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.

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….

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. :]

]]> http://www.davidlaiblog.com/?feed=rss2&p=529 1 http://www.davidlaiblog.com/?p=472 http://www.davidlaiblog.com/?p=472#comments Thu, 22 Apr 2010 07:31:53 +0000 davidlai http://www.davidlaiblog.com/?p=472 So, last Friday (04/16), I had the opportunity to be a part, as well as photograph, the iLL-Literacy event that took place at Columbia College, hosted by the Asian Student Organization and the Office of Asian American Cultural Affairs. We had the kids from MCYP pay a visit and do some pieces in front of the crowd. It’s pretty amazing what these high school kids do their pieces on. Such great writers. It’s also pretty dope to have talented friends that can dance AND do spoken word. These are just a select few of the many images taken that evening.

The videographer

The DJ

The Emcees

New Elements

MCYP takes stage

Columbia students takes stage

It’s pretty dope seeing Alison simply grow since meeting her last year. Her set was pretty serious, yet she ends with an adorable smile :]

Maurice… what can I say… He KILLED it. I believe the note tossing was pretty iconic of his piece.

iLL-Literacy took center stage… What did stink was that N.I.C. was out of commission with food poisoning… but he showed a ton of love by still making it out to Chicago, So that left Dahlak and Drizzletron to hold it down with ADA Clock.

Their performance gets pretty interactive and intense…

The happy family of hard workers.

Lego-Thumy

The people that work “behind the scenes”

MCYP

ASO

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.

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/

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