With international travel at a standstill for most of 2020 due to the pandemic, it's the first time that my "Best Of The Year" do not include -or are all of- photographs made on trips to foreign lands, but are of street photographs in New York City and of a fashion storytelling audio slideshow, also in NYC. These are not necessarily the best photographically or aesthetically, but are those which retrospectively resonated the most with me.The first photograph (they are not in any preferential or chronological sequence) that I chose for the list is that of the hand of a protestor holding a sign demanding for a change in America. It was made on June 6 at a demonstration in Washington Square Park triggered by the murder of George Floyd by policemen two weeks earlier in Minneapolis. Due to Covid19, I was extremely concerned while attending the protests despite face masks/coverings being mostly prevalent. However, it was to witness history being made by courageous people hungry for a societal change.
For more: Stolen Lives and I Can't Breathe.
The next photograph was made on Bayard Street; in Manhattan's Chinatown on April 15...the peak of New York's lockdown. A depressing sight especially knowing that Bayard Street is normally abuzz with shoppers, tourists and workers. A lone elderly man, probably on a trip to buy essentials despite most stores were shuttered, was seen shuffling slowly in front of the popular grocery/meat store.
It was my first outing with cameras since the official lockdown, and I prepared myself as if going to a war zone...and took excessive precautions; a baseball cap, sunglasses, a mask and scarf over it...and avoided the few people who were out that morning. It wasn't too difficult to do so as Chinatown was almost deserted, but I was very uneasy and disheartened during the 2 hours spent there.
For more: Chinatown In The Time of Covid19
Following the protests calling for Black Lives Matter and other grievances in various boroughs of New York City between May 30 and June 2, 2020, substantial looting and break-ins from criminal gangs were seen in the shopping districts of the city. As a consequence, unsightly wooden boards were erected to protect stores and boutiques from further damage. Some of Manhattan's SoHo streets witnessed a flurry of activity from artists and others aiming to use these boards as canvases for their art and messages.
It was emotionally invigorating to see the colorful artwork which brought life back to the shopping canyons of SoHo. I spent a pleasant few hours on June 7 walking along its cobblestone streets, photographing the artists, non-artists and random volunteers who contributed to the beautifying project.
For more: SoHo's Street Art
It was not until mid-summer that I started to see almost back to normal signs in Chinatown. I had recently added a 50mm lens to my GFX50R gear, and started to experiment photographing in panoramic format known as 65:24 or X-Pan. I had to explore the outer reaches of Manhattan's Chinatown for panos as its main streets such as Mott et al were too congested with vehicles to get the scenes I sought.
It was a long-awaited relief to photograph busy streets again, even if the large majority of people were wearing masks...which meant facial expressions could no longer "make the picture" as they did pre-pandemic.
In Mid-May, signs of life were returning to Manhattan's Chinatown with shoppers scurrying about to buy their daily shopping...some were wearing gloves, masks and face-shields, and not even stopping to catch up on gossip as they delighted in doing a few months earlier. On Mott Street, I was struck by a long line of Chinese residents -mostly elderly, but a few younger- waiting for the distribution of free food by a small restaurant. The effort was funded by individual donations, and publicized by concerned politicians such as Yuh-Line Niou (NYS Assemby Member).
I uploaded this photograph to my Twitter account where it received over 3400 views. It features shopping bags hanging from the grille of a shuttered store...these bags were hung by their owners to reserve their spots on the line for the free food, while they stood on the other side of Mott Street where the sun was warmer.
As many other photographers have done while spending most of their days indoors, I experimented with still life photography. Flowers from a neighborhood florist (or Trader Joe's) became my models -either fresh or dried- set against a large sheet of black card stock, and with diffuse light from a window.
I include these dried flowers as a sort of reminder of this 'staying-indoors' period. I haven't had the patience for that sort of static photography for long, but this forced phase of still life photography gave me the chance to familiarize myself with my new GF 50mm f3.5 lens.
The only project that provided the identical adrenaline I usually experience on my travel was a photo session with Lise Liu in Manhattan's Chinatown, and which allowed me to produce the audio slideshow "Looking For Mei Wu".
I had researched the locations (Pell, Doyers and Mott Streets) beforehand, and it was a very enjoyable 2-3 hours of the morning of September 4. The preparation for the photo session and its post phase (editing the images and audio) reminded me how enjoyable such projects were when I worked on them in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Taipei.
