Daniel Chin Photography: Blog

Upon pondering about trees:

Trees don’t judge,
Trees don’t stress out about things they can’t control,
Trees aren’t self-conscious,
They don’t worry about defining themselves,
They don’t strive to be that which they are not.

They are free.

Trees exist.
They grow.

Trees let themselves just… be

Be the tree.

I’m a bit behind on television right now. I just started catching up on Lost [Season 5] a few days ago. In the episodes so far, it’s been all about time travel. I find it interesting how they’ve progressively redefined the idea of being “lost” through the show’s seasons. At first, it was about being physically lost, and now there are some that are lost in time and place, and others who are lost in their identities.

The reason I bring this up is because going back through these images to put them together for the blog had me feeling a bit lost in time. The pictures – they feel like yesterday and long ago all wrapped into the present. It’s easy to get so focused on making new inventive, expressive pictures; sometimes I need to be reminded of their magic.

With photography, I feel that every day I am taking part in something that is far beyond me but also very much intrinsic to me. In a sense, getting lost is part of getting found. Things settle and then change, spurring me back on the journey to discover (i.e. uncover) that which has always been there, which is me. Constantly different and constantly the same. Fragile, yet resilient. Here in this moment, but also in the memories of the past and hopes of the future.

This trip to Hong Kong and Korea is one of my stories. Some of the pictures are repeats of things I have already shared, but I believe they are a little bit different when presented in full context.

Once in awhile, I leave the comforts of home to explore the great wide world out there. Having just returned from Australia and leaving for Paris tomorrow, I was thinking about this weird thing of traveling. I didn’t used to always travel. I’d always tell people how much I wanted to travel, but couldn’t because I either (a) didn’t have enough money or (b) didn’t have enough time, or (c) both a and b. At times, these things were partially true, but only because I hadn’t really made it a priority.

Several years ago, I looked at my cubicle life and I realized that I could probably sit quite easily at a desk for 8 hours when I’m 70, but that I probably won’t be able to do too many 14 hour flights or 15 mile day hikes at that age. That’s when I started to put away money each month into a different bank account that was marked just for traveling. My philosophy became: travel while the body is able, and then slowly degenerate into a computer sloth as I get older.

As for why I love to travel, there are tons and tons of layers. Getting away from everything for a short time is always great, especially when the beach is something like Ritidian Point. And then there are such amazing things to see and do. I have a fear of heights, but often times I will do things that scare the crap out of me. It’s a harrowing and beautiful miniscule miracle when I feel the fear pass, to then be allowed to witness something incredible (see: Tongariro Crossing). Experiencing culture through food and conversations with locals and other travelers has broadened ideas I had about myself, the environment, the connections between people and how it all fits together with the world. Traveling has also shown me that I am never in control and so I am learning to live my life with a little more improvisation and a little less resistance.

I am so grateful for the places I have been and the ways in which those experiences has added to my life.

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Quick Travel Thoughts
I do not count myself a travel expert at all, but here are some things I have learned that might be worth sharing.

Airline Alliances: There are a couple of major airline alliances. The best thing to do is to sign up for the frequent flier program of just one airline in each alliance. This way, you can accumulate miles faster and hence reach rewards (free flights/upgrades) faster by consolidating all the partner miles.
– One World
– Sky Team
– Star Alliance

Travel Deals: I peruse travel sites and sign up for travel deal emails (filtering them, of course, so that my inbox doesn’t junk up), and try to take advantage of the best deals to the most interesting places. A lot of hotels are partners with airlines, so you can actually get miles for your hotel stays, so always keep an eye out of those things too.
– Farecast
– Travel Zoo
– Kayak

Traveling With A Camera: Not much to say here except that I only take one lens with my dSLR when I travel – lately that’s been the 17-35mm f/2.8. I used to try to take more than that, but I always found myself just sticking to one because changing lenses was just too troublesome. Also, the lighter you travel, I imagine the less attention you bring to yourself. I keep my stuff in my small Tamrac Explorer 1, and just take it out when I want to use it.

