Compared to the opening, the second piece feels harder to write. Without some ceremonial elements, after the bell rings, I just sit there, staring blankly around, and lamenting that this blank space depicts most of the background color of life, making it seem a bit hollow.
More than half of July has passed, not exactly muddling along, but not particularly positive or uplifting either. The routine of work sometimes blurs the passage of time, and before realizing it, another weekend arrives. This feeling isn’t exactly joyful because when thinking about what to do on the weekend, it seems just casual and random. But when compared to those weekends where one has to work overtime or adjust shifts, it starts to feel joyful again.
In fact, one should find those things worth “looking forward to the weekend”.
Starting with photography
I began to dabble in photography when I got my first phone, which was a BBK music phone my mom bought after my college entrance exam. The camera on that feature phone was pretty basic, with only 300,000 pixels, essentially in an unusable stage. So, during the summer vacation of my freshman year, I spent a “huge sum” to buy a Panasonic card camera, a imported model, and the price of 1200 yuan was almost two to three months of living expenses for me at that time. That card camera basically accompanied me throughout my college life, traveling to many places such as the northeast, Sichuan and Chongqing, Lingnan, and taking a lot of random photos. However, I didn’t really understand photography nor know how to edit pictures. Looking back later, the photos are rather plain. It seems I don’t have a talent for photography, but during this process, I learned some basic composition and lighting knowledge. Later, in my first year of graduate school, I switched to the current Olympus M10, a micro four-thirds camera. At the same time, I met some classmates who were into “photography”. Sometimes, we would shoot together, though occasionally. During that period, I had a passion for photography. The pictures from the camera were noticeably better than those from the phone, sometimes getting many likes on social media.
However, I gradually realized that a good photo is important for capturing the story of a moment. Taking too many sugar-coated pictures becomes pointless. Later, with the advancement in mobile camera technology that satisfies most daily photo needs, the M10 was mainly used for travel, spending most of the time on the shelf, along with my mediocre photography skills. Unconsciously, more than ten years have passed. The vow to record time has eventually been left far behind by time itself.
About recording
Looking back at my photography journey, it has been a process of going from enthusiasm to gradual wear. Perhaps for me, discovering stories in life and capturing the moments isn’t a simple task. Sometimes, after taking many photos and looking back, I don’t feel any of them are special. Most don’t resonate with the feelings I had when taking them. This repeatedly lowers expectations and diminishes the impulse to pick up the camera and press the shutter.
Regarding the significance of photos, what I can think of is recording beauty and feeling the emotions at that moment. If neither is achievable, I just want to experience the present moment properly, recording it with my mind.
When traveling on a budget during university, I always thought about taking more photos with a camera to record life. But now, I feel that photos might not be a good recording medium. One reason is that compared to other media (like videos), photos can carry limited information, confined to that moment, so it demands high storytelling. Another reason is that photos tend to “fade” over time, becoming blurry, as we actively add many other “colors” to them when taking them, such as the surrounding scenes, the emotions at the time of shooting, and these things fade with memory until we can’t recall those added elements1.
However, despite this, photography remains an important means of recording due to its simplicity, convenience, and ease of sharing. I created a Threads account last week and will try to maintain the habit of taking and recording daily photos.2
From recording to time travel
Besides photography, I’ve tried other ways to record life, like taking a second video every day, then compiling it into a nearly 5-minute short film at the end of the year3. This serves as a marker of the whole year, though I never managed to keep it up eventually.
As for why we need to record life, I think everyone knows the answer. Just as Heraclitus said, “One cannot step into the same river twice”, time is one-directional, and we cannot return to the past. Of course, if you want to go back, it’s possible — just make good records. If you can entirely document the scenes at that time, looking back later counts as “time travel”. A long time ago, I felt this might be the only way to time travel, though I thought a camera alone fell short. But with the recent release of Apple’s MR device, this process seems to be getting easier.
