peppermint and wildfire

Hello everyone! I've been out of town recently, and just got back. I got to stay with family in the mountains. The chill of the cold air there definitely woke me up. I took a little bit of time to take photos around my grandparents house. But, one night, I got to go with some of my family to Hawes Farm, not too far away from Shingletown. It was really cozy looking, but cold! After being in China so long, coming here felt like a dream to me. Hearing English, feeling the warmth of a fire, taking in the scent of peppermint and pinecone, and blaring but soft country music finding it's way into my ears. I had a great time with my uncle, he and I spent a large duration of the night taking pictures together, and he reminded me of how to use my camera manually since, I'll admit, most of the time I use auto. These pictures aren't that great because I barely knew how to work the camera. I had to use my uncle's camera since I left my Canon at home *__* I had a good time. Sometimes, I still can't believe that I'm home.

We had a glass of wine almost every night with dinner <3

Shooting pictures with my uncle.

We stopped by the side of the road when it started to storm. My uncle told me that whenever it stormed, everyone else would take cover, but Ansel Adams said it was the best time to take pictures.

My cousin. He grew so much while I was in China!

Trying to make my own work without my Canon camera felt odd to me :/ 

I wish you could see the leaves flying all around me better :/

On another exciting note, the photos from my shoot with Andrea are out! I'm so happy again I got to work with her, she's amazing and gave me some good advice as a fellow photographer ;3

moon and the tides.

久しぶりですね！So, I'm back in America now. Hong Kong was wonderful. One thing particularly memorable is that I got to have a photo shoot with Andrea Pun. She was amazing, friendly, and warm. I'm glad I got to be a part of her work! I miss Hong Kong even now. I miss the calm, and the hustle of it all. I miss the rolling hills where they meet the clouds and kiss. I miss the tall buildings in the city and the friendly voices from the lovely family I was staying with. I miss so much already, it's crazy. 

On the day I went back home, I woke up at 5 in the morning. I had a layover in Tokyo for an hour and a half. For that, my heart was beating wildly in my chest. When we touched down, and I heard the woman's voice say "Welcome to Tokyo." I felt a veil of surrealism drift over me. I didn't have any time to walk around Narita airport, I was rushing the whole time, and when I got to my gate, I only had 10 minutes to stand there in line to get onto the plane to LA. But, the trip there was fun. I spoke Japanese to the workers, I got to stamp my plane ticket, and I received at least 3 "You're Japanese is really good!", to which I humbly dismissed. I know I'll be back there soon ♥ For now, seeing faces of my loved ones and going around with my camera is enough for me.

After the photo shoots! All these girls are lovely <3

Hong Kong airport.

Stamps in the Narita airport.

Waking up over the ocean.

Back home.

Self photo shoots! <3

hong kong: i hope you missed me.

Hello beautiful people. I decided it's time to write about my experiences in Hong Kong. I've been here now for about 3 weeks, and I'm going home in 3 days - something I can't quite wrap my head around. Part of me still feels like, after all of this is over, I'll go back to Changchun and continue teaching, (which won't be happening.) But, I've missed this place. The warm air, and gentle voices and the rich mix of cultures. I know that I will probably always end up coming back to Hong Kong. I came here mainly for health reasons to be quite honest, I left mainland China two months before my contract (something I didn't really want to do, but it was necessary). It's been great here, but I haven't really been doing any art, I haven't drawn, written any poetry or even wrote in my journal. Maybe it's just because of my concern over my health, so I hope that inspiration will come back soon. During my time here (and last year), I've met some amazing people here and sometimes I wish I could even stay, but, like I said, I know I'll be back ;3

Hope you all are having a great week <3