Photo: Bus Depot

Taken with Canon AE-1 on February 12, 2012 in old town Pocatello, Idaho.

Big Trouble in Little China

(Have you seen that movie? It’s so awful).

Back in November, I traveled to the City by the Bay – San Francisco - for the very first time. To put it simply, words cannot express just how captivated I was by the city and its unique mixture of culture. One of these cultures - a very dominant one of the Bay Area, and one that I proudly happen to be a part of – is the Chinese culture; you can only imagine just how ecstatic I was when we first arrived at “the largest Chinatown outside of Asia.”

Upon crossing under a traffic bridge near the upper-boundary of Chinatown, almost immediately I felt as though I had stepped into an entirely different country. The signs; the smells; the people – a familiar and nostalgic sensation flooded my mind. After all, I had spent four years of my life living in part of the largest Chinatown in the world (Hong Kong).

Now, I won’t say visiting Chinatown was the very top highlight of the trip, but it was definitely one of them. If you love authentic (or Americanized) Chinese food, cheaply-made “Chinese” souvenirs, and being surrounded by people who are almost all tourists, then you must not pass up a chance to spend a few hours roaming this neighborhood. (If you don’t love any of that, you should still go).

When you’re there, don’t spend too much time in the giant stores that sell 99-cent folding paper fans and 99-dollar “designer” purses - at least not without first filling your belly with some authentic Chinese/Cantonese food. Might I recommend the New King Tin Restaurant on Washington Street? They offer more than an array of popular Chinese dishes for a very decent price. I got a personal favorite – egg noodles in wonton soup – while the others ordered a tomato-beef stir-fry and a platter of chicken and duck on rice. All of it was absolutely delectable. (Get the chicken and duck on rice – it is always accompanied by the heavenly “ginger sauce” for your taste buds to savor).

Chinatown on a Friday morning. New King Tin Restaurant can be seen in the distance. November 25, 2011.

After eating, exploring we went. We walked up and down the streets that constituted the oriental district and admired century-old architecture; window-shopped; wandered into a neighborhood park; people-watched; and indulged in a nice, tall glass of boba milk tea.

Chinatown patrons stop outside a magazine shop to read the latest headlines. November 25, 2011.

Bundles of Chinese sausage hang-dry in a shop.

Chinese steamed BBQ pork and custard buns (yum) and other baked good are displayed in a Chinatown bakery window.

A typical sight at any authentic Chinese eatery - fresh roasted chicken and duck are displayed in restaurant windows as a traditional way to attract customers. This is the same chicken and duck served as mentioned above. November 25, 2011. (Sorry - I promise that's the last food photo I have, haha)!

Just a neat perspective of a Chinatown street. Look at all the signs!

The Chinatown Gate in San Francisco, November 25, 2011.

 

Red is considered the luckiest color in the Chinese culture. Its use is very apparent in this photo of a Chinatown street.

Within a few hours, we had basically seen the entire area that is known as Chinatown; we walked a ton without taking too much time to rest. Add that to the variation in elevation (hills) and an unfit pair of legs, and you get one very tired girl. But was it worth the walk? Considering I got to partially relive four years of my life in three hours, I would definitely say: “Hell yes, it was.” (Just remember to walk a few miles on the treadmill before you go)!

(I’m aware that this post did not describe an ounce of “big trouble” as one might gather from the title… Read about how a Chinese local scolded me, here – now that was real trouble)!

Photo: Man and Seagull at Pier 39, San Francisco

I hope this man, whoever he is, has a happy new year. Taken at Pier 39 in San Francisco, November 24, 2011.

Wishing you all a very happy new year! (“See you next year!”)

The Crazy Hazards of Being a Novice Street Photographer

While I generally have many in mind from brainstorming, the topics I write about on my blog are often spontaneous decisions made just minutes (or seconds) before I actually start writing. This is true about today’s post; while on Facebook (just barely), I came across PetaPixel‘s “The Crazy Hazards of Being a National Geographic Photographer.” Obviously intrigued, I clicked the link to check it out.