Background photo by Tyler Palmer on Unsplash
Back to the topic
Going back to the worth “looking forward to the weekend” mentioned at the beginning, I plan to take my camera out to do some street photography without any specific purpose, just wandering around the city’s corners capturing light and shadow stories. Lately, I’ve seen some vloggers’ street shooting diaries. Perhaps no need to deliberately record, just purely pressing the shutter might lead to unexpected sentiments.
Xu Yun stops updating
A notable piece of news last week was that cycling Bilibilier Xu Yun stopped updating. Shortly after entering Uzbekistan, he returned to China and announced he would no longer cycle. At first, I was quite shocked to hear this, didn’t expect the abandonment to come so suddenly. I followed him quite early, around the time the Shanghai pandemic started. One day, I accidentally came across his preparation for the Ali Middle Route ride. Initially, I thought this guy was pretty tough, riding solo in such a harsh environment. So I started to follow his updates diligently, particularly the Ali Middle Route, which was tough, especially during Shanghai lockdown, watching every episode. Later on, I watched sporadically through his Sichuan and Chongqing rides until the ongoing Central Asia ride.
Regarding his stopping updates, I can understand and respect it. Considering he is now different from the beginning, with fans and traffic affecting his choices. Also, as he mentioned, repeating something too many times would lose the passion and love. For me, watching his videos was more than just witnessing the landscapes and experiences I might never witness in life. It was also about seeing the calm and resilience of a person facing the unknown, hoping I could someday find that familiar feeling within myself.
Flow in work
I came to know this concept while listening to an episode of a podcast, though I’ve somewhat reflected on this phenomenon before. It’s mainly about being fully immersed in the work process and the sense of accomplishment it brings. This is akin to deep sleep in sleep management, something more about letting things flow smoothly without interruption, often a self-reflection. However, after listening to the podcast, I feel the organization environment might be a key factor. Subsequently, I start reflecting on my current company. Just as the podcast mentioned, “In China, truly thriving organizations are rare, most of them being sclerotic, causing ‘people to be oppressed at work’”. The show discussed “organization, people, and leadership”. If interested, click the link to listen, though I’m not a fan of the host’s style.
Chinese medicine
Haha, how to say, just want to ask if anyone has seen a Chinese Medicine doctor? What do you think of Chinese Medicine? I’ve never tried it. If you’ve had a good experience, feel free to share and recommend good Chinese Medicine practitioners. So why talk about this? Maybe it’s my inherent prejudice, but since I haven’t really explored it, it’s unreasonable to let it bear my prejudice. I’ll keep an open mind to learn it in the future.
Inescapable daily record
This section will record some work and learning advancements of the week, and list books and audios, gadgets purchased, and interesting stuff, akin to logs.
Technical learning
- Tried the OAX4600 development environment and compilation, no issues found
- Organized and uploaded some Git repositories to the server
- Updated the internal Wiki with some documents
Fun stuff
Books and audio-visuals
Podcast
- You don’t give me your character profiles, how can I help you see a doctor! Discussing the mysticism, philosophy, and health-preserving science of old Chinese Medicine
- Mysterious guests: the undercover visits in contemporary society, 007 of the commercial market
- With my few possessions, should I also consider wealth inheritance like a top tycoon?
- xAI vs OpenAI – the hidden war behind Musk and Altman’s competition for the “top stream” in Silicon Valley
- Truly great companies should strive to reduce things that drain employees’ energy
Video
- How fisheye lenses changed human life
- How to find the beautiful ordinary colors and light in the strong stereoscopic architectural circle
- How to capture the sense of light and shadow on city streets
Movie
Investment and fitness
- Completed 5 rowing machine trainings and one 3.5 km outdoor run, totaling 120 minutes
- Last week’s stock return rate: -2.18%, underperforming the market’s -1.98%
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In this regard, I think Apple’s Live Photos is an innovation ↩︎
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Updated on 2024-09-29: Currently engaged in Fediverse, now using Mastodon ↩︎
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If interested, check out this 1 Second Everyday app ↩︎
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