Much has been written about how to find your vision as an artist and as a photographer but you won’t find any advice about it here. There are more sage visionmasters than I could ever profess to be but what I am is a student of those masters. In one of David duChemin’s blog postings from last year, he wrote: “We create from the inside out and how you perceive the world, what you want to show to the rest of us, and how you want to do that, is connected to the inside.” For the last few months I’ve started to get a sense of what my vision might be or more precisely, how that vision gets fuelled and it most definitely comes from inside.
Ever since I can remember I’ve been enthralled with stories. Growing up on books by Enid Blyton like “The Enchanted Forest” and “The Faraway Tree” where three children climb a magic tree and at the top there’s a different world every time, fed my imagination and my love of travel. At night, lying in our beds, my sister and I would listen to books my father had taped for us like Disney’s “The Jungle Book” and the musical story of “Peter and the Wolf“. To this day I can still quote from those stories. Many years later I picked up a camera and started to tell my story about learning photography. It was the most natural thing for me to do; I didn’t even realize I was doing it. The central theme of my blog is story-telling whether it be in words or in images. Most recently I’ve been drawn to using several images to loosely build a story. I say loosely because I haven’t thought about a beginning, a middle and an ending when creating these images but that is something that I will do with more intention as I explore this aspect of uncovering my photographic vision.
Today I’d like to share a personal story. It’s a story played out every day by Chinese families and has become something of a tradition for many of us. Once in a while my family gets together over dim sum on the weekend to catch up with the latest. We seem to get more reliable news this way than through email or the telephone. My aunt usually presides over the table as she is the older sister. She is the English equivalent of the Tea Mum as she not only pours our tea but makes sure the waiter duly keeps it topped up.
Dim sum is served in small bamboo steamers but fewer restaurants serve them from trolleys like the one above. For some reason they now give a list from which to make your selections and then they bring the steamers to your table. Personally I like the trolleys because you can pick and choose what you want based on what they look like when they get to the table. If you don’t like the look of something, you can pass on it. This image has been cropped and straightened because I was sitting on the inside and using my 17-35mm lens. Next time I’ll sit on the outside and try to get a really good closeup of the steamers.
These barbeque pork buns are my favourite. When I was a kid, we’d have the steamed version whenever we visited my grandparents and the rest of the family. It was a real treat. This baked version was very good and threaten to unseat the steamed ones in my list of fond family memories.
A fact that surprises people when I share it is that I didn’t know how to use chopsticks until I was about 10 years old. Chinese children are normally taught to use chopsticks from a very young age but we were raised in the fine colonial English tradition of using a knife and fork. Would you believe I took this photograph while holding my chopsticks? I actually used the self-timer on this one so that I could compose, expose and focus and then press the shutter before picking up the shrimp and pork dumpling.
Dim sum literally means “pieces of heart” and from my limited research because it was meant to be a snack to touch the heart. I know these images don’t pull together like a well-written story or even a visual story. They are more like a first draft of hastily scribbled notes but take them for what they are intended to be–a peek into where my heart is leading me.
All that I can say is I love the direction you are heading with your work, and as you know it is close to my heart as well. Beautiful story Sabrina, and I can see much of you in it, both in the words and definitely in the images.
Maybe it’s no coincidence that I’m headed in this direction, Ray (wink, wink, nudge, nudge). I’m tickled pink that you like this story; it encourages me to find more to tell!
I agree with Ray. I love the way you tie your photogrpahy to your life, family and heart. Well, done.
Mark
Thanks Mark. Sometimes I think I share too much but when it comes from the heart it seems there’s no stopping it
Barbeque pork buns…..now those sound wonderful. Wonderful shots…keep it up.
They really are VERY tasty, John. In fact I could have eaten all three if no-one was looking. Thanks for the encouragement; it means a lot coming from you.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Mark Olwick, Ray Ketcham. Ray Ketcham said: New post and a little bit of heart from @SabrinaHenry http://tinyurl.com/27nqkga [...]
Great post, Sabrina. So many of us get caught up in how to make a good photograph and we forget about why we want to make a photograph at all. As Ray and Mark said, tying photography to our lives—or the lives of others—helps us define the “why.”
Thanks Stuart! I’ve been spending lots of time on the “how” lately so I was overdue for a “why” posting. I’m really interested to hear your take on this following your recent trip to Italy.
First of all these are wonderful images to follow along with your story. I smile when first looking at your images because my sister and I visited a favorite Chinese restaurant yesterday to preform death by too much Chinese food, a frequent event for us. And, of course we had the dim sum. I did not know their meaning until you shared this post. Well done!
LOL Monte…”death by too much Chinese food”–I must remember that for the next time I’m sitting at the dim sum table.
If your family is anything like mine, you order way too much food and then it’s too late. Dim sum is best enjoyed with more people. That way you can try more things but eat less.
Oh yes, this is a wonderful post. I tend to think that because sharing a meal is such a universal experience, your visual story didn’t lack at all for not having a defined beginning, middle and end. I love the details you shared about your family and the meal! And I have to say this, Sabrina, your father sounds really special.
Woo hoo–I have the Erin Wilson Seal of Approval
And yes Erin, I think my father was someone very special but I’m biased. He probably would have been horrified with me sharing so openly but I’ll have to wait a while to find out. If I’m going to get into trouble I had better make it worth my while…hee, hee.
Oh you are making me hungry!
Sorry Cindy…well sort of. How about making some images of all those lovely teas you’ve been trying? That’s actually one image that is missing from this “essay”.
Great images, wonderful text.
Thanks Chris…compliment coming from you, that’s for sure.
I’m a part taker of the fine tradition of dim sum (I’m half Chinese), and I gotta say, it’s more a feast that touches the heart than a snack!
Your siew mai photos make me hungry for that at 6.30 am. When I was growing up in Singapore, I would often have a big char siew bao for breakfast. Now that I live in Australia, these sorts of pictures are only torture while I eat my cereal in the morning! You give a good wake up call Sabrina
I have to agree with you on the feast versus snack debate, Charlene!
I enjoyed the insight on dim sum, I had no idea about the family traditions surrounding the meal. Thanks for sharing. I like the pictures too, nice work Sabrina.
That’s one of the things I realize I love about the story-telling part of my photographic journey, Ken. I am learning about things I probably would have never given a second thought to in the past. All in all, it is a much richer experience.