Thursday, August 19, 2010 Posted in lifestyle

When I think of inception, I think of “question” (actually, it’s just a cool photo I found that I really liked and had it sitting on my desktop as an icon for too long)
Premise: we go around most of the time complaining “ooohh, I don’t think I’m suppose to be doing this job XYZ… or should be here ABC… It just doesn’t fit me… I don’t like it… blah blah blah…” – and then our continuing lines all revolve around the self…
Question: If we are where we’re suppose to be (God’s leading), shouldn’t we be asking “Am I who I’m suppose to be where I’m at?”
Answer: “no” (most likely)
__________________
On another hand, I dug a little deeper into what I fear… I very much work under the fear of disappointing my friends and family… I still have a lot of room to grow, but that fear erks me because I know I’m not perfect nor will ever be, hence there is always room for disappointment. Be it as a son, a brother, a significant other, a photographer… Maybe that’s cause I don’t have too many preferences and don’t really know myself…. or maybe I do and it’s that I don’t have too many preferences.. maybe I care too much..? (but i guess that depends on what i care too much about. somethings, I could definitely care more about.) maybe that fear is also out of love..?
regardless, i need to spend more time resolving the more important issues such as the one’s in myself instead of less important things like how to get my rear camber from -4 to -2… And I need to abide by my priorities… for instance becoming a better photographer would take precedence over becoming a better driver/car builder/engineer. I prayed to be challenged, and I guess this is where I’m at right now.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 Posted in lifestyle
I just got out of the shower after meditating on photography and where my obstacles are within it. I pondered as to why God has led me to photography because I’ve recently thought about why I didn’t finish an electrical engineering degree as I have been wanting do something “engineering” related (technical problem solving). I guess I enjoy that mathematical, analytical stuff. I even think about the time my mom ask “What got you to photography?” Because honestly, that’s something I would never have thought I’d be pursuing today. And that’s the beauty of God. It was pointed out to me by a pastor I got to meet shooting weddings. All of those “I never thought I’d be doing XYZ” moments show how we aren’t in control of our lives. It’s where God has the steering wheel.
And so “why photography, God?”
It’s because I don’t take making mistakes too well. That’s why I can read over guidelines and follow directions to the dot to avoid making little dumb mistakes. It’s how I double check to make sure I have steps 1-10 down in my head so I can address and troubleshoot a problem I’ll have at step 11 before I even start something. But with photography and the creative process, I need to develop it. There’s no textbook for taking “a good picture.” Well, aside from the technical mumbo jumbo with operating a camera. But it’s something I’ve realized and disliked about photography and my current photography stint. My developed characteristics of simply doing something and knowing its “good” is simply problem-solving to reach a result that is “right”.
I need to make the mistakes to get the critiques to take it into developing the mind behind the thinking. To develop my eye. To expand my eye. When you walk into a room to decide where to photograph a couple, you have four sides to pick from to pose them and shoot them. You then have a couple hundred objects scattered between those four walls that you can use. they can sit, or stand, or hold each other, or not. The possibilities for choosing where to take the photo become endless. So where do I begin? Sometimes, I can even find “step 1.”
So photography comes into play because it’s helping me develop the mind behind the skill vs simply a skill. If anything, I can’t even complain about this stint of mine in my mind because God has blessed me with a community of such talented folks who have been through what I’m currently going through to help me have my break through. From photographers whom I admire and get to work with to cinematographers whom I also admire and also get to work with. It’s breaking down my introverted behaviors.
With those thoughts, I can’t even begin to disagree with how God has led me to photography, because it makes total sense even when I thought it made the least. shows me who knows me best.
I don’t even know why I type these random thoughts. I guess I’m just trying to get my dollars worth from web hosting….
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 Posted in lifestyle
Well, I guess there’s been a constant stream of work to keep me busy since graduating college and entering a new season of life.
With that said, here’s some photos from graduation day that des managed to capture. During the day, I was wearing a lei des got
from her high school graduation along with a candy lei, both sent straight from hawaii :]



dad mom
dan, al, mike
des
kyle
So, with graduation day having passed months ago, I’ve been simply learning what it means to serve and learn along with making fun out of the many obstacles. At least trying to. :]
Wednesday, April 21, 2010 Posted in lifestyle
Just finalized my layout for the show. Just finished my 5inx5in prints of all the artists in the show. Pretty stoked for how they look. I’m actually thinking this will turn into a long term project of mine while I’m in chicago. I’m hoping this typology continues to grow into this massive body of work. Hopefully in the future, I’ll have something that can fill up 4 walls of a gallery space :] Let it officially begin with these 16 and last semester’s 20. Here’s the layout for Friday’s Gallery. 
Medium Format from Washington DC


From Chicago – Argyle – lunch break with Gino

Busy shooting, scanning, editing, and printing for 3 class critiques and an exhibition – here’s a screen shot of a typology of artists I’m working on for the Melting Point Exhibition on Friday the 23rd. It’s going to be displayed as a 4×4. The final layout will be finalized sometime before Thursday.

I’ll have my work in this collective exhibition taking place this FRIDAY – April 23, 2010
If you’re free sometime from 5-10p, go and check it out. I’ll actually be flying out to LA for a shoot that day, so I won’t be there, but let me know what you think and how the show went!
**click the photo for more information, and check out the official blog for the exhibition as well to see what other artists will be in it**
http://www.chicagoartistsresource.org/media-arts/node/26135
http://meltingpoint.over-blog.com/

So last night I had to shoot some stuff for my studio II midterm (whatever that means). As I was editing, I realized how each pair had somethings similar. check out how the pairs reference each other. Pretty cool I thought. Shows something about them because it wasn’t planned. Woot to happy accidents… or was it??



It’s a million times better than getting wasted on a 21st birthday ;]


It’s not even really about the bike as it is about the time and experience we had building it. There were many moments of frustration from communicating with one another to parts having fitment issues. I’ve definitely learned a lot about myself in the process of building. I’ve learned to stretch my patience as well as learned how to communicate a bit better with someone. So many lessons are learned through the process of communicating, and this past week has definitely been a struggle for me as a whole, so thank God for blessing me with a group of people to grow with.
- happy birthday des
will fix you soon car. sorry

by davidlai
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