The other night I had a chance to meet up with this Mercedes G55 AMG. Although closing the 10 years old mark, it has only done a little over 10000km. The car may not be everyones taste but it certainly quite a unique example.
A cool night seeing this rare supercharged 500hp V8 SUV and a casual catch up with the owner. Harry Chi Li
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“It was a disappointment at first, but then later, it wasn’t that bad…”
I must not be the first one to have booked a rental car you wanted but ended up with ‘the similar’ one. So I had reserved a Ford Fiesta, which I was hoping to drive with interest, but ended up with this Hyundai i10. So how Korean cars did not have the names of desire nor magnificent comments when people talked about them in the past. With this in my mind I really can’t wait to find any faults from the car and ask for an alternative choice. Scanning the car park I saw the all-new Mini cooper five-door, not my taste on the looks but at least it’s a Mini. Ha guess what, I found it. The car key was stuck after I tuned the engine off. I was excited to report the problem, hoping to load my luggage into the mini . The staff said, “yea, sorry it is a safety feature sir. You have to push it in and turn a bit further” With no hope for the mini I set off. Perhaps I should start to be fair to this car. Ok, I have to say Korean cars do look better these days. And with this i10, it looks smarter and more aggressive than its predecessor, thanks to the newly designed front grill and day-time running lights. It has 14-inch alloys and disc brakes all round. Inside, it has leather steering wheel and gear knob. All the latest entertainment connections such as AUX, USB, Bluetooth and a single CD player are available. Other useful features like central locking, A/C, two 12V cigarette lighter with one placed at a convenient position for passengers at the back and all four electric windows. The i10 is quite decent for an economical class city hatchback. Being a city hatchback it makes good sense driving around cities. The engine might just be a one litre 3-cylinder engine but it is nippy on first and second gears. The steering wheel will be lighter at manoeuvring speeds and that helps parking too. Then when I hit the dual carriageway, it is no surprise noticing the engine is down on power to get to the national speed limit. Then when it eventually gets there, road noise builds up yet acceptable. Good thing though, the engine is not too noisy while coping the speed. In conclusion, would I buy this car? Not really. But at least living with it isn’t bad at all around town. Perhaps just not the right car if you would be doing long distance communing. Through the rental I have helped a friend moving house plus the whole commute for me from Plymouth to Millbrook then to Heathrow airport with a little detour. About 370ish miles? Cost me less than £50 on fuel. So perhaps the motorway is not its natural habitat, at least it is ok for my wallet. Thanks for reading Harry Chi Li Today I have finally got round to edit and post the pictures I have taken from the trip to Brighton last month. So here is a little selection of 15 examples I would like to share with you.
Yesterday I had a long distance call from my dad for a catch up. He reminded me that I will be home soon for summer holiday. Ha I know! So looking forward to it. Along the conversation he too reminded me, "Have you started looking for jobs yet?" Ha yea... I told him I have been looking for some delivery drivers or shop assistant in those big chain clothes shops. He then said "Son, you still gonna chase your dream right? please don't tell me now you're settling with..."I interrupted "No Dad, of course I have always wanted to be a Photographer related to my interest of automobile and Theatres..." "Then you should tell me the jobs you are looking for are for your living and your gonna keep chasing yea?" He said before I finish. Yes he's right, even though I know my plans in my heart. Perhaps I should speak it out more often. "Yes I have been looking for photography opportunities related to Automobiles and Theatres. But for now, I'm looking for delivery drivers, shop assistant etc to get my living sorted." To believe in, you have to start saying it. 'Saying' reminds and express your believe. But what if I just want to pick up my little compact camera for some chill snaps? The 15 examples will show you what interests me when I'm not meeting deadlines, demands, expectations. Just my own observation at a place, at the moment. Hope you like them. I'm still going through some more photos in my hard drive. Hopefully I have more to share in a bit. Thanks for reading Harry Chi Li Earlier this month I watched the Theatre Royal Plymouth People’s Company Production ‘Mended’, by Jon Welch. The performance was originally from one of Tolstoy’s short story, What Men Live By. Through the performance I saw numerous of inspirations that I would like to share here.
