Photography – WalksWithPen

brianwongderlust

It feels like I was here before. Eight years pass

It feels like I was here before.
Eight years pass by so quickly,
and so much is still the same.
The night market is still here.
The water is still beautiful.
The seafood is still delicious.
The gelato place is gone.
The air is lighter and sweet.
The night is lively and new.
It feels like I was here before, but I think it was a different me.
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#wanderlust #travel #adventure #explore #latergram #picoftheday #fromwhereistand #instatraveling #worldcaptures #instatravel #photooftheday #neverstopexploring #exploremore #bywalkswithpen #australia #cairns #night #evening #water #reflection #beautiful #aus #pool #swimming #swim #pretty #workingholiday #workingholidayaustralia #boardwalk #swimmingpool

And we were made for mountains, weren’t we? Chi

And we were made for mountains, weren’t we?

Chilly mornings when the sun crept into our tents, tickled our eyelids, and cursed us by never allowing us to escape that perfection.

When the sun rose and set behind stone giants, disappearing into photographs we all hold sacred.

Stand with me, here, on this lonesome peak.

Stand with me and promise that we won’t forget.
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I tried to catch all the colors behind your lipsti

I tried to catch all the colors behind your lipstick, but all they could see was red.
I wanted to capture the passion of your struggles,
the weight of your shoulders,
but the filters worked too well.
My camera is a liar, a thief stealing your stories and leaving you with an oil painting postcard.
Stoic. Solid. Temporary.
It strips away the stories,
hides them behind a hashtag and a heart shaped icon.
How can we share our treasures when we’re sorted into calculated boxes?
I wanted to show the world this beauty that I felt,
but all they could see was red.
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It had been five years since we felt this way befo

It had been five years since we felt this way before, legs swinging wildly, catching the empty air. We’d been here before in a way, in a feeling, but this time felt warmer. There was more heat or less cold or something, but it was definitely different no matter how much we told each other it would stay the same. I think I prefer it this way.
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#bestfriend #bestfriends #childhoodfriends #korea #southkorea #heights #converse #wanderlust #travel #adventure #explore #latergram #picoftheday #fromwhereistand #instatraveling #worldcaptures #instatravel #photooftheday #neverstopexploring #exploremore #throwback #memories #bywalkswithpen #reflections #friend #friends #high #urbex #seoul #충무로

What did you do this weekend? I watched the League

What did you do this weekend? I watched the League of Legends finals in a ramen-themed room.
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#wanderlust #travel #adventure #explore #latergram #picoftheday #fromwhereistand #instatraveling #worldcaptures #instatravel #photooftheday #neverstopexploring #exploremore #korea #southkorea #hotel #ramen #food #foodie #foodies #noodles #unique #gapyeong #가평 #weekend #wine #spicy #middleofnowhere #yummy #delicious

It seems so long ago sometimes. When we sang “Ho

It seems so long ago sometimes. When we sang “How Bizarre” like broken records every time our wheels started turning. When it was better to be awake than asleep, when the road painted pictures from fantasy movies that were better than dreams and when we slept in rooms with people we thought we’d never see again. How foolish were we, to believe we would be strangers for so long?
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#wanderlust #travel #adventure #explore #latergram #picoftheday #fromwhereistand #instatraveling #worldcaptures #instatravel #photooftheday #neverstopexploring #exploremore #friends #friendship #newzealand #road #roadtrip #horizon #backpacking #backpacker #beautiful #pretty #mountain #reunion #travelers #bywalkswithpen #bluesky #bywalkswithpen #throwback

A distant town by the edge of the sea, waves gentl

A distant town by the edge of the sea,
waves gently greeting the shore in turns.
You floated like mist on the water that night,
sunlight dancing off your waves as your tides left me paralyzed.
A silent, graceful yellow peering through the shade,
gliding like a whisper as the sky exploded around us,
brilliant splashes of paint on an empty canvas.
I still remember the sound of your smile,
the scent of electricity on your fingertips,
forever grateful to be witnessing your thunder.
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Over the years I’ve gotten so used to leaving To

Over the years
I’ve gotten so used to leaving
To being the one
Who leaves first
Walks away
Without looking back
It’s only natural
That this time
I’m the one who stays
Watching you disappear
As you turn around and wave .
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#tbt This was a time when life stood still, frozen

#tbt This was a time when life stood still, frozen in snapshots of flickering lights on still water. I remember feeling like everything had fallen into place, like the city fit too well, a perfect puzzle that we had solved together. In those moments I felt untouchable, a soaring blur too quick to catch, just out of reach and barely visible. We watched the fire from above, the light burning on a night we thought would never end. The future looked like an infinite tomorrow, wrapped tightly around our fingers in whichever way we wanted.
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I thought this was where I wanted to be, a futuris

I thought this was where I wanted to be, a futuristic marvel on the other side of the world away from the problems and the life I told myself I wasn’t running from. I thought distance would help me forget, help me cope with the pain and emotions I didn’t know how to deal with.
And it did, for a moment.
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I found happiness in these LED nights, these early mornings and computer screens that follow us to bed when we close our eyes. I found a cure to my past, but this city is expiring.
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From way up here, I can see everything I thought was here, but the view on the ground is much different. From way up here, I can show you the streets that once called my name, beckoning me from across the sea to a new life. From way up here, I can be happy, but on the ground my legs are growing restless.
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Are you still out there? Are you still listening?

