• Seventeen Years Later

      Published on Invalid DateTime

      I'm thankful to my photography hobby, which has been a part of my life in some way or form for the last 20 years.

      I thought it might be interesting to locate photos that would locate me at different parts of my life, in many places, so that I could see, at a glance, what a journey it's been.

      In many ways, my photography journey is indistinguishable from my journey through the world. I never went anywhere without a camera.

      Koh Chang, Thailand, 2005

      First year of college

      a woman standing in a tropical island taking a photograph of the trees and sandy path

      My first camera was a Nikon F-601. I brought it with me to Koh Chang, a beautiful island in northeast Thailand.

      This was the first overseas trip I went on by myself (with a former partner). We were in our first year of college. It took a fair amount of convincing (and saving) to make this trip happen. I planned an ambitious trip that got us to Koh Chang for a brief respite before we went north into Cambodia by land.

      I don't think I was interested in being a backpacker as such, but I felt very drawn to immersing myself deeply in the countries around me. I had a sense that this type of travel would open up many opportunities for me: but I didn't know what. It didn't make financial or any other sense then.

      All I knew was that I did not want to be sucked in to the corporate rat race in my home country, and that if I followed my nose for adventure, maybe things would make sense later.

      Bangkok, Thailand

      All through college

      a person photographing a buddha at a thai temple

      I kept returning to Thailand. Often with friends, sometimes alone. It was my place of peace and happiness. I had a friend who let me stay with him in Bangkok (RIP Dave! I will always be grateful that we became friends the time and the way that we did). It was also a hub: eventually I started taking on assignments for magazines and newspapers, and being located in Thailand (during my college summer vacation) was perfect. I could get on a $80 flight to India, or take a bus or motorbike to Cambodia, or go meet someone and work with them in Vietnam relatively easily.

      Singapore, mid early 2000s

      a person taking a photo in the mirror in an old fashioned changing room

      When I was home (I actually had full time college to complete, though it often did not feel like it), I sought out exciting things to do. Growing up, I often heard people say 'Singapore is boring' or 'there's nothing to do here' (even from people who were from there), but I refused to believe that was true.

      I certainly got up to a lot of mischief. Some of it good, some not. In any case, this sort of exploration fueled my curiosity. In this period, I actually wound up writing travel and food guides to Singapore at a variety of places, some online, some in hard copy: which was an exciting way to make money to fund other onward adventures. I also wound up eating at every corner of the country because of that, and I certainly have no complaints.

      My university wanted me to do an internship at a bank, and I balked. I fought to have this work be recognized as an internship. Eventually, I won. But it was hard fought.

      Melaka, Malaysia

      Last year of college

      a black and white photograph of a person taking a photo of themselves in the mirror in Melaka, Malaysia

      In my last year of college, I fell in love with a woman who lived 250 miles north of me. We met sometimes in the middle. I knew my life was about to change: big time. I guess this photo was a tentative record of that moment. Shortly after, we moved even further away. She moved 8000 kilometres west, and I also moved halfway there. Years later, we would finally live in the same country, the one originally pictured here. We had such an adventurous life together. I got to see a lot of the world with her, and I got to do many things in this period of my life. We started companies, we made software, we made food, we had a dog. A dog that's still very much a part of my life today.

      San Francisco, United States

      Present day

      a color photograph of a queer couple taking a photo in a mirror with a film camera in San Francisco in a gala-like setting with formal attire

      I never thought I would move to America. It wasn't my dream, the way it was for so many people. But life brought us here. Specifically, my marriage brought me here. We needed a place to live that was going to be more... amenable to our lives.

      I think we've built a good life for ourselves. It'll be five years soon. Five years of being married to Sabrena, my wonderful wife, and five years of living here together. I now speak in Fahrenheit, much to her horror. She keeps tabs of all the ways in which I am 'turning American'. "You speak way too loudly, and just yesterday you scared me when you told me the boiling point of water was 212."

      I am sorry.

      We're part of a community. We go to things. We learn things together. We explore our environment. We fuss over Cookie, our 14 year old dog, and Mila, our 16 year old cat. We trace the ways in which our lives have changed, the ways in which we have, inevitably, become, well, American. It's a bittersweet story.

      But we are here now. And if you were to tell 20 year old me in the very first photograph that this is going to be my life in the future? I'd be very thankful for the adventures, and be looking forward to this one.

    • Published on Invalid DateTime
      A color photograph of a Chinese restaurant with Chinese text on the windows, and an Asian couple walking in front of it

      Photo taken on Rollei QZ 35T, Ektar 100, developed and scanned by Underdog Film Lab.

      For whatever reason, I've been going to Chinatown in San Francisco more often. I don't particularly love the restaurants there (a few faves, but that's it), but it is convenient to go there when I want to pick up certain groceries.

