Day 3: neighborhood 
I was walking around the neighborhood with my sis and noticed a filed full of dandelion. And I remember when I was young, I used blow its seeds and loved the way the it just floats and sails in the air. I tried to catch them, but there was no way I could get my hands on them.
Dandelions are the only plant that anybody in the world can spot and name it. Its yellow flower and white puffy seeds are quite beautiful to look at. Yet, they are one of the most strongest and easily spreading plant out there as well. Its root goes down so deep and it only needs a bit of sunlight to be able to bloom. 
And as I was taking these images of my sister making dandelion snow, I started to think about the strength of dandelion and related myself to it… hahaha… it sounds pretty lame now, but at the time it was quite powerful or maybe not…
[As a young child, I used to dream about so many different things and  thought I could be anything I wanted to be. I remember I used to blow the dandelion seeds and made wish as each seed sailed away and spread around the filed. I wanted my name or my legacy to spread out and plant its root deep around the world. It sounded pretty believable and awesome at the moment… I mean, I was a young boy… what did I know? As I gotten older, I realized all those wishes I made were like weeds… had to be pulled out and weeded out for healthy grasses to grow to make beautiful lawn. So, dream of world domination, building flying cars, invent a machine that allows people to communicate with sprits, winning a gold medal in olympics and many more had to go away. But just like it’s strong survival instinct, one of my dream kept growing and growing back despite how many people had stepped on it and tried to weed it out. That dream is to be a photographer. And I know I’ll be spreading my photography around the world now and one day it will plant its root deep down and make SungJoon Koo mean something to others.]
Anyhow, it’s important to support the dreams of little ones and guide them to the right way. Become a good mentor to others and show your mentees the how wonderful the world is. And they have endless capacity to become whoever they want to be. Don’t let others try to weed them out because of whatever reason they come up with. Be strong and pursue your dream. Focus and plant your root deep. Be yourself! It’s important to have endless dream and dream big!

Day 3: neighborhood 


I was walking around the neighborhood with my sis and noticed a filed full of dandelion. And I remember when I was young, I used blow its seeds and loved the way the it just floats and sails in the air. I tried to catch them, but there was no way I could get my hands on them.

Dandelions are the only plant that anybody in the world can spot and name it. Its yellow flower and white puffy seeds are quite beautiful to look at. Yet, they are one of the most strongest and easily spreading plant out there as well. Its root goes down so deep and it only needs a bit of sunlight to be able to bloom. 

And as I was taking these images of my sister making dandelion snow, I started to think about the strength of dandelion and related myself to it… hahaha… it sounds pretty lame now, but at the time it was quite powerful or maybe not…

[As a young child, I used to dream about so many different things and  thought I could be anything I wanted to be. I remember I used to blow the dandelion seeds and made wish as each seed sailed away and spread around the filed. I wanted my name or my legacy to spread out and plant its root deep around the world. It sounded pretty believable and awesome at the moment… I mean, I was a young boy… what did I know? As I gotten older, I realized all those wishes I made were like weeds… had to be pulled out and weeded out for healthy grasses to grow to make beautiful lawn. So, dream of world domination, building flying cars, invent a machine that allows people to communicate with sprits, winning a gold medal in olympics and many more had to go away. But just like it’s strong survival instinct, one of my dream kept growing and growing back despite how many people had stepped on it and tried to weed it out. That dream is to be a photographer. And I know I’ll be spreading my photography around the world now and one day it will plant its root deep down and make SungJoon Koo mean something to others.]

Anyhow, it’s important to support the dreams of little ones and guide them to the right way. Become a good mentor to others and show your mentees the how wonderful the world is. And they have endless capacity to become whoever they want to be. Don’t let others try to weed them out because of whatever reason they come up with. Be strong and pursue your dream. Focus and plant your root deep. Be yourself! It’s important to have endless dream and dream big!