Travel Guides: Use other travelers’ advice (including mine!) with discretion. Everybody travels differently and every person has a different standard of what is “clean”, “nice”, “posh”, “good food”, “great service”, etc. Most of the time, I use Lonely Planet guides to get oriented to a city and get a sense of what there is to see and do. Trip Advisor has really become my best friend for finding places to stay based on the concept of the “wisdom of crowds”. For US or UK cities, Yelp is a great resource for finding tasty foods. I also hear from Jeannie that Chow Hound is also a good place to connect with people who like to eat.

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I’d love to hear from you other travelers on this blog: what sites you use, any travel tips, horror stories, lessons learned, etc!

… I married this girl. Things have never been the same. My eyes are wider now, my world expanded, my thirst for life ever more viable. I had no idea what I was getting myself into, and it’s probably the best thing I’ve ever done.

[P.S. If you're at all curious what we looked like on our wedding day, feel free to hop on over to Boutwell Studio: blog (I really had to go digging in the archives to find this one!)]

Gingko tree.

I’ve recently become rather curious about the word “enamored”. I look at my amazing wife sometimes, and I am overwhelmed with how enamored I feel about her. And then I try to define it with other words, and I can’t. Somehow, in 25 years of speaking this language, I’ve picked up the meaning of this word to the point where I can feel it, even if I can’t describe it. I think it’s a beautiful thing.

Sometimes I feel a little strange blogging completely different types of images one post right after the other. The last post with Ethan was this explosion of energy and curiosity. This post is more of a meditation on the precious and intimate beginnings of new lives. For some reason, I am very emotional about this set of picures. I’ve known Grace, the new mother, for many years and there’s something about the tenderness in which Joe touches his babies that really gets at my heart.

So I think about these things, and I realize that they are all intricately connected – the explosions and the meditations, the curiosity and the fragility, the joy and the (joy). We are immensely capable of feeling this huge range of … things … yes we spend so much time trying to compartmentalize them all, as if one thing cannot be experienced in fullness while experiencing another. I sit in this tension as I write this post, reveling in that ballistic celebration that was Ethan’s birthday and the quiet serenity of Caleb and Peter’s new life.

A friend of mine encouraged me to respect my own introspection. I’m trying to embrace that and hope to share some of those reflections from time to time on this blog. This is a little bit I wrote the other day resulting from a conversation I had with myself in the shower.

I take pictures. Does that mean that I am a photographer? This verb “to be”. What is this incessant need to define myself in the form of this verb “to be”, as if I could ever find just that right mix of adjectives to finally contain and thereby understand myself. Even in this pursuit to define, I find myself only frustrated by the limitations of those words. Enough with words. So I take pictures.

I can’t believe it has already been 3 weeks since I got back from my time in Dallas with the amazing photographers at Foundation Workshop 7. I actually choose at this time not to write too much about it, but I hope my pictures this coming year will speak for me as I sit in the stillness of the lessons taught.

However, I do want to post this from my team leader at FW7, Amy Deputy. This woman has become an amazing mentor to me in pictures, in writing, in introspection, in love, and in life. Thank you, Amy. The world needs to hear your voice:
Amy Deputy: The Foundation Workshop Experience

I also want to post this video by Zack Arias, who I met at OneLight Workshop back in May08. I saw this the week I got back from Foundation, and it stays in the same human spirit of questioning everything while compelled to create at the same time:

This is an incredible talk that I’ve had on my mind the past couple of days. I’ve watched it about 3 times, and I get something more out of it each time. It’s 20 minutes and he makes some really poignant remarks about the current state of our education and where it needs to be. Even though it’s a talk about formal education, I think the topic relates beyond just parenting or a broken educational system. (I think we tend to blame the system too much anyway.) The ideas he communicates in this video have made me rethink the kind of learning I emphasize for myself.

From TED’s website:

Why don’t we get the best out of people? Sir Ken Robinson argues that it’s because we’ve been educated to become good workers, rather than creative thinkers. Students with restless minds and bodies — far from being cultivated for their energy and curiosity — are ignored or even stigmatized, with terrible consequences. “We are educating people out of their creativity,” Robinson says.