With only odd moments of spare time for creative work, it was a situation that worked against his original intention to pursue creative photography. Chen told himself: "Creating photographs is what the true life of a photographer is about!"
單靠工作之餘零碎創作，有違選擇攝影創作的初衷，陳炳元告訴自己：「作品，才是攝影家的生命！」