Happy Early Valentine’s Day. I don’t normally make such a fuss about the 14th, but this year I want to share something special with everyone. Following the overwhelming response from people around the world to my little travel video (http://kienlam.net/2012/01/09/time-is-nothing-around-the-world-time-lapse), I decided to return the love with this new Valentine’s Day video.

It’s inspired by my travels, the things I heard along the way, and the idea that love is similar no matter the country you are in, how old you are, or what medium you choose to express that love.

Once again, I asked my brother William Lam of Metaphysika Sounds to write an original composition that would help move the visuals along. I love the upbeat feel of the song “Fresh & Easy” as well as the pacing. The song will be available very soon on iTunes and I’ll post again when it’s available.

Now for the a mini FAQ.

I shot with a Nikon D3s a 60mm f/2.8 Micro lens to get the close-up shots, 50mm f/1.4 and 24-70mm f/2.8. The entire thing was edited in Final Cut Pro.

I did not use Google Translate. I spoke with native speakers to get a contextual translation rather than a literal one because you can’t always capture the subtle depth and meaning of a saying by translating it word for word from another language.

The catalyst for the video was the vintage Underwood portable typewriter I received for Christmas. It’s such a thing of beauty and you can see it in the first scene. I love old machines and I often wonder how many people have used it, how it was passed along, and how it eventually ended up in my possession. This typewriter was made back in the 1920′s, so it’s probably seen its fair share of love letters, correspondences between friends, and news of the world changing around it.

I’ll update this as more questions come in.