Seasons Greeting
 When I moved here 3 years ago people were telling me how beautiful the weather is in Vancouver....then the fall came and it was pissing rain till spring. Then 2 years ago it started to snow hard towards the winter, which came into shock to the locals but not so much for me because the geographical location of the city means we could not immune from the bitter cold winter when the arctic wind found its way to crash on us.
And this year is even more dramatic. It was very mild up to mid December then all of the sudden it became extremely cold....then the usual non-stop pissing rain that the locals accommodate to became a non-stop snow(as of now, 70cm of snow covering metro Vancouver) for about a week. In short, the unfamiliar weather just made the entire metro area a chaos.
But the good thing is that I was able to get enough snow to make a snowman......
Anyway, to people who visit this blog, friends and strangers alike, I wish you all a very happy holiday.
Labels: Notes and Thoughts
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Fashion With Voice
 About two weeks ago I was browsing around events in town trying to photograph something unfamiliar to me........kind of giving myself a break after months of wondering through Vancouver's Chinatown. Then I received the email about a political fashion show called SCRAP organized by Kalayaan Center, a non-profit organization with it's purpose of serving the Filipino community here in Vancouver. So I placed a call for access........and days later there I was.
To understand the motive behind the SCRAP fashion show there is some background needs to be learned. Every year there's a significant amount of immigrants from the Philippines to Canada either through marriage catalogue, employment program or other means. With large portion of them women they are subject to abuse through workplace or in domestic settings. With this fashion show which using ordinary women with customs that has messages tailor to them the organizer hope bring the awareness to the public.
My original intent was using this event as a warm up for the bigger and purely commercial Vancouver Fashion Week which was happening last week but then, as happened so many times in the past, busy schedule with my day job just killed my personal plan. And there is also a lost of interest of photographing a commercial fashion show after done this one because of its uniqueness.
That being said, cat walk with tall blonde beautiful models on the stage for commercial and entertainment purposes was never really my thing I guess.
Labels: Notes and Thoughts
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And The Result........
 After a long and agony wait, the result are finally decided by the people down south....... and as expected Obama won the presidency. Honestly, with millions of people hoping for the change after 8 years of mess Bush had brought to the world, it's about time to have a fresh start.....
Labels: Notes and Thoughts
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Political Event, Chinatown Style
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
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The Travelling Eye
 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
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Nachtwey and Towell
 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
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Cyber Temptation
 My wife Ju-Won surfing the internet at home.
Last week I had a chance listened to a radio documentary downloaded from BBC about computer addiction issues in South Korea. This is something not only limited to the South Korea but other Asian countries as well. However, in a country which a good on-line gamer can become a celebrity and been sponsored by conglomerate firms with TV channels dedicate to on-line gaming competition it is hard for outsiders not to scrutinize the phenomenon with microscope.
There is a lot to explain why Koreans are so craze over the on-line gaming, which ranging from stress relief to high cost of console gaming to even self confidence issues. But what really concerns me is the fact that in a country which people are eager to show off their strength and shook off their turbulent past are often become more vulnerable to the kind of marketing that is associate with national pride but not necessarily good for the people.
Take on-line gaming for an example. Gaming along with push for more use of computer products was originally promoted by the government in South Korea started in the 1990s when the country became the major peripheral exporter. It's intention is to transform the country into a high tech nation which everything is digitized. Now the very same agency which did the promotion are now setting up treatment centers for people who suffer from cyber addiction.
This should send a warning signals to everyone - The use of commercialism to promote national pride is an effective tool but can become very destructive when things gone wrong - Cyber craze in South Korea offers a good example.
Labels: Notes and Thoughts
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Same Youth, World Apart
 Few days ago a friend of mine Lucas Mulder wrote a piece about poverty in Guatemala on his blog 100CM [METRE] and his personal encounter with teens trying to make ends meet so that he and his family can survive the other day. All the startling reminder of dire need to eliminate poverty.
Interestingly, On the other end of the world I've been working on this day job of photographing the would be high school grads. A pretty high tempo job which you have deal with kids who grew up in the environment that was very well protected........The ideal environment for raising kids I suppose but it does has draw backs. Kids who grew up here are demanding, they think they deserve everything and most of all they often have no regard to others.......and these characteristics became more apparent when they are in front of the camera.
So for the last couple days while I was dealing with these kids, I often thought about that kid Lucas encountered in Guatemala......what would he thinks if he sees what I see?