Are you still out there? Are you still listening? I met you before, on an island in the mountains, but I don't know if you remember me. Maybe it's better that way.
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I like to think that you made me a writer, that the poetry you wrote with your laughter sparked something deep inside of me. In some ways, I like to think that all of my poems should be dedicated to you. What’s more poetic than that?
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You taught me how to wield a pen like a hammer, how to build with my thoughts until I had something worth living in. Taught me how to fill the house with love, but not how to keep it there. Maybe you didn’t know yet yourself.
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You helped me find who I was, taught me that there are places I can shed my masks and stand in a shining spotlight for everyone to see. You taught me that it was okay to feel, okay to speak. You taught me how to listen and how to be good.
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So why is it so hard to remember sometimes?
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#wanderlust #travel #adventure #explore #latergram #picoftheday #fromwhereistand #instatraveling #worldcaptures #instatravel #photooftheday #neverstopexploring #exploremore #throwback #newzealand #beautiful #ontheroad #flashback #memories #deep #lake #mountains #road #roadtrip #possibilities #poetry #dedication #quote #poem #bywalkswithpen

This city, moving and elusive, slippery and quick.

This city,
moving and elusive,
slippery and quick.
I tried to hold you once,
but you slipped through my fingers.
And soon
three birthdays
were forgotten in your snapshots.
What should I do once I catch you?
Care to take a guess?
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To the wonderful, multitalented, resilient @byjess

To the wonderful, multitalented, resilient @byjessicanguyen - HAPPY BIRTHDAY! May the next year bring you happiness, adventure, and success :).

Give me a beach and a blue sky, and I’ll tell yo

You saw a ghost that night, but I said I didn’t

You saw a ghost that night,
but I said I didn’t believe you.
On an island with no one else around
why would he visit us in darkness?
We woke to crashing waves,
the salty sea mist in our tongues.
Stood by the edge of the dock in silence,
worried the sea would steal our breath away.
There was a storm in the winds,
a ghost passing through the tides,
guiding us home.
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Life was simpler then, when we lived in catalog ap

Life was simpler then, when we lived in catalog apartments and worked in boxes that gave us dinner if we stayed late enough. When other countries were scents we saved 48 weeks a year to smell, to inhale like a drug we wrapped around our minds, a low-dose airplane junkie resisting addiction and dependency. With dulled senses, we lulled ourselves to sleep with the promise of dreams, dizzy intoxication of lives that could have been. We woke up each morning and did it all over again.

Life was simpler then, but it wasn’t much of a life, was it?
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#wanderlust #travel #adventure #explore #latergram #picoftheday #fromwhereistand #instatraveling #worldcaptures #instatravel #photooftheday #neverstopexploring #exploremore #korea #southkorea #seoul #palace #garden #reflection #water #blueskies #throwback #memories #beautiful #경복궁 #fall #autumn #bywalkswithpen #trees #nofilter

We didn’t have much money, but we chose to pack

We didn’t have much money, but we chose to pack our bags anyway. We sampled free wine and drank sunsets for dinner. We watched from the ground as neighbors climbed glaciers and rode helicopters that kissed the clouds. We chose vans with strangers and ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches three times a day for a week. Do you remember when ramen noodles were a treat?
We sat on grassy hills and played eye spy in the afternoons. We slept on boats and played board games with strangers when everyone else had gone to sleep. We played pool until we stopped trying and we played ping pong until they told us to go to bed. We didn’t have much money, but we still saw it all, oh we still saw it all.
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#tbt The sky was filled with cotton that day. We w

#tbt The sky was filled with cotton that day. We waded slowly towards the future, foolishly confident in each step, trusting the winds to keep us steady. Facing forwards in a narrow line of sight, we stood at the edge of the world together, fingers locked in a silent promise. With only the taste of infinity on our lips, I look back and wonder when the cracks began to form.
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I always thought that cities would swallow me whol

I always thought that cities would swallow me whole, that I wasn’t cut out for dark pavement and towering shining skeletons. I told my friends that I was happier in the grass, with the trees all around and dirt on the seat of my pants, I told them I was stories of shooting stars and hard earthen beds.
I always thought that I couldn’t take it, that I’d yearn for crackling wood and ancient stories, that coffee shops and yellow cars were parts of someone that I could never be. I was a ghost, floating along streetlights invisible and unnoticed, slowly making my way back to the side of some mountain or the sand of some island when it was time. This was just a pit stop, a concrete sit down dinner dress up monkey costume of a chapter that didn’t matter.

But then I met you.

And you showed me how to tame a dragon, a frightening, slithering thing that kept me invisible before. And we went to cafes and rode in yellow cars and the seat of my pants was clean and I was happier on a sidewalk than I had ever been in the grass. And we drank sweet wine by a stone wall and our lips touched and my world melted. And then the giant buildings and crowded trains didn’t seem so bad anymore.
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Is this a home? It’s never really felt like it.

Is this a home? It’s never really felt like it. Towering metal giants always felt cold and distant, streetlights meant for people who opened their mouths for introductions instead of folding their arms and holding their lips. I knew I’d leave one day, I just didn’t know when.
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I’ve spent my life moving from one revolving door to the next, trying desperately to escape the pain of leaving, of being left. When you asked me what my greatest fear was, I told you it was being left behind, and I’ve lived it so many times that it’s hard to imagine fearing anything else.
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So take my hand and tell me you won’t be like my memories, tell me that sunsets like these mark the beginnings of new days, not just the ends of old ones. Tell me that this city isn’t a home and this home is just your arms, tell me that if I squint my eyes tight enough I can smell lilacs in the summer. Tell me that we’re going to be okay, run your hands through my hair and sing me our favorite song. Tell me that these fears are just monsters that push us to trust our guts and make mistakes. Tell me that this isn’t a mistake.
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#wanderlust #travel #adventure #explore #latergram #picoftheday #fromwhereistand #instatraveling #worldcaptures #instatravel #photooftheday #neverstopexploring #exploremore #korea #southkorea #seoul #skyline #cityscape #horizon #sunset #view #bar #skyscraper #sky #beautiful #pretty #stunning #city #bywalkswithpen #동대문

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