Flowering Crowd

The Cherry Blossom Festival draws hundreds of visitors annually. It was crowded than usual this year. In events like these, I am personally fascinated by the crowd: young and old of different cultures. I find this such a lovely sight. The blossoms also never quite bloom when they are expected to. It takes a lot of waiting and planning to get the moment of peak bloom just about right. Of my dozen visits, I think I have timed it perfectly just once. Truly, the main fascination for these blossoms is catching its beauty in its prime.

Destination: Philadelphia

I remember a year ago feeling stumped. I remember wanting to grab my camera and go. Just go, start exploring and never stop. I found I had plenty of things weighing me down. For some time, I let those weights decide my dreams for me. 

I am happy to say that I have rekindled the fire. I have decided to go exploring at the very least every month. I may not yet be able to travel far, but I realized there are always hidden gems close by. I found that to be such a pleasant surprise last week when I decided to go to Philadelphia. It was a city I have never seen and had horribly low expectations for. This city caught me completely by surprise. I found it to be beautiful and charming not for the typical reasons. It is a city of people in costumes and face paint, not out of the ordinary. It is a city where you drive next to duck tours and horse drawn carriages. There is the hussle bussle of a city and a quaint cobblestone path for beautiful brick houses. The variety of a city like Philly, I absolutely love it.

Destination: Beautiful

MAE. Multi-sensory Aesthetic Experience.

Mae is the band that produced music that affected and changed my life. I was able to catch them last Saturday on their reunion show to celebrate 10 years since the release of their first album, Destination: Beautiful. They played a spectacular two hours of all the songs in that album and more.

 In between, they told us little tidbits of their lives, ‘Mae memories,’ they called it. 

We even saw someone propose on stage

I loved what Jacob said about it that made the whole experience make a full circle. He said that this album is about their journey which is essentially beautiful. It is amazing to have people share this journey with them through music, much like the couple on stage. Thank you for this journey, MAE. :)

Destination: Virginia

There’s a building called Torpedo Factory in Old Town Alexandria. I have always seen it, but I have never been curious enough to step in until recently. I didn’t know back then that I was entering this beautiful warehouse-like gallery with little rooms featuring different artists doing their craft: painting, sculpting, pottery, photography, jewelry making, mixed media crafts and more.

These people so passionate about their craft made me think about mine. It brought back my curiosity and bravery that dwindled in time. I realized I am good at taking candid photos of people. So, I am refocusing my work to be about travel and street photography. 

Of crowds and busy folk

This is an extension to my earlier post on my trip to New York. I have found that candid moments of strangers make the best photographs. My favorite photographers have always been able to capture the human element so well. I aim to be one of those one day. In the meantime, these are shots of crowds and busy folk:

Destination: New York

I am really happy that I was able to start off my year by traveling. I originally wanted to go somewhere new but with some work constraints, New York became the best place. I have nothing against visiting one of my favorite cities to start off 2013. I think the best part of revisiting a place you love is that there are just certain things that never go old like dark beer at McSorley's, tram rides to Roosevelt Island, vinyl records at Bedford Ave, trinkets at Brooklyn flea, photo-ops at Chinatown. I really could go on and on...

Back in Time

I love going to events like different types of festivals. I usually find such interesting people which make for beautiful moments to photograph. Yesterday, I went to the Renaissance Festival in Annapolis. I have never seen or heard of it before. So, it was nice to see they went all out to relive 16th century England.