Labels: Notes and Thoughts
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A little circle of friends.......
At My old colleage friend's apartment in Surrey, BC. The one on the background is my wife Christine.
Takako, My old College friend and Christine moved to Vancouver within two years after I settled here. Though the motive to be here are a bit different. Christine moved here because....well....I'm here. But Takako settled here mainly because she wasn't able to secure a permanent residence in the U.S. after spending about 10 years working and studying, and Canadian citizenship became a next best option for her.
Regardless of the intention for resettlement one thing they share about their experiences in Vancouver is that they can't wait to get out of this place. This is something I'm hearing more and more from people of around my age both immigrants and natives alike. The grim fact is that Vancouver is becoming one of the most expensive city to live in North America but at the same time salaries for average people living Vancouver has not risen in the past seven years other than few sectors. This caused a great stress for young people who want to start a life here and many of them end up leaving the place for good. Oh, and the rainy weather seems to make a already stressful life even grimmer......like salt on the injury.
So with Takako's case she was lucky enough to find a somewhat decent job recently after worked in a Japanese owned firm with shitty pay. But as for me and my wife we decide to leave this place as early as next year. The reason? This place is simply not a place for photography.
Labels: Notes and Thoughts
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O Canada x 14........
 For people who work in the the grad photo sector June is usually a very busy time since pretty much every school on the face of the planet are holding ceremonies for youngsters who are ready to move on to the next stage of their lives. And since I happened to work at one of the grad studio as the day job I was part of this June madness as well......
From the beginning of June I was pretty much on location or out of town mostly photographing ceremonies, with bulk of them university grads. Strangely enough I always end up in Victoria, BC shooting the ceremonies there. Of course it was not a bad place to be and since the city has one of oldest Chinatown in Canada this means I can use my spare times working on my personal project, which is about Chinatown around the world. But then after spent almost two weeks of the entire month in Victoria and sit through the same ceremonies eight times.....it started to get repetitive......
But on the brighter side after having listen through national anthem of Canada for about 14 times I think I don't have worry about failing the citizenship exam on that part......
Labels: Notes and Thoughts
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Migration
For years I was using a bad French phrase as my domain address because I thought it was different(was studying French at the time, which I failed miserably). But then I moved to Canada and had a chance to travel to Europe this domain printed on my business card started to taken toll on me slowly as I encounter more and more French. I did thought about having a domain name change few month after I register the site but because the process was quite complicated so I decide to put on hold....without even realizing that I end up having this monster which was even more difficult to rebuild.
Anyway, Starting from today I will be slowly but painfully migrating contents from the current site to the new one. The web address for the new site will be http://www.benhuangphotos.com. Hopefully the new site will be up and running in the complete form by the end of this week. In the meantime when you visit this site in the near future you will also be redirected automatically to that of new one. Labels: Notes and Thoughts
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Four Days Vitoria, One Week Toronto, and Exhibition Here and There
It's been a very intensive two weeks which I've been travel out of town for very two different purposes. Between Late april and early May I was on the job at Victoria, the provincial capital of British Columbia, for about 4 days. Then I have to rush back to Vancouver to attend an opening of a show which exhibit some of my work at Exposure Gallery (I mentioned on earlier post). Days later, I was in Toronto attend a photography workshop organized by CONTACT and Magnum Photos.
The job in Victoria was not so much of the exciting ones. It's a typical job if you involved in school photography - Just go there and taking picture of people's faces. Though off the job I did spend sometime wondering around town trying to get the sense of the city. I have to say having spend two years living in Vancouver, Victoria is a eye re-freshener for me. The first thing you noticed about Victoria is that older buildings, regardless of residential, commercial or historical buildings are well maintained by the locals - something you can find less in Vancouver these days. Then as you get in contact with locals you started to notice a mellow less self centered attitude across them. So in the end not a most exciting trip ever but did have a moment of pleasure here and there.
As for the opening of the show at Exposure Gallery, since I already mentioned on the earlier post so I won't elaborate details here. But prior to the show I invited some of my friends and co-workers for the opening and in the end only one showed up - Yes, ONE - and I missed her because after stayed in the gallery for about an hour I just have to go partly a little upset on people's lack of commitment but also the fact that there's way too many people in the gallery and I just need to get some fresh air outside after few drinks.
