Zhang Family Photos

My family has given me a love of photography from a very young age and I'm always taking photos of them so that I can have them for myself. I'm also attaching a couple of photos from several different occasions because this is how I want to remember them, always. My family isn't the conventional american family. Both my parents and my brother were born in China, in the Fuzhou Province. I was born here in america, making me the first generation and first american of my bloodline. We have a lot of difference, and I take on a lot of challenges with cultural misunderstandings.

The first set of photos are of my dogs, they're getting old, we first adopted them in 2003, making them 11 years old this November. They are technically my dogs, they only seem to listen to me and come rushing up to me the most. I miss them everyday, but over college I wasn't allowed to have them anywhere and My parents were attached to them and wouldn't let me take them, so I always give them some treats when I do come home to visit.

My mom and Dad used to take A TON of photos, of which I've inherited some of them and my Older brother has inherited the other portion of them. I've looked through them and I've noticed that she stopped taking photos of us, of herself, or anything since a little before I started college. This was over 5 years ago. We needed some new photos of us, of all of us. My Brother is married with kids now in Philly and I'm up in Albany, my parents don't get to see much of me and my brother. It was important to me, to keep our timeline going even if there aren't many big events. The last photo of us that we've managed to get together was when I first got my first DSLR during my Mom's Birthday. The Canon Rebel T1i is super entry level and I was learning the camera and photography in general for the first time.

Over the years I've met a lot of different family members, sprawled across different moments of my life. I got to meet my 2nd cousin for the first time and he was such an adorable little buddy. Chubby Cheeks and super adventurous and wanted to just do everything. He gave me some smiles and it was absolutely adorable.

I think I have taken more photos since I've gotten my digital SLR, but even before, I was taking photos with my Iphone. I think the realm of Photography is still very alien to a lot of people who get these point and shoots and go to the mall for "Family Photos". Its not just a photo, digitally or physical, its a fracture of time, and serves to relight that fire in your mind about those moments. Its important to me, I believe most people can relate.