A 'place' I have visited

mimicho — Thu, 4 Jul 2013 03:38:52 GMT

I am a visual person. Nothing moves me more than a powerful image – beautiful, sad, inspiring, or all of the above. Photography has always been an instinctual part of my life. From my first disposable camera to my first DSLR, I have enjoyed experimenting with the possibilities of immortalising moments through the lens.

For me, photography is a means of revisiting and reflecting on experiences – opening the eyes and mind to new perspectives - “seeing” something that can only be “seen” when physically detached from the moment. When the world moves so fast and we try to fit so much into it, how do we remember to stop, take a breath and look around? Neither yesterday nor tomorrow is the same as today, but how do we know this if it has not been documented?

Through photography I aim to learn from the past, look at the present in a new light, and envision the future. This scholarship will be a platform to advance my skill in capturing and expressing these visions, and the exposure that accompanies working with Jason and World Nomads will provide an avenue to share my visions with a global photography community.

My Photo scholarship 2011 entry

mimicho — Tue, 8 Nov 2011 04:15:45 GMT

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. These men on Inle Lake in Myanmar (formerly Burma) fish day in day out. The 70,000 people of Inle Lake (called Intha) live in four cities bordering the lake, in small villages along the lake's shores, and on the lake itself. As a Burmese person living overseas for almost my entire life visiting Burma, and particularly Inle Lake, was a surreal experience. I had no idea a place like this existed, let alone in the land I was born. The novelty of spending a night on Inle Lake will remain a fond memory of discovering my homeland and a reminder of how different life is and can be. After almost a decade at university studying architecture I am looking for an experience beyond the drawing board and computer screen. Photography is an interest of mine that sparked in high school but was put on the back burner as I decided to focus on one career path. Nevertheless, this spark remained bright and I now realise that photography illuminates every part of my life. Photography accompanies everything I do; from architecture work to capturing moments with friends to reliving precious moments in solitude. With no professional photography training, I see the camera as an extension of my body. It is a separate set of eyes, a voice that sings a silent song and a memory so vivid. It would be a dream-come-true to learn from Mr Jason Edward how one might make the most of this experience in the magic of South Africa.

Mimi Cho - Photo Scholarship

A 'place' I have visited

My Photo scholarship 2011 entry