Anyway, days later I was on the plane to Toronto for Magnum workshop. I have to say up to the first day of the workshop I was quite nervous about this event because first I wasn't sure my tuition payment got through or not since I paid on the last minute. Then there's uncertainty of what would people think of my work especially from my group instructor Larry Towell, who is among one of my most respected photographer from Magnum. But after the first day of the workshop all doubts were out - I received a positive feedback from people in the workshop on the project I did on the theme parks, including Larry himself. The following four days after the first day of the workshop was just intensive shooting and critic session which I produced some of best images in months and was fortunate enough to be nominated for the Scotia Bank Prize - The award designed for outstanding student from the workshop.
By the way, this workshop also gave me a chance to spark a new idea for the next project I want to work on for sometime. I'll try to post them on the website when it is ready.
One more thing before I go, photographs I produced during the workshop will be part of group exhibition at CONTACT gallery in Toronto until Jun 10th or longer. So if you're in the area and an interested in photography pleas do go and check it out.
Labels: Notes and Thoughts
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Group Show At Exposure Gallery
I've been fortunate to have my works selected for the upcoming group show at Exposure Gallery in Vancouver. It's a gallery which the curator selected a theme in about once every two months to its members and have members submit their photographic work based on that theme. The upcoming group show is "Street" and three of my photographs were selected for this show.
The Opening night is on May 2nd at 8pm and the show will run from May 2nd to May 18th. Please do come and enjoy the show if you live in Vancouver or near by area.
Labels: Notes and Thoughts
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Burt Glinn 1925-2008
Burt Glinn, One of the first American photographers joined Magnum Photos passed away on the early morning of April 9th, 2008.
Below is his short bio derived from Magnum Blog:
"Versatile and technically brilliant, Glinn was one of Magnum's great corporate and advertising photographers. He had received numerous awards for his editorial and commercial photography, including the Best Book of Photographic Reporting from Abroad from the Overseas Press Club and the Best Print Ad of the Year from the Art Directors Club of New York. Glinn has served as president of the American Society of Media Photographers. He was president of Magnum between 1972 and 1975, and was re-elected to the post in 1987." Labels: Notes and Thoughts
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Philip Jones Griffiths 1936-2008
Yet another veteran photojournalist passed away, and this time it is the one I respect the most. Philip Jones Griffiths, a veteran war photographer who made his fame capturing the brutality during the Vietnam War passed away on 18th of March, 2008 after years of struggle with cancer. His compelling images which later became a well-known book Vietnam Inc. challenge the attitude towards the war in the US. His images and his book had profound influence on me in storytelling with photographs and helped me to be a better photo narrator. But what's more important is that his book Vietnam Inc. left a lasting legacy even today because if you look at the words in the book and compare to the situation in Iraq you'll find a close resemblance as to the philosophical approach between the two.
My condolences goes to Philip, his close ones and friends at Magnum Labels: Notes and Thoughts
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Embracing Obstacles
About two weeks ago I had a chance through my colleague at work place to photograph a wedding. Though it was a freebie because the client only wish for video service which my colleague does, it gave me a chance to have some wedding photographs of my own to show potential clients in the future. But photographs aside, through this wedding I was finally able to embrace an obstacle I had on photographing weddings. Something I had purposely avoid for years. Back in the days when I began to study photography my very first job was assisting a photographer who owns a wedding studio in Southern California. It was mentally and psychically draining job because this particular studio serve mostly Chinese weddings(To gave you some idea Chinese/Taiwanese weddings usually runs about 8-10 hours because there're more ceremonies to go through), which means we usually spent the entire day running around places and by the time it was over it's almost mid-night. Salary was pathetic for the obvious fact that I was on student visa and they can't really hire me. Adding to the matter worse the boss is a very short-tempered man and for a smallest mistake he would yelled at you for hours(Only years later I heard through family that he suffered from depression, which explained his temper). Finally after little over than three months it was too much for me to take so I resigned.
Years after I left this studio I had several people asked me if I photograph weddings, especially here in Vancouver. But I always trying to avoid doing weddings for the unpleasant experience I had back in the US(even though I've done something more stressful in the past six years). It was not until sometime ago I began to play around with the idea again because wedding photography is quiet a significant sector in Vancouver. In addition I was trying to incorporate wedding photography with my own style. But what's more important is that this time I'm not working under anyone so there won't be a boss yelling at me. And this led to the wedding I photographed two weeks ago.
