Good Morning, Vietnam!

 

About a year ago, my dad started this cool thing where he subscribes to Netflix from Bangkok but has the DVDs sent to our apartment in D.C. The best part is that we never know what movie is coming next! We've gotten a range of movies so far - from far-out foreign films to B&W classics that I would never have picked out for myself, but ended up loving. 

The latest DVD we received was Good Morning, Vietnam! This selection is particularly timely for me, as it's likely I'll be going to Hanoi in September (fingers crossed!). Robin Williams is fantastic as funnyman Adrian Cronauer, a DJ for the Armed Forces Radio Service. Plus there's an underlying note related to the meaning of "freedom of information" during wartime. I loved this acronym scene - it feels like my job right now! GTG, I need to complete the MEC ETC by COB...

Before I sign off, I wanted to share this incredible set of pictures in Vietnam from David Pham's flickr photostream (photo above). His photos look like paintings!

Hey, Bike Lovers!

Get this - apparently the U.S. is reviving its highway system for cyclists! Initiated in the early 1980s, the plan faltered but with the number of cyclists in the US ever rising, the Association of American State Highway and Transportation Officials are revisiting the idea. How cool is that?

Another cool thing - monogrammed bike seats.

I happened upon this one walking home from Yola the other day. The "S" could be for "Schwinn" (biodegradable bicycle?), but I'm pretty sure it stands for "Sara". :-) I was tempted to ride it home but I made off with this snap instead.

Breathe In, Breathe Out

As usual, the weekend has flown by. It even started early for me, since my company picnic started at noon on Friday. Now it's Sunday night and instead of thinking about work emails, I wish I could be sitting on the beach somewhere in Mexico!

We had a bit of South of the Border brought to us this weekend, with a Mexican-themed birthday party on Friday and a potluck dinner on Saturday where we feasted on this incredible quinoa recipe. But alas, I will be spending a majority of my waking hours this week in a cubicle.

To make myself feel better, I've been browsing through Jose Villa's blog. He's a phenomenal wedding photographer, but he also has some gorgeous shots of Mexico (his serene photos above) and Cuba.

Witnesses to War

copyright Louie Palu

After President Obama announced his plan to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan last Wednesday, I've been thinking about our presence in Afghanistan, particularly over the last decade, and how much my own personal understanding of what's transpired is drawn from mainstream media sources - such as this interesting article in The Economist discussing the new news narrative about Americans in Afghanistan now that bin Laden is no longer.

Scenes from the "War on Terror" frontlines in Afghanistan and Iraq are likely to be the most photographed and widely shared in history. Embedded photojournalists have been right there with the troops, wearing flak jackets and bearing their muddy, world-weary cameras, and eventually even iPhones.

I'd be curious to study how images of our war in Afghanistan published in mainstream news sources have shaped the war narrative for the majority of Americans whose lives are almost completely removed from the reality of what's happening Over There. What happens during that journey from the eye squinting through a dust-encrusted lens to our eyes skimming the front page of The New York Times?

The photos above are from Canadian photographer Louie Palu who spent five years documenting the War in Afghanistan. In this interview, Palu speaks about his experience and his belief in the ability of photographs to reach the soul.

Stay curious, my friends.

Don't Worry, Be Happy

 

Summer is officially here! 

Yesterday was the longest day of the year. The clouds were dark and heavy in D.C. so it didn't seem like it. Not to mention that my body prefers the bedtime of a 5th grader, so I was asleep before the sun went down. But, I feel like when the sun is shining and the air is warm, everyone is naturally in a better mood.

I notice this when I wait outside the Metro station for Pem and people watch. In the winter, everyone has their heads and hands buried in their downy layers and walk to their destination as quickly as possible. In the summer, people are more likely to slow down and smile. 

Two street photographers capturing these moments of sun-loving contentment (be sun smart!) among the very best dressed of us are the Sartorialist and his amie, Garance Dore (their photos above).

Stay sunny!

