Cotard’s syndrome:  This rare mental illness makes people think that they are dead and only their spirit is alive.

 

 

 

 

 

Alien hand syndrome:  Some people believe their hand does not belong to them, losing control.

 

 

 

 

 

Kitty in a relationship

 

Arguing

Sad

 

never too sad with a kitty

 

never too sad to play with a kitty

kitty attracts another one

kitty brings peace and love

 

 

 

 

After I watched “The Man who Invented Himself”, the strongest impression the documentary gave me was how much energy Duane Michals has, considering how old he was, I got really inspired as I feel I wont have half of his energy by the time I am at his age.   I think it is also why he has a lot of great works.  Him being gay seemed to have shaped his whole life, while being rejected by the norm and the church, he is more interested in nature, philosophy and expressing himself, as he said in the documentary that he was attracted to nature and Buddhism, both the mother nature and Buddhism would not reject him.   Reflections are very interesting because they symbolize different sides of mankind, no individual is purely good or purely evil.  Toward the later half of the documentary, the focus was more on death and desires, the message I got is that as his various desires still remain within him, but his time is running out and he started to reflect on his past memories, which inspired me, because it makes me feel our life is too short, we should live to its fullest.

 

Color Portrait :

 Richard

 

 Elizabeth

 

Portrait:

 

 

Strangers:

 

 

 

 

  Vaidik & Ria

 

 

 

people I know:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Self Portrait:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reflection:

I have learned that a lot of times its better to not disrupt the people you are trying to take a picture of because its very easy to lose the natural information of the subject, like original facial expressions and actions,  maybe ask permission after the shots, if they dont want to be in the camera, you can always delete the pictures. You dont have to include people’s face sometimes, if you do, its better to focus on their eyes.  Composition is also very important in portrait, personally I feel face alone is not very interesting  since there is not a lot information besides their facial features, thus, I prefer more content than just a face, well, unless there is information on the face that is able to tell a story, for example, a scar or a tattoo.  For self-portrait, proper equipment is very important, otherwise, a delayed capture is difficult to control, you would need the perfect timing and good framing for it to work.  A remote controller solves the timing problem, but framing is still difficult.  Newer cameras with built-in wifi would be great, since it can connects to your phone, therefor, you can have a remote viewfinder and remote shutter control.