The result? Well......you'll be the judge.....  Labels: Notes and Thoughts
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Snow, Snow, On My Yard.....
It's a great view if you asked me.....
But still I wasn't really expecting this much snow on this part of Canada(Even though I'm living on the "Great White North").
Well, enough of the view.....time for snow shelving......@#%*#!...... Labels: Notes and Thoughts
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When Photographer Meets Would Be Educators.....
The photographer was applauded by the physical appearance of these potential young teachers.....
Well, not exactly.....but I was having a bit of trouble picturing these university grads teaching in elementary schools, which is the program allow them to do once they're complete. They're more conscious about their looks and they're very intimidating when it comes to communicating, which is somewhat common among people who work in this sector (my parents in law who work in the Ministry of Education in Korea share some of these characters, for example). But their physical appearance.....let's just put this way.....they're so damn hot!!! And they're not afraid to show off their bodies if I allowed them to.
This is when I wished I hadn't had my elementary school in Asia and wished these people are my teachers.....
But again, do I really want to? Labels: Notes and Thoughts
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From Vietnam to Paris
I'm sure everybody in the media would be frustrated by the constant exposure of entertainment news which by now filled our magazine stands, TVs and webs. This booming sector of news also generate battalions of paparazzis devote to capture images of celebrities in the most humiliating way in order to feed the hungry mass. Worst still with digital capture device widely available almost anyone can have a chance to get a picture of celebrities' ugly side(That is if you seen one).
A while ago I was watching a documentary on CBC talking about the phenomenon. Though I was aware of this long ago but watching how far down this sector had become just make me shook my head away. But what really hits me is the article published not so long ago by Telegraph that draws comparison of two photographs shot by the same photographer Nick Ut. The first photograph was captured in 1972 in Vietnam where Nick photographed a 9 yeas old Vietnamese girl striped naked running toward him after she got burned by napalm bombs. The second one was captured recently which crying Paris Hilton was sitting behind the police patrol car in LA. Both photographs marks his career as a photographer but at the same time symbolized the change in mass culture.
By the way, as if this is not chaotic enough an American cable network has been planning on airing a reality TV show in which photogs compete to get a 'money shot' of celebrities. This has been in production for sometime now and don't know(or don't wanna know?) if it is on air now..... Labels: Notes and Thoughts
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Happy New Year(Sort Of)
2007 is something of nightmare for me. From diarrhea while working on the project in Florida to collapse of my agency..........It seems like nothing is going well with the life I'm trying to pursue. Though financially income grew steadily compare to 2006 thanks to the job I resent.
But just when you think it would be better on 2008 psychics gave you a shitty forecast: 2008 will be even worse than 2007. Seems like I'll embrace waves of troubles and disasters yet again for the coming months.
And I guess this is probably why I don't make new year resolution this year - knowing that things will not improve any time soon any resolution I make now will not be fulfilled. But I do have a one hope which i made a while ago - leaving the job I currently on and doing something I'm really passionate about and make a living out of it.
Well, guess I'll stop ranting over here and instead wish everyone a very happy new year. And may all the resolutions you make be fulfilled before 2009. Labels: Notes and Thoughts
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Black Out
It's always suck to work during the holiday season, specially when there's not enough people working during this time and customers come like herds with variety of requests that overwhelm you. It would not be so much headache if it is something you feel passionate about. But when it's not then this will turn into your worst nightmare.
This is exactly what I was experiencing in the last two weeks - Photographing hundreds of potential grads from universities who decide to show up en masse with their family and friends and expecting me to take a good casual or group photo of them in 10 minutes. In the meantime we had very few people working through holidays but at the same time appointments were booked beyond the capacity of three photogs per shift. Yet, because this studio is having people crunch since October so they were having hard time even finding someone to relief us. I personally had to work through weekends without any day off for the past week. The amount of work in this studio during the holiday season was so enormous that some of photogs were murmuring about walkout during the job among themselves to prove their frustration.
But then just when we were about to reach the boiling point a miracle happened. On Saturday night while we were photographing customers some car 10-15 blocks away hit the power grid which caused a section of the city blacked out. The damage to the grid was so extensive that it took 2-3 hours for BC Hydro to put the power back on, which forced us to close down the studio early......very early. To the eye of the owner, which was there at the time, this blows because he lost revenue for a day(that's all he sees). But to me at least I'm more than happy to sacrifice profit just for one night for some good rest.....which I haven't had one for a long while.
