Growing Through Photos

Life can get so overwhelming. Especially at this time in my life...where all the pieces are falling into place. The photos I've taken this season are those pieces and they are falling beautifully and painfully into place.

Here are some of my top photos this semester, from the most recent to least.

This is my most recent self-portrait. I am turning it in as part of my final project. The concept behind the reflection of myself is this whole idea that we see ourselves less than perfectly. No matter how healthy we are, physically, spiritually, emotionally, we still see things in a mirror dimly (2 Cor). We tend to focus on the imperfections and allow those to define who we are. Even when we are not focusing in on ourselves, the reflection of who we THINK we are is always trailing close behind.



I really liked this shot because it brings me back to this whole fantastical mood that my recent photos have taken on. I like that my back is faced away from the viewer because then it becomes less about me personally, but more about this idea of childhood and how no matter how much we want to grow up, deep down inside there will always be a childlike faith in us. Ready to spur us onto our next adventure.
It was a lot of fun taking these self-portraits, I only had 10 seconds to run into position. I loved it!



Sometimes I like to pretend that I am still a little girl with wings, ready to fly away in all her glory.



One of my first photoshoots. I wanted to shoot from an intimate perspective that allows you to really see these two ladies for who they really are.



This is Jessica my beautiful roommate. I wanted to show her stoic beauty that resembles that of a Greek goddess. I wanted to show both her strength and delicacy by putting her in a delicate dress, juxtaposed against a the strong branches of a mature tree.



This is Jina my big sister. We are learning about human trafficking and I wanted it to become more real for us by seeing one of our own tied up and helpless. It was a shoot with a spirit of darkness unlike any other.



This photo was taken early in the semester. The blurry affect depicts perfect the softness of that moment with God. I had a hard day and decided to spend some time in my favorite place on earth, cradeled in the trunk and branches of a beautiful tree. This photo reminds me of God's grace and his deep deep care for me. Even before I realize that I need rest, He provides a time and place for my soul to be replenished.




Sometimes, when it all comes down to it..I sit here and wonder whether or not the art I create will make a difference in my life and in the lives of others. When I start to focus on the uncertainties in life, I begin to lose sight of the beautiful, honorable, and amazing people and moments which make up life. When I think about life with a thankful heart, I feel a sense of joy and contentment in expressing the thoughts and feelings that I go through everyday. What gives me even more joy is the hope that someone out there can find some sense of truth in these images and ideas that is relatable. I pray that people can find a little piece of themselves in the artwork this world has to offer.

Well, I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving. I hope that a sense of gratitude rushes over you and you remember how loved you are.

-Stephanie Yu

The glass between us?

She said..."it's like there is a piece of glass between you and the world"
This comment stings like a papercut, but the words on the paper are no less true..It makes me wonder if you just look at me like a doll in her plastic box?
Am I nice to look at, but impossible to reach?
Do you see porcelein, rather than flesh?

This scares me.
But I suppose I have to take everything with a grain of salt.
Only I know me.
What is true is up to me to decide.
If I discover a huge block of emptiness between us...then I will break it..
so you can see...
I am flesh. I am skin and bone.
I am all heart.
I am not stone.




It never really matched up.
My view of me. Your view of me.
To me I am a star trailing off in the distance...
merely passing through the sky
It looks like I am connected to the big clusters of stars that make up galaxies..but I am merely passing through.
It is beautiful, yet unsettling.
This image of me alone in a sky painted black.
But the world see's me in a different light.
It sees me engaged, a butterfly moving from one group to the next.
But where is my root?
Where are my life long friends?
The one's I've had, have all exceeded their expiration date.
Season's change, but for once, I would like my friends to survive the winter frost.
Thoughts like this can really bring me down.
But the antidote for sadness is hope.
Hope that I can be transformed, not in the twinkling of an eye,
but with time, with suffering, with breakthroughs, with monotonous minutes which make up the inbetween times
I am growing and maturing
These walls will be broken down. The hauntings of my past will cease. I will be free. I am free. You have set me free.

Frida :)

If I were a cat.
I would be you.
If you were human.
You would be me.