      When I want the Malaysian instant coffee I desperately miss (Chek Hup brand from Ipoh), the only place I've seen in the city that carries it consistently is Sun Kau Shing Co. (The older people who work there speak Chiu Chow / Teochew, if that's also what you speak, like me.)

      Nearly all of the snacks I grew up eating, and more, at Pang Kee Bargain Market.

      The freshest tofu at Wo Chong (look at the glass cabinet by the counter, not in the fridge.. get literally anything there).

      The best deal on hotpot supplies (everything from hotpot soup base to the best quality beef and lamb, homemade fish paste, all the sausages and tofus and noodles you need, even the hotpot) at Gold Coin Trading.

      When my mother was visiting, she also loved Mow Lee Shing Kee, a local SF Chinatown lap mei business that has been preserving meats the traditional way for the last 150 years. I never had this quality of Chinese meats until I came to California: many people have been doing it in old school ways for the last 100 to 200 years, whereas I've only had very commercially made Chinese meats in modern Asia. (SoCal has a few really good stores, too.) Try their duck liver sausage. If you've had lap cheung in the past and not liked it (Chinese sausages), I guarantee that the ones from here are.. different. The difference between a Chinese sausage from here and one made in a factory, is an even wider delta than say, an artisanal Italian sausage and an American factory made sausage. I am a big fan of this place.

    • Fill Your Life with Music (And Fairies)

      Published on February 20, 2023
      a scan of a color photograph showing a beautiful woman dressed as a fairy, blowing bubbles at the camera, in a ballroom-like setting filled with people wearing formal attire

      Photo taken on Minolta Hi-Matic 7S II, Fuji Superia 400, developed and scanned at Underdog Film Lab, Oakland

      Another photo from another concert I walked to from home.

      We were invited to attend a gala concert for the New Century Chamber Orchestra. I'd gone to a show some time ago, really liked it, wrote about it, and met some of the folks involved through that.

      It was our first time attending a high society event in San Francisco. There was wonderful music. The multiple Grammy-winning San Francisco Girls Chorus sang a few select pieces, and we were also treated to the 'dark, velvety' operatic voice of Nikola Printz.

      Since the theme of the evening was 'Out of the Woods', there were also fairies. Naturally. I took a photo of one of them here.

    • Take a Bow

      Published on Invalid DateTime
      A scan of a black and white photograph of a standing ovation for an orchestra

      Photo taken on Leica M3, 50mm Summilux, Kodak T-Max P3200, developed and scanned by Underdog Film Lab, Oakland.

      One of the joys of living in downtown San Francisco is how I can get to many cultural events with a 10 minute walk. Some nights it's jazz at SFJazz, others it's at the opera or symphony. Many rock and punk (even Balkan music!) shows within walking or transit distance, too! Even though many artists have been priced out of San Francisco, many cornerstone and higher prestige shows still remain here at the downtown venues. I do find myself popping over to Oakland for more hiphop and even folk music, though. That stuff is barely in San Francisco anymore.

      I brought my Leica M3 and 50mm Summilux to the SF Symphony to watch Herbert Blomstedt conduct Dvořák’s Eighth Symphony. With high ISO film (T-Max P3200) of course. The Leica was very silent, though of course I didn't take photos while the orchestra was playing. It was also my first time shooting T-Max P3200 indoors in a dim setting. I like this photo, and want to keep documenting the music I go to see.

    • The Best Camera is the One You Have

      Published on Invalid DateTime

      I have been an avid enthusiast of phone photography and videos even before iPhones arrived in the world. To that end, I still chuckle when I think about how in the mid 00s, I not only took cool photos that I still love today, using a Nokia N73, one of them even went on the front page of Flickr for a while!

      a color photo of a cow standing on a pile of limestone rocks. Blue skies in the background

      A photograph of a cow on a pile of limestone. Cherrapunjee, India.

      a color photo of a kiln in a limestone mining area in India

      A photograph of a limestone kiln in Cherrapunjee, India.

      a color photo of a sign that reads, Cherrapunjee, wettest place in the world

      A sign that greets you as you enter Cherrapunjee.

      a screenshot of a browser showing the cow photo on flickr.com's front page in the early 2000s

      I had to take a screenshot.

      This was the first photography and writing assignment I ever went on. I met a photojournalist in a bar in Mumbai, and ended up collaborating with him across India and Bangladesh. He took the cool pictures (I thought, at the time, as I was less confident in my photography skills and equipment); I wrote many of the stories (which were published by various magazines). We were there to document climate change in the world's wettest place at the time. Not bad for a still-in-college kid (me, then), to have had the opportunity to do things like that.

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