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

Check out my beloved camera collection, read about my workflow or my artistic vision, or buy my zine (coming soon).

    • What I’m Shooting: Nikon F3HP

      Published on Invalid DateTime

      I started out in film photography in 2003 using a little Nikon F-601, and to many people (including me) the pinnacle of SLRs in the Nikon world is the F3HP.

      Built like a tank, this thing will outlive me, I’m sure of it.

      A black and white photo of a Nikon F3HP SLR camera

      The mirror slap of an SLR feels a bit anachronistic at this point. I simply haven’t used a camera with a mirror in years.

      With a good old tank camera and a good lens (I love the 28mm f2.8), it’s like being reacquainted with an old friend. Or riding a bike for the first time in a long while. There’s something in muscle memory, and all the pleasures of the thing you loved come back quite quickly.

      I’ve not had such a nice film SLR, though. Even as dated as it is today, it is a joy to use. Everything about it feels right.

      More on this after I get back my first roll from this baby.

    • Half Frames Around The Tenderloin

      Published on January 4, 2023

      The Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco frequently gets a bad rep, but I could not live anywhere else in this city. I live on a block where I get to speak my first language, the Teochew / Chiu Chow dialect of Chaoshan, with all of the Southeast Asian Chinese people here who own restaurants, grocery stores, and who mostly settled here after the Vietnam War.

      Being in community and surrounded by the intimacy of language and culture has given me a different perspective on this part of town.

      My photographs will often reflect this, and here I really like these half frame photos I took around here with my Kodak H35 toy camera.

      A half frame photo diptych of City Hall with a Burmese protest outside it and a view of Larkin St

      The Burmese community comes out to City Hall often to advocate for help for their country.

      A half frame photo diptych of a Vietnamese Chinese noodle shop in the Tenderloin and a mural of a bull next to it

      The people who run this noodle shop not only sound exactly like my grandparents, they also make food like my grandparents'.

      Photos shot on a Kodak H35 half frame toy camera and processed at Photo Plus, San Francisco, then lightly edited by me for color and contrast

    • Five Frames from Ceylon

      Published on January 1, 2023

      Between 2013 and 2016, I went to Colombo quite frequently for work and relaxation. An old friend of mine from school lived there, and it was such an easy flight from Singapore that I found every excuse to go there, really. The scuba diving is phenomenal, too.

      This past year, Sri Lanka has been in my thoughts. The troubled island continues to have a difficult time economically and politically. I highly recommend my friend Rohini Mohan's book, The Seasons of Trouble, for a gripping read of the civil war era.

      It's a beautiful country, and I hope to return some day.

      I don't remember what camera I used here, but it's quite likely.. an iPhone 5S definitely a Sony Nex-5 with 16mm lens!

      A black and white picture of a man in a department store in Sri Lanka

      Old school cool in one of Colombo's many historical department stores.

      A black and white photo of three men wearing lungis posing against a wall

      Friendly faces everywhere.

      A black and white photo of a commercial area in Colombo, Sri Lanka

      So many of the cities I love—Colombo, Chennai, Yangon—former British ports, have a very similar vibe in their port areas.

      A black and white photo of some men in Sri Lanka at a tea shop

      It's always time for tea.

      A black and white photo of a man sitting at a bench under a circular arch

      The languid afternoons felt like they went on forever.

    • Outtakes from a cookbook

      Published on December 31, 2022

      In my mid-20s I was involved in the production of several cookbooks behind the scenes. That helped start a love for food. I helped to write and photograph a cookbook for an international hotel chain's Dubai restaurants, which had all types of cuisines (their Thai chef also taught me how to cook the Thai food I now love cooking). Later, I helped a Thai-Punjabi restauranteur publish a cookbook for their restaurant in Pattaya.

      These were the outtakes from some of these projects.

      A color photograph of some bulbs of garlic

      The essential ingredient in many cuisines, garlic.

      A sepia-toned photo of someone weighing spices with a manual scale

      The best part about any cookbook project: going to the market.

      A black and white photo of a cast iron cauldron with milk in it, and someone stirring

      To make good chai, start with good milk.

      A black and white photo of someone pouring milk from Indian-style steel cups

      I love those steel cups.

      A color photograph of 9 spices arranged in a grid

      Spices are the variety of life.

    • My wedding in film and digital

      Published on December 31, 2022

      My friend Javad Tizmaghz, an excellent photographer and even better woodworker, took our photos for our wedding.

      It's important to note that queer marriage is not recognized in our home countries.

      We took these photos, and then we went to Auckland, New Zealand, for the actual ceremony.

      It was only fitting that these photos were taken in the woods near Bukit Timah, where the old railway line connected both of our cities. It was also a place of refuge and safety for me, as I frequently went there as a child to walk and spend time in nature. Even today, when I go home, I still try to go to that area frequently.

      Which one looks like film and which one looks digital?

      a color photo of a queer female couple in wedding whites in a jungle setting

      She was telling me a joke.

      a color photo of a queer female couple in wedding whites walking along an old railway bridge

      Walking along the railway tracks that connected our cities.

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