Iphone Photography & Poems 手机摄影 + 小诗

Modernization has found its way to sneak into our surroundings,

Quietly changing the landscape here and there.

Looking out from my childhood room,

Where my imagination was stretched afar,

Now occurring are dreams and memories from the past.

Yeah, in the blink of an eye,

Seven years has slipped away.

While the view outside my window has changed,

With more giant buildings rising from afar,

I have changed, too.

In the midst of gaining the world experiences and friendships,

I’m also losing the very contact with familiarity in old days.

Now left a deep longing for something in somewhere else.

I’m home home,

but I’m homesick a lot.

The sun and water remain as primary sources of inspiration for me. Water mirrors everything I see, and the sun illuminates and graces upon things I see. With both of them, I can see things better.

Contemplation on Home

Can’t pinpoint since when that my home has become mobile and portable, downsized to only a few suitcases.

Airports have replaced bus stations and homogeneous surroundings have transferred to heterogeneous environment.

My sense of strangeness and foreignness has strangely been normalized by being in many places other than home.

My boundary for home has thus become blurry and quietly expanded its territory beyond the original boarder.

I’m here and there, so as my friendships and my homes.

I’m here and there, so I can’t just call one place home.

I’m here and there, so I have come to deeply identify that I’m just a traveler of the world but citizen of Heaven.

Chasing after the sunset

There’s an amazing anecdote behind this shot. I was seeking for a lake where I could optimally take photos of the sunset this afternoon, so I searched the blue marks on the map around the west of my city. Following the map, I came to a neighborhood where was surrounded a beautiful lake. With an excitement leaping in my chest, I was anxious to find a good spot to park. Soon afterwards, a little stream with reflection of trees immediately caught my attention that compelled me to make a stop in front of someone’s property. An urge of capturing beauty prompted me to knock their door and ask for permission to park, so I did. Then here came a lady. With a puzzling face, she opened the door, waiting for a legit explanation. I then quickly explained my intention to her, and her furrowed brows was soon replaced by a smiling face. She kindly agree to let me park and shoot in her backyard where it faced straight toward the lake.

I excitedly ran into her backyard and shot here and there. As the sun began to go down, here she came out again and proposed an idea to drive me to another bigger lake on her golf car so that I could get closer to the water without swamp surrounded by as it was in her backyard. I merrily accepted her invitation and was amazed and appreciative for her openness and hospitality towards a stranger! Along the golf car ride, I found out that she and her family were from Afghanistan who used to live in Clarkston. As we exchanged our friends’ names we knew who lived in Clarkston, we found out that we had a mutual friend! It was the most random things that I could have ever imagined! Such an unexpected mutual connection quickly bonded us together. We then watched the sunset and shared the most beautiful moment of the day together by the lake. After getting back to her house, she extended her kindness to me again by inviting me to her home. Wow, it was totally Afghani home! The smell, the interior decor, the furniture reflected authenticity and beauty of Afghani culture. I felt I came to a well-contextualized Afghani house in America...

This is how my day was ended—one shot led to a marvelous anecdote and then a new friendship. And I am thankful for this gift.