Quentin and Stanley

Quentin and Stanley went to eat together...Quentin asked Stanley, " Are you trying to be the best student at our philosophy class, cause you always make the best grade on this class."

Stanley said, "no...because I prefer nothingness, as Laozi said 無為(Wu Wei)-Nothingness or none action. That is the way I prefer to live, I don't care about how good I could be, I'm just doing what I love to do and work on it with my passion without expecting any achievements. No achievement then no suffering, the more desires cause more suffering, if I don't compete myself with others that I won't get stress in this competitive world. I just want to enjoy my life and enjoy whatever I am doing for rest of life, enjoy the harmony which is inside of me. All I need to do is improve my self from my inner side...as Taoism teaching the eternal alchemy, something comes out from my inner side will show the truth about myself and my work, it is something deals with my inner self. So I am just constantly keep doing what I am doing everyday no matter what I gain or what I lose...because I am not going to achieve anything."

Quentin was very confuse and he said, "If you are not going to achieve anything can you stop to be the best student that I can get more chance to get attention by our professor?"

Artists are Patients

Nothing very special during these days. I got a internship at the studio of a photographer, her name is Loli. She is a very kind lady, she is about 50 years old, and she is a great photographer. She told me that she never make any money by taking photos, however she has never stop working on her photos, this is why she asked me to come to her studio to organize her photos. She was a psychotherapist for many years, and then she made a decision for her life long dream, she became a photographer. As I looked up her portfolios that she showed me. She was a daughter of a Jewish family from Israel and immigrated to Europe. She was born in Paris, and during the war world II, her parents both were killed due to the Holocaust by Nazi Germany. I opened up her portfolio, my eyes are attracted by her images. There Was A Forest is one of her portfolio that she showed me. The pictures were took from Jewish Communities of Eastern Europe. I drowned into the figures of people, their houses, their indoor and outdoor events, furniture,decorations,food,landscapes... everyday lives of people and their stuffs...the Jewish Communities that she took from her various perspectives. As a documentary photographer and fine art photographer, she focused on things that she knew and her had real experience with. Also she chose the theme that she is very interested in. I can see that she put her whole passion on her every single pictures that she took, she might had a lot of great moments when she was capturing these photos. Yes, the moment that I am also expecting as a young photographer who is dreaming to be a photo journalist in the future. What is the most significant thing in Loli's pictures? Why she took these pictures? Why Jewish people? Yes, as a foreigner in America I'm pretty sure about one thing that drives a photographer into something unique...which is the culture, where I was born and where I grew up is a force that move through my whole life, anything I know about the world is based on this force that moved and always moving through my life. This is a force could drive me to be unique, also could destroy my life.
I don't know where I am going, once I left my home, but the nostalgia was calling me when I lost, as the food that I love is always Chinese food no matter how long I am in America, and how much I love America then Communist dictating China, I am always a patient of my nostalgia. I think the real artists that I knew are all patients...maybe they all the patients of their fates, their nostalgia or their passion...the patients is another name of artists, is not only because they are sick or mad but also they have to have patience to work on their art.
I know Loli, she is not making any money with her pictures, but she gave a real lesson to me when I was at studio, I was having a long conversation with her, she showed me her pictures and the portfolios, and she showed me the magazines that reported her exhibitions in Lishui, Shanghai, she spent a long time to talk about her experience in China because she wanted to share with me, a young photographer from China. I saw her passion, her madness and her patience.