Our Colourful Highlights...

Meet two more members of the Photography and Blogging class:

Selena Chen 

     Ting-Yun Chen, also known as Selena or Sunset, was born in Tainan, an ancient and cultural city in Southern Taiwan. She moved to Northern Taiwan in 2005, where she received a B.A. in Chinese Cultural Studies from National Centre University in 2009. That year she returned to the South and started her Masters degree from National Cheng Kung University which she completed in 2012. Here, she was a research assistant who focused on gender and sexuality.
     Selena loves everything about Art and the sense of beauty. That's why she’s interested in film, reading, writing, music, ballroom dancing and video games. In her life, she has paid all her attention to the art of ‘play’ -- Life for her is a big game, what she wants to do is enjoy her golden years, make things interesting, do her best, and keep working hard. Usually, she is a rational person and sometimes she can be romantic -- she quit her job to come to Vancouver and started an extremely different life studying English at International House Language School in 2013, all because she missed her boyfriend.

Now, she is taking a photography and blogging course, where she is learning how to express stories and feelings through the camera. By using cell phones, she understands how easy it is to take pictures and how difficult it is to take good pictures!
     She loves how her life has changed. Life can never be predicted and the only thing you can do is find happiness and positivity, like Selena.

Tais Gomes 

     Tais Gomes is a journalist who was born in the most popular city of Brazil: Sao Paulo, in 1986. Her city never sleeps, but she doesn’t mind that. She is used to this crazy atmosphere. She is always busy studying, working, driving, helping people or meeting friends and sometimes doing all things at the same time. She is curious, talkative and loves to know about different cultures. Her big passions are spending time with her family and traveling to new places.

     Tais received a B.A. degree in Social Communications from Estacio University, and two diplomas in TV Broadcasting and Speaking from SENAC. She spent the last three years as a TV reporter for TV Record Group. As a journalist, she loves interviewing people, because it’s a way to discover interesting things.

   Her current challenge is living independently in Canada for eight months to study English at International House Language School. This is very important for her personal growth. Here, she is taking a photography and blogging course, because it’s a perfect way to express what she sees and feels.What she appreciates most in her life is Faith; Faith in dreams, in life and mainly in God.

Abstract Objects

Creativity involves breaking out of established patterns in order to look at things in a different way. -Edward de Bono

Shoe-lace holes

Cup of tea

This assignment helped me to see more carefully everyday objects, especially to think more about lines, shadows, texture and everything that could make a real object into an abstract one. Details are really important and this exercise helped me to look at them more closely. The photos I've selected make me feel relaxed, I love black and white pictures and I think they are so stylish and fascinating.These photos remind me of my first photo class experience. 

- Manuel Musoni

Lots of chairs put together

Eye Shadows

Heating Bottom

This project helped me to know how different it could be if we change the way that we used to see. Interestingly, when the colours were taken away, the lines, shapes and patterns were clearer. We could focus on the structure and the construct more. Moreover, in a close-up, things become unrecognizable and  deformed. It's tricky because we were used to recognizing object by shapes, which we might have seen as a kind of clue, but now we are cheated by it. However, it's still charming, especially through a camera lens, and as dramatic as the black and white movie in my mind.

The first picture makes me feel sad. It's sorrowful for me when something or someone is waiting somewhere but no one noticed them. They piled up and faced the sunshine, like many abandoned pets gathered or the elderly sitting in front of homes. They are waiting for someone special who will never come back.

The second picture looks like a nebula. It's a small and magical universe around me. When you see it, you would find some secret inside which might make you become beautiful.

The third picture is similar to a timer or clock. Most people might be confused when they see a circle with some numbers. For me, it's more like a sundial, and that's why I always make the picture associate with ancient cultures such as Maya and Egypt whenever I have seen. Therefore, I reckon that it's an eternal exist in the world as the time.

-  Selena Chen

Dish scrubber

Toilet Tissue Roll

After capturing this photo, I know that all kinds of objects which exist all over the world hide different kinds of beauty, although we can’t recognize them. It makes me feel miraculous. 

Before taking this photo, I knew a dish scrubber is a dirty object. However, I realized that this object has beauty on the other side. Next picture is toilet tissue.  But  no one can think it is just toilet tissue.  It looks like a tunnel or tube.  I think it is really abstract.

- Bob (Woo Seok Kim)

The assignment helped me to see everyday objects differently. For example there is a table; a table is normal, but when you see it from a different angle you can see another object. It is interesting when you change the angle and perspective. It is possible and easy for everyone. So you should try it!!!

My selected photo is a part of a cooking stove. This photo has a beautiful curve and pattern. I like this curve. It makes me relax and calm down. 

- Ayumi

The shadow of a tree on the wall

Top of the bottle

You just need to change your angle a little bit and you can make a normal thing you see everyday become art. That is the magic of photography. My pictures remind me of images in fairy tales. They’re mysterious, dramatic and fantastical. Theres a feeling like something will happen next, but you don't know what it is. 

- Kitty Wu

Regret

Feeling: Glass

Regret is almost like a bad memory about something. This picture can show us a simple, but good example, because when you talk about feelings, some feelings hurt you and you can’t forget this, and this changes all your thoughts or the way you view your actions. It’s impossible to fix broken glass, and the same time, you can hurt yourself with these shards of glass, and with feelings it’s the same. In Brazil we say “alguem vai sair ferido” about this, which means “someone will leave injured” So, take care of your feelings.                                               

- Carlos Ferreira 

 King of Gossip: Cell Phone

The Devil lives in cell phones! Many people are using cell phones to talk everywhere, everyday. Just like talkative girls. Even serious men become gossipers with cell phones. And sometimes, we make rumors with cell phones. It isn’t illegal , but always somebody gets hurt from rumors. It’s a bad situation. We can’t find the person who starts gossip because so many people are uploading and reading the internet, like Face book. So we need to silence rumors from the world of internet. However, if you can’t take my advice, you will regret it. All people will blame you and go away from you then you will be alone. So we must use cell phones carefully.

- Boyoung Kim