TO BE WITH YOU

To be with you is like drinking coffee on a foggy day

Like finding a twenty-dollar bill under the couch

Like getting a venti vanilla frappuccino, when you only ordered a grande

To be with you it almost feels like it’s Sunday, but every day

Sunshine,

A perfectly toasted ham and cheese croissant,

And the softest patch of grass I’ve ever laid on in my life

To be with you is like seeing a new leaf sprouting out of my monstera

Like kissing a frog… wait—

Like kissing…

Just kissing!

You know, those soft sensual kisses that are just the right amount of pressure

Like, not too much, but not too little either

And maybe just the right amount of chapstick leftover, in case your lips are also hella chap too

Cause that’s always a little bit gross

What was I talking about?

Oh yeah, to be with you is like meeting you for the first time every time—

Man, that’s hella cheesy  

To be with you

To be with you…

I just like to be with you

by Jason Lam

MOTIVATION IS LIKE A FLAME

Motivation is like a flame

Every once in a while you need to feed it

Otherwise, with no oxygen, no fuel, and no spark, it can die and be that much harder to get going again

If you ever end up getting going at all…

If you find that you’ve built a flame, find a way to keep it going

Shield it from the haters

Surround the flame with people who care for you and support you

Even go so far as protecting the flame against yourself

Because sometimes, we can be our own worst enemies

by Jason Lam

BURN IT DOWN

What if you lost everything right now?

Your entire work history. Your life story. Everything.

Where would you want to go from here?

Which target would you aim at?

If you can answer the question honestly it can be very telling.

We often cling to our narratives and past selves. Keeping us exactly where we are. Making sure we stay on the path crafted for us from a younger more naive self.

But if you lost everything right now. Even if it’s in a figurative manner. How would things change?

How would you change? What would you do? Where would you go?

You might find your answer surprises you. Even if you don’t have an answer at all, you might find a weight lifted off your shoulders. A burden, gone missing despite years of blood, sweat, and tears, crafting your identity into who you are today. Because when you burn it all down, you get to start over again. But this time, with new information, more wisdom, and without the weight of the past.

Perhaps a rebirth is something that we can give to ourselves. Not something to be handed to us. Maybe not even something to be considered a tragedy.

So, if everything burned to the ground and you lost everything.

Where would you go?

by Jason Lam

TO TAKE A PHOTOGRAPH IS TO FORM A RELATIONSHIP

To take a photograph is to form a relationship

To form a relationship is to be vulnerable

You must be open, so the person you are photographing can open up to you

To take a photograph is not about taking a photograph of a person, but with a person

Your photographs are visual representations of how you relate to the world

The way you see informs the way you feel. The way you feel informs the way you see

Our work as photographers is to pay attention and look with intention

To take a photograph is to be open

To take a photograph is to form relationships

by Jason Lam

THERE ARE NO POTS OF GOLD

At the end of every rainbow is only yourself

And your own willingness to face your fears and go after what you truly want in life

There are no pots of gold

Only you

And the limited time and energy you have here on earth

What you do with it is up to you

It always has been

And always will 

by Jason Lam

HONESTY IS ELUSIVE

Honesty is elusive

Because honesty is scary

Honesty will do its best to protect itself

Than to allow its tears and scars rear its ugly head

To be an artist is to be willing to be scared

To be scared by yourself

And of yourself

To dive deeper into who you are

And face the potentials of who you could be

Instead of who you think you should be

To create is to make attempts at telling the truth

To tell the truth is to live forthrightly ahead despite the chaos in life

Despite the chaos in your mind

To tell the truth is to admit your imperfection

That all could go wrong

But to try anyway

And to make the world a better place

Even when all is burning around you

by Jason Lam

CREATIVE ROTATIONS

Creative work sometimes gets boring

That’s when you need a rotation

Creative rotation is not unlike workout drills

You switch it up every once in a while so your body can react to new stimuli and stay engaged

Sometimes I get bored of making videos

Other times I get bored of writing

Sometimes I want to take pictures

Other times I don’t

Put another way, creation is like food, I just can’t eat the same thing all the time

Switch it up 

And you might find you feel full, once again

Creative rotations

by Jason Lam

IF YOU CAN'T FIND MEANING IN YOUR LIFE, CREATE MEANING

Perhaps life really is devoid of any inherent meaning 

But while this conclusion may be true, it is not helpful

To take on this perspective is to then not have any reason to do anything at all

Or at worse, to tend towards making things worse, because to hell with it, nothing matters anyway

But you still need to get up in the mornings 

You still have to live your life

Which approach would you rather choose?

