Photography is one of my favorite ways to see the world.

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    • Past Life: Sana'a Street Life

      Published on January 26, 2023

      Getting to see Sana'a in 2009 was an honor. It was one of my favorite cities: ever. Anywhere. I stayed with a friend and I got to wander around sometimes with him and his family, but sometimes alone. It was the weight of history and the air of what was about to happen: I frequently described Yemen as 'better than a set from the Passion of Christ'. It felt old, dusty, but also warm and familiar.

      At the time, I made some videos of my trip. You can see me talk about spending time with some local aunties, and how they fed me. I also have a stack of photos from that trip that I never looked at. What's happening in that country is truly horrid and makes me feel sick to my stomach. (My friend managed to leave, but his family remains in Sana'a.)

      You hear about the hospitality of that part of the world but you never truly understand it until you've been a guest. Then it's a memory that you'll never lose.

      a black and white photo of a street scene in the middle east with a lot of street life in front of some shops

    • Street Life: Air Mata Kucing

      Published on Invalid DateTime

      As a child, my parents would put us on a bus or train to Kuala Lumpur to see friends, visit people, or just have a weekend break.

      One of my strongest memories of KL: getting out of the overnight train at the old railway station, and strolling to Chinatown (Petaling Street) for breakfast. Air mata kucing (literally translated to 'cat eye water'), is a sweet drink with ice, rock sugar and longans. This stall in Petaling St is extremely famous, and probably still there today. I loved drinking it out of the little steel bowls they used to have, the ice cooling me down in the ever present Malaysian heat.

      This photograph was probably taken in 2005 with a Yashica Electro 35. I can't wait to go back there and have it again.

      A color photograph of a person standing in front of a Malaysian beverage stall with signs on it

      Longans are now popular in the west as a sugar alternative: 'monkfruit' sweetener is popular with fitness types. I like the fruity fleshy taste of longan, or 'luo han guo', in a traditionally made beverage like this. To this day, I haven't found a better version than this stall, though nostalgia is a drug.

    • The Market in Mae Salong

      Published on Invalid DateTime

      Mae Salong is one of the most interesting little towns I've ever been to. It is said that many of the town's folks are descended from the southern Kuomintang army during the Chinese civil war. They went south through to Thailand with instructions to wait there in case Generalissimo Chiang wanted to mount a southern attack against the Communists. That day never came.

      My mother and I went to spend a week here together once (she also likes adventurous and historical vacations), and I wound up meeting so many people because she's so good at talking to people. She speaks many languages, including the several languages spoken by this community.

      We went to the market every day for fresh soy milk and you tiao. It's a memory I will cherish, and I think I have my mum to thank for why I am really interested in people, adventure, food and stories.

      A woman in a rural Thai market standing in front of a camera while others do business in the background

      I love the wet markets of Asia, especially in Thailand. There's always so much to see, so much to eat.

    • Where I Live Now: Near San Francisco's Mission District

      Published on Invalid DateTime

      In 2018, my wife and I moved to San Francisco. We love the Mission district and try to spend as much time there as we can, especially for groceries and tacos. (La Oaxaqueña is our favorite.)

      I'm especially interested in the less gentrified bits of it that remain. A few steps away from Valencia Street, there are still pockets of the Mission that are gritty and edgy. Those are the parts of the Mission that tend to have the food and groceries that I want to have.

      Sometimes, I admire the old department store signs for shops long gone, in buildings still vacant and abandoned. I like grit, real people, and greasy tacos. I like these parts of the Mission.

      A color photograph of a street scene in the Mission district, San Francisco, with a large sign that says Bruno's and a few people standing in front of a heavily graffitied wall

      Photo taken on Leica M3 with 50mm Summilux, Kodacolor 200, processed by Underdog Film Lab in Oakland and lightly edited by me for color and contrast.

    • One Shot: The Farallones

      Published on January 7, 2023

      Sometimes you have a bad photography day where there is no light or poor light, you don't get any of the shots you want because you haven't had coffee, or you just don't know your equipment very well.

      In this case, I had a borrowed Fujifilm XT-30 and telephoto lenses and.. boy, I did not have fun. I'm still not sure the Fuji digital cameras are for me, though many people love them, but I did come out with this one shot I love.

      I had a wonderful trip to the Farallon islands just off San Francisco. We got on a boat with a birding crew from Half Moon Bay and, many, many seasick hours later, got close to the islands. We saw pelagic birds, porpoises, and even puffins. We got to hover near the rocks full of spectactular marine life, where the deafening chaos of thousands of sea lions and birds overwhelmed us with the sounds of life, thriving.

      If you ever visit, it's well worth trying to join a trip to the Farallons. We had a good time with Alvaro's group, where we had some scientists onboard including a scientist who was previously stationed at the Farallon Islands himself, so he had a lot to share. Remember to pack the Dramamine, though.

      Dozens of penguins sitting on a huge rock, next to sea lions. Overhead, a bird flies past. Some gulls too.

      The scientists told us about how colonialism led to the decline of many birds in the area, but that conservation efforts of the past decades are starting to help them flourish again.

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