Photo Story: Emilia

Here’s a photostory I created for Emilia whom I shot last month. The pitch for the story goes like this:

“A talented model with an ambition for greater achievements in life, this photo story attempts to capture this genuine moment before she leaves her teens.

“Who is Emilia? It really depends on who you are.”

I wonder if you get what I mean on the above last paragraph. You see, different people perceives you differently. Your parents, your siblings, your friends, your bosses, your colleagues, your clients, your spouse, your enemies. Likewise, you treat them differently too.

Emilia felt somewhat misunderstood, but I think it happens to most people at some point of their life towards some group of people.

Late last year, I attended a course on EQ, and the trainer taught us this concept of Think-Feel-Do. In theory, when you encounter an event, you first think about the event, then you feel about the event, the finally you do an action. Each consequence will lead to another.

Let’s take driving on the road for instance. If someone cuts into your lane, you will think, “That car came into my lane!”. Then you will feel something. If you feel angry, then your action will be to horn or flash your high-beam. If you feel forgiving, then your action will be simply reduce speed and drive on.

There are many instances where the feeling part is skipped (“Think-Do”), like during an emergency. Then there are cases where the thinking part is forgone (“Feel-Do”), which could be dangerous. The trainer terms it “emotional hijack”, which means you do something without thinking. And there are some that loops “Think-Feel” but never actually goes into the “Do” part. These are the procrastinators.

This process may be applied differently on diferent situations to different people. To people you are familiar with, the “Do” part is probably quite direct and straight-on. To strangers or people you want to impress, you might spend some time on the “Thinking” and “Feeling”, to be more careful and tactful before you “Do”.

We probably need to be brave to confront the “misunderstander” to clarify, if he or she means a lot to you. But even if you choose not to, that itself is a conscious result of your Think-Feel-Do process, for you have chosen to “Do” nothing.

Quite often, understanding yourself could be more difficult than understanding others. Because you judge others with the set of limited information the others present to you, whereas you judge yourself with a source of unlimited data directly accessible in your own mind.

Who is Chester Tan? It really depends on who you are.

OK enough of philosophy or theory. Click the cover image below to view the photobook.

Mirror link to Flickr Slideshow