Anyone still around?

As you can tell, I've been off the radar for most of June. I've had to spend time taking care of some health issues. Hopefully I'll be back to my old self soon... and finding delight in each little thing I see, instead of letting everything past by me in a blur. I hope I still have readers and I apologize for neglecting your blogs!

First off, I want to start focusing on my photography again. When I was still in the States, my Blythes were my muses. I feel like I've been neglecting them lately in favor of Taroko George, our cat.

One of my goals this summer is to combine my love of photography (especially film photography) with my prized family of Blythe dolls and all the surprised-filled lanes, alleys and nooks that I love about Taipei City. The weather has been gloomy -- hot, gray, wet, oppressive -- but the weather report says that things will shape up by the middle of this week. Yeee!

Back in NYC, it was simply too expensive to invest in equipment beyond my secondhand digital semi-SLR and a few vintage Polaroid cameras. I wanted to try 120 film and cross-processing, but made do with what I had -- and what I had at that point where Polaroid 600 and Spectra film you could buy at Walgreens. Looking back, I can't believe how LUCKY I was back then. Sure, I wanted to try 120 film and was hard to find plus expensive to process... but I had all that Polaroid film right around the corner from my apartment! It really made exploring Long Island City fun.

Now that I can better afford my photography hobby, I hope to capture images that express all the different feelings and reactions I have while living in Taiwan. These tires were snapped in Long Island City, Queens, near the waterfront. It was just a pile of abandoned tires, against a wall of fading graffiti, but I thought it was such a beautiful thing to pass by on a sunny day.

Photography helps me find new ways of looking at my ordinary life. When I'm out with my camera and can't find anything good to snap, I ask myself what I'm missing. There are so many things I take for granted. Oddly enough, realizing this makes me feel free and easier. There is so much wonder in the word. I just need to let it in.

Everything has its beauty, but not everyone sees it. -Confucius