I love posting pictures and videos on my blog but I realize that part of blogging is telling your story and that seems to be missing from my blog. So I've decided to start by sharing something about myself.
I come from a little country called Singapore. It's not part of China, nor is it close to China. I do get that alot. In fact, it's somewhat close to Australia, Indonesia and Malaysia, it's that little dot right at the equator. Yes, the toilet flushes anticlockwise (or as you say it here "counterclockwise") there. Somewhat similar in culture with China, nobody is raised to become an artist. You can be really good at something, but you have to "realistic" on what would put food on the table.
The very first ever compliment I got was from my primary school vice-president whom I had photographed when I was twelve. She said I'd make a good photographer. Honestly even at that age, it was nice to get a compliment, I had never really put much thought to it.
I considered being in a photography club in secondary school but I wasn't interested in the dark room. I then went to a polytechnic to pursue business studies. My mentality was that I wouldn't go wrong with a business major since anything we do would be related to businesses.
I graduated at 19 and started working as a shipping officer for Shimano, a Japanese bike parts manufacturing company. If you have a good bike, it will have Shimano parts in it. I loved it there, everything was great - great people, free transportation, free uniform (no need to worry what to wear for work!), free lunch, great employee activities etc. We were very well taken care of there. I had learned to deal with a lot of stress and focusing on work details. I'm a spelling-nazi. I think if you can't spell, you probably should be refrained from graduating. Spelling is an important part of communicating. In this job, any spelling error in a shipping document would prevent the importer from getting their goods. It was that serious. We worked long hours, sometimes over holidays. We had to talk with our customers all over the world - Taiwan, Belgium, United States etc. Believe me, it wasn't pretty when Taiwanese customers started yelling at you. I knew it was time to move on when I started getting constant nightmares about shipment problems. So I decided it was time to pursue my dream.
At 21, I sat my father down with a financial plan of a university I wanted to attend in the States. I wanted to study in the US since I was 16 but I was too young then, my parents didn't think I was ready. I had never held a video camera and I wanted to study film. I wanted to do something that will make people feel good at the end of the day and that is what movies did to me. Several of the film programs needed existing credits for taking video classes in high school, which I lacked of. I also wanted to challenge myself in extreme conditions in every opportunity - so I chose a place that had very cold winters, that had a 1% asian population (where I would live as a minority), that was surrounded by farm lands (the only cows I've seen were at the zoo). A place that was completely different from where I came from. If I can handle this, I can handle anything. So I ended up at the University of Northern Iowa for their electronic media program.
The surreal moment came only when I boarded the plane at the Singapore airport. I started to ask myself "what in the world am I doing?". I had to calm myself down and remind myself that "there is no right or wrong path and everything that we do only shapes who we are". And with that, I studied very hard for 2.5 years (as my dad paid for my tuition, my goal was to graduate at the fastest possible speed), taking the maximum 18 to 21 credit hours and working the maximum 20 hours for international students on campus as a custodian and computer lab attendant. I finally graduated with a summa cum laude.
Upon graduation, I was lucky to get an entry level job as an audio specialist at The Mudd Group - an advertising firm in Cedar Falls that does car commercials. I worked my way up to become an Avid video editor, sometimes churning out 6 to 8 TV commercials in a day. It was a great place to work at, I love my colleagues, they were the best! We would have BBQs on some work days. That was also where I met my future husband - the nerdy computer programmer who sat in his cubicle all day.
We got married in June 2004 and did not have a large budget for our wedding. Being raised in a different culture, I did not think I need a "princess" wedding, it was more important to just have friends and families to share the day with us. So we just had a small ceremony and reception in a tent in our backyard. We were also saving up money for a trip to Singapore for a "second wedding" and to get our wedding pictures taken there. We had looked all over town but nothing came close to the quality work you would find in Singapore. So we decided to have a friend take our pictures with our cameras. I even searched the internet and prepared an idea shot sheet (little picture thumbnails) on how I wanted my pictures to look. I also traded video services with another friend who was getting married the week after us. So the result was atroucious. I had never blamed my friends because it was a bad decision on our part. We really appreciated their time and effort to help. If anything, I would thank them for it because it was instantly clear to me what I wanted to do with my life. I knew I can do it and do it well.
A year after my wedding, I finally quit my job and started my own photography and videography company. Because my standards are so high, it is difficult for me to even find an assistant that will match what I do. Till today, I still run everything by myself. Much of what I do for both photography and videography was self-taught. My father is an entrepreneur. He started off as a sewing machine sales person and an electrician but his work had evolved to engraving by hand and now engraving by computers on bulk jobs for large companies. He was an inspiration to me and my business because with very little education, my dad was able to teach himself, relearn, change and evolve with the economy. I truly believe that is where my company will be heading. My pictures and videos looked a ton different now than when I first started out. I look for new ideas and invest in new equipment to keep up with the trends. I have a broad perspective on an international level, not just on a local level; I love to see work of artists all over the world. I believe in lifetime education for me to stay current and relevant. Even though I didn't end up in Hollywood, I ended up somewhere better.
Iowa is an extraordinary place. I have met people who have cared for me like I was family. Strangers are open and friendly. People are not preoccupying their lives with technologies,.. well some people. And people are polite and very appreciative. And what better place to raise a family than in Iowa.
Well, that is the summary of this photographer/videographer. I've spent enough time blogging... time to log off and spend time with my kids. Cheers!
