I've always loved photography. Yes, I've had the phase where all the girls wanted to take random photos of the sun or Dorito chips and upload them to Tumblr and purchased a Canon DSLR. I've never really got around to using my DSLR. There were always too many buttons, too many technical terms and too many things I had to think about. I wanted to concentrate on the photo. On the perspective, on the emotion, on the aesthetic visuals. With digital, I quickly realised that every single picture I took had no meaning. I couldn't see why I was taking the specific photo when I could take it a million times more and it would still be the same. Each photo was not unique or thought through. It was like fast fashion; everything was just quickly passed through the shutter and into the memory card.

Random People Walking in the Streets near Wannsee, Berlin Hyesu Chung

That's why I shoot film. This is why I shoot with old-fashioned film, film that costs more to develop, that costs more to buy and costs more to maintain. But this process is the beauty. The beauty of seeing the world in the specific ways that it presents itself to you, seeing the world for what it is and capturing something that would maybe never be in the same exact position again. When I have a camera in my hand, I look around, I observe, I notice. I decide if I want to be detail focused or big picture focus on that day. I look at my subject and draw an imaginary frame around it. I press the button and voila, the picture in my mind becomes ingrained on the silver ions on the film. And the process repeats.

This is how I look at the world now. I notice every little thing, every object that might be considered useless, every crack on the street. I look for the genuine looks and perspectives that the universe wants me to see. I consider myself a pretty honest and down to earth person, and that is what I look for in every person, animal, situation and even picture that I see or meet. I shoot film because it has taught me to not only be more observant, but also to understand whatever is, is. It is what it is, after all.

However, I don't hate digital; it just doesn't vibe with me. Like any other millennial, I take shitty snapchat photos in dirty bathrooms of clubs, I take a million photos of my family and friends and enjoy keeping an album of my closest friends' most terrible angles. It's useful, it's convenient. It's also the preferred medium that many famous photographers are known for and like to use. But still, it doesn't vibe with me. The knowledge that you just need to know is just too much work. Call me lazy, but I'd rather like to keep it simple and edgy rather than safe and lame.

Raining Falling in a Tropical Shower in Cancun, Mexico Hyesu Chung

These photos, you might not think much of them. You might think that they're alright and that there's nothing obviously spectacular about them. You can glance over them and you'd notice nothing. And for me, that's the point. The point is that out of nothing, I challenge you to see. I challenge you to understand and imagine. I challenge you to apply your own personality into it. That's why I love film photography. You should try it sometime.

Poetry Man in Mauer Park Flea Market, Berlin Hyesu Chung