Granville Island, Vancouver, Canada
Labels: photographs, Vancouver, wandering
Guests at Political lunch event at Chinese restaurant during the National Day of Republic of China(Taiwan) celebration.
Since May this year I was working on the personal project documenting Chinatown and one thing led to another I began to get in contact with some of the old , semi-political organizations that have long history with the community. Then about a week ago I was photographing the political event which marks the national day of Taiwan - or Republic of China, the island's official name.
To understand why these people celebrating the holiday that is only marked in the calender in Taiwan there's a bit history lesson to be learned.........To put it simple, this so called National Day which is on Oct. 10th was celebrated in China before 1949 prior to the People's Republic. Then The Chinese Nationalist lost the civil war and retreated to Taiwan so the National Day on Oct. 10th is only celebrated on the territory that Nationalist controls. However for the oversea Chinese organizations, specially the old ones that are locate in Chinatowns, are still supporting the Nationalist so naturally they're celebrating ROC's National day as well.
So what do I make of this? Well, I personally felt like I went into an living antique shop when I attending the event not only because of age group of the attendees but also the propaganda - may it be the slogan they shouted during the event or the text on the wall. All these remind me of my elementary school times in taiwan 20 years back.
Labels: Notes and Thoughts
Granville Island, Vancouver, Canada
Labels: photographs, Vancouver, wandering
Four of my images from 'Winter Tale, Korea' series were selected for the group exhibition 'The Travelling Eye' at Exposure Gallery here in Vancouver. The openning is tonight(Oct. 17th) at 8pm. Come and see the show for which not only I but my colleague Geoff Wallang's work was also been selected for this exhibition.
Labels: Notes and Thoughts
Crowds at gallery exhibition, Vancouver, Canada
Labels: photographs, Vancouver, wandering
The image on the left is photographed by James Nachtwey in Swaziland, part of a project he worked on in the past year on XDR-TB. The image on the right is by Larry Towell, my mentor during the Magnum Workshop Toronto and a well known Canadian photographer from Magnum.
James Nachtwey, a veteran war photographer received TED Prize of $100,000 USD which he utilize the fund for the project about XDR-TB, the mutated form of TB which is very resistant to drugs and is becoming a major health crisis on parts of the world. At the time of receiving the award he was telling the audience that was "working on a story the world need to know about" then he disappeared for the next 18 months. Then few days before October 3rd, which was the schedule date to break the story there's a huge press release to remind us about the event. This prompt some heated debate on morality of Nachtwey's strategy of bringing the attetion to the masses about the issue.
While the fuzz and focus was on Nachtwey's story my attention was turned to my former colleague Jeff Ladd's photography book review blog 5B4. He posted a review on my mentor Larry Towell's latest book The World from My Front Porch, which he spent nearly 20 years photographing his own family. At the book launch which is during the workshop Larry gave his reason why he started pointing his camera to his own family and was plain simple - he was unemployed(think part of it was a joke). But instead of a global crisis which you need a megaphone to announce to the world it was just a small event with live performance by Larry himself(Yes, he sings and I even have his CD). The book by the way is very compelling and I could say this would be an ultimate family photo album.
So whyt do I presenting a two very distinct work? well, honestly I was somewhat reserve about Nachtwey's strategy of bringing the issue to the masses. True, this is a issue that needs a grave attention but by holding back the story till certain date like product launch makes photographer vulnerable to criticism and ultimately play down the real issue.
And there's also a shift of the kind of story that appeal to me....part of the reason why I brought Larry Towell's work and drew the comparison.
Labels: Notes and Thoughts
Arts and crafts vendor at Powell Street Festival, Vancouver, Canada
Labels: photographs, Vancouver, wandering