To summarise the play, a young mute woman is found abandoned on the moorland near a small village. “No clothes, no belongings, no sign of struggle, no tyre tracks. No matches on any missing persons database. Like she just dropped out of the sky”. Quoted from the play, the story is drawn among a cynical community from the small village, trying to investigate the unknown mute woman, who, was first found by the ageing loner. Later, the loner is given a miraculous last chance to cure his loneliness. The play marks some classic scenes and characters that we will meet in our real lives. I totally enjoyed the whole play and there were a few thoughts I have taken in from the performance. 1. ‘When we try to ask questions and made effort to know somebody else’s issues, are we truly intended to care about them or just to fulfil our own pleasure on, say, “gossiping”?’ So after the ageing loner found the mute woman, who is also a mechanic of the village. The community would start ‘gossiping’ random interpretations of how the mechanic would have connection with the mute woman. Some would say “Do you think he found her from the Internet (adult-only websites)?” “She seems very young, do you think he has been hiding them in his garage?” or, to the mechanic “Hey, so why don’t you tell me more about your new girlfriend?” 2. ‘Do we easily jump to our imaginative conclusion (often cynical) and only ask questions that we would hope to end up fulfilling our conclusion?” From the audience point of view, it would gradually be clear that the mute woman would in fact be some kind of an angle, being sent down from above to this village to ‘cure’ people. She made a symbol of a heart out from some metal scrap at the garage and start showing it to the community, also expressing that she is giving the ‘heart’ out as a gift, like a kindness. Yet none of the characters in the community would accept it but even felt offended and defend themselves over it. “What? Why are you giving me this (to the heart looking metal scrap)? Are you saying I don’t have ONE!?” This makes up to the third message of the story. 3. When we see someone showing a sign of kindles, regardless what you might have done to him/her. Do we often start interpreting the negatives and start believing the negatives without any clue? Towards the end of the story, the mute woman was found lifeless, “like she has already given her time here” and left. Almost at the same time, the loner mechanic was found, in front of the whole community, with wings at the back of him and ‘promoted’ to the sky above. After that, the community seems to just pass over the whole incident and back to their mundane life. However, one young female character from the community decided to leave the village. Saying her goodbye to the owner of the pub and said, to me, a very strong line from the play “Makes me wonder, how many Jesus have we missed in our life?” Then the play ended as she walks off the stage. The line made my last but not least reflection from the play. 4. When chances are offered to us, have we missed it and keep on living the same old live? Perhaps we should start seeing new different perspective(s) and do something about it? In conclusion, the play was performed on point and I love it when it has given me, as an audience, a chance to open up numbers of diverse thoughts. Love it when it all just makes sense now! Thanks for Reading Harry Chi Li Link and the Photo source from: http://www.theatreroyal.com/whats-on/2015/mended/ So on the 12th of June was the opening of my BA(Hon) Photography degree show. I guess it went well. Thanks to the students who have contributed on preparing the exhibition and ‘most importantly’ the beverage for the night! It was kind of sentimental to see everyone’s final work up on the wall. It marks a conclusion of an era. There was a moment I was just standing in front of my own work, whispering to myself “so harry, this is what you have achieved so far, any comments?” Well…I am proud and satisfied with myself. Four cinematic prints with precise details, totally fabricated from scratch, and directed all by myself. The work was very special to me and very different from what I have been photographing. I would occasionally make a few great captures and beautiful pictures. However, most of them were captures of what was already happening. I’m just that lucky photographer who happens to know my fingers around the buttons on my camera, and take that very shot(s). But with my project Insomnia, I wasn’t just lucky. I have shown my creativity and precision of fabricating believable photographs. Here’s a quote from one of my tutor’s feedback to my project “Your studies of people that are suffering from insomnia tread a very carefully choreographed line between fictional narrative and fabricated documentary. This provokes a number of interesting questions about photography’s relationship to the real, to documentary and cinematic representations and as a means of communicating complex ideas. “ I was quite chuffed to see this on the feedback. My project Insomnia was not initially made because I have an interest about Insomnia, but was attentive to create a set of skills on creating almost real-life documentary photographs with cinematic representations. I believe this will benefit my own future perspective of photographing. Quite a few people from the show asked me were they real people who suffer from insomnia in the pictures. “They were actors/actress in the set, and I mostly fabricated the whole scene.” I answered. It was a good feeling when people actually believe, or start questioning the realness of the pictures. Sure, those pictures definitely record what was there in front of the camera, and articulate clear Insomniac scenes. However, they were not factual Insomnia. “A photograph only tells half the truth” The meanings and interpretations of what was behind, what was happened, and what will the photos provoke are always open. I am not, however, a very academic person. I don’t know many vocabularies that will scare off people and make them go on dictionary to seek the meaning of that one word. However, I do hope that I can articulate my messages and my photographs with understandable English. A 2-2 on my dissertation results will do just fine with me. Therefore, I am predicting my final results of this 3-year degree course would be just ‘fine’. But that’s ok. I am still very proud of myself. Not a moment was wasted and I have learned more than operating a working camera. I have achieved what I have set to myself and now I understand a ‘little’ better about photography. Knowing that there are just so much more about the subject and how it is just everywhere and open to discuss, to create, to criticise, to interpret, to enjoy and much more. Perhaps you might think that, “Hey, aren’t you supposed to know everything about Photography by now?” Oh no, the God of Photography will do. If there is such thing exists… Anyway, myself and all other photographers are just part of the spinning world of photography. And just in case you have not realised, the world of photography is in fact around us in the real word all the time like breakfast. Breakfast? Yes, when you think about it. How many types of breakfast are there in the world? Perhaps you can name a few in your head now. Then think about can you make them yourself? Eggs on toast, a cup of tea, and some bacon. Or dim sum, a portion of rice noodles and a glass of soya milk? Easy right? Photography today can be as easy as making breakfast. Feasibly, I can call myself a breakfast-maker, just as a lot of people call themselves a ‘Photographer’ today. I would love to share a few more views about how similar a ‘photographer’ and a ’breakfast-maker’ can be but it will be another long piece of writing. So I will just move on. What I’m trying to say is that, after the 3 years of studying Photography. I’ve learned more than being a camera operator. I know why and what I want to photograph. Be prepared to be criticised and know that I am never the best of anything. I could be different and unique at what I’m doing. But there are always more room to improve and someone out there doing better than me. So what are my plans after Uni? Keep believing, be prepared, work hard to achieve more goals in my life and enjoy myself while I can! There is a song I’ve been listening a lot recently So many roads to choose We start out walking and learn to run. And yes, We’ve just begun. From now on, every decision I made will be for the dreams I have been chasing and believing! Thanks for reading. Harry Chi Li |
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