PHOTOGRAPHY / A WAY OF SEEING
Closer to
the world.
I like seeing the world through a viewfinder. With a camera, I notice the light, the people, and the details I might otherwise miss.
Step into the stories ↓
look a little longer.
a small frame, a wider world
learning to notice
what happens outside the frame?
NOTICE / CONNECT / CREATE / QUESTION
FIVE CHAPTERS, ONE WAY OF SEEING. ↓
IN THIS VISUAL JOURNAL / FIVE CHAPTERS
01 / HOW IT STARTED
It began at 5 a.m.
I started in 2022 with my father’s old Canon 60D. Under his influence, I became interested in photographing birds. With a 70–200 lens, I would walk along Shenzhen Bay with him at sunrise, waiting quietly for birds to appear as the sky grew brighter.
patience, before the shutter.
Open the nature album ↗
Shenzhen Bay / Waiting for a moment in motion
A closer look / Among the leaves
the details you only see when you slow down.
A quiet pause
At the water’s edge
Before the city wakes / Learning to look
FIELD NOTE / THE BEGINNING
2022
Canon 60D · 70–200 lens Shenzhen Bay, with my dad.
I first volunteered to photograph athletes at sports meets. It gave me confidence — and showed me how quickly a camera could shorten the distance between strangers. Soon, I was photographing HFI Voice, basketball games, graduation portraits, and everyday campus life.
03 / PHOENIX TV INTERNSHIP
Behind the frame. Inside the story.
During my internship at Phoenix TV’s Tiger Talk, I worked on camera switching, event photography, and promotional writing. I photographed guests and saw how images and framing could shape the way audiences emotionally understand public issues.
PHOENIX TV / STUDIO CONVERSATION
Behind the broadcast
A studio conversation from the Tiger Talk internship.
Camera switching, edits & production
from the control room to the public eye.
A QUESTION BEYOND THE BROADCAST
One Tiger Talk episode on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict stayed with me, leading me toward Holocaust history, memory, and visual storytelling.
HFILENS / The people behind the projects
make room for each other.
04 / HFILENS
From one camera to a shared vision.
After the internship, I realized that larger projects needed more than individual creativity. They needed communication, organization, and teamwork. As the third president of HFILENS, I coordinated photography and video projects for academic events, debates, and workshops — turning ideas into collaborative work.
PEOPLE / PLANNING / PRODUCTION
HFILENS / THE SCREENING ROOM
Stories, in motion.
Two collaborative video projects from academic life at school — where conversations, ideas, and a team behind the camera come together.
HFILENS / FILM 01
GE Debate
General English / Debate project
HFILENS / FILM 02
GE Workshop
General English / Workshop project
05 / MEDIA & MEMORY
What stays after the image?
At Harvard Summer School, I studied Contemporary Photography: War and Conflict. I explored how images shape memory, emotion, and our understanding of history. Photography became a way to ask questions about stories that continue long after the image is taken.
VISUAL ANALYSIS
The Bloody Saturday
HARRIS ZHANG
01
A visual analysis of historical context, framing, and the responsibility of looking.
PDF / 6 PAGES
View analysis ↗
COURSE REFLECTION
Final presentation.
HARRIS ZHANG
02
Tracing how my research questions and approach to reading photographs evolved.
PDF / 4 PAGES
View reflection ↗
IN-CLASS INTERVIEW
In conversation with Alex Brandon.
HARRIS ZHANG
03
Notes from a class conversation with an Associated Press photographer.
PDF / 2 PAGES
Read interview ↗
From images to questions.
Explore my research ↗
More ways I see the world.
Back to my stories ↗