Venice, CA/Do you think that the country is headed toward a more socialistic system than we had before? Why do you think so?

© Jasmin Chang 2010

Answer:  Right now, there's a democratic president and the healthcare issue. That passed so that is more socialistic. But I think the real sign is that everyone is intermixing. Before it was like our culture versus your culture. It seems like people are interrelating more. It's more of a celebration of culture rather than paranoia, which I guess is more social.

Question: Why don't people pay more attention to spaying and neutering their cats and dogs? Why don't people take more responsibility for their pets?

Manhattan, New York (Central Park)/Do you think that American society is becoming more nihilistic?

It's been a terribly long time since I've posted here but I've been feeling like I reaallly want to get back to working on this project. It's something that's given me so much life and so many good stories since I began the project two summers ago...through moving to LA, looking for a job etc. This blog sadly hasn't been getting very much love from me over the past few months but luckily, this past weekend, I received an awesome email out of the blue from this awesome lady which totally gave me a kick in the butt to get back into this project. I have a few older photos that I haven't gotten around to posting but once those are up...walking talk, meet 2011. I'm back!


© Jasmin Chang 2010
Answer: No, I don’t think so, but I think people are more afraid of getting involved. If someone doesn’t help someone that’s sick, it’s because they don’t want to get sued, but I don’t think it’s an individual fault.

Everyone is kind of wrapped up in their own little thing they’re doing. They are scared to come out of their bubble.

Question: Do you think that the country is headed toward a more socialistic system than we had before? Why do you think so?

DUMBO, Brooklyn, NY/ Do you believe in God? And if not, why?

© Jasmin Chang 2010

Answer: Yes, I totally believe in God because I feel like our human brain cannot comprehend the infinite. I don’t think it’s arrogant if you’re agnostic, I just don’t think the world would be the way it is now without God. The serendipity, the random violence. We try to anthropomorphize God but it’s beyond our thinking. I think it’s something that gives us hope because I don’t think being human is the most fun thing in the world.

Question: Do you think that American society is becoming more nihilistic--that we are not caring about things that we used to see as sacrosanct? What values do we still care about or is it all out the door? Is everything up to question? Do we care anymore?

Beverly Hills, CA/ Will the universe continue to expand?

© Jasmin Chang 2010
Answer: (left) Yes, absolutely. It always has and it always will. There’s no end to the possibilities of the universe. The universe is endless in my mind. I have a conviction.

(right) Of course. Nobody knows how far it goes. You don’t know. You can’t know.

Question: (left) Do you believe in God? And if not, why?

(right) Do you think that everytime NASA sends a satellite into space, they create pollution? Why are we making consumers so guilty when they drive a car when we have the government sending spaceships into space and probably creating much more pollution? How come nobody talks about that?

Santa Monica, CA/Do you believe in God and if so, how do you know?

© Jasmin Chang 2010

Answer: (right) I’m probably the least religious guy you’ve ever met.  
(left) No you’re not. 
(right) Why do you say that? 
(left) Because I’m even less religious. I don’t know if God exists or not. I don’t really think about it.
(right) Do you eat matza balls?
(left) Well it’s hard to kill off those matzo balls. laughs. Every society since the dawn of man has had gods. Some of them plural. Lesser animals we don’t think have gods because they don’t have the imagination we have. So we can create anything we want in our imaginations but as far as a physical God that watches over us? No, he doesn’t exist.

Question: Will the universe continue to expand?

Los Angeles, CA (Silverlake)/ Are you interested in tracing your roots via the internet?

My mom visited me a few weeks ago and I spent a day showing her around LA. Even though I grew up in southern California and she had lived here for 20 years before moving to Illinois, we've never really spent time together in the city. It was super nice being able to drive her around and show her where I've been spending my time for the past ten-ish months since I've been living in LA.

At the top of my places to bring visitors is Barnsdall Art Park at Hollywood and Vermont. Hands down, the BEST place to take a nap on a grassy lawn while taking in the downtown scenery and the Hollywood sign.

After that, we went to Silverlake, where we discovered Spice Station, met the owners and bought German Chocolate Cake Tea and volcano ash salt!



© Jasmin Chang 2010

Answer: I'm not interested in that simply because I already know my roots. My uncle gave my parents a gift that traced our family roots, so I know that history. It would have interested me though. My family is Italian, first generation Italian. They moved from Italy to Montreal, my dad in '54 and my mom in '59.

Question: Do you believe in God and if so, how do you know?

Who says digital is the way of the future?

I don't like doing this, but I'm breaking the pattern to make a little announcement...somewhat pertaining to this project, definitely pertaining to me as a photographer.

So, I've decided to create a little challenge for myself and for the next 6 months, I am putting down my digital camera and shooting film only. Last week, I went to an awesome lecture with a panel of PDN's 30 in 2010 photographers and someone mentioned that Art Center's photo students can only take 4x5 film photos (as opposed to digital photos) their first two years there to make them focus and to be more selective as they are taking each photo. I don't know if that is still the case, but that certainly got me thinking...

I'm at a place where I love the idea of this project, I love the people I'm meeting and the conversations I'm having, but I want to focus more on the photos themselves. After all, that's one of the biggest reasons I began this project is to work on my photography. I think shooting only film will be really good in pushing me harder in this direction. No more taking lots of haphazard photos to find one good shot...I'm gonna channel lots more thought into each time I click that button to take a photo.

So what does that mean in terms of this project? I'm definitely going to continue walking the talk, but the photos will be updated more slowly because I'll need to finish the roll of film and then develop it before I can put it up. But the really scary thing for me is that I can't be certain that I've got a photo that works before I finish talking to each person. There will be a chance that I won't get a photo because I screwed up the shot or something happens to the film and I wouldn't know that until I get the film back, when it's too late to track down the person and retake their portrait. Then that portrait would be forever lost...and I think that would break my heart. It happened once already. I did the interview, busted out my digital camera only to realize that I didn't have a memory card in it. Luckily, I had a disposable camera in my purse. But unluckily, I purchased that disposable camera for 99 cents from the thrift store and basically, her photo came out as a giant black blob.  These things happen though, right? I'm keeping my fingers crossed that these fiascos will be kept to a minimum.

Wish me luck! I'll see you in October, digital camera!