I've never met photographer/writer/watch designer Ming Thein but we have corresponded. Inspite of never having engaged face-to-face I've always enjoyed reading his take on photography, gear and life. He's one of the few photographers I've come across who can think, write and present at a velocity that I find correct. I always felt like he and I approached writing on our photographic blogs from the same perspective: write fast, post now and don't look back. Where Ming's energy far exceeded mine was in his ability to answer every comment attached to a post. He might, on a busy day, have posted dozens and dozens of polite and considered replies, and the answers he provided were either based on his hands-on experiences with gear or a process, or they were just smart. I'll take either.
I am not writing this as a eulogy because Ming (the actual person) is not on his way out; existentially or otherwise. I am writing this as an appreciation of all the hard work, knowledge and insight into our field he shared and the sheer entertainment of following someone whose life is so different from mine and yet has so many intersections. My perception is that with the collapse of travel, and the lack of opportunities to flex his photographic muscle, he's turned to other pursuits and feels that this is a good time to leave. And to leave on a high note. It also looks like his horological business is taking off.
While Ming has announced that he's finished writing about photography on his blog he leaves for us a rich lode of really interesting reviews, ruminations, photos and opinions. And, he's written that he'll be leaving the blog and website up for the time being (no longer accepting comments...). I don't know how long "the time being" might be but if you have an interest in reading his posts and diving into another photographer's brain then here's the link:
I highly recommend it as a source of great information, interesting opinions and, for me, an insight into a man from the other side of the world.
Thank you, Ming Thein for all the joy, fun and insight you provided on your site. I will miss this valuable resource!!!
7 comments:
I learned a lot of useful hints from King on how to buy and use the Hasselblad V system cameras. Well done.
https://blog.mingthein.com/2013/01/26/intro-to-hasselblad-v-series/
Oops, that is supposed to be Ming.
I wish I'd been more diligent in reading his blog. Whenever I did it was typically enlightening. I wondered if he would be taking a step back from writing as often when he brought in Robin Wong to work with him for a while, but this is the real end, I guess. Interesting guy and very useful blog.
Things change and people move on, but it sad for many of us. Only three blogs, yours and Ming's included, I find enjoyable to read. Other sites I go to mostly for technical information. It is difficult to find thoughtful writers in photography.
Ming is a talented guy and with boundless energy! I'll miss his blog, it was one of the few I bother to read these days (they're mostly rather silly and/or gear obsessed to the point of ridiculousness). I had been wondering how much longer he could keep it up though, and with interest in photography drying up as fast as revenue, I had suspected for some time that he'd started to lose interest. He'll shoot enough to maintain his skills though and come back to it in earnest at some point in the future, I would think.
Well, as I recall you and Mike Johnston have both pulled the ripcord more than once, but always came back. It seems that talented bloggers find it difficult to kick the habit. I don't know whether Ming Thein will follow your respective examples, but I hope so. There's not much intelligent commentary about photography available on the 'Net―and with so much time on our hands these days, the rest of us need it more than ever.
Also of interest are the photos produced by Ming Thein’s students and followers posted to the Ming Thein Reader Portfolio on Flickr. The flood of submissions was....yes...curated by MT into a massive collection. It is so large you might think there’s no way any set of standards could have applied. Yet, even if the only standard was what caught his attention at the moment the level of quality represented often does rank at 11 on that scale of 1 to 10. Ian Carroll, Gerner Christensen, Kai O’Yang, Tom Morgan, Charlie Peek - just a few of the photographers who come to mind out of hundreds deserving broader exposure. There are so many fine photos in this collection they’re almost enough to offset the blizzard of mindless pix overwhelming the internet.
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