Wake up in the morning and first thing I do is check to see if I had charged all my batteries and see if the memory cards are all formatted and ready to go. Recently, I’ve been staying away from people… it’s almost like the first month of living in San Francisco. I felt like I hit a plateau. The wall was so big I couldn’t jump over or even think about breaking it down. But, there was a moment when everything started to work out. I need that one moment right now… I don’t like just wandering around for places to shoot… scouting for places without anyone to shoot with. I can’t even approach people in public either… Dallas is not like SF, so I don’t have much chance meeting people out on the street except DownTown… I need to focus, anchor down and strive each day to make that money shot! or create more work for You+I. Well, At least I’m taking images everyday. They might not be something I love shooting, but I am trying something different…

Wake up in the morning and first thing I do is check to see if I had charged all my batteries and see if the memory cards are all formatted and ready to go. Recently, I’ve been staying away from people… it’s almost like the first month of living in San Francisco. I felt like I hit a plateau. The wall was so big I couldn’t jump over or even think about breaking it down. But, there was a moment when everything started to work out. I need that one moment right now… I don’t like just wandering around for places to shoot… scouting for places without anyone to shoot with. I can’t even approach people in public either… Dallas is not like SF, so I don’t have much chance meeting people out on the street except DownTown… I need to focus, anchor down and strive each day to make that money shot! or create more work for You+I. Well, At least I’m taking images everyday. They might not be something I love shooting, but I am trying something different…


Sometimes, people have too much time on their hand… but some use that time to be creative and create something exciting out of ordinary! I walked into a restroom today and saw this Rhino drawing on the door of a bathroom stall. What a great idea to use the coat hanger on the door as the horn of the Rhinoceros!

Sometimes, people have too much time on their hand… but some use that time to be creative and create something exciting out of ordinary! I walked into a restroom today and saw this Rhino drawing on the door of a bathroom stall. What a great idea to use the coat hanger on the door as the horn of the Rhinoceros!


I’ll be posting daily images taken with my iPhone as one of those avid photographers…
This will be used to update my daily photo related activities and help me collect locations to shoot!

I’ll be posting daily images taken with my iPhone as one of those avid photographers…

This will be used to update my daily photo related activities and help me collect locations to shoot!

Keep Working!

I feel very lucky and fortunate enough to know what I love to do with my life and be able to pursue it as my career!! It is pretty hard to survive as an aspiring photographer. Especially when anybody with an iPhone or a DSLR camera being an avid photographer!

According to Dictionary.com

Pho-tog-ra-pher [fuh-tog-ruh-fer] N, a person who takes photographs, especially who practices photography professionally.

Yes, anyone who takes pictures is a photographer. Yet, it is important for me to remind myself that I am doing this as profession! Not a hobbyist or an enthusiast, but a professional who makes living from it. At this time, it is very slow… and it is going to be

a slow process for a while until I can stand up and say, “I’ve done it!”

However, the most important thing I need to remember during this process is to make sure I stay humble and don’t let my head get too big, a great mentor of mine Robert Galindo had once told me that me… And I try to remind myself that everyday. Not that I think I’m a great photographer, but from time-to-time, I have to remember the first time when I took a photograph. The moment I knew I wanted to become a photographer.

Jeremy Lin is the ‘It’ person right now. Everyone talks about him… He was nobody until few weeks ago when he made his first NBA start as a point guard for New York Knics. He is a Harvard Grad, but undrafted NBA player who was about to get cut from the team. However, that never stopped him. His love of the game and desire to be the best at his situation and staying humble has led him to Jeremy Lin today. Also, another reason I like him is that he is a genuinely nice person. He praises other teammates and surroundings before himself. Never forgets where he came from. He dreams big. When I first started photography, I couldn’t find many Asian photographers who are world widely well known. Most of legendary photographers are old or passed away white male photographers. I couldn’t find many gallery curators who were interested in Asian photographers or their work. It was a very different market. It is very hard to find any Asian NBA players who are successful. It is very Black dominant sports due to their godly physique and their ability to move. Some think NBA or any professional sports is a doorway for poor kids to be successful and anyone who are studious don’t belong in professional sports. Jeremy Lin had broken that stereotype. Being an Asian American graduating from prestigious Harvard University yet started his successful career in NBA. It is all due to his hard work and dedication he put into his Dream and his Love.

That’s how I am feeling right now. Being a photographer and being a successful photographer is as hard as being a starting NBA player. But, everyone can get there with hard work and dedication to achieve the dream. Yes, the talent has to be given. But, it can very well be practiced and mastered. I believe an ordinary person who gives 110% at everything they do can easily out do a talented person who takes his gift with granted and doesn’t work hard to improve it. Life is a marathon and ones’ career is the main event of that marathon. It’ll take time to finish the race, some finishes before others but with enough training and hard work everyone can reach the finish line. The most important thing in marathon is to remember to pace yourself and not giving up in the middle of the race.

It is my first blog entry on my website… I have probably wrote something like this on my other blogs before… But, this one is going on to my official website…. I am SungJoon Koo and I will be a great photographer!! And I’ll be working hard to get there!!

-- SungJoon Koo Photography 214.681.1976