Best of 2010: Personal Posts
I have always been a more expressive writer than speaker. Writing often allows me to process my thoughts in a deeper, more personal way. So alongside my photography, I have come to embrace writing as an extension of my self expression. My personal posts on this blog have been a mixture of passion projects, travelogues, simple photo post snippets, and sometimes, more thorough and intimate reflections on life. Looking back on these posts from 2010, I can see it’s the year I’ve truly begun to come into my own. Not only has it turned out (unexpectedly) to be the year I go full time with my photography business, but it has also been such an amazing year for personal projects and traveling all over the United States. Below, I share some of the highlights of 2010 with projects, places, and personal reflections.
Projects
Having more control over my own time in 2010 also meant having even more flexibility to take on personal projects, or “passion projects” alongside my regular work. Ranging from helping my former 7th grade students fundraise for a field trip to helping out with a 2010 Census PSA to giving away a plastic film camera, this year has been filled with amazing work that I’ve been able to take on just because I wanted to. Click any of the images or links below to visit the full posts.
1. Seaglass Cinema
2. Levi’s Community Workshop | Adventures in Film
3. Lomography Camera Giveaway
4. Brand New Website
5. Taiwanese American Foundation
6. Passport After School Program
7. BAYAC Photography Workshop
8. Census 2010 PSA
9. Formosa Betrayed
10. United for Success Academy
Places
I absolutely love visiting new places and finding new reasons to revisit old places. 2010 has been an amazing year– perhaps my best year yet– for travel. This was largely facilitated by my JetBlue All You Can Jet pass, which allowed me to fly as much as I wanted for 30 days from September to October. But even outside my JetBlue travels, I was able to take a number of wonderful trips and simply embrace the spaces I found myself in. Below are some of the travel posts from the year, listed in reverse chronological order. Click on any of the images or links to visit the full posts.
1. Lexington, Kentucky
2. Cincinnati, Ohio
3. Sebastopol, California
4. San Antonio, Texas
5. Boston, Massachusetts
6. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
7. New York, New York
8. Indianapolis, Indiana
9. Chicago, Illinois
10. Los Angeles, California
11. Seattle, Washington
12. Midwest Tour (Ohio, Indiana, Michigan)
13. Mt. Tamalpais, California
14. A Softer New York
15. Austin to Boston
16. Austin, Texas
17. 3 Cities, 3 Shoots, 3 Days
18. Oakland, California
Personal Reflections
My favorite post from this entire recap has to be How I Wanted to Live. I think the earnestness makes these posts simultaneously the easiest and the most difficult pieces to write. But I suppose that’s all part of what I love so much about them. Click on any of the images or the links below to read the full posts.
1. How I Wanted to Live “Creating a new path had nothing to do with what I wanted to do, but how I wanted to live. Balance. Control over my own time, variety in my schedule, and daily explorations of the world around me…”
2. Digging Up Treasures “I must have been an amusing sight to all the campers around me– a ten-year-old girl walking around with a manual camera bigger than her head…”
3. Good Morning, Oakland It only makes sense that my heart does a little flip as I cross the Bay Bridge and I see Oakland coming back into view…
4. With Gratitude “I really wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for the generosity of all the people who have pushed me forward along the way…”
