trip to NYC as I get to see yet another side of the city and visiting my relatives. By the way I already thinking about going to their hometown next year and pay my respect to my grand father's grave and just get the sense on how much it has changed since my last visit back in the late 1980s.

Labels: new york, off assignment

In the last few months I came across few news articles regarding to photographs that are digitally manipulated slipped through editors' eye and were published on newspapers or magazines. No that the issue was something new but it seems to me that the pattern is on the rise.

Being as ethical problem aside, I think there should be a re-education and new discipline guideline to many of the photographers out there to reaffirm them on what is unethical when it comes to adjusting photographs through software for media usage such as newspaper. We're in the age in which image capturing and editing is so fast and convenient that with ease of the button you can get the image you want in a matter of minute, that is if you own a right gadgets. The problem to it is that it make the market ever more competitive since everyone can be commercial photographer, photojournalist, wedding photographer.....etc. For few who are eagerly want to stay on the game they cheated. In the case of media photographers, few bad apples cheated by sending doctored photos.

Nevertheless, the core lesson to me of all these is that too much choice creates more desire. And the desire can lead to greed.......

Labels: digital manipulation, doctored photos, Notes and Thoughts

Little more than a year ago when I immigrated to Canada the word "multiculturalism" kept on mentioned in the media and among the people here. At the time I was a little bit confused about the term since having living in the US for sometime the word , at least on the surface, is very close to the meaning "melting pot" which the Americans like to use for their uniqueness as multi ethnicity society. It was until few days ago I happened to stumble through a short article from local Chinese newspaper was I start to clarify the definitional differences and understanding the concept.

The idea of multiculturalism is that immigrants who live on the foreign land are in every way still retain its heritage, customs, language ....etc. at the same time still have a strong tie with its native land. In other words, my cultural uniqueness is part of your nation's social structure. The evident example of this can be found on the street of Vancouver where a lot of second generation immigrants who are born and grew up here but still very much look like they were just arrived the country - whether from appearance or practices.

The concept of melting pot, on the other hand, has a limitation to how much cultural identity an immigrant can retain on the land you move to. the concept allow immigrants still retain their cultural uniqueness but at the same time require them to accept the value and certain custom which the native have been practiced over the centuries. It is under this concept in which cultural ties between immigrants and their native land are less visible. An example of this can be found in San Francisco's Chinatown where to a modern Chinese is like stepping to a past yet still very foreign in terms of lifestyle.

So, if you ask me which concept is superior? Hard to say. I think there is much to learn for practitioners of either concept - in this case Canada and the US. The downside of multiculturalism is that sometimes cultural practices that immigrants brought along can be disrespectful or unethical to locals. The downside of melting pot is that immigrants can have difficulty accepting values which the country they move to impose upon, which would cause potential uneasiness and hatred among the locals.

Whichever the case, I personally think it's just a wording game. But I think that managing a multi ethnic society itself is a enormous task and creating a structure that can catering and couping with wide differences of ethnic groups would still take sometime before it would become ideal.

Labels: melting pot, muticulturalism, Notes and Thoughts

Although it is only one day celebration we can not ignore the fact that the issue is ongoing and needs to be bring about constantly, not just once a year.

So, spread the word over the issue and contribute any possible way you can to bring about change.

Labels: Notes and Thoughts, world refugee day

Parkade, Victoria drive

Labels: photographs, Vancouver, wandering

Life is always full of surprise and unexpectedness. Like back in the time of my early college years my every effort was to getting a degree in international politics. But somehow things took a unpredictable turn and here I am now, drifting around both familiar and foreign places capturing moments and presenting them either in a media or an art form.

Last night I was organizing all the feeds I've been gathered recently and stumbled upon a blog which my friend is managing. One of the thing I remembered about this person is that toward the end of her high school she asked me to photograph her portfolio so that she can send a series of slides to New York as part of application to a prominent fashion design school. Well, to make a story short, she got accepted and went to New York. But returned to LA after a year for an untold reason. Nevertheless she did go on to finish college in LA and move(or should I say back?) to Taiwan to work. Then I guess things got unexpected turn for her too.....she's now an entertainer in Taiwan......

While I was reading her posts a thought came into my mind - What if she decide to stay in New York and went on to be a fashion designer?

Labels: Notes and Thoughts

Granville Island

Labels: photographs, Vancouver, wandering

It was an age old debate back in college among instructors and students on whether introductory class in photography should move from traditional film oriented teaching to digital. The issue came around the time when digital photography made a very significant improvement, jumping from low 2-3 megapixels to around 6 or higher. At the same time the concept of digital workflow started to take shape with the improvement on both hardware and software, which more and more students are utilizing 'digital darkrooms' for their assignments and portfolios once they gain the access to the facility.

With the improvement on digital capture the argument among some of the educators is that future generation of students will not be carry around with a film camera and since the industry will eventually abandon analog the job of an educator should provide the skill necessary from ground level so that student's knowledge will be on the par with the industry when they're out.

The risk to this argument, however, is that students who learned their crafts solely on digital platform would also likely to lose their disciplines on making a good exposure. This is one of the foundation in which separate professionals from amateurs because a sensational photograph would not be sensational if photographer does not know how to expose the image the way he/she visualizes. True, using digital cameras may help students understand quicker on how the exposure in relation to photography but it would also leave less impression to young learners since with a ease of the button he/she can make another shot and not trying to find out why the mistake was made or he/she might keep the shot but in hoping of correcting it through photoshop. With film, because the process is long and complicated with little room for mistakes it would leave deeper impression to students.