While there is a great romance in finding your purpose

Some spend entire lifetimes looking and never find

Instead of hoping to stumble upon what you’re meant to do with your life

Perhaps it’s something you can create for yourself

If you can’t find meaning in your life, create meaning

by Jason Lam

WE THINK BECAUSE WE CAN

We think because we can

But just because we can think doesn’t make our thoughts true

We speak because we can

But just because we can speak doesn’t make our words true

Action

Is the only way to find out what we truly think

Action

Is the only way to find out what we really mean

by Jason Lam

THE JOURNEY NEVER ENDS

It just morphs

The more you know, the more is presented to you

The more doors you uncover, the more they are revealed

Soon as you figure out one game, you are tossed into another

There is no end

Only the acceptance of this never-ending journey

Life

by Jason Lam

MY DREAMS SCARE ME

Not because I think I can’t

But because I know I can

by Jason Lam

THANK YOUR FAILURES

Because without it you would not have learned anything

You cannot learn without failing

The two come hand in hand

Sure, it may be frustrating at times

Annoying

Disappointing

You may have let some people down

You might feel you’ve let yourself down

But you’ve also gathered new information

Which you can use to your advantage

So you can reiterate

And do a better job next time

Thank your failures

Because every time you fail, you learn something

by Jason Lam

WHEN

When you say you’re not trying to be cool but you actually are

When you say you don’t care but you actually care

When you turn around and walk away but really you wanted to stay

When you yell and scream but all you wanted was a hug

When IG follow counts don’t matter but you try to get followers anyway

When you say whatever, I never liked her anyway, when actually you’re in love

When you travel across the world, though everything you needed was right within your reach

When you look to save the world when all you needed was to save yourself

When you say you don’t know what to do with your life but really deep down inside you do

When you’re scared shitless of the life you want to live

When you try to be somebody else, when all you ever needed to be was yourself

by Jason Lam

SINK INTO YOURSELF

Instead of reaching out

See what sinks in

Instead of constantly searching

Stop

And do nothing

You might find

That whatever it is that you are searching for

Will eventually end up finding you

by Jason Lam

PEOPLE WATCHING

The joy of people watching

What is it?

Is it because we’re all stalkers and creepers and staring at people is just a favorite past time?

I don’t think so

I think maybe even the word people watching is not accurate enough

I think maybe it should be called

Witnessing life

Experiencing humanity

Watching in awe of this thing we call living

Maybe that’s a bit more accurate

Because I think that’s what we are doing when we are people watching

It’s not because we are bored

Or that we lust for entertainment

It’s because we like being surrounded by others who are like us

Living

Breathing

And witnessing how others have come to live this finite life

To watch in awe

At how others have figured out this never-ending puzzle

And to experience maybe through them

How we could do the same

People watching

by Jason Lam

I HAVE MY REASONS

From the outside looking in, I look fine

No cast for broken hearts
No splints for breaking apart
No crutches to catch you from falling
No stitches for all the bawling

Where else can I put my tears?
Except for in here?

Where can I put my fears?
So I can disappear?

by Jason Lam

SOMETIMES

Sometimes you need to go where you think you want to go

In order to find out you never wanted to go there to begin with

by Jason Lam

YOU GET WHAT YOU FOCUS ON

The mind is a peculiar thing

You don’t just see what’s in front of you

You see what you choose to focus on

Your aim

What are you focusing on? 

Is it taking you where you want to go? 

Or does it fill you with pain and conflict?

Take it a step further

Does your focus make your life better?

Or does it make it worse? 

If your focus makes your life worse, then why do you continue?

To improve our lives we must improve our minds

To improve our minds we must improve our focus

You get what you focus on, so maybe focus on the things that make your life better

by Jason Lam

DOUBTS

Run away from your supposed love

Get off course

Go the wrong direction

So as to find out for yourself

Once and for all

The person you are with

The job you are working

The life you are living is 

Truly the one

You love

by Jason Lam

STRENGTH

When you are torn to pieces

Seek not for all that has fallen

Instead

Seek for the few things

That remain standing

by Jason Lam