“Forget it, Jake. It’s Chinatown.”
I’m not likely to forget Chinatown any time soon. It was an absolutely fantastic (and hot!) day of shooting in one of the jewels of Southern California. New friends began the journey to good friends as our two hour “official” photo walk became a nine hour walking tour of downtown Los Angeles. Our “group” found a rhythm as the day went on, ebbing and flowing, splintering off to shoot through our own eyes, then coming back together to share what we had seen with each other.
In the sprawl of Southern California, a land dotted with strip malls and megaplexes, Chinatown and the surrounding neighborhoods offer a welcome respite to our normally super-sized, frenetic lifestyle obsession. Here, Saturdays are spent not hustling between soccer practice and ballet lessons, but rather engaged in spirited games of Mahjong in the local square, preparing their shops for the day’s business or simply reading a paper and enjoying a cup of tea. The people here know they are different. They know their customs and traditions are sometimes scoffed at or misunderstood. Yet they are courteous, cheerful and often playful when a camera is around. Walking through the narrow alleys and breezeways, you almost forget this is Los Angeles. So, there we were, strangers in this not so strange land, dozens of cameras clicking away hoping to capture That image. I was lost, not literally (of course that does happen), but lost in the moment of viewing the world through the lens of a camera. For me it’s almost like being underwater. The sounds become muffled and distant, leaving only me, the Machine and the sometimes awkward dance between shadow and light…It’s in these moments that I am reminded of the importance of not only finding an art, craft or passion to lose yourself in, but also in finding a community of people to enjoy it with.
As the allotted time came to a close on the Chinatown portion of the Worldwide Photo Walk, several of us decided that we were simply having too much fun to call it a day. We said our good byes to those who were leaving, including Damon, our jovial walk host from Photoinduced, and charted a course downtown, by way of Phillipe’s for hot french dips, ice cold beer and great conversation…sure it was only 11 am, but it had to be five o’ clock somewhere. Fed and hydrated, we once again took to the streets and made our way through L.A. Union Station for more photos, Olvera Street for margaritas and a late afternoon walk back to Chinatown.
The day could not have been much better. We all laughed and shot and came to the unanimous decision that once a year just wasn’t going to be enough to carry us through, so we agreed to plan out more frequent “unofficial” photo walks in the coming months. Looks like the first of which may be an evening shoot towards the end of August. I’ll post info here as we figure it out. You can also visit the blog of photographer, beer aficionado and fellow Tri instructor,
Frank Wisneski for more info and his set of photos from the walk. Thank you to everyone who braved the heat and came out for a great day. I’m looking forward to seeing your photos. Post them to flickr, facebook, or your own blogs and send me the links.
