A Journey Home: San Ramon Man Uses Photography to Learn More About His Chinese Heritage

For Nido Paras, a photo of China is a look into his past, into a home he never knew.

Born to a Chinese mother and a father from the Phillipines, the 68-year-old San Ramon resident never asked his parents much about their upbringing. So when Paras' mother died, it sparked a curiosity that he's using photography to fulfill.

"Every photo is a way home for me," he said. "It's a way of finding out where I came from."

The retired banker-turned-travel photographer is sharing that view of his heritage with the public at the Lindsay Dirkx Brown Art Gallery in a show that opened this week called "China Focus," which Paras named after the tour company that led him and his wife on a three-week trip last May across 13 cities in China, from the southern seas to the northern reaches of the vast Republic.

For every insight gleaned about his family history, Paras said his snapshots also shatter some stereotype in his mind about China, a place that he said captivates him with its diversity, darkness, beauty, color, politics, technology, past and people.

"There are such conflicting views of China," he said. "It's exotic, but there's poverty, there's technology and this rich, deep history. It's so many things, has so many dichotomies and conflicting qualities."

It's that range from futuristic to archaic, crowded to remote that Paras wants to convey in his show, which he hopes won't be his last for the City of San Ramon.

"Photography is something I've dabbled in my whole life," he said. "But now that I'm retired, I want to make more of an effort to show my work and make it more of a focus for me."

Since retiring four years ago form the financial industry, Paras decided to cultivate his more artistic side.

"I decided to pursue something that I'd already been involved in for a number of years," he said. "I love to travel and I love to take photos of my travels, and over time more and more people would say, you know, this is really good."

After enough encouragement, Paras made the art his craft. He joined photography clubs, started showing his work in galleries and set up a website to showcase his portfolio.

For the first time in his life, after becoming living out a textbook immigrant success story, Paras said he began to find his creative calling.

"I belong to a different generation," said Paras, who moved to the U.S. from the Phillipines on his own as a teenager and eventually earned a degree in finance from the University of California, Berkeley. "In my generation, it's all about getting a good job, getting a good education, it's about becoming financially stable, providing for your family. I did that, and I'm glad I did that, but there was definitely less importance placed on creativity."

Coming from a background of self-sufficiency, where if he fell short there was no one to help him bridge the gap, Paras said he wanted to foster self-expression in his own family without so much focus on monetary success.

It's a mentality that Paras said has paid off. His two grown children–a son and daughter–both in their 20s–have pursued degrees and careers in art of some kind.

"I'm really proud," he said. "It's a true immigrant success story … to lay the foundation for my children to follow their dreams."

• See the gallery for yourself at the San Ramon Community Center's Lindsay Dirkx Brown Art Gallery, 12501 Alcosta Blvd. An artist's reception will be held from 3 to 5 p.m. on Saturday. In the meantime, feel free to check out some of the photos online at www.nidoparas.com.