By the way, I have to photograph all day on Dec. 31st......which in the way ruined my new year's eve plan....thanks a lot.
Labels: Notes and Thoughts
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Achromatic World Through My Glass
I've been known among my circle of friends for my color photographs. And it is true that most of works I've done over the years are in color. However, between assignments and projects I often photograph my surroundings in black and white and kept as visual journal of some sort. Gradually, these images of monochrome became a collection significant enough for me not to ignore and yet does not hold any editorial or commercial values. So after some thoughts I decide to share them here and let you see the other side of the world I see when I "off assignment"
Interesting enough though I tell you images were captured off assignment but when you're not leaving your camera behind are you really "off assignment"? Labels: Notes and Thoughts
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Sub-Tropical Boy In The North Country.....
It has been little more than two years since I've been in Vancouver and though for the most part I've somewhat adopted the life here, there is still aspects of life which I still having hard time to cope with. Of all things I can't cope with living in Vancouver winter is perhaps on the top of the list......although its not the physical environment of the winter I despised.
Being lived in many part of the world from tropics to temperate climate I could say I'm very good at adopting weathers regardless of hot humid sun or snow(though my preferable weather has always been ones similar to San Francisco). To prove my point I spent last two winters under the snow both in Canada and South Korea and though its troublesome when it comes to commuting and shelving but I absolutely love the scenery. But I guess it's all the warm clothes wrapped around me or the cozy room temperature or something I always felt as if I entered into "hybernation mode" when winter hits. It gets worse further up north I go(well...duh....) even being busy working would not make my sleepy lazy head go away.
Anyway, according to weather tomorrow's going to snow........hope I'll be conscious enough to realize I wrote post this blog tonight. Labels: Notes and Thoughts, winter
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Boiling Point
Last week some of photogs met with our employer to discuss about current state of the studio. Issues like shooters pulled out to shoot on location which cause studio stretched thin and overbooking which sacrificed our break. As I sit and listen to my co-workers presented these problems I could not help to shake my head for the response from the employer. He just pulled out a data sheet and said everything worked out fine. Not only that he was accusing us for being slacking around when he comes down (On the note, he usually comes down around the time when we were not busy) and wants photogs not to come at same time for their shifts. He gave an example of the same rule implemented with CSRs at front counter which helped the productivity and most importantly happier employees. On that note, the example my employer was given at the front counter certainly did not convince me because if system worked perfectly fine why nearly half of the CSRs hired this summer left by now? And does he not know data does not often reflect reality? Anyway, the only good news came out of me in the mist of all these is that I've been promoted to be a supervisor(at short notice).....something that should happen but came in the time when most of the photogs including me are thinking about not coming back for the next season. Labels: Notes and Thoughts
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Size Matters
 Not quiet my style of shooting but still can't get this out of my head...... Labels: Notes and Thoughts
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Crunch Time
For the last month or so the photography studio I'm working in faced a severe shortage in shooters doing on location. This comes when grad photo requests just reach to its climax and orders started to come in like madness so any shortage in hand would put a burden on all of us. It certainly does. The studio which I'm currently working is specialize in grad photos, which is one of few photography business that can actually make money in Vancouver. It divides its shooter into two teams during the grad photo season which is studio and on location. I've been hired for shooting studio for quite some time now and was never thought about shooting on location. But in the last few weeks most of shooters responsible for on location resigned en masse due to miscommunication in pay rate between management and photographers. Desperate to get the job done management started to pull shooters from studio team out for on location which put us in stretch as far as number of available shooters we can put in studio (just to give you an example for the last week studio was one shooter short because I was on location and supervisor had to cover the job of missing shooter while oversee the work flow). Then yesterday a supervisor was seriously ill while one shooter was pulled out for on location. The result? Me along with the rest of shooters in the morning sacrifice our lunch break and pushed it through till evening shift shooters came by and relief us. So what do I think of this? I think there need to be a clean up in the management because for the last year or so I have never seen a clear direction from them. But the worse of all the way management trying to squeeze its employees and talented people is just terrifying. For instance while studio in similar business in town offer competitive base rate for shooters this one still resisting on raise the base rate even to a dollar. Not to mention short while ago when we started to feel the stretch the management still think they can squeeze it though the rest of the season. Now you wonder why very few shooters stayed more than 3 years. Labels: Notes and Thoughts
