Harsh light, be gentle now.
Outtakes from that Edric Chen polka dotted shoot.
Swimming upstream is difficult. Risks are easier to take when they are shared with others. As it is, there are only a few who share mine with me. But it’s worth it.
What makes it difficult? It could be the place I live in. It could be my relative lack of credentials. It could be a million other things. All the time, I am the limit.
C, we talk about this a lot. You took a risk with me. Thank you ever so much.
When sparks fly all over, it feels like I’m giving my life for a cause. Many times, however, it feels like all of this doesn’t matter. My actions look like unconnected white dots on a black shirt. The contrast is too extreme.
Patience is both a painful process and a profitable pursuit.
I gladly accept this undertaking.
Dear E., let’s be bigger than our dreams.
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I like the discussions E. and I have before and after every shoot. Sometimes, I forget that I am there to be the subject. I enjoy exploring ideas of aesthetics (his and mine) and we throw questions often left unanswered. “Maybe” and“It depends” are constant conversational door stops. Hence, the attempts. Hence, more questions. The art of photography is not always about the end product (a commercial term, another discussion). To take a photo is essentially about the discovery of something you have not yet seen. To capture is to realize what was not there before.
- Source: meetmy-tommygun.livejournal.com
A modern-day sage once wrote that writing an essay is an attempt. This struck me profoundly because it is how I felt art should be. To create art is an attempt to express an aesthetic idea. The process should be organic. The work should be free to change on a whim. There should be no set conclusion.
I explained this to Camille before we started. After our previous meeting, she might have already been aware of it.
The reason why most modern work is dry is because we have been conditioned to chase after a desired result. I know this too well, even in my own work. It is a continuous struggle to just let things flow.
Aspiration and inspiration are two different things. To aspire for an ideal is to wish to attain it, no matter how unreachable it is. It is ambition, pure and simple. Aspiring to be like someone ultimately leads to imitation. Evidently, one can only ever get so close.
To be inspired by an ideal is to be enlightened by it in the process of doing work. The goal is never to imitate anything. No, to be inspired is to be influenced by someone or something. The goal is to be yourself in the midst of all chaos. The lights you see in the darkness are your inspirations.
Be careful what you aspire for. It controls you. Yet be inspired by people who do great work and remain humble. They change you.
I aspire to see things unseen.
Edric Chen’s more than a photographer. I enjoy talking to him. Our little discussions before and after shoots always lead to big realizations.
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It’s true. I used to play in a band or two. I thought that’d be it— I didn’t want to live an ordinary life, and the way to do that was through music. But things have changed since the last time I palm-muted a chord or belted out a punk chorus. Sometimes, your life decisions change when you grow past the age of fifteen.
So here I am, without a band, but making music in a different way until I get to that day when I can say: “I’ve lived extraordinarily, exhilaratingly so.”
“I thought I would live a life centered around music,” Camille told me.
Throughout the course of life, we somehow come to a realization about what we are best at. Before that realization, we just take on anything. Some people take on everything and never come to that point of inflection. Of course, what results from the absence of inquisitiveness is mediocrity.
Camille chose to write and people love her for it. She writes because she means it but that’s no reason to drop music. She still enjoys it. She mentioned a word that sums it up: Priorities.
We owe it to ourselves to find our passion in life. We owe it to the people around us too. A fruitful life is an inspiration.
Blaming circumstances is a sorry excuse.
The end is the end.
Don’t lie.
My Fender Squier’s name is Seafoam. We play punk rock when we’re both sad.
WORKS IN PROGRESS,
to walk and progress.
I don’t ask the photographer to let me preview the pictures during a shoot. It’s how I feel about writing; I know how uncomfortable it could be to share work that isn’t finished or final. I have no idea how the photos will come out and I have to admit I fight the urge to preview adamantly. However, this set rewarded my patience. Edric Chen did it (magic!) again, times ten.
Outtakes from the garage series.
- Source: meetmy-tommygun.livejournal.com
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Hey.
Why not? What is it that you think is improbable? What is the basis of your most certain belief? When was the last time you sat down to think about the course of things? Why not do it everyday?
Last year, hundreds of tons of dead fish surfaced in the waters of the Philippines, China, America, Malaysia and others. A massive torrent swamped the Northern Mindanao area in the Philippines and caused irreparable damage and numerous casualties. A massive amount of radiation found its way into the atmosphere above Japan due to an earthquake of epic proportions. Tornadoes continued to whirl across America. Floods raged through Queensland in Australia. There’s just too much to list down.
We all believe that disasters are highly improbable events. Why do they happen? I have no answer to that question. They could have been caused by a multitude of things that we do not mostly see. The fact is they happen. And, why not?
In life, mostly nothing is a win-win situation. Oftentimes, we need to lose in order to win at a later time. A win might lead to a loss that we must experience in order to learn something anew. I don’t know all things but I always ask, why not?
In everything, there is solace if we seek for it. In the face of the highly improbable, I prefer to embrace it and respond accordingly. However, I confess that I do wrong most of the time. Whether events bring about a time of mourning or joy, I must move on.
I never thought two words on a page could mean so much. I have no idea why Camille typed those very words when we met. Maybe the right contemplation is— Why not?
Oftentimes, we need to lose in order to win at a later time.
Thank you, Edric, for making these photos come to life. You won here.
(via edricchen)
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And that’s the boyfriend’s plaid polo in action.
(Photo by Edric Chen.)
- Source: edricchen
In the mornings (part 1)
I feel like returning the favor a little so I wrote about the shoot with Edric over here. Here are snippets for those who want it quick, quick, quick.
I like how Edric’s photos have that dreamy film quality in them. Here, I feel the gentleness of age, as if an entire story has been told before the camera’s click. I fiddled around with some of his lens filters, which not a lot of photographers use anymore. It’s true then— we’re all storytellers in a way. I color mine with words and punctuation. Edric tells his stories with filters and light.
Perhaps Edric’s best quality as a photographer/storyteller is that he lets his characters come alive on their own. I hardly felt like I was posing. We’d talk and he’d snap a picture mid-sentence. He managed to catch the minutest mannerisms, the shadow of a smirk, or the sheepish smile before a yawn. I felt at ease. Nothing felt contrived because all it was, truly, was an honest conversation.
(Link to the photo set here.)
When I first stumbled upon Camille’s blog, I couldn’t help but read through it. This lady has one beautiful soul. Never mind that she’s just in her early twenties. Some people go through life differently and get to experience what it really means to be independent. They usually come out wiser.
In the past, I thought I was weird and so that made me feel alone. Then, I started meeting people who shared similar thoughts about life. Camille is absolutely right when she said that we share ourselves to wider audiences in order to find people who are like us. Somehow, our little revolutions subtly make way for grander things.
Recognition does not even matter anymore.
We took long breaks just talking and talking and talking, and this is surprising to me because I’m not much of a talker, really. I listen, I nod, I take notes and quip at the light, little moments. Let’s use a camera cliche for Edric and I— we clicked.
Thank you for sharing your views on social media, and the wider scope, the world. Can’t wait for the next batch, mister. :)
