Shoes, a friend on your leg, gathering for honey, mini-cheesecake & key lime tart, a lonely island, the only fish I eat, the sweetest fruit I’d ever tasted (local, organic pluots at Berkeley Farmer’s Market).

(And one of Montreal!) Thunderstorms, walking under highways, on railroads, and one of my favorite things in the world yet again: breakfast.

Fruit tart & tiramisu from Montreal‘s favorite boulangerie.

For my last dinner with friends & family in Canada, my Xiao Qiang jiejie baked me a heart-shaped tiramisu cake herself.

Now that’s love. ♥

When I first started taking pictures as a kid, I loved shooting landscapes (I still do, but that’s another story). They were easy to shoot, they were naturally natural and required no direction, and– here’s my favorite part– they didn’t move (at least, over the course of the 5 minutes I fumbled around with controls). People were much, much harder to shoot. For one thing, they had minds of their own– who would’ve thought?– and for another, people were unpredictable and complex, each individual unabashedly unique.

So I never shot people. They were too difficult to capture.

And when I finally did start taking portraits, I took mostly self-portraits. At least my own self was a subject more easily directed. I could be myself around, well, myself. And I had a motivation, fueled by those awkward adolescent years: I wanted to show the world how I saw myself, how I felt I looked like. Not what everyone else saw: the tired girl at school, the bad hair day, or the candid photo usually with my mouth full (and open), hand raised in a feeble attempt to block the camera.

When I finally started taking portraits for other people, I realized I wanted to do this not just in my own self-portraits but for every single photo I took of someone else.

Portraits are to reflect you– not how your best friend or employer or neighbor sees you, but how you feel, how you perceive yourself.

And I’m here to do just that.

I photographed Alec in public several months ago. Back then I didn’t know his name, neither he mine. I was just a far-away admirer of a lone guitarist who happened to be playing lovely music.

Then, I happened to post this photo somewhere, and one of his friends happened to send it to him, and when I came across it recently (he was using it as his profile photo on Facebook) I messaged him, eager to introduce myself to my accidental subject.

He replied:
I don’t mean to sound campy or anything, nor overtly tmi confessional with a near stranger but,

you have a really fantastic talent.

To express exactly how you as an individual feel and see yourself…

I don’t know if I’m there yet– I’ll always be striving– but at least, maybe, I’m a little closer.

Sometimes the perfect thing to do is just to take an old point & shoot and simply watch the wind embrace the trees.

Get it now at the exclusive pre-order price of $15 before it goes to $19!

The pre-order period for Pleiades ends in 5 days, on Harry Potter’s birthday– July 31st– and with it, the personalized special gifts & the pre-order price of $15.
(What’s Pleiades? What special gifts? Can I read a never-before-released story from the book?)

Hurry and preorder Pleiades at this special preorder-exclusive price now before the price goes to $19 for all non-preorders.

Click here to get a free photography print & pre-order Pleiades today!

If you still need convincing, read an excerpt from one of the short stories in the book.

The sky always looks epic in Brossard… especially before a storm.

Words that start with a b are just delectable, aren’t they?

Organic cranberry ginger oatmeal with blueberries, organic spelt-millet-quinoa sourdough toasted bread with vegetable terrine & cherries (and then, all gone!), homebaked vegan cherry banana coconut butter bread.