You may be wondering how this proved relevant enough to become a topic on my blog. After all, I am not a Nat Geo photographer (although I absolutely wish I was, even after reading the article). Well, let me tell you a story…

It was Black Friday (A.K.A. a typical Friday for me), and we had decided on visiting Chinatown. After a tad bit of window shopping and a hearty and much-missed Cantonese lunch (I ordered BBQ pork and wontons in egg noodle soup!), the adventure began as we strolled the streets of the “largest Chinatown outside of China.” We went inside a few shops, all of which sold touristy products like cheaply decorated chopsticks and 99-cent collapsible paper fans. Finally losing patience while waiting for my mom to decide on a traditional-looking purse (“made with REAL leather!”), Kyle and I ditched my parents. After hitting up a few more shops and getting bored, we walked down the hill toward a park, hoping to just sit and rest.

Now, just as background information, I had made a goal to step outside of my comfort zone and try my hand at street photography during the trip. I realized that I had not really done so before, and photos that contain natural “posing,” behavior, and raw emotion are the kind that I strive to capture. With that, I kept my camera “on” and handy (as in in my hand) at all times.

As we approached the park, it became clear to me that many older Chinese people had gathered there to socialize by playing card games. They were on the park benches, gathered around the stone-made checker/chess tables (a common feature at Chinese parks), and some even made their own makeshift tables and chairs out of plastic crates and cardboard boxes. (Not sure what Kyle thought about it all, but the sighting was all too familiar to me due to previously living in Hong Kong). My first thought? “Awesome. I’ll be able to get some good shots here!” We proceeded into the park and luckily found the only unoccupied bench. I promptly switched out my wide-angle to my telephoto (hey, no one said voyeurism was against the rules of street photography!), and began to observe the environment.

Initially, it was just a cluttered mess of people. From my perspective, there really wasn’t anything interesting to be seen, so I decided to sacrifice resting my nearly-jello legs for a chance at getting some shots. I got up, looked around, saw multiple “interesting” subjects, brought the viewfinder to my eye, and began snapping. (It’s rocket science, really). Luckily, I had the luxury of cowering behind my telephoto while photographing people, unbeknownst to them, from, at times, 50 feet away. It was nice, and, well, easy. So easy and unsatisfying, in fact, that I decided to bring it up a notch. I approached a group of women playing cards just outside of the bathrooms, stopped when I was about 10 feet away, and took just two pictures – two pictures of nothing but the cards, because at 70mm, I really couldn’t frame much of anything else from that close.

One of the two shots I snapped of the women playing cards in a Chinatown, San Francisco park. November 25, 2011.

When I lowered my camera to move on, one of the women had noticed me, and started yelling at me in Cantonese. She. Was. Pissed. “What are you doing?!” “Who are you?!” …More yelling…

I mean, I know it happens, and I know that people want their privacy. I know that some people just don’t want their picture taken. At all. Ever. And I can respect that. But I didn’t know how to react. I was simply and completely unprepared for the situation. I’ve replayed the scenario in my head a thousand times, wondering if there was something I could’ve done besides acting like I didn’t understand/pretending like I didn’t hear her and walking away calmly (and hoping she wouldn’t lunge at me and beat me violently with her crate-for-a-chair). The alternative ways that I could’ve reacted are: 1) Responding to her in Cantonese, reassuring her that I had not captured her face and calling her “Leng Lui” (pretty girl) to make her feel better, 2) Apologizing for invading her privacy and showing her the pictures that I had taken, 3) Introducing myself in the first place and asking for their permission to take pictures of them, or 4) Flipping her off and booking it with a smirk on my face.

Okay, that last option was clearly a joke (clearly). But do you see how my embarrassment/resentment could have been prevented? I have learned a great deal from this single experience, and I hope that I will be able to handle similar situations better in the future (God forbid it ever happen again!). Or maybe, walking away without acknowledging her was the best thing I could’ve done. What do you think? Have you ever experienced conflict/confrontation during street shooting? How did you handle it?

The Drunkards

Drunkard on Sidewalk, July 2010