Everyday life may not be boring as you think. Perhaps, happiness is like hidden gems, which lie buried under those mundane and ordinary moments; just waiting to be uncovered.
chi-go-ichi-e (一期一会) is a Japanese four-character idiom (yojijukugo) that loosely translates to "once in a lifetime".
Each moment, each chance, each encounter is unique. You could meet the same friend again but both you and the friend are not the same as when you last met. Therefore, there is a need to be deliberate, to cherish and savor every moment, as the same moment will never come again.
Often, in retrospect, the best things in life happen totally by chance.
If Happiness were to exist, it would have to exist hidden somewhere within those ordinary and mundane moments. And wouldn’t it be extraordinary to be able to uncover those moments? It would be like finding half-polished diamonds. Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to capture those special moments and share them with family and friends and the next generation?
For me, Street Photography is also Ichi-go-ichi-e (一期一会). Each Photo is a special moment, a dream, an emotion frozen in time.
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I am a Thai-born Photo Artist, currently residing in Singapore. I used to lead a corporate life and have no formal education in photography. However, I fell in love with photography by chance while living in Japan a couple of years ago. At the height of covid-19 in 2020, I started devoting time and energy to pursuing an interest in Street Photography. I started participating in photo competitions in 2020 and achieved several awards and special mentions, including the 2022 Sony World Photography Awards, Alpha Female Award 2022, and 2022 Fine Art Photo Awards.
I spend much of my time, including weekends, hitting the streets in search of those hidden gems or special moments within our daily life. It could be a hilarious moment, seemingly out-of-this-world shots of strangers going about their everyday lives. All these scenes may appear to be normal, but they cannot be replicated. Hence, I aspire to be able to use my lens to capture these special moments and leave a story for the next generation. Currently, I am focusing on capturing covid-19 related “stories” of how the pandemic has changed our lives.
The chairs alone on the the grid would be surreal but with the people it becomes all too familiar...
