“Assume for a moment that you are going to be leaving earth on a spaceship, never to return. There will not be any form of entertainment or decoration on the ship. You will not have any mirrors, films, works of art, etc. You will be eating processed food and drinking filtered urine. You may, however, bring ten photographs with you. Choose ten that will sustain you on your voyage- it doesn’t need to be great art; just make it personally meaningful.”
This is just a simple thought project involving self reflection: what do you hold true to yourself? What do you love? What are you passionate about? Who are you?
These pictures are dear to me in many different ways; some are pictures of loved ones, and some of these are representative of the moments I spent with people, and my hometown. My lovely hometown – Hong Kong.
FamilyMy brotherMumThis just reminds me of home somehow. Walking to your loved one. your home.experimenting with long exposuresHong Kong’s buildingsClassic Hong Kong streetRock climbing on Po Toi IslandMovement of water frozen in this moment.
What then, are you going to bring?
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(idea derived from here which is a mit open course on photography – Documentary Photography and Photojournalism: Still Images Of A World In Motion; I do not own this idea but the pictures are mine.)
(Please do feel free to give criticism. I’m new to putting together portfolios/projects with different shots centering on different themes.)
(This is more of a ramble of sorts that doesn’t really focus on anything it’s just scattered all over the place)
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I write this as I sit on the beach, alone, looking after my friends’ belongings.
It is a sunny day; we were scared that the rain would pour and our plans would’ve been spoiled. But we are lucky.
1 – We are three friends, joined together by school; and a month later we shall be separated by geographical distance as we move on to the next stage of life: university.
One in the States, one in Britain and the last one still in Hong Kong. Miles apart. But I know we will stay friends. We’ve gone through so much in these few years.
I know we won’t be able to go on adventures like we used to, but at least we can update each other on life. Catch up via the convenience of digital networking, with video chats and messaging. Chat about the good old days.
Friendship is about learning to listen to your friend, to be happy for them when credit is given, to enjoy the moments between you two… to have fun. And there’s so much more.
But if I had to distill it into one sentence – id say that it is the little moments of joy, of laughter of love between.
the small things.
It’s always the little details that builds a person. Like how one person has to have a can of coke every morning they walk into the office. The way another person coughs when they’re lying. The way the smile lines form around the eyes when they’re truly happy.
Yeah, those.
Always the small things.
2 – University? It’s just like the Next Big Thing that we all look forward to.
This Next Big Thing shall be challenging in ways I’ve never encountered… ill have to resocialize, push myself out of my comfort zone, try new things… I can’t even start to imagine myself doing that.
I know that I’m the type of person who needs a lot of stability and safety to truly be myself. And that’s why I’m so worried about going to university in September: I am completely out of my element, thrust into a new foreign environment without parental support nor any old friends. Nothing to hold onto. You start from ground zero.
will they not like me? Will I be alone? Will I end up sticking with Cantonese people and not truly mingle with other people?
These questions plague and invade my mind so often I don’t know how to deal with it. It’s pushed aside temporarily, yes. But never gone.
I’m leaving Hong Kong and I know I’ll miss it so much. At least I feel at home here albeit disliking some parts of local culture. It’s a totally new culture out there.
will I not be able to fit in?? Will they look down on me?
That’s my biggest worry; I’m really scared that people in my flat won’t accept me. I’m so scared. Yes you may say that I’m overthinking, that things won’t be as bad as I make it out to be, but I am literally so anxious.
Yet I have to suck it up. I’m growing up and I will learn to adapt. I’m nearly 18.
Ah, the wonderful 18.
So much dread.
3 – The waves crash on the beach, creating a cacophonous roar that strangely seems calming to my ears. The sea is swirling, crying, just like me with my whirlpool of worries. But simultaneously it seems to be whispering to me it’s all alright it’s all alright it’s alright.
It is a sound of comfort, a blanket that washes over me and calms me.
And suddenly I feel reassured. Everything will be alright.
So I’ve started to dabble in film- I quite like the analogue aesthetic. It just has that human touch to it that digital can’t replicate.
It really feels like a visual story frozen in time, yet you can imagine what the people in the frame are saying.
just imagine.
my brother.
I would’ve liked this roll of film better if the skin tones were less orangey and more true to the neutral tones.
Anyways- I’ve been looking into different types of film, and I must say that the Agfa films are the best. Rich with red tones and has an overall warmness to it, while it stays true to warmer skin tones.
Comparing Agfa films to this roll of Kodak’s ColorPlus 200 film, although this roll of film doesn’t look half bad, but there’s just a unspoken type of magic with the agfa film that captured me. It’s funny, since Agfa film’s supposed to be the “poundland” type of thing, meaning that its what people regard as cheap and not worth using. But eh you can make miracles happen with cheap stuff sometimes, you get me? Find the gem within the cheap, the negatives.
I know I started off this blog with the intent to update progress about my (now discarded) 365 project, but oh well. I’ll be doing more life updates and ramblings, and post the rest of my saved drafts that I never got around to posting about myself. Occasional photography updates from myself. Alright?
sio 