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.

If you haven’t gotten yourself acquainted with Alicia of Instant Vintage fame, by all means, please do. She’s gorgeous and absolutely great company to boot!

She and I met in Westwood in Los Angeles last weekend, ate amazing vegan food (photos of which will be coming your way soon!), and hopped around Westwood for a bit.

Before she left, I had to take a few shots of her– who wouldn’t, a woman this wow!-worthy? ;)

Remember Stephen?

Here’s more from our shoot last month. Download his 3rd EP, Drift [Episode 3: Big Brother], here.

And a special treat…

He actually does smile once in a while!

Boarding the bus at the intersection of Westwood and Wilshire, preparing myself to travel three and a half hours back to San Diego by bus, metro, and train, I asked the man waiting behind me how much the bus fare was.

He didn’t know.

But he did end up sitting next to me on board the bus, as I asked him about what it was like to be a reporter for The Korea Daily (he just spent four days in Las Vegas covering a food convention), what mandatory military service is like (jail was his answer), and if he had read Les Miserables (only the abridged version– understandable, the book’s almost 1300 pages!).

I captured a few shots of him right before I ran off to catch the Metro– hence the oh-so-beautiful background ;)

Stephen Liu is a musician (everyone loves a singer-songwriter!) who prefers the piano as his weapon of choice but performed with his guitar a few weeks ago at The Loft @ UCSD a few hours after our shoot.

Download his new EP Drift [Episode 1: Angels] for free here, and if you’re in San Diego be sure to check him out at Cafe Roma @ UCSD on Monday, May 3rd at 8pm.

And follow him on Twitter, too!

More of Stephen coming soon… keep a lookout :)

The most beautiful man in my world.

Kathy Fan is the extraordinary creator, designer, and artist of her own couture dresses and accessories. Not only making the very headpiece photographed here, she is one of the four main coordinators organizing the West Coast’s biggest hip-hop dance competition, FUSION (XI), and she’s about to graduate university after only 3 years.

She is in every way a “holy smokes!” kind of woman.

The first day I felt a little closer to accomplishing: capturing the essence of a human being.