2 years

I just realized it's been more than 2 years since I've received my DSLR (Canon EOS 30D), and I just wanted to go back and check my progress as an artist. So...road trip anyone?

(3) 2008 Photos from my trip to Beijing/China. 1-2 weeks after i got my camera.

(Photos taken before one is publishable, 1 per 10-20 photos)

(3) 2009 Photos, ignore the fact that they're mostly waterscape... it's just a conincidence. I was yearbook photographer this year (2008-2009) but most of the photos are lost/gone, and I'm too lazy to retrace them.

(Photos taken before one is publishable 1 per 5-15 photos)

And who could forget my Summer 2009 Photoshoot? Made into a digital art project

(3) 2010 Photos. Taken from the Daily Photo Blog, infact, I think 90% of the photos i publish are because of the daily photo blog, I wonder if forcing myself to take photos is also harming my artistic juices.

(Photos taken before one is publishable. 1 per 10 photos)

So, have i gotten worse? better?

Beauty is in the eye of the Beholder

Or in my case, in the eye of a photographer. 

For some reason when I take these daily walks for photos, I can't help but see the beauty in everything; dead leaves, grass, trees, stop signs, brick walls, old people talking, people jogging by.

Is it cause I'm at my happy place when I know I'm taking photos? Or is it cause of another reason?

Sometimes i hate how I'm so limited by my camera in terms of trying to capture what i want to capture with it. My eyes can see something, but the camera can't capture it. But at the same time, photos can enhance the look at the same time. Double-edged sword, oh well.

-Canon Ma

I miss people commenting, I know I don't respond to them but I did like reading them!  Comment when you feel the urge to!

Mother and Father. (Smile Pt. 2)

I never had such a huge urge to see my parents smile in a portrait photography for me before. As you guys might already know, they are a huge part of my life (as for all Asian families), but I think my watching of and taking too serious of Chinese dramas showing the traditional Cantonese family in Hong Kong, has created an inner Asian-ness that will forever be ingrained in me.

I took a lot and i tried so hard to get my parents the perfect picture. After the shots (around 70), i had to tweak the light, Photoshop the colours, but i refused to Photoshop their flaws away. They didn't seem to like it as much as me. They quickly pointed out how old they have gotten, and if i could Photoshop the flaws away, but that's exactly what i was trying to get at. They aren't young anymore (I've been told that they LOOK otherwise), and I have moments where i think about what would happen if they passed away. And through all of that madness, I think to myself, even when I love photography, how come I've never used my parents as my subjects?

These pictures were a long time coming. These were suppose to be done awhile back (June), just I never got the guts to ask if they would like to be my subject. All they had to do was smile for me, and I think I got the shot (regardless of how old they look to themselves).

I want to remember them like this. I want to get old and take a look back at these pictures and smile back at them.

I hope one day they'll be able to see why I chose these photos, and why I chose not to Photoshop the age away.

-Canon Ma

Just Smile.

I never realized just how important it is to smile. 

We all realize and probably know that if you're have the hardest time in your life, if you can start forcing an honest-looking smile, you'll get through the day with a happier attitude? Just the fact your brain knows your smiling must send some endorphins or whatever, iunno, not a science major. Go try it, when your feeling just a tad down, force an honest smile, it actually works.

But i never realized how smiling for another person can not only make your day better, but can also make other people's day better. 

I see it all the time in television. A family doesn't have a lot of money and is struggling to make all ends meet, making crucial sacrifices such as their own materialistic happiness. Everyone is unhappy, but all the time, there's one member of the family, such as the young child, the wife, or the husband, who is able to stick optimistic and just laugh it all off, causing the other family members to see that there is no reason to stay unhappy, not when their true happiness was there all along.

And this is apparent even in real life, I was working as a counselor and there seemed to be one camper who didn't enjoy camp as much as the other kids, and I made it my mission to at least make him laugh, to make sure that he's not lying when he says he's having a fun time. I guess it was selfish of me to try to use him to grade my performance as a counselor, but when I finally saw him laugh, it made my day. The kid probably will never know just how important that moment was for me.

Of course, I'm not saying you should wear a big grin when you go to all sad events, such as funerals or at a hospital, but even these events need a person with a positive attitude, a thought that this isn't the end of something precious, but a beautiful journey that you must now go through.

I want to be that guy one day. The guy who can always smile through everything. Not so i can be fake to everyone, but so that I can cheer up other people just slightly when people are at their worst.

But for now, I guess I'll have to let other people smile for me, and let them make my day.