Where It All Began – Apartment Light on Film

2000 · Film Photography (Nikon FM2) · Banqiao, Taipei County, Taiwan

When I think about Where It All Began,
I often remember being the one behind the camera.

Watching.
Framing.
Keeping moments before they disappear.

But this time, it was different.

This time, I was the one being photographed.

Pat picked up my FM2.

My camera.

The one I always carried with me.

He didn’t ask me to pose.
Didn’t tell me to smile.

I was just sitting there, adjusting my glasses, lost in my own thoughts.

Half resting.
Half daydreaming.

Nothing special was happening.

And maybe that was exactly why he pressed the shutter.

There’s something strangely vulnerable about being photographed by someone you love.

You don’t perform.

You don’t protect yourself.

You simply exist.

The way you sit.
The way your shoulders fall.
The small habits you never notice.

All the unguarded parts.

Looking at this image now, I realize this might be one of the very few photographs from that time where I am not “taking” a memory —

but being held inside one.

Not as a photographer.

Just as a person.

Just as someone sharing an ordinary afternoon with the person beside me.

Film has a slow way of remembering.

The colors drift.
The edges soften.

Time leaves its fingerprints.

But what stays clear is the feeling.

Quiet.
Safe.
Unremarkable in the best possible way.

Back then, we didn’t know these days would someday become precious.

We weren’t trying to document anything important.

We were simply living.

And somehow, that’s exactly why this moment matters.

Because this is not a dramatic beginning.

Not a milestone.

Just a small, gentle scene of two people learning how to share a life.

This, to me, is Where It All Began.