Photographer and artist Kien Lam quit his job and embarked on a trip around the world, taking photographs of beautiful and wild places in 17 countries on several continents. In a year, Lam shot 6,237 photographs that he pieced together into a poignant and personal video. In under five minutes, the video spans the globe with treats for the eye from Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Egypt, England, France, Indonesia, Japan, Jordan, Morocco, Peru, Portugal, Spain, Thailand, Turkey, and the United States. At the beginning of the video are beautiful shots of clouds and mist that soon reveal a view of Peru's famed Macchu Picchu ruins that then segue into views from the many places Lam visited. He credits the masterful French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson as an inspiration. The Frenchman was a master at making his photos seem like works of serendipity, which is a look that Lam captures well.
On his website, Lam explained that he did not have an itinerary in mine when he departed, "I had a direction I wanted to head and a goal of following the sun to get as many warm days as possible. 2010 was a particularly cold year in San Francisco and I just wanted to wear shorts and flip-flops as many days as possible to make up for that. I would usually figure out my next destination when I was ready to leave my current one. Sometimes it was a particular dish, sight or story that brought to the next city and sometimes it was the company I kept and our desire to travel together for just a bit longer."
The San Francisco native managed to pull off something worthy of National Geographic and the Discovery Channel, staying in youth hostels for $3 to $15 per night. It was just a little more expensive than staying at home. While he is at home, Lam has a business taking photographs at "destination weddings." On the website, he writes "After 343 days of traveling across 17 countries, I had finally compiled all the footage for my little show and tell slideshow. I’m a little late in posting this on the blog, but here it is. The video is called “Time is Nothing” and the song is “Places and Faces” by my younger brother, William Lam." The video has gotten more than 1 million hits on Vimeo and YouTube.
Lam explains on his website that with an Ivy League diploma he once worked as a financial strategist but became a photographer instead. Having now travelled to 26 countries and 6 continents and taken thousands of photographs, the world is better than if Lam had remained in finance or had taken up championship ping-pong: an unrealized childhood ambition.
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