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PDN Artiicle on Group M35
The long awaited article on the short lived Photographic Agency Group M35 is finally out on This month's issue of PDN(Photo district News). It is also a relief because for months I've hoped to have this account go public because for what Charles Clark, the man who started all, had done to my friend (and colleague at the time) Joeseph Symanski as well as other fellow photographers. And thanks to him my career path on photography is currently on a detour...... Many thanks to Daryl Lang of PDN for putting his time and effort for this. Link to the PDN article: http://www.pdnonline.com/pdn/search/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003659389P.S. By the way, I think the photo published on the article captured my face(blury one on the left)....... Labels: Cahrles Clark, group m35, Notes and Thoughts, PDN, photography
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Reasons I Don't(Or Still Not) Sign Up For Facebook
Not quite saying I won't. But at this point I'm not in the mood of signing up for Facebook even though I received gazillion verbal recommandations and constant email invitation. Not to mention we've all seen this whole trend before with Myspace......so sooner or later people will move on to other social networking site. I remember back in the days when i first sign up for Friendster I thought this is a great way to connect old friends. But then Friendsters quickly fell apart when people discovered Myspace....which to my personal opinion is a great layout disaster. As much joke as it is Myspace was a huge success and was really popular among teens. Then facebook came along......started by a university student who had very simple intention - connecting friends. The rest is hisory. So will I sign up in the end? Possible. But I probably not going to put down anything other than my name and weblink for this site so I can redirect friends here since this is THE place where I'm active. Although part of me still want to stay away from social networking site so I can stay invisible to some of old friends. Labels: Facebook, Notes and Thoughts
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Obituary: Photojournalist Alexandra Boulat, 45
Lately there's a quiet a few well known photographer or people who had significant role played in the history of photography passed away. But on the symbolic level it represents an end of the era, whether you like it or not. However this one hits me particularly hard since she passed away at prime. An statement passed out on Oct. 05 to the public about photojournalist Alexandra Boulat from VII passed away in the hospital in France. She had suffered from brain aneurysm back in June while photographing in Gaza and never recovered after surgery. My condolences goes to Alexandra, her the family and her friends at VII Photos. Labels: alexandra boulat, Notes and Thoughts, Obituary
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The Routy Genereation
Like many people who chose photography as their career once in a while he/she take a detour just to make the ends meet or just out of curiosity. I for one took this job for both reason - photographing high school students who are about to graduate in months time. It's a seasonal job that pays OK but at the same time very demanding since in six hours time you have to shoot about 80-120 students.....meaning 5 minutes per student. Stressful job aside, observing these young customers coming for their photographs that representing a crucial part of their lives are entirely different matter. As expected when these teens coming for being photographed for their grduation purpose they would dress formally. But then some of the dress these teens wearing are just down right irritating(specially girls - big pink dress and tiara - princess wanna be). Then there's a whole phenomenon of just being teenagers - loud, routy, never take direction well, trashy talks, always left the mess behind and endless complaining - All signs of hermon still running high. These all take customer service as far as photographer's end to another level which is more or less between service and prenting. The most interesting with all thesse teenagers, however, is that they are reflecting a generation who grew up with the kind of pop culture in favour of glamour and self-destructive-like self expression(e.g. Hilton and Spears) which make all the ugly side of growing up as teenager much more visible. Adding to the problem most of the kids grew up here are from fairly well off family so in certain extend they are a bit spoiled. Watching these kids running around the studio chaotically I wonder: what's teens gonna be like generation to come? Labels: Notes and Thoughts, teens
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Madeline McCann's Case
Days before I returned back from France I was flipping channels in the hotel room in Paris. While most French channels were almost all focus on Rugby World Cup held in France this year the English Channels were almost focus on the news of a missing girl of the UK nationals disappeared in Portugal months back. The day when I was doing the channel flipping both CNN and BBC was doing live breaking news of the missing girl's parents flying back to UK from Portugal after being named as 'suspects' by the Portuguese police(though because they're not formally charged they can still travel freely). Later on at night BBC ran a talk show program which several editors were invited to talk about issues happened in the news. The missing girl's case, Madeline McCann, was one of the topic on the agenda. One of the editor thought the case has been sensationalized because of her background - a middle class white girl. She went on to say that there's stack of missing black girls' cases in or around London but rarely anyone talked about it. On that note I am in full agreement with that editor's comment. Major Medias(Primarily English speaking ones) is obsessing on Madeline's case while ignoring the fact that there are many more cases out there which are far worse than this but always buried in the news because they didn't grasp enough attention. In addition having devote so much air time just reporting on one missing girl's case major medias in the way pushed aside other more important reports which should be aired. By the way, Madeline's case only mentioned briefly in the French news. Labels: child abduction, media, Notes and Thoughts
