What Not to Do as a Photographer's Assistant - Los Angeles Travel Photographer

It started out as a perfect morning, so early that there's almost nobody but the local people and us.  We got up at the crack of dawn to "beat the tourists" - yeah, the tourists have been on our "to-watch-out list" since the beginning of our travel + photography.  We want to see life in a locale in its "original juice" and tourists are, to say the least, the excessive seasoning (more about that in the future when I can't help keeping my mouth zipped, again).  And I love documenting the lives of local people in photography, uninterrupted, in-contaminated...

As we were strolling along the water line, observing the little town waking up to sun rays peaking from behind the veil of smoke when locals started the fire in the stoves first thing in the morning, this gentleman came into my sight.  In the next split second, I raised my camera to my eye, quickly composed and pressed the shutter.  A deep exhale followed from the excitement of having "frozen" another moment in a unique place of the world.  Then a quick check in the LCD screen, in hopes to relive the sense of satisfaction...

Wait!  Who's this other person?  Baseball cap, Sketcher shoes, camera bag... - nothing speaks louder as "out of this place" (or should I say "not belong to the scene"?) than what I just described.  Ummm, it's the only other person from me that's NOT from this place, the one that I did not pay a penny to be my assistant on this trip. ;-)  I guess what they say is true - you get what you paid for.  The same moment can not be repeated.  Here goes my historical, award-worthy photograph. :-)For those of you aspiring photographer's assistants out there, rule #1 - do not stand in your photographer's frames of photographs, especially when they are as "juicy" as the image below:

Early Morning in the water village of Xitang, China - ©Jean Huang Photography

P.S. If you are dying to know where this image was made, it was the historical water town of Xitang in China.

Who Wants to Go Back to the Past? - Los Angeles Travel Photographer

This has been an opinion of mine for a long time:  We somehow got onto this train of modernization (let's make it a bullet train) that grabbed us by the swift.  Before we know it, we are in this foreign land that looks nothing like the place that we came from.  Well, it could be good, and it could be bad.  The problem is, while we are rushing in one direction, many want to take the other train heading back.

So many times, when I travel in foreign countries, I see things that remind me of the past.  And inevitably, that made me miss the "good old days".

This image was made when strolling the "old district" of Hanoi in Vietnam.  It amazes me that in this day and age, there's a barber shop right on the street, when all it takes is just a chair and a few tools in a box.  Really, life can be so simple.  And we manage to make it complex.

What do you miss about the past?  If there's a train to take you back, would you hop on it?  Would you go to the days when the pace was slower.  And in fact, when you drink coffee, it's beyond serving the purpose of keeping you going through stress (remember the word "leisure"?)?  Would you go back to the days when people actually talk to each other, face to face, and you receive hand-written notes in the mail?

If you haven't found this train, give me a call.  I don't know where it is either.  But I am the "middle-ground" where I do talk to my clients (not via text messages) and send hand-written notes. :-)

Barber Shop on the Street of Hanoi, Vietnam - ©Jean Huang Photography

Lost & Found - A Little Puppy Found its Way into my Flower Petals - Los Angeles Pet Photographer

The other day, I was playing with the fallen peony petals, i.e. photographing them in all lighting conditions.  This puppy came along and anchored its little behind right in the middle of my "playground".  So, as with anything in life, I made the most out of the situation - I played with both the puppy and the petals.  And the end result is something like the image below.If you've lost your puppy, come claim it and we can discuss how this art can look in your house.

Wall Display of a Boxer Puppy Sitting in a Pile of Flower Petals - ©Jean Huang Photography