Outside Skytrain Station, Burnaby

Labels: photographs, Vancouver, wandering

Vancouver along with northwest region is known for its beautiful sceneries and depressing rains(that is if you live here). But between June and early September sun usually shines high above with relatively few or no clouds most of the time. This summer, however, things are a bit different.

When the summer officially kicked in I was sort of expecting warm summer with high UV rating like any other summer. What I encountered for last three months are frequent overcasts and few drops of rains occasionally. In some cases thunder storm took place. Of course above normal wet weathers wasn't all that bad - Forest fire dropped down significantly this year compare to the data shown 2 years back.

Else where in the world seems to be experiencing the same wet weather phenomenon this summer - extensive rain caused severe flooding in many parts of US as well as Asia. New York's subway was even disrupted due to the thunder storm.

Sign of global warming? Certainly looks like it. But as far as this region goes I won't jump into the conclusion about this year's abnormal summer until scientific result come out.

Labels: Notes and Thoughts, weather

Aaron, near 1st Avenue

Labels: photographs, Vancouver, wandering

Woke up early than usual after having trouble sleeping last night - Something happen once in a while when the weather changes. So, drag my exhausted but restless body to the coffee maker and then turned on the TV. What came to me next is bunch of red and green numbers. As I read through all my sleepiness turned into amusement - TSX down over 600 points (Of course by the closing time was went back up so it ended down 200 points).

The current stock frenzy has relate to the collapsing of sublime loan in the US, which directly caused the confidence of many people globally. It was something my family foresaw while we were still live in the US. The cause is simple - financial institutions lent out too many loans to home buyers, including ones whose financial background is not so healthy and when borrowers couldn't pay the interest they defaulted. Institutions then sensed the alarm and tighten the restriction and next thing we know domino effect started to occur.

Well, thank god my family sold the house in the US and thank god my investment in the US liquidated right before all these happened. But what I really feel lucky is the fact that I don't have any investment in stock just yet, or else I would really get heart attack....he.

Labels: Notes and Thoughts, stock market

Jean-Francois Leroy, the man behind the Visa pour L'image in Perpignan, France gave an interview for Digital Journalist. Below is the link:

http://www.digitaljournalist.org/issue0708/visa_movie01.html

http://www.digitaljournalist.org/issue0708/visa_movie02.html

One of the interesting aspect of this clip is that during the interview Jean was concerned about how digital photography disconnected photographers from telling a good visual story. During the interview he quote "Digital its good and bad......it's impossible to make bad picture......but it doesn't make you photographer". Ironic that the interview was done by a on-line digest which is always a big pusher for digital visual-journalism.

Oh, Did I mention I'm in preparation for Visa pour L'image?

Labels: Notes and Thoughts, photography, Visa pour L'image

Canada Day Celebration at Canada Place

Labels: photographs, Vancouver, wandering

In the last two days or so there's a passionate reaction to comments posted by Magnum photographer Alec Soth on photo sharing site Flickr. So much so as of today there are over 200 comments reacted to that single post. It started when Soth posted a quote from Stephen Shore's comment on Flickr during a talk at Henry Art Gallery in Seattle. Followed by the quote Soth then asking for good photographs posted from Flickr. This is when hundreds of Flickrites jumped on the board and reacts to the post.

Interesting enough while many of the respondents were focusing on Stephen Shore's comments and/or feeding links of particular Flickr page which they thought are good photographic works(and to some 'shameless self promotion' - lol) not many people were responding to the Bill Jay's article which occupied significant portion of Soth's post. It just so happened that because I have a visa appointment with French Consulate that morning when the post was up(technically, the post was up for hours when I read it) so I grabbed the pdf file, print it out and read it on the bus. What I discovered is a most hysterical essay about photography and the whole time I was trying to keep my emotion under control during the morning rush hour on the bus to avoid strange stare.

Of course the reason why Soth brought quotes from Jay's writing has something to do with his earlier humorous post on his fan base at Flickr were unmatched to that o Martin Parr, another Magnum photographer. But as the comments started to build I started to see a strange irony between whopping numbers of responds and Bill Jay's essay. Could it be that by coming out and bashing Stephen Shore and/or suggesting a good Flickr site on Alec Soth's blog commentators are subconsciously trying to achieve something that they're unaware of - which is fame?

By the way, I don't use Flickr, or I should say not yet. But I’m doing so for logistic reason - Because after signed up at Friendster, MSN Live Space, Myspace, Hi5 and abandoned all I just tired of managing another site which I have little control of on the layout.

