under construction || life

As I'm starting to slowly adjust to my life in Belleville, as a photojournalist student, I'm starting to become restless. I'm adjusting but I'm also antsy. I'm antsy about friendships, personal projects, my program, my purpose, and my future. 

I want to take some time in October to go under some construction. My heart, my spirit, and my soul need to be desperately refreshed. I need to lay out some priorities and figure out why I'm doing what I'm doing. 

First, I'm going to take a break from my blog. Not because I don't want to blog, but because I'm going to redo the layout (I'm hoping to connect with a graphic designer to help me out rather than doing it on my own). I want to reconstruct the purpose of this blog. When I first started it this was a place for me to share my 366 project that I started while living in Korea. Unfortunately that only lasted for about 4 months. After that died off, I didn't know what else my blog could be used for. 

Blogging is terrifying. You have to work hard to draw an audience while being yourself. I got lost in the first few months. I tried to imitate others while attempting to be myself. It didn't work. Emulating another person's life isn't the way to live your own life. You have to be yourself. Every person has something unique to offer. 

I've decided I know what I want this blog to be about, but I'll need some time to process all the ideas I have in my head. I'll need some time to plan out future blog posts. I'll have to take time to connect with other bloggers and designers in order for this to go forward. I hope you'll be patient with this process. I need all the support I can get. Don't we all?

I've got some good news! Last night I finally reached 100 followers. She is a photographer and takes wonderful pictures. I also really enjoy what she writes. Go check out Stephanie's blog, Tale of Time. This excites me to be able to connect with other photographers, whether they're into fashion, editorial, news, documentary etc. The most important thing to me is to see and acknowledge the talent and giftings out there. 

I'll be back. I promise! I've got so much I want to share with you. 

Monsters Calling Home || music

My friend would always be posting and raving about these guys on facebook. I decided to check them out and I'm so glad I did. If you haven't seen them perform, check out their surprise Jimmy Kimmel performance. I just bought their EP on itunes and it's been on repeat for the whole day!

I love the passion behind what they do. You can tell they love what they're doing and are very connected to the music they write and perform.

Here is their bio from their bandcamp site
We are Monsters Calling Home, a group of young Korean folk living in Los Angeles. Deeply into music and our maker, we hope to put on honest and heartfelt performances wherever we are asked. We dance thrice every night with bright eyes in a city of colour while arcades catch fire. We play loud and soft and sing about folks we know, we want to be, and we imagine in the dark.

Go check them out. This song, Foxbeard, is powerful.

I knew a man who found a forest overseas 
He grew his beard like the grounds bear trees 
Callous his hands, his heart bled dry 
He kept his fire in the clutch of his eyes 

He painted with a dark stroke, dirty on the canvas 
Creation was holy but we chose against it 
The devil knows he’s evil no need to proclaim 
It’s the choices we make that bring glory to his name 

Mr. Fox I know you’ve got a secret to tell 
But folks we live just to hear ourselves 
Talk, talk talk 
Non stop stop stop 
And it goes goes goes 
Until we know, know, know 
Know not what we say 
Know not what we do 

I knew a lady lost the forest for the trees 
She grew a lust to bury all underneath 
She cut to their heart, she bled them dry 
She kept her fire burning up to the sky 

She’s building up her kingdom of sticks and stones 
I hear the words in between they tend to never hold 
Was she living ever after or making belief 
She kept away from the heart the things unseen 

I don’t want to be your monkey boy 
But my cymbals are crashing 
My teeth oh they chatter 
Cause I’m cold, cold, cold 
Without your claps, claps, claps 
And I don’t know, know know 
If this is ever, ever gonna stop

hesitation = missed opportunity || life

WATERLOO, Ont. (08/10/2012) - A conductor of the Burlington Teen Band performs in the Oktoberfest Thanksgiving Parade on Monday, Oct. 8, 2012. Photo by Hannah Yoon.