So, while I agree with educators on expand the teaching on digital workflow I would strongly encourage any school to keep introductory class analog. In other words - keep the darkroom.

Labels: education, Notes and Thoughts, photography

The Strip, Las Vegas, NV

Labels: las vegas, On the road, photographs, wandering

One of the pleasure of being a photographer is that you get to travel to places, some familiar, some exotic. Although not every trip photographers took is a pleasant one, they do get to have opportunities to observe things that casual travelers sometimes unaware of.

From time to time when I'm on assignment I photograph scenes that are more or less for me to keep as a visual journal. Things that are unrelated to the assignment or project but still interest enough to grasp my attention. And so, I thought this would be a good place to share some of my thoughts from these 'detour' images.

I have been in Las Vegas for many times since high school with family, and each time I reached the city I was dying to get out. To me the city is just everything I want to avoid - casinos, neon lights, culturaless and tasteless sceneries......etc. If it wasn't the fact that there are few amusement parks(which is a project I'm working on) in town I wouldn't even consider coming to here. Now, since Las Vegas is known for its gamble industry one would expect the place filled with slot machines. However, to my amazement I did not expect slot machines filled its way to the international airport. Was I took the flight in the past to Las Vegas I would be less surprised about it. But since my past trips to this city was by car(I lived in L.A. during high school) you can imagine the shock I had because slot machines are the last thing I would expected from an airport.

Well, guess they're calling it 'Sin City' for a reason.......

Labels: las vegas, off assignment

A while ago a friend of mine posted articles on his blog site about current home theater electronics, in particularly newer formats such as HDTV and new generation of DVDs (HD-DVD, Blueray....). Basically he just pulled out all sorts of technical data plus some of his personal experience to support his favor on why these latest gadgets that are out on the market are outstanding.

I don't deny his statements. I myself sometimes wandered around electronic shops and was amazed by the quality which these new product can provide from the demo - vivid color, crystal clear resolution and exceptional sound. I would say in some way it does provide better visual experience than going to the cinema. But here is a question - How good the visual quality do we want the TVs or videos to be? In the case of demo from electronic shops the system is everything you expect a latest product should deliver. But these products might in some way overdone themselves for a simple reason - our human eyes don't see things the same way as plasma TV provide. So, while the picture is crystal clear, it becomes more or less unrealistically clear.

Frankly, while people are focusing so much about the hardware, they seems to forget one thing - A good visual story(documentary, movie, photo essay.....) is a good visual story, doesn't matter which format you're watching.

Labels: home entertainment, Notes and Thoughts, visual

For those who following the digital photography related news, whether you actually own a digital camera or not, you should notice that there is a growing trend of emphasizing on video capture on new still cameras. With several new models released this year in which the Canon Powershot XT1 being the most video cam the evolution will take on a new path.

It is a good news to consumers since with better quality of video capture in the still camera it is like having two gadgets packed in one equipment which will not only save a lot of bucks for them but spaces as well when they travel. Not to mention digital equipments needs countless accessories so when you add these up the weight can be unbearable.

As for me, the trend worries me in a great deal. In the world of media we already see more and more newspapers asking their still photographers to do motion piece for the multimedia content or even fore go their own still photographers and use still capture from video footage. There's even a talk within the industry which predict the death of the digital still equipment in the near future once the quality of still capture on digital camcorders are up to standard.

An Interesting concept and prediction of abandoning still cameras. But they seemed to forget that although photography and videography are relatives, the fundamental practice of capturing still images and video images are very different and it would be hard for print or on-line content to solely rely on images from video capture in the foresee future.

Labels: digital camera, Notes and Thoughts, photography, video capture

Tourists, Grandville Island

Labels: photographs, Vancouver, wandering

There's an interesting article at nytimes.com regarding to the longevity of a photographic images being printed by inkjet printers, which is widely practiced by consumers and professional alike today. It offers an interesting insights on the task which Inkjet photo printers face today - something which many of us already know - lasting prints. It also reminds us that though the photographic evolution in which film capturing is being replaced by digital capturing in an astonishing speed, the core issue of preserving digital medium is still daunting and will take many years to resolve.

For full detail of the Article please visit www.nytimes.com

Labels: archival prints, digital printing, Notes and Thoughts, prints

Labels: Notes and Thoughts, photography

Victoria Drive

Labels: photographs, Vancouver, wandering

Well, When blogging phenomenon first started swiping through this part of the world I was not too fancy about it. Having the advantage of being bilingual I was able to gaze through what was going on in Asia prior to blogging gained its popularity today. Anyhow, over in Asia there was a time posting messages on a so called BBS site was really popular and it was.....uh.....like stepping into a no man's land.

I had this idea of having my own blog for pretty much about a year but then because of constant traveling and the time consuming process of updating a website it was remain a concept until now.

Now, I'm no web designer or coder so even though I build most part of this site a lot of layout might be laughable to the professional. I am no writer as well so mis-spelling and grammatical errors might scare writers away if they ever visited this site. Adding to the matter worse I'm bilingual and at this point I just don't know which language I'm more fluent - my native or English.

You are, however, will find photographs through out this site and in this journal section since I'm a photographer and have been doing this for some time now.

Labels: Notes and Thoughts, photography