The world takes a 270 degree turn, from giraffe to zebra. However, in the old town area of Wan-Hwa, Madam Hsu, a nearly 90 years old lady, still lights up her cigarettes, as her little daily joy of life. In the vibrant Istanbul city, a hard-working mechanic still smiles with certainty while going to work on time as always.
Once in a while, I would print out a few of my photos and display them on a wall in my personal studio. I do so not only to appreciate the works, but also hope some sparks would come out of me. One late night, while I was browsing the picture display again, two special photos caught my eye. One is a shot of a lionfish in a fish tank of a restaurant in Suao, Yilan harbor. The other is a shot of the extravagant interior of the Lafayette mall ceiling in Paris. These two photographs seem like two old friends who finally reunited after years of separation. They appeared to be communicating. In my mind, a peculiar connection between them surfaced. Right on that point, my curiosity germinated and I couldn’t stop thinking about what dialogues I could find among the photos on the big studio picture wall. People always say “A picture says more than a thousand words.” However, for me, “2 pictures say more than a thousand stories.” describes my feelings better. The following are some examples of the dialogue pairs. The spectacular landscape of Yehliu, created from natural wind erosion, in contrast with a small money exchange office in Bangkok airport. The huge variety of porcelain shops in Istanbul city in contrast with the small kitchen of my grandma’s home with my warmest memories from childhood. A small Chinese temple located on a hill between Taipei and Keelung in contrast with Milan station view from platform 14th. The stern walls of Toronto museum versus a flower garden with a ping pong table at its center taken from a small village hotel in Austria. A man in a neat suit walking with quick steps through a pink interior restaurant in Osaka versus a guitar player in Boston Harvard Square. Pictures with contrast/similar colors or structures, connecting stories, or breath taking scenes which bring similar impacts to me when I push down the shutter are usually what create unique stories and bonds amongst every photo pair of mine. They are edited this way into this book. By doing so I hope the same feeling I feel about the photo pairs can be conveyed to the viewers as they look through them. I can’t be happier if they do.
EXPERIENCE／
2011 Special Photographer, Grand Victoria Hotel, Taiwan
2009 Special Photographer, Xue Xue Institute, Taiwan
2007 Senior Manager, TECO Electric and Machinery Co., Ltd., Taiwan
2006 Professional Photographer Certification, Tokyo Shashin Gakuen, Japan
2005 Ph.D., Biological and Mechanical Eng., The University of Tokyo, Japan
2002 Master, Biological and Mechanical Eng., The University of Tokyo, Japan
1997 Bachelor, Agricultural and Machinery Eng., National Chung Hsing
University, Taiwan ACTIVITY／
2012 Image Creation for Grand Victoria Hotel 1F Lobby, Taiwan
2005 Group Exhibition 「SEKIKA」, Gallery LE DECO, Japan
PUBLICATION／
2007 「Meet the New National Palace Museum」, Acoustiguide Asia Ltd., Taiwan (Gallery Photos)
2007 「MIRAGE DE TOKYO」, Spring International Publishers Co., Ltd., Taiwan2005 「365DAYS BIRTHDAY PRESENTS」, Raichosha Inc., Japan (Co-photographer)
2003 「Qing Ting De Er Duo」, Phoenix Culture Publishing Co., Ltd., Taiwan (Co-Photographer)
MEDIA INTERVIEW／
2007 「WE ARE THE WORLD」」 Special Report, Esquire Magazine No. 25, Hwa Ker Publishing Co., Ltd., Taiwan
2007 「MIRAGE DE TOKYO」, MOD Hot Issue for New Books, China Television Co., Ltd., Taiwan
2007 「Explore a different Tokyo」, Off Work Queen, UFO Broadcasting Co., Ltd., Taiwan
I have always dreamed of being a professional photographer. However, this dream has yet to come true. In my Taipei home, with basic skills and concepts I’d learned back in Tokyo, from time to time I would set up an indoor studio crop to take photographs of my wife. With delicate lighting, trying to do it the professional way for a fashion magazine supermodel feels like my professional photographer dream coming true.
Apart from my book “Mirage de Tokyo” published in 2007, a systematic observation on Tokyo, “Encounter” on the other hand is an unexpected collection of photographs taken during the seven years after I returned to Taiwan from Japan, when I managed to travel in Turkey, India, Japan, the United States, Canada, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, the United Kingdom, Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, France, Singapore, China, and of course my beloved Taiwan. The purposes for those trips varied. It could be for market research, visiting my clients, attending a good friend’s wedding, or simply walking towards the park to get some fresh air and sun while babysitting my son, with three diapers and my son in the stroller. Reflecting on those years, taking photos had never been the reason for trips. However, my never-declining sensitiveness towards the environment around me and my photographer dream kept me taking photos. No matter what the purpose of my outing was, my Canon 5D and 1DX never failed to explore with me.
I will be a professional photographer. Yes, I am sure one day I will.
The publishing of “Encounter” was delayed for two years. I would like to thank Mrs. HSU, Fong-Mei, and Mrs. TSAO, Shih-Hsing. These two great mothers never stopped encouraging me and never failed to nag at me to continue my photographer road, and to accomplish every goal of mine. If it were not for them, buried in the busy work and life routine, I could have easily neglected my dreams.
Last but not least, I would like to thank my wife Valerie for her never-ending support on my photography voyage.
五南文化廣場網路書店
TAAZE 讀冊生活
iRead灰熊愛讀書
博客來
金石堂
三民網路書店
誠品網路書店
