After Thoughts 創作感言
對我個人來說 2003 年是個相當慘澹的一年，因為工作的關係由美國西岸加州遷移到東岸紐澤西，「既來之，則安之」； 看看是否能在這兒創作些什麼出來。楓葉的拍攝計畫是相當辛苦的，主要也是因為工作薪資的關係，有了租車的資金就得捨了旅館的房錢，半夜裡總難免在車廂裡凍醒個兩、三回，到最後把所有帶的衣服、襪子全穿的穿、包的包在身上了，甚至連內衣都裹在雙腳上，可惜那時凍的連幽默感都不靈光了，要不然給自己拍個照留念，那模樣才真有的回味呢！
Vermont 倒很體諒賞楓的遊客，公路休息站二十四小時開放提供給遊客停車過夜，有些甚至備有洗手間。New Hampshire 的公路休息站就不同了，到了晚間一定的時刻所有的車輛都要離開，否則警察伯伯就要來敲你的車門了。 所幸在無意間得知 Walmart 無條件開放停車場供給遊客停車過夜，至今非常感謝，否則在拍照一整天之後，身心俱疲的狀況下，要再駕車數百英里一者向 Maine 或 Vermont 尋找過夜點，實在無法想像。
坦白說 Vermont 與 New Hampshire 的楓葉拍的並不是很理想，我個人並不十分滿意，總覺得大多數的作品「得其色相，卻失其神韻及品味」，可觀者寥寥可數，時間上的倉促或許是部份原因吧。總之，希望有一天能再有機會在不需要再在車上過夜的狀況下試試看，各位就姑且將就著看看吧。
Personally, year 2003 is a very rough year for me. Because of the job situation, I had to move from California all the way to New Jersey. Since I was in the east coast, I would like to see and try if I could do some photography creation here. The project of autumn foliage was done under very difficult condition. Because of the salary I had at the time, I had to rob Peter to pay Paul - once I rent a car, I had to forgo a hotel room. I would wake up two to three times in the middle of the nights in my car because it was freezing cold. I wore everything I brought with me and even wrapped undershirt on my feet in the car. It’s too cold to be humor enough to take a self-portrait at the time, otherwise, it would be a precious memorable shot.
State Vermont is kind to travelers, it opens up rest areas to travelers for overnight parking, some of them even provide 24 hours restroom. On the other hand, state New Hampshire closes up all its rest areas during the night. If anyone parks in the rest area after certain hour, it is begging for uncle cops to knock on the car door. Luckily for me, I learned that Walmart opens up its parking lot unconditionally to travelers so that I could have a place to spend a night. Otherwise, it is hard to imagine how I was going to drive several hundred miles to reach either Maine or Vermont after a whole day long tiresome and exhausting photo taking.
Frankly speaking, I am not satisfied with most of the pictures in the Autumn foliage project, only few of them were good. It seems to me I got the color but not the taste nor the spirit of it. I was always in a hurry while I was on the road and that might be part of the reasons. I wish one day I could have another opportunity to give it try under the condition which I don’t need to spend the nights in a car. Hope you enjoy them.