Wellness and Photography: Matthew Kim’s Story Please meet our guest for our Wellness topic this week, Matthew Kim. Matthew is a Sophomore majoring in Aerospace Engineering with a minor in Global Engineering. In a conversation with the AAARCC Director, Dr. Pam Sari, Matthew shares about his journey at Purdue and his idea of wellness conveyed through his passion for photography. “My name is KyoungMok Kim,” he says, opening the conversation. “I go by Matthew Kim.” Born in South Korea, Matthew moved to the United States when he was a first-year student in high school. He now calls San Jose home.

Image 1. “A Picture of Myself,” Photographer: Matthew Kim Asked why he chose Purdue, Matthew says that Purdue has one of the best engineering programs in the nation for his major. Geographically, he comments that “I mostly lived near the coast. I wanted to get a perspective of the area I am not familiar with.”

His time at Purdue has been very busy, but fulfilling. Matthew states that “my major itself is very demanding, requiring a lot of coding, math, and engineering concepts in general. There are a lot of projects, so I have to set up not only individual time, but also arrange schedules so I can meet with people for team projects.” Matthew has been involved in Purdue GEARE (Purdue Global Engineering Alliance for Research and Education). This program will allow him to potentially be enrolled in a semester of study abroad in Germany for Spring 2021, and get an internship in Germany for Summer 2021. When asked what he is most excited about with this future study abroad trip, Matthew said that it is the new perspectives about different cultures and countries that he is most excited about. “Germany is the standard of Engineering, so learning Engineering from that country will be a great experience.” With Matthew’s busy academic life, photography becomes one important element in maintaining his wellness, “Photography gives me some time off from all the busy school work and stress, and it allows me to go outside to observe and explore.” Matthew’s interest in photography started with a trip to Yosemite Valley with his family. After he got back from the trip, he showed his photos to his friends and one of them decided to show Matthew’s picture to his mom. This friend’s mom encouraged Matthew, telling him that he has serious skills and that he should start a photography business. The encouragement boosted Matthew’s confidence, and he signed up for a photography class in high school. With money that he earned, he bought a camera instead of a gaming computer he intended to purchase. Since then, he carried around the camera everywhere he went. One thing Matthew particularly enjoys about photography is its close connection with explorations and travels. “I have been exploring photo spots that not many people have been to. For example, when my brother and I went to the White Sands National Park [in New Mexico], we decided to go off the road and walk a mile or two to a spot that was not explored by other tourists. What a special experience it was.” This photo, titled “Following His Footsteps,” captures the extra-mile walk. Matthew and his brother had supportive interests, “My brother likes to be photographed. He used to be a model at some point. That’s why when we were walking up the hill, I wanted to get a cool picture of him.” The trip from New York to California gave the brothers the opportunity to connect while enjoying new, beautiful places.

Image 2. “Following His Footsteps,” Photographer: Matthew Kim The trip continued and they made their next stop at the Grand Canyon in Arizona. The following photo, “The Drop Off” was taken at the Grand Canyon. They both wanted to take a daring photo, so Matthew asked his brother to go to the edge of the cliff where the drop off height was at least 1000 feet. “I tried to capture the scale and height of the Grand Canyon in this picture. It turned out to be a really cool photo and it is one of those shots that is fun to talk about with other people.”

Image 3. “The Drop Off,” Photographer: Matthew Kim For Matthew, the exploration in photography involves practice and skill building by taking a lot of photos. “One day, my friends and I were walking around San Francisco. I always tune to natural lights. As a photographer, being aware of and taking photos at the moment with good natural lights has been part of my practice. That day in San Francisco, I took about 200 pictures, and I think only a few of them were good.” Part of the day’s exploration brought him to the Financial District of San Francisco, where he took a photo of the Transamerica Pyramid building below.

Image 4. “Urban Pyramid,” Photographer: Matthew Kim Connecting photography and identity, Matthew conveys his personal style of landscape photography. “If you see my photos, there are not many people involved. It might be interpreted that I block out the human aspect as a distraction in nature, but I want to convey the simplicity and grandeur of nature, and put the human element into a perspective of this grand.” One photograph that Matthew chooses to highlight this perspective is titled “Endless Waves,” a photo that he took at Point Reyes National Seashore in Marin County, California. “The waves were really big that day,” Matthew states. “I saw two people were going down to get closer to the waves, so I used their presence to give a perspective of the scale and distance of the waves.”

Image 5. “Endless Waves,” Photographer: Matthew Kim Matthew’s photo won a Second Place for the 2019 Global Engineering Photo and Video Contest for the theme Global Classroom. The photo shows the EPICS Global Air Quality Trekkers (GAQT) Study Abroad team, that he was part of, learning from locals in Kenya on how to make traditional Nandi kitchens using mud.

Image 6. “The Kenyan Experience,” Photographer: Matthew Kim

When asked if photography will be part of his future professional plan, Matthew answered that “Right now, photography is just for myself, to print and put on my walls. The photos are memories of where I was.” The future, for Matthew, is working professionally in the field of Aerospace Engineering, and venturing into entrepreneurship so that eventually he can retire early. “I have been reading about investing and stocks,” Matthew states. “Some of the books that I have been reading are Common Stocks and Common Profits by Philip A. Fisher and Beating the Street by Peter Lynch.” Asked for words of encouragement for our Purdue University community, Matthew says that he has been reflecting a lot on the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects. “Many of our communities are struggling, and my heart goes out to families who mourn their loved ones. There may be people who are distantly affected by the pandemic. People might be tempted to take things for granted or even be greedy with keeping resources. I think it is very important to care and be united. I hope all of us soon will see the light at the end of this dark tunnel.” Thank you, Matthew Kim, for sharing your photos and stories with Purdue AAARCC!