Home Is Wherever I'm With You

As promised, here are a couple photos from Amber and Mike's wedding on June 18th. The ceremony and reception were held in the mountains of Maryland. Shaded by lush trees, the ceremony could not have been more perfect or intimate. It reminded me of my mornings as a young camper at Shiloh Quaker Camp, sitting on logs around a campfire in a quiet, safe belly of the forest (except everyone was in fancier clothing, of course!). 

With "Home" by Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros as their song, Amber and Mike's first dance displayed the fun-loving spirit of their couple. Don't they look so happy?

To relive the beauty of their First Dance, I've been listening to a lot of Edward Sharpe, including this amazing remix of "Home". It warms and lifts the soul - just like these two newlyweds! Congrats, you two.

Mellow Yellow

Check out the shade of yellow on these church doors. So bright and beautiful. I hope your weekend was the same!

After a whirlwind of wedding festivities this weekend, we are hoping to keep our week mellow. I'll be posting a few wedding pictures in the days to come. Hooray for Mike and Amber!

Have a Lovely Weekend!

I'm going to a wedding this weekend at the Thorpewood Mountain Lodge in Maryland. One of my good friends and former college flatmates is getting married and I can't wait to celebrate!

Below are some wedding photos from the oh-so-talented Katie Stoops. Katie is a Virginia-based photographer who uses both digital and film for her work. I love the softness the film gives to all of the beautiful details Katie captures.

Hope you guys have a love-filled weekend!

Sticks and Stones

Behind the pop culture curve, as usual, I recently caught wind of Kanye West's new music video for his song, "Monsters" via Good Magazine. 

I can't say I'm surprised at the music video's disturbing portrayal of seemingly dead women because our society continues to be fed images that glamorize violence against women. I could give the producers the benefit of the doubt and speculate that they intended to create a shocking "artistic" critique against the glamorization of violence - but I won't. From ads for Dolce & Gabbana to songs about S&M from Rihanna, these images of women being threatened, brutalized or killed are becoming trendy, normalized and even worse, portrayed as sexy.

The roots of this sociological phenomenon are intriguing, but I just wish there were a bigger trend in the opposite direction - in the production of positive images of women.

One photographer who's certainly doing his share to construct an alternative story of women is the French artist, JR. Famous for his large-scale photographs of women plastered throughout Brazilian favelas or on the train cars of Kenya's railway, his "Women Are Heroes" project celebrates women's undying generosity and strength of spirit.

Some of his installations are below. You can find out more about the "Women Are Heroes" project and documentary here and see his TEDtalk from March.

Don't Be A Drag...

DC's Capital Pride Parade was this past Saturday and was tons of fun to see. Even if we had wanted to, we couldn't have avoided it since the parade route encircled us on either side of our street!

There was a lot of Lady Gaga, mardi gras beads galore and crowds of people celebrating their colorful selves.

Some were dressed up more than others...

These girls were too cool - I love the color combination between them, that they also love cameras, and that Canon girl is rockin' an electric blue tutu!

And here's a fascinating article from The Economist, comparing the leadership savvy of Mother Teresa and Lady Gaga. Who would've thunk?

Stay colorful!

Oh Happy Day

courtesy of Color Me Katie

Three things that made me happy today:

1. For breakfast, I had a cream-cheese frosted oatmeal cookie sandwich that was out of this world (thanks, Baked & Wired!;

2. I finally saw the movie Bridesmaids, which is hilarious and highly recommended; and

3. I discovered Color Me Katie, a blog about how New Yorker Katie Soloker keeps her life colorful! Aside from having a wicked hand for paper projects, her fun-loving attitude and sense of humor comes across in all her feel-good photos. Not only do some of her photos make me laugh out loud (particularly those of her cat, Moo!), but she also includes videos from her improvisation group called Improv Everywhere.

Remember my previous post's discussion about being able to focus? Well, Improv Everywhere put on a surprise musical that perfectly captures our society's tendency towards information overload. Just like I had to share with you what I ate for breakfast, this video is something I just "Gotta Share!"

