Extending new life.

It all started with a bit of impulsive radical reworking of my 4-year project of newleaf. I wanted to wipe everything. A clean slate. A new beginning. All that stuff. 

Newleaf started in 2004, when I was a first year medical student living in a dorm room in Toronto with my newly acquired digital camera (the well-loved Canon A70). It began following inspirations from the likes of 'daily dose of imagery' and 'shutterbug from tracy' photoblogs. I wanted to document my world through my eyes. But more than anything I wanted a place to make use of the hundreds of digital photos I could now generate by no longer using film. 

Plus I love to write, although I am not much of a writer. But I 

like to put words to my photos, instead of just the picture itself. In addition, I wanted a place to showcase some of my works, sort of a virtual gallery per se (I figured it'll be quite a while before I can really hold an actual gallery with REAL prints, if ever). Newleaf was where my visual imagination could run wild. My hidden graphic designer meet aspirating doctor. It never became really big, but through my few very dear and loyal friends, it stayed alive. Life could never allow me to upload it everyday anymore, but occasionally I still find comfort with having a place for myself to post. My thoughts, my works, my freedom. 

But as my friend Kenny pointed out, Newleaf gradually became more of a writing blog than a photoblog. I guess I just had too many things to say than a simple picture could provide (how

 ironic that a picture could not tell as many words). I started building a habit of using a string of photos to form a visual essay, but more and more I found the old format limiting. I could not portrait the story as I would like. The old page also felt too "clean". It was too much of a gallery for my liking, and not enough randomness.  Things felt too, well, controlled. 

But as is so typical of my character, to think that I can part with a virtual gallery that ran for 4 years is fooling myself. I was torn. I have limited time to upkeep my blog, and the old newleaf clearly serves a different purpose. I just needed a less controlled space. To scream, to laugh, to express. As such, I've decided to make this blog an extension of newleaf, to be called 'Newleaf Life, a lifeblog', to be used as a collection of regular photos, regular writings, all that stuff. This will be the place where I'll be doing the most update. Whereas the original newleaf I'll keep as purely my virtual gallery for designated photos. It's got a much more tranquil atmosphere there. Perfect for showcasing one or two special pictures, not a whole host of every random thought under the sun as you may see here. 

I hope this new format works. As you can see, I'm already writing a lot more. I hope you like what you see. Here. Everywhere.