2003

so 5 years ago i had my first scare of losing all my negatives. of course back then i didn't have any long term projects going. and to be honest sometimes i wish everything before mid 2003 would burst into flames because i was "still working at my craft" back then.

after photographing a fire up the block from me the previous weekend. i was awaken at 3:30 in the morning april 29, 2003 to a fire in my own building. so i grabbed my camera, evacuated and took some pictures -- from the outside.

today, i've been looking back at 2003. up until two years ago, when i started my echito project, i would just scan in my prints willy-nilly. but i've discovered that i've got to keep a system to track back to the exact negative otherwise it becomes a complete mess. so i spent a few hours after work recataloging all my scans from the first half of that year, quite tiresome.

2003 was a big turning point for me. though i was playing with the camera for four years before that, suddenly i think i started to "get it" more that year. maybe the 3 classes a semester i was t.a.ing at once at icp had something to do with it.

all in all, i think i am a better photographer. that year i did my first photo project following southern mantis for a few months; i have to contact them again to follow them during new years. i went on my first festival trip w/ k-livealittle to mexico for dias de los muertos; the basis of me going again last october to photograph the same festival from a different town. and little did i know then, i started out my holy week easter project in the east village shooting with jhahn.