April 10, 2013
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A Tribute to Xanga
Xanga truly changed my life. I can say that with absolute awe and certainty.
I think I owe it to myself (and Xanga) to keep writing here.
This weekend I attended youngvan‘s bachelorette party and it was a blast!!!* While being there and meeting all her friends from high school, college, work, etc., of course the subject of Xanga came up since that’s how we had met. The general response is one of surprise and disbelief, but at least meeting online friends is more common nowadays… and it’s nice that I wasn’t the ONLY online friend there haha.
Aside from life-long friendships like Van’s, Xanga has been a major influence in my career and love life. When I first became passionate about photography (during my last year of college), it never really occurred to me that you could make a living out of it. At least, I didn’t think it was a plausible option for me. That’s when my friend Pablo subscribed me to a list of his favorite Xanga photographers and I was thus introduced to many of my photographer friends, including junshien and canon20d.
Subscribing to Junshien’s Xanga opened up a world of possibilities for me. Reading about his life and job made me aspire to do the same, and long story short… he eventually became my mentor in wedding photography. And here I am today.
As for my love life! I met gerkshinobi on Xanga about five years ago. It is still unknown how we found each other/who subscribed to who first, but it was definitely photography (go figure) that developed our friendship (haha, pun unintended). We started dating this fall and it has just been wonderful. He is everything I could ever ask for in a boyfriend – creative, adventurous, loving, understanding, patient, smart, hardworking, affectionate… seriously, the list goes on and on. And the man loves to TRAVEL!!!!! Major bonus points for that alone. So far we’ve been to Vancouver, Tokyo, and up and down the California coast together. I’m sure there will be many more trips to come – if I’m diligent about updating then you’ll find lots of food photos here.
Here we are at DisneySea in Tokyo!
So yeah. Thanks Xanga, I owe you one. <3
*I brought along my camera as the unofficial photographer of the event and she posted pics… check them out on her page
Comments (23)
2 eprops
So glad I finally got to meet you!
@GERKshinobi - …REALLY? -_________-
@JL789 - You too Jenny!!
I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!
d’aww. Cute.
I think each and every user of Xanga owes something to this site.
You rarely write these days but you do come up with inspiring posts when you do. Huge props for that!
I’m so happy that you’re happy and that you’ve found the perfect boyfriend; happiness is contagious, you know? And you’re making the girls a bit jealous!
But anyway, it’s really nice to see your post on Xanga again.
=)
@GERKshinobi - lollll cute mini. Love you too
@Phenom66 - It’s an awesome community!
@simplysuzu - Haha thanks Su! I’ll try to write more… but at least we have other ways to stay connected.
@maniacsicko -
Congratulation on your success with both career and lovelife.
You seem to mature as your writing reveals along the way.
Are you still going to visit Malaysia this year?
I wish you the very best in your future endeavor.
I always knew you have a great eye for photography. SF Bay Area is such a hot bed for wedding photography. I know of a few photographers who would fly out there on weekends to do wedding and events.
awww, congrats! As for your photography, I’m always seeing it pop up in my news feed on Facebook, you’re awesome! I’ve seen GERKshinobi’s too, and you guys are talented! Perfect match! I have the same love for xanga too, I’m always coming back and writing here over any other platform. Great Post.
@sf2slc - Thank you very much! Probably not this year, though I did visit the past three years in a row.
My parents keep telling me I should visit new countries instead of going back to the same ones. I really want to explore Europe.
It is indeed a thriving market, though competition is fierce!
@iamthebella - Thank you!! He’s super talented. It’s a fun passion to share… and I love that we shoot very different things. Our style of shooting and editing is completely different.
Yay Xanga! And thank you for sharing your wonderful photography with us!
@misuterihomme - Yay!!! Wait, sharing it… here? I’ve actually failed miserably at doing that. >.< My website and facebook page are far more reliable for updates…
http://www.fernlee.com
http://www.facebook.com/fernleephotography
@onlyjustbegun - Yes, well you USED to share it. Thank you for the links. And thank you for all your Xanga posts in general!
@misuterihomme - Hahaha. You’re welcome!
Sweet story about meeting your boyfriend
I wish my husband was adept at taking photos LOL.
And I wish we were closer so you could take pictures of my growing family! Your work is beautiful, wish I had had you as a wedding photog for my wedding way back when.
I think I introduced you to Garrick’s xanga too =P
so happy for you, fern! you deserve all the happiness! <3
love this post!
and it’s so funny because junsheins blog was the first introduction i had into photography that made me go “holy shit…” It’s awesome that you got him as a mentor
@Sammysosa76 - Thanks! Sorry for the super belated reply!
@hana_sj - LOL aww… but you are so good at it! You would make a wonderful photographer yourself. Thank you so much… what a kind compliment. It was great to meet you in person. And I actually drive back and forth between SF and LA very often, so maybe we could arrange another shoot!
@lightscripture - Hahahaha you’re the best. THANKS PABLO!!!
@karen0z - Thank you Karen!!!
@IpowerhouseI - Thanks! Hahaha he has influenced and inspired SO many people. Grateful to call him my friend and mentor.