To find out more detail about the post visit here

Labels: alec soth, flickr, Notes and Thoughts, photography

Over the weekend CBC Newsworld was broadcasting a docu-drama about the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima which along with the other one dropped in Nagasaki help to end the Second World War in 1945. I was a bit puzzled about the airing and couldn't help to ask why all the sudden Hiroshima became a hot topic again on this part of the world. It wasn't until after the show when I checked the calendar(Have to admit I missed the date that appeared during the program) all the mystery became clear - Today, or rather yesterday in Japan is the 62 years anniversary of the atomic bombing in Hiroshima.

The atomic bomb that dropped in Japan is the event which only recently been questioned in the West of its morality and depending on which part of the world you're from you'll receive a wide range of opinion on this(from White racism to Japan deserves it). It is an event that gets tricky for me to comment on as my grand parents' generation witnessed the brutality carried out by Japanese military(topic which often avoided by the Japanese when the issue brought up) in East Asia. But on the other hand I do think dropping atom bombs on Japan was a hasty decision only to be realized on the aftermath.

So what's my stand on this? Doesn't matter, because at end of the day wherever there is a conflict it's always innocent people who suffer.

Labels: atom bomb, hiroshima, Notes and Thoughts

Crystal Mall, Burnaby

Labels: photographs, Vancouver, wandering

Anyone who is aware of the history of photography(Or just aware of history) would know that the evolution on image capturing method has always link to technology. One could say that without technological advancement there would not be the invention of camera, which changed the way we capture reality from brushes to little black box. Similarly, without technology the little black box which enabled us to freeze a movement in time would not evolve from mechanical device to electronic ones.

When discuss technological advancement one could not talk about Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution was born out of severe labour shortage which Europeans were facing after the content went through Black Death that killed thousands. In order to replace shortages in manual labour machines were invented. What they did not realize at the time is that the scope in which machines were transformed our social behaviour. In stead of producing goods with tools, which functioned as a handler would like it to be, machines became the central objects to produce goods and humans became operators that ensure machines are operating. The changing relationship between men and apparatus also found its parallel with the invention of camera. Prior to camera came into existence humans recorded their reality through tools e.g. brushes. With the invention of camera we the humans became operators of these mechanical boxes to ensure reality is captured. But while machines and cameras have a same linear pattern of operation camera operator need to decide what portion of 'reality' he/she need to be captured when operating the device.

If the Industrial revolution transformed the society into a mechanical world, the introduction of computer changed the world into that of virtual ones. Goods we produced in the digitized world no longer have to be physical objects. It can be stored, processed and delivered through a virtual reality through computer e.g. books which need machines to mass produce them can be able to read through internet. The disappearances of physical goods because of their new refuge on the virtual world are found its way to photography when digital camera became popularized. Like mechanical camera which was by product of industrial revolution, digital camera is the by product of virtual age. Operators of digital camera no longer need a medium to store information but rather the information stored directly into the camera's memory device. Print is not necessary in order to examine the information. In stead information can be viewed directly from any available or compatible viewing screen. But the biggest shift in practice is that information stored from digital camera enables operator to share it in the virtual word.

The transition from mechanical to digital is, of course, not without concern. One of the issue with the transition period which we are in currently is how to leave an evidence behind(which is a common human practice) in the virtual reality for future generation to discover. Unlike information stored in pre-industrial age and industrial age, information stored in the virtual age has a vulnerability to be disappeared by replacement of formats. Unless in the later generation humans found a solution to this evidences in the virtual world will always be visible for a limit time.

Labels: Notes and Thoughts, photography, virtual world

When misuse of words and punctuation marks appear on the blog it always spread like cancer. This one is no exception. A California based photo agency Zuma Press disclosed licensing deal within hours after bridge collapsed in Minneapolis yesterday through local shooters. Email press announcement were sent out in order to reach potential buyers. The message which is photos of fallen bridge with text like this(notice frequent appearance of exclamation points) :

Breaking News!

EXCLUSIVE IMAGE! Freeway bridge collapses into Mississippi River during rush hour in Minneapolis, with at least six people are dead, dozens more are injured, some critically. The Interstate 35 bridge, under repair between St. Paul and Minneapolis, breaks into several huge sections and falls into the water with vehicles. An estimated 50 vehicles plunged into the water and onto the land below.

RESTRICTIONS: USA Tabloid RIGHTS OUT! Mags and TV Call 949.481.3747 For Price !!

Need I say more?

If you wanna get more perspective on this please visit PDNPulse, alec soth - blog and Waiting on a Moment by Tim Gruber.

Labels: Minneapolis, Notes and Thoughts, photojournaism