When I first started working with museum curators and artists, I took a rather dismissive approach to text that accompany imagery. I remember I had been on a jury for a photography competition and when an exhibition was being curated, I was invited to give some input. The show curator, who was on the same jury with me, had taken pain to interview and write about each photo – what the photographer was thinking at the point the photo was made, what he wanted to achieve. I think because a lot of the photographs were not that exciting to me in the first place, I saw little value in the textual accompaniment. Some looked like they were apologizing, some over-glorifying. I probably made a mistake by advising my colleague that words were not needed. What I am doing here with my series seem so contradictory. As I get a bit older, I am lesser and lesser of a believer that a picture equals a million words. I think it does have some bearings in some cases but context is important, the photographer’s thinking is important. I think a lot of photographers take a confrontational position against text, and thus the unfortunate workers of text, because they often see them rival for space and attention. A lot also has a snobbish attitude about text because it is like saying your pictures are not good enough. But more likely than not, photographers are also lazy. I confess that I had been guilty of all the reasons. For this turnaround I really have movies and moviemakers to thank. Recently I bought a copy of Paris Texas, and out of curiosity, decided to enable the feature for director’s commentary. Oh my goodness, what a discovery! I learned so much from Wim Wenders’s comments about why certain scenes were deleted, what he was trying to achieve with certain things. It is just so educational and entertaining. I also have the book Image Makers Image Takers by Anne-Celine Jaeger to thank. All the interviews I read so far have been totally honest and insightful. In particular, I was very very happy to read Alec Soth’s quote: “Whatever you’re interested in, go for it. You can only find your voice if you’re not intimidated by doing stuff that’s been done before.” This is how I interpreted it for myself: I think I have enjoyed some success and that had sometimes stopped me from wanting to take risk for fear of failing. Too often I wanted to embark on a certain project and then would give up because it has been done before. I had been afraid of being compared, I had been afraid of wanting to compare. I have had preconceptions of how certain images should look like. I have been too concerned of being accused of copying. I have been too in awe with the photographers I admire to believe that they could inspire me to do better.