Before this month is over, I want to give a shoutout to my parents. I didn’t do it on their wedding anniversary (July), and I didn’t do it on their birthdays (both were this month), but better late than never. First off, my parents are FABULOUS, and I love them both. They are usually in Indiana but with my Dad’s sabbatical this year they’re spending most of their time out in Tianjin, China, sometimes traveling to other places such as Korea, Japan, and Hong Kong. Hopefully I’ll see them in November for a family reunion in Australia if my bschool interviews all finish in time, otherwise I’d have to wait until May of next year when we’re scheduled to meet up in Istanbul!
I think it’s the exact combination of them two that made a person like me, and it is because of their excellent parenting that I am where I am today – an Ivy League graduate, a management consultant, and a small business owner.
My Dad gave me what I’d like to call the left half of my brain. Look at how studious he looks even in examining a restaurant menu… (this isn’t my fav portrait of him, there are so many distracting elements in this portrait and I’d taken it really casually, but his expression is really classic)
This was his first official portrait done in academia… See, I have no idea what that poster behind him means.
Currently, he’s an internationally known professor in his field of mechanical engineering with a focus on HVAC, a tenured professor, and universities and companies all over vie for his counsel, research capabilities, and leadership. My Dad works hard, and does not rest on his laurels – he’s probably not going to be retiring. He is the epitomy of efficiency and responsibility. Imagine my productivity, multiply it by 4, and you get my Dad. All my business sense, my sense of purpose and my drive for success came from his influence. He has always set impossibly high standards, but expected me to meet them. This stretched my limits, and helped me realize that I should at least dream big, and then see where God will take me.
If you like my photography, you have to thank my Mom. She is incredibly artistic – she made my clothes when I was small, her cooking can kick the butt of any Chinese restaurant, she decorates beautiful cakes, and she could totally start her own interior design show on HGTV. Did I mention that until recently she did cancer research?
I just want you to look at the next following series of photos [scanned at 300 dpi]- these were taken on film on a medium format camera. I don’t know who the photographer was because my Mom was in the photos, but I’d like to believe that my Mom helped stage/direct these. These photos capture the spirit of portrait photojournalism – you can see a story in each frame, you can see the people’s personalities. Incredible considering that this was perhaps thirty years ago, just for fun!
I know for sure that she hand-developed these prints – they’re contact prints, direct from negative to paper because she had no access to an enlarger – and isn’t the exposure beautiful? My Mom always took her time composing, focusing, and framing each photo she took in her mind – be it on film or digital, and that’s what makes the difference. Though neither of my parents directly influenced my photography career – at first they dismissed it as “just another hobby” Â - I can see from these photos that somehow, I was destined to love it too.
This is one of my favorite captures of my Mom in recent memory. She hates it because it shows the wrinkles around her eyes, but I think this shows her warmth, love, wisdom, inner youth, and beauty all at their best.
And a recent photo of all of us together (Thanksgiving 2008). wow my hair was long
And of course, their one and only wedding photo.
My parents took these at a studio – back then in China a wedding was basically a studio portrait wearing a rented dress and suit and then dinner with family and friends. They were poor and this is the only thing they could do. It’s only recently when celebrations in China have become as lavish, if not more so, than Western weddings
Mom, Dad, I know you don’t read this, but I love you all the same! You’re the only family I have here in this country and you two are the world to me!
by Shang
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