1-Recall your childhood and youth
think most of us know what our passion in life is, but we are too afraid to pursue it. We are afraid that we cannot make a living from it. We are afraid that we will be ridiculed for believing in our dreams.
I want to think back of when I was a kid.
I was always drawn to the arts. I loved to draw, paint, and doodle as a kid. As I got older, I became curious about hip-hop/bboy culture, because it was all around me. My best friend Justin Lee introduced me to underground hip hop music. I was hooked. I loved listening to Hieurspecs, Hieroglyphics, Murs, Nosajthing, A tribe called quest, Atmosphere, Brother Ali, Nujabes, and other jazzy hip hop artists.
I also remember being drawn to b-boy/breakdancing culture. To me, it just looked fun, and cool. I remember spending countless hours with my friends on the mat, trying out new moves, techniques, and maneuvers.
I also remember starting to blog when I was around 15 or 16. “Xanga” was all the rage then, and everyone had a blog. I remember blogging quite regularly for fun, when I was around 16 — blogging mostly about life, my personal frustrations, and other ‘motivational’ stuff quite early on. I would love going to football practice, having some random ideas, and rushing home to jot them down on my computer.
Photography entered a bit late for me in the picture. I always had a horrible memory, and for me, photography was a way for me to remember. Also somewhere along the line, I lost my ability to draw. For me, photography was an artistic outlet.
I remember the Canon point and shoot, digital SD600 my mom got me for my high school graduation present. I loved it. I brought it with me everywhere I went. And best of all, it fit in my front pocket.
I remember learning how to make better compositions with rule of thirds. I remember experimenting with the flash. I remember experimenting with macro mode, different angles, and different compositions.
Everyone knew me as the photographer, the guy who took a photo of everything. I was hooked, taking around 1,000 photos in the first month I owned my camera. I took photos of random stuff I saw on the street, and even photos of my food (this was considered weird pre-Instagram days).
My passion for photography really came alive in college, when me and two of my buddies (John Son and Daniel Jeong) helped co-found The Photography Club at UCLA. Thank god to Cindy for encouraging me to help start it. The club started off as a random idea, because I was frustrated that UCLA didn’t have a photo club. Like Gandhi said, ‘Be the change which you wish to see in the world.’
Even when I started this blog in 2011 — I knew nothing about street photography. I simply discovered street photography on accident, and wanted to learn more.
To turn back the clock, I first ‘discovered’ street photography in 2009. I used to upload a lot of my photos to the black and white forum on the FredMiranda website. And one day, I took a photo of a stranger, uploaded it, and someone told me: “Eric, I love your street photography.” I thought to myself, “What is street photography?” I Googled around, but couldn’t find any practical information on how to shoot street photography, or even what street photography was.
Therefore for the next 2 years or so (2009-2011) I started to experiment in street photography. I approached people with and without permission. I used different cameras, lenses, and approaches. I shot in different neighborhoods. I found a hard time finding inspirational, so I would try to motivate myself in all sorts of ways.
Around 2011, I got a full-time job as an online community manager at eHow.com. While I worked there, I learned social media. And not only that, but Cindy encouraged me to start blogging on street photography. I contested: “But I don’t know anything about street photography!” She told me: “Sure you don’t, but just share what you learn about street photography along the way.” I listened to her. Thank God, once again, for Cindy— this blog wouldn’t exist without her.
