September Spotlight Artist-Yuh Yun Li known as Phoebe Wu-Photographer
Phoebe Wu has taken 180,000 photographs since 2011! She moved to Medway from Taiwan in 2005, and she is also a pianist!
1. Tell us about your art!
Some of my photographer friends label me as a ‘wildlife photographer’ because I take a lot of pictures of birds, ducks, geese, and some animals. However, I’m interested in all categories of photography, such as landscape, sunrise, sunset, moonrise, architecture, portraiture, and macro (macro is extreme close-up photography). I have no interest in street photography because I don’t want to get in trouble for copyright of portraits. (Street photography is photography that features unmediated chance encounters and random incidents within public places.)
Anything could be a subject of a photo; When taking picture indoors, I play with a cup, a vase, the candle light, flowers for still life photos. Weather permitting, I walk at park, visit the Audubon, wildlife reservoir or seashore for pictures of scenery or birds.
Besides taking pictures to satisfy myself, I like to take photos at church events, especially VBS every summer. To fulfill my desire for a challenge, I don’t just try to record activities for church, I also try to catch peoples’ actions and vivid facial expressions.
I also express art through music. My major is piano performance. I appreciate different styles of music from different time periods, from Baroque, Classic, Romantic, to Contemporary music. What I learned from music is to polish details of musical phrases from the whole structure of the piece. Whether I’m practicing piano by myself or teaching my students, I listen carefully to understand the composition, so that the heart and soul can come through in the music. All kinds of arts are connected, literature, music and visual. As I see a beautiful place in front of me, I see the overall big picture, as well as details. When I explain the picture of music to piano students, landscape, moonrise, and sunset photos are illustrations I use to help them understand.
2. What inspires you?
I am inspired by oil paintings of Romanticism and Mother Nature. The composition and the dramatic contrast of those paintings never fails to leave a strong impression in my mind. The beauty discovered in nature draws me to keep shooting more pictures; the movement of different birds and animals grabs my attention.
As far as I know, neither my parents or their families studied music or art; however, my mother sent me to a piano studio when I was 8 years old. Since then, I have devoted myself to learning music and teaching piano. I had never learned anything about visual art. However, I’ve never forgotten a view I saw in the kitchen when I was ten; the sunset colored the entire kitchen making all the chairs and table look charming.
3. How did you get started in making your art?
I used the point-and-shoot camera for many years. I just took pictures of flowers in my yard.
Photography was just for fun during those years. In 2011 I got my first real camera was a Nikon D5000.
2011 was a dramatic year in my life. The whole world was up-side-down. Photography helped pull me out of depression. When I walked in the woods, along the lake, or at the beach, the beauty of Nature arrested my attention and made me concentrate on shooting pictures. Photography healed my heart.
I’ve never attended any photography classes, I learn it by listening to my friend’s suggestions and observing the photos posted on websites, and then practicing and practicing. From 2011 till now, I’ve taken 180,000 pictures.
Photography is for JOY now!
4. How long have you lived in Medway? What drew you to this town?
I moved to Medway in 2005 from Taiwan because my husband, at the time, got a job at a research center in Hopkinton. After looking at many houses in surrounding towns we settled on Medway, a small town. I began attending the Medway Village Church two months after moving here and knew why I was brought here. The pianist at the village church moved to another town after getting married and the Village church needed a pianist. Even though I was busy preparing the documents for moving to Massachusetts, God arranged me to play music in this church and cultivated my potential for visual art in beautiful New England.
5. How can people experience your work? Do you have a website/gallery?
Most people recognize me from the photos I’ve taken at Choate Park and posted in the Friends of Medway group of Facebook. Actually, I just post those Medway pictures in Friends of Medway. I have much more pictures on my site, https://www.facebook.com/YuhYunPhoebe. I also post some pictures on Viewbug, https://www.viewbug.com/member/phoebeli , where you can take a look at the pictures at higher resolution.
6. How would you like to see your art change grow and benefit others?
I am very glad to hear from my friends or some people whom I don’t know when they tell me that they learn the beauty of their surroundings from the pictures I take.
Even some people said my photo reminded them of sweet past memories. I like to help people explore how the extraordinary from daily life can bring joy !
7. What would you like to do with your art in the future?
I simply hope to continue enriching others’ lives through photography and music.
No greater plan so far.
8. What advice would you give aspiring artists or tips to help them in their desire to express themselves artistically?
I read an article when I was in my 30s, the writer said that we only used 1% of our brain in our whole lives. My curiosity was stirred by that thought: where’s my the other 99%?
a. I believe that God blesses us with many gifts, so I try to explore and develop my capacity (the other 99%) to see what else I can do. Since my childhood, I thought the only thing I could do in my life was play and teach piano. That kind of narrow thinking limited my learning. After I started reaching out my antenna, I found I could learn more than I had known. I learned swimming at 40 years old, I started exercising at the gym and embarked upon my photography journey at 50 years old.
It’s not too late to learn. Just do it!
b. Friends are important! I made a lot of photographer friends who inspired and encouraged me when I was down. So have a network around you that shares your artistic interests.
c. Observe your surroundings and find beauty in it!
9. Where would you like to see art thrive in Medway and how could Medway support local artist in their pursuits?
If we could have an art festival to display all local artists’ masterworks, all Medway residents will be able to enjoy the different styles of beauty.
Article excerpted from Medway Cultural Council's Website, Artist Spotlight, published by Kim Blenkhorn