WATERLOO, Ont. (08/10/2012) - A German polka dance team dances on King St. in Waterloo, Ontario on Monday, Oct. 8, 2012. Many children and their parents came out to watch the annual Oktoberfest Thanksgiving Parade of Waterloo, Ontario. Photo by Hannah Yoon. 

Here are some photos I took with my 35mm and a borrowed 300mm this past Thanksgiving weekend. I'm trying to put skills learned at school into practice, but it's still difficult. I need to be confident in what I do. Sometimes I think, "Eh, I'm not a professional photographer." So I don't know if I should step out and take pictures. I get nervous and insecure about what my role is as a student photographer. I hesitate and instead of taking a step forward, I remain where I am.

Hesitation = missed opportunities.

It's a process.  

Life is always a process. 

happy thanksgiving || life

fall 2008. taken with my holga. 

this is a time to be thankful. 

i am surrounded by good people, good food and good scenery
i am loved
i've got peace and joy in my heart

i know i'm right where i'm supposed to be.

in reality, there's so much to complain about. more often than we'd like life isn't very fair.

we don't get what we want. 

we're hurt

we hurt others

we lose

we're defeated

nothing is exciting

the little life we have left is robbed by darkness

but i know, from the short amount of time i've been alive, there is always a light at the end of the tunnel. 

always. 

we have to fight to live. life is worth fighting for. 

i want to be bigger than my circumstances

i want to be thankful when nothing makes sense

i am thankful. 

for you. 

for your faithfulness, your love, your loyalty, your goodness. 

happy thanksgiving my friends (even for you non-Canadians) 

26 years || life

© Christopher King

This week has been a crazy week. 

Monday evening, as I was going out to do some last minute photos for my assignment, I noticed my pouch with my harddrive, usb stick and 64gb SD card, was missing. Apart from losing a camera or a lens, this is probably the next worst thing to lose as a photographer. I was losing my mind because I couldn't remember what I had done with it last. I talked with a good friend of mine that night and was reminded of a simple truth. Trust in God. You know those aren't the words you want to hear when you're going off the wall trying to find something very important, but they were perfect. 

But Tuesday morning the reality of my stuff being lost sunk in. I couldn't go to class. I needed to sleep it off and look around everywhere for it. My heart and my mind was so restless. I didn't know what to do. I felt like I had to do everything I could to try to find it so I wouldn't have any excuse later. Nothing. Tuesday was a crappy day until my seminar class. 

Seminar classes are amazing because we have awesome photographers come in to talk to us, to show us their work and motivate us. This guy, Ian Willms, was incredible. A lot of photographers have a lot of ego. This guy was different. He was real. He was vulnerable with us and wasn't afraid to show us what he's gone through in life. Photographers rarely talk about themselves, let alone the pain and joys they've experienced as a person; as a photographer. Ian was different. He mentioned things about his mother who was mentally ill or addicted to drugs, how he was estranged from his father for 4 years, how he went across the country to be with a girl who was already with someone, etc. His final word to us was "Be yourself!" That's it. That's what you gotta be in life. Don't try to emulate anyone else out there, but be you. The world needs YOU, not another copy of someone that already exists. 

What a great way to end my crappy night. Tuesday night my birthday messages started to flood in from my friends in Korea since they're 13 hours ahead of me. 

I love birthdays. I know some people don't like to celebrate their birthday, but I love it. So I wasn't sure how it was going to work in Belleville since I don't have a lot of friends here. It worked out great! I got some pretty cool gifts from my good friends, we went out for wings and was surrounded by good company for the night. 

26 years. It's been an amazing 26 years. I'm starting my 27th year of life. I know there's much more ahead in store for me so I'm excited. Losing my harddrive and whatever, no biggie. I don't know why it happened, but it's ok. It's just a small setback. There's much more to be thankful for. I am alive. He is faithful. I have good family and good friends in my life. He is by my side. I have you guys as my faithful readers. He is trustworthy. 

I'll try to make sure I'm on top of replying to comments if they end up in my email!