2012 is close to end, and I suddenly have a complex feeling. I begin to forget many things, something good, something bad. Searching through the hard drives in my Mac Pro and taking some time to review what I did in the past year, I was so amazed to find how far I have been away from the end of last year. In my mind, Writing teaches me thinking, music teaches me listening, and photography teaches me looking. These three elements build my spiritual pyramids of wisdom, which my heart and soul live within. After one-year photographic safari, I believe it is a good way to review my personal project works, and as usual, this year I only made ONE image that I REALLY love. Yes, I only made ONE good image this year! Sad, but I'm still so happy to have this ONE, at least. Besides this image, I also picked up 9 frames that I might take a 2nd look myself, and here they are:
#10
(Canon 5D Mark II + EF 70-200 f/2.8L IS II, 90mm, f/2.8, 1/160s, ISO 6400)
This image was taken from a stage show "Hair", which describes the empty spiritual world of the American teenagers during the US-Vietnam war. I favored this image due to the exotic lighting effects as well as the unforgettable look of the emotions and gestures on the stages. All of these made this set of works become the posters of this play on OBBNYC.
#9
(Canon 5D Mark II + EF 70-200 f/2.8L IS II, 182mm, f/4.0, 1/160s, ISO 1600)
I photographed a bunch of cosplays before, but I never saw a girl who were born to be like a cosplay character like Sarah. She was posing and acting in her own spiritual world, her own life, that's why everything appeared to be so real, so inspiring. Every time I stared at this image, I found myself being dragged into this dark isolated world, looking for the light from the deep. Like the Chinese poet Gu Cheng ever said in his poem "This Generation", "The dark nights gave me my dark eyes; I, however, use them to look for light"~~~
#8
(Nikon D3s + Nikkor 70-200 f/2.8G VRII, 185mm, f/2.8, 1/80s, ISO 200)
Texture, dimension and mood, that's what I am always looking for and what I learnt long time ago from lighting master Cliff Mautner. Photography is purely an art of lighting, while camera is simply a box to let the light come in. In this sense, photography has nothing to do with the gear or creativity, not to mention the photoshop tricks. A photo is determined to be good or bad right out of the camera, you will never be able to fix a bad image by using photoshop. The capability to see and capture the light is all that matters.
#7
(Nikon D3s + Nikkor 70-200 f/2.8G VRII, 70mm, f/2.8, 1/125s, ISO 800)
Light vs Shadow, still vs motion, softness vs hardness, that's what Wenyan looks like in my eyes, and that's the girl I knew long time ago in my dream ~~~
#6
(Canon 5D Mark II + EF 85 f/1.8, 85mm, f/1.8, 1/250s, ISO 400)
I believe there is always an elegant angle to shoot a classical portrait, which turns out to be a "signature" shot in clients' eyes.
#5
(Canon 5D Mark II + EF 70-200 f/2.8L IS II, 168mm, f/2.8, 1/500s, ISO 250)
When a photographer begins to feel his subject with love, everything in his eyes changes ~~~ When you know you may never be able to have it, all you need to do is reminding yourself to never forget ~~~
#4
(Nikon D3s + Nikkor 35 f/1.4G, 35mm, f/8.0, 1/320s, ISO 200)
Sometimes, simplicity is a kind of beauty. Like love, you don't have to say it. When you see it comes, it's just there ~~~
#3
(Canon 5D Mark II + EF 70-200 f/2.8L IS II, 85mm, f/2.8, 1/200s, ISO 100)
Alysha's cute smile, vibrant colors and gentle gestures are all floating in this fragrant summer air, light and thin but never fades away ~~~
#2
(Nikon D3s + Nikkor 70-200 f/2.8G VRII, 200mm, f/4.0, 1/400s, ISO 400)
A strong image with solid editing, that's what Cliff thought about this image, and that's how I began to know the way to capture the light ~~~
#1
(Nikon D3s + Nikkor 70-200 f/2.8G VRII, 135mm, f/2.8, 1/80s, ISO 800)
The best image I took this year, and the only one I loved personally! This image is all about light, which was greatly enhanced by our subjects at foreground and background.