Archive for the ‘Chinatown’ Category
Chinatown Valentine – pt. 1
“Men should marry and women should wed!” goes an old Shanghai pop tune. Working in Chinatown over the past few months, I had a couple of opportunities to photograph wedded bliss, and the business of what cynics might refer to as the “bridal industrial complex” definitely commands a big presence in the neighborhood. Wedding outfitters and bridal shops abound, offering a fully packaged experience that will encompass everything from catering hall, decorations, DJs, wedding singers and magicians, to hair and make-up styling for the women and rented white tuxes for the groom, plus of course photographers and videographers to document the special day.
But: before you can get married, someone’s gotta spring the question!
Chinatown Valentine – pt. 2
And then, weddings.
I had heard that Thanksgiving is a traditional day to get married in Chinatown. It’s the one day in the American calendar of holidays when pretty much everybody can get the day off. So, in a parallel tradition to most everyone else in America, the holiday has become a time for immigrant families to gather and celebrate young couples. (And young they are – everyone I photographed this past Thanksgiving seemed to be in their early twenties.)
Welcoming the year of the snake
New year’s resolutions, lunar and otherwise: more sharing / posting of work from this project as I go along. Starting with today’s last minute shopping on Mott Street.
Street Shots / NYC group exhibit at South Street Seaport Museum
Update 01/18/2013: Thanks to all who came out to the rescheduled opening this week, and lost 5 pounds in the sweat lodge dedicated to art and street photography! Fun evening…
And here’s what my little corner of the humongous(!!) installation looked like, made pretty courtesy of J. Kalwa and filters:
Chinatown Blackout update – Knickerbocker Village
Saturday, Nov. 10, 2012: Chan Yin is a home health aide who looks after 93-year-old Liang Xiushi in the apartment she shares with her husband on the 7th floor of 16 Monroe Street in Knickerbocker Village. Without electricity, she is unable to operate Ms. Liang’s hospital bed to prop her up while feeding her, or to lift her out of bed. Their apartment has been without heat, hot water or cooking gas for almost two weeks now.
Chinatown Blackout – A community rallies after Hurricane Sandy
After the lights went out in Lower Manhattan, making a decision on what area to cover in the following days wasn’t difficult. I had spent time over the past few months photographing in NYC’s Chinatown community, slowly getting to know the neighborhood and some people there.
During the four days of the black-out, the community had to made do with whatever improvised resources were at hand. Residents relied on flashlights and candles; high rise apartment buildings lost running water and elevator service, a hardship especially for the neighborhood’s many elderly residents who were stranded on the higher floors. In a linguistically insular community of large numbers of recent immigrants there was an information blackout as much as there was power failure, and many residents were left in the dark as to what city services were available and when amenities, schools and transportation might be restored. Many people in this mostly working class community work in informal and service sector jobs or run small businesses, and they were losing desperately needed income every day businesses were shuttered in the wake of the storm.