Secret Basket Case Just another journal of a twenty-something girl.

My Scholarship entry - Shred of Blue

France | Monday, November 17, 2014 | 5 photos

I got my very first camera on my 15th birthday, an old point-and shoot one that my dad bought back from his friend. “I know you will love it”, that was what he said to me. During the 2000s, digital camera was still something unknown to common people, especially when you came from a middle-class Vietnamese family and your biggest concerns in life were food, gasoline and tuition fee. The camera, in the eyes of a high school kid, was a miracle. It took me to the wonderland hidden behind the lens.
At that time, I had no idea about lens or photography techniques. I took pictures with a pure happiness, in hope to keep the precious memories that I feared would fade away. Time passes by, I now live so far away from home, from parents and the old albums I keep in the third drawer of my closest. I now know what will make a great picture, and I understand that those pictures I take not only keep my memories, but can speak my heart out or themselves can tell their own stories. But I will never forget that feeling, of the day when my dad hanged the old camera around my neck, let me know that there is a big big world out there waiting for me to discover, and capture in my images.
I have self-studied photography for a few years, and practiced day by day to become a better travel photographer, a story teller through images. I really hope that World Nomads’s photography scholarship will help me reach a further step in this field.