How I got into photography

<Photograph by Eddie Adams. February 1st 1968 in Saigon>

<Nikon D700, ISO4000, F/4.5, 1/60sec>

A number of people has asked me. "What got you into photography?" 


Two photos above can basically sum it up.


Top one is probably recognized by tens of millions of people if not more. An iconic image which arguably fueled the anti vietnam-war movement in the states. I saw this photo when I was in high school. I was browsing through some coffee table book on photojournalism, which consisted of lots of images that I had never experienced before. Most of them were on the brutal reality around the world. Out of all those images, this one struck me the most. There was really no judgement on the photo at that time. It was just a pure shock to the brain and such intense stimulus never went away and stayed in my subconscious.


Second one is my dad's camera. I still remember how excited he was when he first got it more than two decades ago. Due to his busy work, he never got to really use it much. Years after he passed away, I took the camera out and started playing with it to see if I can learn how to use it. But drawback of film camera is you can't see what you take right away and by the time they are developed, you kinda forget what the setting was. And I was brave (and stupid) enough to use it at my sister's graduation and nothing came out. So my journey started. Bought my first dslr, took a class, and never stopped taking picture since. This camera is not working at the moment but I want to get it fixed one day start taking films again.