Bay Lin – Forgot My Lens at Home

Author: Bay Lin

Humans in Transit

May 11, 2018 / Bay Lin / 0 Comments

May 8, 2018 @ Los Angelas

Camera: Nikon D750

Lens: AF-S NIKKOR 24-120mm

I have been obsessed with taking photos of strangers ever since my exchange in US. I wanted to set an interesting challenge for myself for the last project, taking pictures of them on the but (without being noticed of course). The shooting was not easy. I couldn’t always choose the position to shoot on the bus. The subjects were not always at the right angle for shooting. And the lighting and posing…were all harder to control. Not to mention I had to do that secretly.

I found the poles on the bus sometimes create an interesting composition in the photo. Also, considering the number of photos I successfully took, I felt how indifferent people were when on taking the bus. Lastly, this series didn’t come out perfect because of several uncontrollable factors mentioned earlier. So I turned the photos into black and white to cover some flaws. But it was a unique experience to complete this project.

Altered Perception

April 18, 2018 / Bay Lin / 0 Comments

Vision of Anisocoria Patients

Anisocoria is a condition where the pupils are two different sizes. Normally, if the size difference between two pupils is under 0.5mm, it shouldn’t be a problem. 20% of the healthy population has Anisocoria, including David Bowie. Yet if the size difference is over 0.5mm, the patient’s one eye will be extremely sensitive to light as well as a double or blurred vision. Anisocoria is usually a symptom of more serious diseases, for example, cancer, tumor, or other brain diseases.

Since the Anisocroria will receive different degrees of light from each of their eyes, I planned to photograph their vision with this feature.

Apr 8, 2018 @ Washington DC

Camera: Nikon D750

Lens: AF-S NIKKOR 24-120mm

Narrative Storytelling

April 2, 2018 / Bay Lin / 0 Comments

Story I – Don’t you dare!

Mar 30, 2018 @ Boston

Camera: Nikon D750

Lens: AF-S NIKKOR 24-120mm

Story II – Wrong Train

Mar 31, 2018 @ Boston

Camera: Nikon D750

Lens: AF-S NIKKOR 24-120mm

Portraiture

March 18, 2018 / Bay Lin / 0 Comments

Mar 17, 2018 @ Cancun

Camera: Nikon D750

Lens: AF-S NIKKOR 24-120mm

Self Portraits

Relief I

Relief II

Connection

Portraits of Friends

Escape I

Escape II

Escape III

Portraits of Strangers

Entertainer I

Entertainer II

Reflection

I enjoyed this project way more than any other previous projects. I started photography with portraits and fell in love with it. In the beginning, I did portraits in order to capture the moment that the subjects didn’t even know it existed. And I did portraits for strangers since this semester as a traveler. For me, the local people represented the place more than tourist spots. Every time I shared those photos with others, I had a story to go with the image. This gradually became how I live my gap semester in Stony Brook. And I really like it.

Color Protrait

March 7, 2018 / Bay Lin / 0 Comments

Lina

Lina didn’t have a strong conviction on color. She appreciated the vibrancy brought by color. She admired the simplicity of black and white. She was like a blank page in the notebook, waiting for any color to ignite her world. Yet she wore all blue on the day we talked. I guessed she still liked a little more. So if she were a notebook, it must be the one with blue lines.

Jason

There is an interesting contradiction in Jason. He didn’t like red because that made him prominent in the crowd. He preferred grayscale or low-key color. He didn’t want to be famous, either. However, he was also a track and field athlete. He would eventually stand out from people if he won the race. I imagined the moment of he being the star on the playground, he would shine in his own way, like a piece of grey in the middle of red.

Portraiture Photographer

March 1, 2018 / Bay Lin / 0 Comments

Robert Mapplethorpe

Self Portrait, 1972

His self-portrait caught my attention at first sight. Unlike other photographers, whose self-portraits looked obviously shot by themselves, Mr. Mapplethorpe’s self-portraits didn’t look like “selfies” to me. Whether he looked at the camera or not in the photos, the expression through his eyes was so strong, vivid, yet natural at the same time, as if there was another photographer shooting for him.

Self Portrait, 1985

When being a photographer for too long, sometimes I feel shy to stand in from of the camera and be the subject in the photo. However, it was not a problem for Mr. Mapplethorpe. He managed to capture the expression of people as well as express himself in his photography. That’s really impressive and admirable to me.

Image source: The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation

Francesca Woodman

Polka Dots, 1976

Francesca Woodman’s self-portraits were extreme to me. I felt she was afraid of the camera or the thing behind it through her eyes. However, she tried so hard to convey her anger, fear, and desperate through the photos. She looked like a captured prisoner who already lost her mind. To amuse herself in the prison, she started to act outrageously.

Untitled, 1977–1978

The atmosphere around her self-portraits was heavy. I almost felt suffocated when browsing through her pieces. Again, what caught my attention was still that her pieces didn’t look like “selfies”. But this time, I think it was because she felt so depressed that she ignore the camera and everything around her.

Image source: Artnet

Turn Around

February 26, 2018 / Bay Lin / 0 Comments

Feb 9, 2018 @ Manhattan

Camera: Nikon D750

Lens: AF-S NIKKOR 24-120mm

Turn Around I

Turn Around II

Turn Around III

Turn Around IV

Turn Around V

Turn Around VI

Teju Cole

February 26, 2018 / Bay Lin / 0 Comments

“Montage” 2018. Credit Lorna Simpson.

I liked how Teju Cole valued and emphasize light and shadow in photography, especially shadow. I feel shadow is harder to control than light in photography because it’s a passive element. Photographers may be able to set the lighting, yet shadow has to be determined by the light. And when the hue is removed from a photo, light and shadow are among few things remaining to show the depth. Like “Montage” above, though there were minimum colors in the photo, the image still conveyed a strong message.

Source: Evoking What Can’t Be Seen