When Life Gives You Lemons...

...make some lemonade. Spiked, preferably. This weekend is another scorcher so we decided to make lemonade from scratch. I adapted this recipe, substituting basil for mint. I'll take a tall one please, heavy on the ice.

I've been thinking a lot lately about finding work-life balance. Especially since some recent changes at work are threatening to throw my parents' fall visit off plan. Every day at the office poses a challenge - should I eat at my desk so I can get out of here by 5:30? Should I stay late so I can knock out this one assignment?

In a meditation retreat I attended a couple years ago, the Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh said that too often, we think of time in segments. We divide our day into “work time”, “study time”, “parent-child time” or “me time”. But really, all of your time is “me time”.

I try to remind myself of this whenever I feel inclined to rush through work-related tasks mindlessly so I can take a long lunch, or attend a yoga class.  In reminding myself that the present is “me time”, I can bring my mind’s full attention to the task at hand.

This proves increasingly difficult within our society, particularly for my generation and younger, as it adapts itself to interacting with tabbed web browsers displaying multi-paneled webpages that are light on substance and heavy on the pictures, polls, and links. I’ve noticed my weakening ability to focus even when reading magazine articles. I got up twice while writing this entry – first to take some carrots out of the oven, and then to make myself a tomato salad (yes, my mind’s digressions mostly involve food). I even wonder if you, my dear reader, have made it this far in my post without taking a peek at the luscious lemonade recipe link or discovering who Thich Nhat Hanh is.

As I reach the bottom of my glass, I ask – what do you do to stay balanced? 

Eyes (heart) TOMS

Yesterday TOMS announced sunglasses as their newest offering! Continuing with their One-for-One strategy, each pair of TOMS sunglasses you buy will help one person get the eyecare they need, but can't afford. So not only will you be looking good, but you'll also be doing good.

As I fall more and more in love with photography, I can't imagine what it would be like to have a serious visual impairment or blindness. There are so many beautiful things in this world to see and share and yet, visual impairment is the 7th largest health disability in the world. Furthermore, a majority of cases are entirely treatable or preventable.  

Protect your pretty peepers this summer and spread the sunshine - try on a pair here.

Unlocking Creativity

 

I'm the kind of person that needs to be inspired in order to be drawn to action. When it comes to work or study, this usually means being one of those people who "work well under pressure", aka a procrastinator. Today I was feeling utterly uninspired which led me to think more about what provokes my photography.

For all photographers, I think there are just those moments when you look through the viewfinder and you think, that's it. Well, that's pretty much my process 98 percent of the time. Something colorful, patterned or shiny catches my eye, and I try to figure out the best way to reveal the inner delicate beauty of that thing.

Walking towards the Metro today I passed the fountain at the station entrance, as I always do. At the bottom of the fountain, I noticed this swirl of white foamy water that reminded me of a smooth slab of agate. So unexpected and so pretty.



What helps, aside from lots of photo shooting, is browsing the work of photographers you admire. Every photographer has a different style and approach, some which may speak to you more than others.

A photographer whose work speaks to me is Max Wanger. His latest blog post gives a much more poetic - and succinct - piece of advice on sources of inspiration: just jump.

The City of Squalor

www.stuckincustoms.com

This weekend, after much internal debate on my part, we went to go see The Hangover: Part II. I was homesick enough to crave seeing Bangkok, even if only on the big screen. I'll admit, I was also a teeny bit curious to see the Wolfpack's latest midadventures.

All in all, the plot and the depiction of Bangkok were as crude as I expected. Chow set the tone in the opening scene when he said, "Holllaaa - the city of squaaalllaa". The dark underbelly of this sprawling city I call home was shown in its most caricatured form. That being said, the guys did their job eliciting surprised guffaws and disgusted gasps out of the audience.

When I got home, I started searching for photos showing Bangkok's je ne sais quoi that makes me love it so much. Bangkok, as with other urban areas of its scale, is a city of contradictions.

