David Lai Blog »

“…my whole intention is to build and to uplift.”

I’ve been editing through images and came across this one. Then I started thinking about how I know Alison, and what I’ve learned from her through the times we’ve interacted and chatted. She used to be a photography major and is now a cultural studies major. That said quite a bit to me with regards to where her passion is, and it continues to show, something I’m thankful to witness. If anything, photography provides me an opportunity to reflect on myself, and reflect on why I took a shot of something/someone. Come to think of it, photography has simply been a way to document my thought processes, more so than just making pretty pictures. It’s more about philosophy than photography.

*hi alison :]*

(i finished typing this and thought of James Cho. studying communication. be gentle

I don’t think I’ve ever fully comprehended how much is lost in translation from language to language till I started shooting my documentary project in Chinatown. I tried translating some of the conversations to des, only to find that there were words that just didn’t carry the same meaning translated. It also came up in a conversation with dan when we were looking at scripture. I mean, this thought isn’t anything new, it’s just when you experience it firsthand, you can relate to it. I mean, for anything to communicate with us, we have to relate to it one way or another. That’s actually what makes “good” photography. There are many images that can be technically perfect, but if it’s something we cannot relate to, then it bears no meaning. That’s something I’ve realized when looking at a lot of images that are perfectly exposed, perfectly straight lines, blah blah, but the subject, i just couldn’t relate so well to.

And aside from that, communicating with others is also a difficult thing, because no two minds think perfectly alike. It’s always a work in progress. It’s something that happens on a daily basis, communicating with someone. It’s here where we practice things like “being slow to anger” and other things that love is. props to the many married couples.. hah. Here is a text i had sent dan after des and i had some communication mishaps of meeting up and driving equipment and helping out..

This then also brings up the next thing where I chose to use a screen shot of the text versus just typing it because I felt the text I had originally typed just didn’t communicate the seriousness and sense of humor we had in the situation. And i think the mac/iphone users could relate better to green and grey text bubbles… hah. and most can relate to talk bubbles. a visual aid can come a long way in certain circumstances.

Another thing that i’ve been blessed with is des’ persistence to communicate with my grandma. My grandma can’t speak english, aside from a couple practiced sentences, but it’s in this communication that i’ve been able to experience community in a light i haven’t experienced before. It’s this communication that occurs without language. There are quite a few universal things that we can all relate to, namely ones dealing with feelings and emotions. again, not a new thought, but when you experience those things, it’s pretty interesting. It’s a bit clearer what’s going on when there’s some established sense of communication. And again, this also shows how important communication is, otherwise, you can’t relate to whomever you’re in contact with.

And so, this following image will bring about quite a few different things in your mind such as “what the heck is going on?” where you being to narrate the situation. interpretation occurs in a greater level now. we all relate to things differently because we’ve all experienced things differently.

So far, everything i’ve said is in relation to me, however you can relate to the things i’ve said and shown. right?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=te6qG4yn-Ps

I was just reflecting today while i was talking with my friend ryan on gchat. and this whole thing popped into my head again. It’s about the Matrix and our choice of taking the blue pill or the red pill.. I must say, we’re all in that seat and it’s a choice we are to make. however, not often do we realize we’re even in that seat cause we’re so blinded to even ask question the infrastructure of our thinking and why we think the way we think. It’s not about blue or red..

The question is asking whether reality/truth, is worth pursuing.

The blue pill will leave us as we are, complacent amongst things we believe we know. We are comfortable, we do not need truth to live… or  we believe what we know and believe is truth (this isn’t a typo).

The red pill is an unknown. We are told that it can help us to find the truth. However, we don’t know what the truth is. We don’t know if the pill itself well help us find it.. this red pill represents the doubt, the risk, and the questioning of what we believe. In order to answer your question on truth, you risk your current like and world to experience a new reality that you have never experienced.

I’ve seen the movie maybe.. twice, but I never realized that I was clearly in that seat when i first saw the movie.

What Morpheus says at 2:38 definitely shows us how we’re a product of media’s representation of life… we’re born into this prison without even knowing it. We watched television growing up, and have been told how to react to many situations without ever once questioning it.

Which pill are you going to take after reading this? Know that the truth we seek and come to know by taking the red pill may not be what we want to hear or know. Truth may be exactly the opposite to how you think and function currently, but that’s a hardship that we have to deal with in accepting Truth. It’s not easy, but if you seek and question your current reality, and find that it wasn’t reality at all, be happy that you can even see “outside the matrix.” Truth will require you to breakdown and leave what you’ve known in the past. However, many will fall and use comfort as a crutch, leaving Truth behind, only wanting to return to comfort. But ask yourself, what’s more important for you, Truth or comfort? There is comfort in Truth, but that only comes afterward.

Take the Blue Pill, or the Red Pill?

I’m shooting as discretely as possible inside these morning dim sum places as the culture of this older generation of Chinese folks are relaxed and talking story.  In the process of working on this documentary project involving Chinatown, I figured to document some things that happen while shooting. So in the midst of shooting, des and I are partaking in it eating baos and having milk tea

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