002: Photos
Me during a whale watching trip near Long Beach, CA. May 13, 2023Shot by my dear friend Lingtao (ins page: link)I had a conversation with Lingtao tonight about the kind of photography that she is into.
Without getting too much into the nits and bits, while giving some sort of the necessary context here, Lingtao entered my life in, what a would say, a pretty miraculous and totally unexpected way. Similar life experience brought us together and brought depth to our friendship. Oh, I always thought that Lingtao has a super cool name: “泠涛”. The waves. They are so vivid both to the ears and to the eyes. The sounds, movement, the energy and the momentum. Who does not love waves?
I was looking at the photos I took from the whale watching trip. I practically begged Lingtao for sparing me some cool photos which she took with her super duper long lens (I would literally do anything just to see one more cool photo of risso’s dolphins and common dolphins. Anything.). And it did not disappoint. Lingtao is an amazing photographer. Just open her instagram page here and see it for yourself. Then, the question about our taste for photos popped up in my head out of nowhere.
“So, what kind of photography do you like?“, I asked.
“Or, how would you want your photos to be perceived, to be felt by yourself?“
Trust me, I knew, in the back of my mind, how hard of a question that is, and how extremely challenging it could be for one to answer that question. The kind of photography? Obviously I held no expectation for getting a response to such a general and open question. I do not need it. Photography is an individual thing. It is personal. It is intimate. It will always be interesting and exciting in knowing at which angle one would approach this question in their own narrative and ways of communicating.
I have seemingly gotten into the habit of “let me just try and ask the question on the top of my head“. A little bit inconsiderate? Perhaps. But if I was genuine enough in the formation of this question, maybe I would less hard on myself when the person decides to give me THE look, after receiving an out-of-nowhere and seemingly ridiculous question. Well, in this case, Lingtao was too kind, like she always is.
To my surprise, she was not as kind and even spilled some very spicy remarks against the silly kids that were on the same cruise ship with us. This, of course, is a joke. Sorry, I digress.
I took the chance and answered the question for myself after Lingtao gave me her answer. I said:
“你喜欢的照片风格我也喜欢！
拍照片的时候呢，我也就是全凭直觉再去拍。呼呼呼
修后期的时候，是在拍landscapes的时候，有时我会想释放出landscapes史诗般的宏大。再有些时候，我会去找我能zoom in的地方，裁剪出一张图片里一些很有趣的一小块，也许是几何的连贯，也许是色彩。
我也喜欢play with 颜色和光照。想办法去和我的情绪感受联系在一起。大多数时候也许都太随便了lol
我想把我的照片拍的更加叙事一些，拍的更有故事感。感觉我得尝试着去拍些portrait。运用下泠涛的bambi 视角去记录生活
比如拍拍像你头像这种的close up，感觉也许可以capture到富有内容的一瞬间”
For translation, ask ChatGPT.
