Readers of the Richmond News might have seen our daily Good Morning, Richmond (GMR) posts at Richmond-News.com featuring snapshots of the breathtaking scenery around the city. GMR started in 2021 and has featured more than a thousand photos so far.
As we look towards the new year, we wanted to learn more about our regular contributors.
In this fifth profile in our series, we spoke to Ngam Chua, who regularly sends in snapshots of the city’s beautiful landscape and wildlife.
Richmond a daily destination for photographer
Despite being a Vancouver resident, the 65-year-old photographer travels to Richmond almost every day to enjoy the city's landscape and nature.
As a former strata manager, his daily schedule used to be jam-packed filled with meetings, not giving him much time outside of work.
During the pandemic, he decided to retire early and picked up photography as a self-taught hobby while spending time with his wife exploring local trails.
"A lot of my friends said if I was interested in nature, I should visit Richmond," he explained.
"During the pandemic, me and my wife actually found a lot of trails to walk along and (to hike) and that's how it started."
Chua said photography was a lot of trial-and-error for him and learned mostly through YouTube with some guidance from his brother-in-law.
"At first, you kind of don't know what to do and you just play with the camera," he said.
"And then you try to figure out why the picture didn't turn out the way you want it to be and from there you kind of dive into learning more to improve."
Birds and animals in action are Chua's most favourite subjects in Richmond.
"I find it more interesting because they're moving around and trying to capture their action, the behaviour, that's really intriguing for me."
Chua told the News photography has opened up friendships with other photographers friends in Richmond, including local Good Morning, Richmond contributor Anabelle Wee.
"When I take a good photo, I like to share it with my friends and family.
"Because of these friends that I've made, we often exchange information or share what's another good location to take photos of wildlife."
His daughter then suggested submitting his photos to Good Morning, Richmond to share with the community.
To Chua, photography is not only an activity to pass the time. Rather, it is a way to learn more about nature.
"You walk out there and you never know what to expect. You learn a lot from wildlife habitats, the environment and all that changes at different times of the year," he said.
When Chua isn't on the trails with a camera in his hands, he can be found practicing calligraphy and volunteering.
"When I retired, I just knew I wanted to give back my time to the community somehow and volunteering seemed like the best way to stay connected while helping others."
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