For my creative project I wanted to capture the authenticness of Chinatown that is often overlooked, which in my opinion are the people that reside in it. Chinatown is often perceived as a place to visit or explore, seen as an extension of the city it resides in. Each year San Francisco draws in two to three million tourists each year, at least three out of four visitors visit Chinatown during their trip. Many people go to see the historic tea rooms, taoist temples, and dim sum restaurants. With so many tourist attractions, the people of Chinatown can be disregarded, ultimately being seen as “background characters” in the eyes of tourists.

The world I wanted to create with these images presents the entirety of Chinatown as a “Tv/Movie Set”. The portraits focus on people who might have been considered “background characters” within the story of “Interior Chinatown”. My goal was to have the subjects break the fourth fall in some images just as the characters did in “Interior Chinatown”. The breaking of the fourth wall connects the viewer to the subject, creating an image with more emotion as it shines a spotlight on people that live in Chinatown.

I took these photos on a busy Saturday to have the most potential in subjects as possible. As I was taking these photos, I noticed many tourists exploring. I observed them being extremely fascinated by the architecture, street art, and shops. I tried my best to peer through the busy crowds to capture ordinary looking people, who simply were just existing in their space. 

The reason why I chose to use candid Street photography to depict this idea is because street photography is one of the best ways to view an unfiltered representation of humanity. It captures people's raw emotions and real life experiences. It freezes and shows the beauty of spontaneous moments in time. 

In the end, the goal of this project was to show that Chinatown is more than the tourist attractions it has to offer, it is within the people who live there. Yes, Chinatown is a historic place that represents the history of Chinese-Americans in the United States, but with the rapid gentrification in the area, would you still consider it the same Chinatown you know today if all of the locals weren't present? 

I don’t plan to stop here. One of my favorite forms of photography is documentary photography. I have been collecting images in preparation for my photo book unit in my art class. I plan on constructing a book that not only shows San Francisco Chinatown but Chinatowns from other cities including Oakland and New York City. My goal is to have the book showcase different people from each Chinatown and their own personal perspectives on living in Chinatown. This collection is a taste of what my photo book will look like.