Here is a great photo of downtown Bangkok's activity, accompanied by a short poem that describes this chaotic city so well.

Within the chaos though, are the tiniest details that can blow your mind away but are ta-ma-dah, or average, to most Thais. Here is a photo that makes me smile. And below are two of my own photos, aquarium fish for sale and an offering of sushi to the spirits.
 

 

My one actual point of contention with the movie - where was the traffic?? As Stu, Alan and Phil zip across the city in a tuk tuk to meet Kingsley, their early morning commute is never interrupted by traffic. It must have been too mundane of an obstacle at that point...

Two images of Bangkok's crippling traffic below. Deepens my love for bokeh and the BTS!

courtesy of 27147 and byJosh on Flickr.com

Going Green

Thanks to my friends* over at the IRS, I have recently purchased my first DSLR camera. My new Canon 600D (aka Rebel T3i) with a Canon 50 mm f/1.4 lens arrived last week and it has got me going green in more ways than one. So many buttons! So little focus! Who knew DSLRs could produce such blurry images?

I'm getting better at navigating my camera's key functions. At least enough so that I can get a decent level of control over the images I produce. I've flipped through the manual a few times but nothing beats bringing it to the streets!

Below are some photos from my neighborhood on a sunny Sunday morning.

*I don't actually have any friends that work at the IRS. Sorry.

Nuturing Nature

Last week's issue of The Economist highlighted what geologists are starting to call the "anthropocene", a new age in the natural world's history that is human-centric. Previous geological categorizations of the world's 4 billion+ year old history put flora and fauna front and center. Humans and man-made products were peripheral to Mother Nature's movements. As we encounter climate change, developing nations' industrial growth and a human population approaching 7 billion, it's clear that our perspective of the environment has to change. 

I can't think of any other photographer who so perfectly captures the beauty and gravity of this dilemma than Yann Arthus-Bertrand (four of his photos above). Specializing in aerial photography, he has used his birds-eye-view images to call attention to the endangered relationship between humans and nature. 

I was first introduced to Arthus-Bertrand's work when his Earth from Above exhibit was featured in downtown Bangkok. Accompanying his photos were quotes from the World Wildlife Fund.

Reading the Anthropocene article and re-visiting Arthus-Bertrand's portfolio reminded me of this quote, featured in The Sun magazine a couple years ago:

"Myth: we have to save the earth. 

Frankly, the earth doesn't need to be saved. 

Nature doesn't give a hoot if human beings are here or not. 

The planet has survived cataclysmic and catastrophic changes 

for millions upon millions of years. 

Over that time, it is widely believed, 99 percent of all species have come and gone 

while the planet has remained. 

Saving the environment is really about saving our environment - 

making it safe for ourselves, our children, and the world as we know it. 

If more people saw the issue as one of saving themselves, 

we would probably see increased motivation and commitment 

to actually do so" 

- Robert M. Lilienfeld & William L. Rathje

 

Photography for Good: Critical Exposure

I am so excited to share the mission of Critical Exposure, a nonprofit here in DC. I think everyone who can should volunteer with them. They do incredibly inspiring work.

What work, you may ask?

Critical Exposure, as stated on their website, “teaches youth to use the power of photography and their own voices to become effective advocates for school reform and social change”. Essentially, they give kids cameras and introductory photography skills to capture their lives as D.C. public school students and demand a better library, a healthier cafeteria or safer school grounds. So far, the students they’ve worked with and the images they’ve taken have raised over $400 million in additional funding for their schools.

That is truly photography for good – and for the greater good. The youth of the District deserve a public school system with the right resources to support their development into healthy, hopeful adults.

I first learned about Critical Exposure at a dinner party a few weekends ago.  While getting ready to leave, I ended up meeting a friend of the host who was working with Critical Exposure as part of his Americorps assignment. Hopefully, I'll be volunteering with CE at some point in the near future. In the meantime, I'll be heading to their upcoming exhibit June 9th, "The Faces and Stories of D.C. Youth".

Hope to see you there!