I am pleased to announce that I will be hosting a street photography exhibition this Saturday, June 4th, 2011 from 5:00-7:00pm at the Long Hai Restaurant in Tustin, CA. Join me as I share some of my finest black and white street photography from all around the world including Paris, Seoul, London, as well as Los Angeles Click here to RSVP on Facebook.
Admission is free, and complimentary drinks and appetizers from Long Hai Restaurant will be served.
Also, I will be raffling off all of of my images to help fund-raise for the Sukhee Chung Photography foundation. 100% of the proceeds will benefit the Phoenix High photography class I am teaching to underprivileged high school students in Los Angeles. Tickets are $5 a piece, and there is no limit how many you can buy. You can watch a video I did about the class here.
I would love it if you could make it (if you are in the Los Angeles region!)
Currently I am teaching a photography class to under-privileged students in Los Angeles at a high school named Phoenix High. These are the students that I ran my campaign for camera donations for (which you guys helped donate to). Teaching photography to these students is the high point of my week, as I love to interact with them and also see their passion for photography. Not only that, but it seems that photography is a wonderful outlet for them to express themselves creatively and also use as an escape for the difficult situations that many of them live in. You can watch a video I made on YouTube.
Although I wasn’t able to take portraits of all the students, I wanted to write a short photo-essay about them. I hope you can enjoy their stories as well. Also if you were wondering, I shot these photos all with my old Contax IIIa rangefinder with my 50mm 1.4 Zeiss Sonar lens with some cheap Kodax 400 Max film. I love the look and feel.
Eddy
Now don’t judge Eddie by his appearance by his rapper-inspired sideburns and punk-inspired gauge earrings. He is shy and quiet in demeanor, and doesn’t say much. However when given the opportunity to speak, he shows great insight into photography and life. He is always enthusiastic to be in my class, and although shy– is always wiling to contribute to class discussions.
Street photographers are all amateurs. Not to say that we lack skill, insight, or vision– but that we do street photography for the love of it (not the money). Although people typically equate calling someone an amateur in a negative way, the word amateur roots from French meaning “love of.”
I know very few (if any) street photographers that make a living doing only entirely street photography. Honestly in this day and age– I would say it is near impossible. However, us street photographers try to take out every minute of our days and free time to go out and do what we truly love doing–shooting in the streets.
Having a passion for street photography for the pure reason of loving photography is beautiful. There is nothing better than wandering the streets, stumbling upon serendipity, as well as meeting fascinating people along the way. Not only that, but there is no greater joy than getting “The Shot”–rushing home–downloading your photos to your computer–processing them–and finally uploading them on the internet for others to appreciate as well.
When I realized that I shoot street photography purely for the love of it and not for the money, I tried my best to take away the temptation of making money from my passion. I knew this would only cause me to be miserable and lose the true sight of why I love photography. In-fact, I hear many photographers who go into commercial and wedding photography…they feel that photography is more of a bore and a chore than their passion. I never want this to happen to myself.
Sure I could always use a bit of extra money–but I knew that I wanted to spread the love of photography rather than making myself richer. Therefore I founded The Sukhee Chung Photography Foundation which strives to spread the love of street photography to under-privileged youth. I have already raised enough cameras for the high school class I am teaching (with a very generous grant from Jonathan Murray) and am looking forward to helping out other photography programs in Los Angeles as well.
So remember–shoot street for the love, not for the money (as my good street photographer friend Thomas Leuthard loves to mention). Be an amateur and truly bask in it. Before there is nothing more noble than doing something purely for the love of it.
In October of 2010, I asked the community to donate old digital point and shoot cameras to the Phoenix High Photography Class that I am currently teaching to under-privileged high school youth. To say the least, the response was overwhelming. The first few days I already got donations from Cydney Alexis and Jason Paul Roberts. However on the third day, a talented Swiss street photographer by the name of Jonathan Murray generously donated 11 brand-new Canon Powershots to the class.
You cannot believe how ecstatic I was. Wanting to record the students’ expression, I decided that I wanted to film a short documentary (which was directed with great help from my beautiful girlfriend/manager Cindy Nguyen). Not only that, but she really “set the mood” in the video to give you the fuzzies in your heart. Anyways– please take a few minutes to watch the film and we both would love to hear your feedback!
The Sukhee Chung Photography Foundation is also currently fundraising for 20 used digital point and shoot cameras for another photography program in Los Angeles lead by my friend Terry Kim. Please check out the Facebook Event for more information. Also please spread the word by posting this on Facebook, Twitter, and any other social networking site you use! Thank you so much for the love and support!