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Perpignan
"Hey, you're back, how was France?" "Drink too much, smoke too much, and looking at way too many pictures of death and poverty." This is how I told friends and colleagues here in Vancouver when I got back from France attending Visa pour L'image in Perpignan. Though when I arrived the city I wasn't in the mood of having a good time, specially having my luggage(with portfolio inside) lost at airport in Paris. Not to mention it was Sunday when I arrived Perpignan and didn't realized most shops and buses don't work in France. So after 2 hours of wandering with inadequate map I gave up and called the taxi to the hotel. For the first few days when the festival kicked off I was mostly agonizing on how I get my work tobe seen without a portfolio and dying laptop which only contains low-res files. In the end I did showed someone and received a very constructive criticism out of it.....and by far the most constructive I ever received. The only regret is that my computer died before the Magnum photographers held a separate portfolio review during the festival. As happened every year the organizers present a slide show at Campo Santo every night for a week and after the show most professionals gathered at a bar called La Poste for a drink. This is where I met most of my Italian friends and man.....aren't they crazy.....but I really admire and respect their warm personality and their strong visual works. Of course La Poste is also the place to spot some of the established photogs and able to have few drink with them if 1. they ever show up in Perpignan and 2. if you don't live near where they live. To summed up.....a week in Perpignan for the Visa pour L'image is an very intense and overwhelming experience. But at the same time it's an experience that'll help you grow as a photojournalist because of the amount of information you obtain and amount of good photographs exhibited. On top of that, here is also a great place to extend your network of photo friends which you might need an assistance from or the other way around someday. Oh, and don't forget editors and agencies from around the world where you talked to too. By the way, I already decide I'm coming back next year(and making sure my portfolio is with me) and because next year is the 20th anniversary I expect things going to be quite interesting. Labels: Notes and Thoughts, perpignan, Visa pour L'image
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Airport Fiasco: YVR -> DUS -> CDG
"Honey, have a safe trip, and be sure to call back home when you get there, ok?" "Sure thing" This is the last verbal contact when I left Vancouver on August 31st with my wife. What happened in the next 10 days was an epic journey that are so dramatic it almost felt like I'm a new person when I returned home. I left Vancouver to Europe on August 31st to attend Visa pour L'image, photojournalism festival held in southern French town of Perpignan. This is not only the first time I attend the festival but first time to set a foot on Europe ever. But the journey has a rough start. Once I said farewell to my wife I noticed my flight schedule has been changed because of the delay. Of course it doesn't affect me since I have to wait for about 8 hours in Dusseldorf, Germany for the transfer flights to Paris. So on to the check-in counter for baggage check in.....and little does I know this would be the last time I seen my luggage.... The agonizing 7 hours wandering and waiting at Dusseldorf airport is a both pleasant and overwhelming experience. Pleasant because this particular airport offers a variety of shops and special interest facilities for people to enjoy - from luxury goods to electronics to open air observation deck if you want to view the entire airport. I even happen to stumble upon a model shop specialize in model planes. In addition if you're a smoker and happen to transfer flights in Dusseldorf then you're in heaven because you can smoke almost anywhere you want inside the building. But as much as this is a pleasant place to wait for the flight 7 hours is just too much. Not to mention Europeans are not as well mannered on the public places as many people would imagine. So, after 7 long painful hours I finally got on a flights to Paris. First impression after arriving at the airport was that it feels like a dungeon. Then the lost luggage drama. Then dealing with the lady at service counter for the lost luggage, which is by far the most 'straight forward' attitude I ever encounter.....well, I guess I could say very 'French'. I still haven't found my luggage yet which contains my portfolio, clothes, shoes and other accessories. But thank god I carried my cameras, computer and cash with me at the time which kept me moved on with my journey. Otherwise I would probably still stuck in Paris freaking out...... Labels: airport, Notes and Thoughts
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The Grey Summer
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
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That Fallen Green
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
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