A few to remember with

Spring graduation is the best time of the year to be around campus. There’s so many graduates roaming about in their caps and gowns, capturing graduation photos to remember. Shoutout to the budding photographers following these graduates around. I guess in a world of smartphones capable enough to capture the moon (Samsung fakes it, apparently), the value of a “proper” camera is still pretty evident. For a once in a lifetime thing, you’re not handing off your iPhone to a cousin to do the job.

You wouldn’t hire a wedding photographer that shoots with smartphones, right? (Or maybe you should…)

It’s good to see the pro-Palestine protest camping has come to an end, after reaching an agreement with the university. Before this, some of the protesters defaced the San Francisco State University signage at the corner of 19th Avenue and Holloway. This tiny monument thing is where graduates like to take pictures in front of (during graduation week there can be lines). How awful it is then to have that beautiful scene ruined by graffiti. Though I guess any good photographer can photoshop that out (or those A.I. magic erasers in Android smartphones). Moot point: the markings have since been painted over.

I wonder what is the popular photographic aesthetic these days, vis a vis these graduation photos. If I had to guess: retro is definitely in. Technical perfection is out of style. People buy older iPhones to take pictures with, simply for the “vintage” look (modern iPhones do over-process the image, I have to say). Fujifilm absolutely cannot make enough X100VI to keep up with demand, because the TikTok/Instagram crowd has hyped its film simulation to the sky. Heck, I bought a Fujifilm X-T5 because I wanted the retro film vibes.

Photographer: “What picture style would you like?”
Client: “I would like the photos to be slightly shitty.”

Stay off the weed

You know it’s nearing finals when the frequency of false fire alarms at the university library is increasing. These stressed kids are smoking joints to relieve the tension. Sadly for them, the library’s smoke detectors are sensitive and automatic. Students think it’s okay to take a few drags in the bathroom (and it’s almost always the bathroom) and then next thing later the whole building is evacuating. No gripes from me, however: I can use the walk outside from actually working.

Also during work yesterday I attended - via Zoom - my best friend’s dissertation defense. It’s kind of wild to do one of these things virtually, but it had to be done since one of his advisors is still working remotely (must be nice, says me who now goes to campus the full five days). That said, the ease of logging into Zoom meant people could attend without having to travel. It was nice to see basically the entire friend group taking time out of their workday to be there for our soon-to-be doctor. And congratulations, he is officially a doctor now!

Just not the kind that resuscitate people during medical emergencies. He should remained seated when they ask if there’s a doctor on a plane.

It’s getting to my favorite time of the year working on a campus: graduation season. Coming out of the pandemic I reckon this will be the first year that ceremonies big and small will return live on campus. Back in the day when I did AV support for some of the events, I always got tremendous joy seeing the students attain their degrees after years of hard work (and play, let’s be honest). It’s the culmination, the finality, and opening the door to the next stage, that’s so rewarding to see.

Looking forward to my best friend’s ceremony in about two weeks’ time.

My brother graduates from college

Yesterday my brother who is 10 years my junior graduated from university, so you can say I’m particularly feeling my age today. Despite my in-jest adverse feelings, I am supremely happy not only for my brother, but for my parents as well: both their sons are now fully adult, and their sacrifice in raising us is at a symbolic and tangible conclusion.

Next step for them is probably retirement soon, so they can do a bit of traveling. Us millennials aren’t the only ones affected by social media and its related ‘fear of missing out’ pangs: my parents get it as well. A lot of my uncles and aunts have retired already, and they spent their leisure time traveling within China and around world. The pictures from those trips gets uploaded to social media, and from viewing them my mom particularly gets low-key jealous of those opportunities.

Now that my brother is finally finished with school, likely forever, I think my parents have more freedom to retire early, should they choose. It’s definitely a decision to think over properly, because the “grass is greener” effect is strong; traveling is immensely rewarding and fun, yes, but what about the rest of the time when there’s nothing to do - no work to go to? I think that’s something to visualize and plan out before taking the step to retire, because being home all the time may not be as ideal as imagined.

But that’s for my parents to figure out. As for my brother, his unfortunate selection of sociology as a major means it’s going to be tough for him to find a solid-paying job. The real-world application for a sociology degree seems quite limited beyond working for non-profits or a teaching position, and we all know how meager those jobs pay. Not to say money is everything, but we do live in San Francisco, currently one of the most expensive cities in the United States, and the world.

Besides, if he’s to feed his car addiction as I have done, he’s going to need to make some money for sure. Congratulations and the very best of luck to my not-so-little-anymore brother.

Healy Chen

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A few to remember with

Stay off the weed

My brother graduates from college