P.S.- I love you

homemade lavender infused chocolate truffles

While Valentine's day is not everyone's cup of tea, and I can't really remember ever celebrating it, the posts from Design*Sponge leading up to yesterday was a reminder of what the holiday should be. An occasion to celebrate your love for your family and friends. All I ever wish is to be close to my family and friends, even though most of us are spread thousands of miles apart and can only see each other occasionally. Being in Western PA has only heightened that feeling. I often feel alone and miss my loved ones.

The person I chose to be with out here and love dearly is my darling husband Ross. We had a typical day of working on our projects, heading to the Y for a swim, walking Clyde, and watching a netflix movie at night (2 Days in Paris with Julie Delpy, suggested by D*S). I made dinner and surprised him with a batch of homemade lavender infused chocolate truffles. They were totally easy to make and a hit. I'm passing the recipe along, in case you would like to spread the love. ; )

Wishing you a sweet weekend with loved ones.

Buttermilk Falls

The Waterfall, Beaver Falls, PA.

The Ice, Beaver Falls, PA.

We took a short hike to Buttermilk Falls on Sunday. It's a short drive from our apartment and we assumed that the path wouldn't be too treacherous since we had a sunny weekend. The ice formations were spectacular and the light was so beautiful underneath the rocks that we decided to go back the same afternoon and make some pictures. It's always hard to start but I'm glad to finally be making work in PA.

Easy Listening

The Old Tokaido by Patrick Carey

It's been a couple of months since I've had the attention span to read. My subway rides were always the best time to get lots of dedicated reading time in. Now that I don't have subway rides, I listen to podcasts as I walk Clyde or while I'm working. Ross and I are always on the lookout for new ones. Recently, he turned me on to the True Story Podcast, which is pretty similar to a constant fav, The Moth.

Here's my top 5:
Fresh Air
This American Life
The Moth
America's Test Kitchen (another new fav!)
Story Corp

I also listen to Jillian Michaels, Alec Balwin,  Rick Steves (the PBS money belt travel guy!), After The Jump (from Design*Sponge), Radiolab, and 99% Invisible.

This list is probably very similar to yours, but if I'm missing something great, please share it with me!

I'm really excited for this book on the Tokaido and plan to dedicate some time to it. I'm also looking forward to getting some subway reading time in soon!

Along the Beaver and the Ohio

The Bunker, Beaver Falls, PA.

The Beaver River, Beaver Falls, PA.

Seeing Sol Lewitt, Cleveland, Ohio.

I walk Clyde along the Beaver River several times a week. There's a rail trail of sorts and it's his favorite walk. I spent some time photographing in and around it last week, freezing my hands off. So grateful to have a nice place to take Clyde and let him pretend to be a puppy.

We went on a day trip to Ohio the other day to pick up some fire brick. Made a short day trip of it and visited Garie and the CMA. So impressed and glad to know it's not so far out of our way to go see some great art and a good friend.

An Interview

http://www.topphotographyfilms.com/2010/02/08/rona-chang/

How would you describe your photographic style and way of working? How do you realize a shooting/assignment?

I approach everything by observation first. I’m not a fast photographer. I look and look, then pick up the camera and wait for the right circumstances to fill my frame.

I am honoured to be interviewed by Kai Behrmann on Top Photography Films. Though it's a new project, there's already an impressive roster of artists in the archive. One of the questions I answered is above. I'm not a wordy person and how I describe my process of photographing is much like the way I compose my words- slow and considered.  

The New Year

Family Field, Guanyin, Taiwan from This Chinese Life- Return to Guanyin

It's Chinese new year's eve. It's a time for gathering with family and I won't see mine until a week or two from now. I miss them dearly, especially my sister's girls. In addition to my family here, I think about my family in Taiwan and China all the time. It's hard to go years without seeing loved ones. Two parts of a project I've been working on, This Chinese Life, is dedicated to them.

A poignant film that centers around the migrant population during the Chinese New Year is Last Train Home. My summer in China riding through provinces on crowded trains prepared me for some of the hardships and circumstances but it is still a hard film to watch. The story is all too common. Another Chinese film worth noting is Stolen Life.

Wild Flowers

Wild Flowers, Norway.

Is it too early to crave spring yet? This Liberty pouch is on my desire list.

Tiny World

Legos, Stockholm, Sweden.

It's been a while since my Breathing In project with Ann.  I'm working on posting a portion of it on the new website.

We just watched Lena Dunham's Tiny Furniture. Her sense of humor is great and her depiction of her generation of 20 somethings is spot on in many ways. I can't help but admire her parents' loft in that "I can't believe you live there" NY real estate envy sort of way. Looking forward to trying her tv series Girls.

New year, new site

visit www.ronachang.com

Hi folks. It's been a harsh winter here in PA. It's always 10-15 degrees colder than NY and that makes me not like the outdoors. Really, I like my tropical island roots and love the heat (+ humidity). Despite my preferences, I continue to take Clyde on long walks and am happily attending the Y. Though bad weather has it's perks. I've spent the better part of the last month editing (this is constant) and reworking my site. It has a new look with bigger images. Horizontal scrolling that should  help with faster navigation. Come visit! Thanks for the technical pointers Teresa and Nadia!

Missing NYC

Mian (noodles), Flushing, NY.

It may be a case of the winter blues or maybe something more. I was scheduled to head back to this city at the end of Jan. and now the plans have been postponed.  There were people and shows I was planning to catch like Stacy Mehrfar's exhibit at Clamp Art of Tall Poppy Syndrome with Amy Stein. Spending Chinese New Year with my family was also on my agenda. I'm bummed out but there's not much I can do to change the situation. If you are in NY this Sat. (Jan. 19th), the Choices Thrift Store hosted at Momenta Art by fellow Cooper Alum Carmelle Safdie looks like fun.