I like taking bad photos.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I think the photos on my main gallery aren’t any good (in fact I’m quite proud of most of them); I also just happen to like taking photos the “wrong” way as a way to preserve the moment. There’s something special about the transient nature of memory, where the more you dwell on it the further removed from the actual moment your recollection becomes. I take “bad” photos to preserve the moment in a way that forces me to not overthink or editorialize afterwards - usually with old or strange cameras.
Once, I was showing a friend a few “candid” shots from a shoot in Half Moon Bay, and they interrupted me with:
“Hysu, these are terrible… you may as well have wasted your film on photos of the sun or something”.
I found it especially poignant: even though the actual execution of the photo might as well be pointless (like shooting straight into the sun), the end result still remains meaningful to me. So the name stuck.
I’ve set up this website to share some of these pictures with the world, putting in just enough effort to not make the browsing experience not awful but not high-effort enough to elevate or sanctify what these photos should be. Please enjoy my photos of the sun.