jesse.camera

Chinese New Year in N.Y.C.

February 12, 2024

Taken Saturday in Chinatown, NYC. There is a ton of great work from photographers born and/or raised in Chinatown; photographers who have intimately experienced life here as part of a very unique and strong diasporic community (a small fraction linked below). My connection to Chinatown is simply as a neighbor - as a fellow New Yorker. I do not have Chinese heritage. My impulse to photograph the Chinese New Year is personal in a very, very different way.

Last year it was one of the first big social gatherings I attended in the later chapter of Covid 19 and it was surprisingly emotional for me. Being around that many humans in celebration, in a moment of hopefulness and optimism - it was powerful. I found myself in tears more than once. Experiencing this catharsis through a tradition that is not my own was unlike anything I’ve ever encountered in my life. I had no preconceived notion of what should or shouldn’t be. No expectation of how I should or shouldn’t participate. It was a pure sort of newness. I watched, I spoke to people, I laughed and cheered. I just took it in.

As a New Yorker I can celebrate Chinese/Lunar New Year as a deeply important celebration within the collage of traditions expressed in our city. Participating in that way is really special and each year I find myself with loved ones, eating great food, meeting awesome new people, laughing, learning, smiling and feeling super grateful that I have a camera to capture it.

Walking with Lions

Gee Moon Tom

Edward Cheng

Kyle Lui

Eclipse

Never imagined I’d be watching a solar eclipse from the rooftop of the American Museum of Natural History. Yet there I was. It was full of laughs and joy, but the kid in me was in absolute wonder. I remember being a child, marveling at the TV while my local suburban news station announced the completion of the planetarium. There was nothing I wanted to do more, than go to New York City and visit the museum. The magic of cities, museums and parks stems from a powerful set of early childhood memories. Memories like that news broadcast with its sweeping shots of that metalic orb and the planets hanging around it, all encased in that glass cube, it was magic. It hung in my young mind, this fantasy world that was somehow real, right there, waiting - the city. It was a few month later, for my birthday, that my parents would happily take me in as my gift. The only thing I wanted.

I imagine that same kid finding out, through some crystal ball, that one day he’d walk down a hallway of the museum. The planetarium just behind him, welcoming him back. If that kid knew, that one day, he’d enter a plain white door marked STAFF ONLY, climb up a dark dusty flight of stairs past pipes and boilers, to emerge onto a roof and actually be standing... on top of the museum... to watch a real solar eclipse...

As a boy, if I was able to see that future for myself, I’d freeze, wide eyed, absolutely paralyzed with excitement. That boy would surely think, what an amazing life I have in the future.

When the eclipse ended, we walked to the planetarium’s museum shop and to honor the kid in me, who I work very hard to protect, I bought some freeze dried “space” ice cream. We thanked each other that night, as I looked through the photos I took of smiling faces, an NYC crowd gathered beneath the planetarium, and the nervous laughter of scientists trusting their free “eclipse glasses.”

The goal.

February 5, 2024

The goal of this weird little site was to steal some of the language of social media and remove everything... social. It’s just supposed to feel quiet. I’d feel like I did a really good job if it made people feel calm. Imagine that? Something on the internet that makes us feel calm. So yeah, you scroll, maybe read some half baked idea I’ve written down (or skip the writing, that’s absolutely fine). You can tap on a photo, zoom in, see the full resolution (sorry it takes a minute to load) and...

That’s it.

No followers. No comments. Just some of my thoughts and some of your thoughts.

The only issue is - I have projects from the past that I’d like to share. I have work that is definitely not street photography and some of my street photography is part of a series that really doesn’t work in a timeline like this.

But I don’t want to ruin this simple, quiet flow.

So I’m going to try adding some very basic buttons at the top of the page, below the header. Those will be my projects. When you scroll, they will slide away with the header.

If I don’t like it, you might see those buttons disappear. Maybe the design will work. Maybe it won’t. We’ll see.

The photos above are pulled from different series I’ve completed.

It’s not in the photo.

I just had to include a crop of the photo of this mother and child during 2023’s Chinese New Year. This whole moment was so much fun but the best part came later. I approached them after taking the photos and gave her my email address in case she wanted the images. I got an email about an hour later and it was awesome being able to share all of the images with them. It feels good to think about the family looking at these photos years and years from now.

“Catch!”

February 5, 2024

Early morning. Taken today. In Queens. And yes, he caught it (and started rapidly labeling produce without skipping a beat).

After all these years I feel like I’m still learning this camera.

This photo.

February 4, 2024

Sometimes you fall in love with a photo because it just lights you up in a way that’s so specific. And I know it probably won’t hit for anyone else but it inspires a whole train of ideas. This photo definitely did that for me. I’m learning it’s okay if it doesn’t do that for anyone else.

There is a language on the streets in New York. Each borough is different and the neighborhoods within each borough are different. There is a language in how you set out trash. A language in how you take in a package for a neighbor. A language of sharing space and time and energy with the other humans around you. Most of these unspoken gestures involve some level of courtesy, or nicety, or not.

People think New York City, on the whole, is a mean place. This is ignorant. New York is not mean (or monolithic). When you open up and learn to tune in to these silent languages, I think it’s one of the kindest places on earth.

This photo means a lot to me because it captures a ritual of certain homes on my block. They leave out free items. It could be toys, appliances. Often it’s food. I’ve never seen the items last for more than a few hours. In 2024 New York City hit a record high of homlessness. It’s shameful. 700,000 people without homes, in one of the richest places on earth. These bags are just one symptom of a deep and complicated system of corruption and oppression and pain.

And the dinosaur. Well it’s a damn toy dinosaur. I think any photo ever taken on the street would be better if it had a toy dinosaur.

Taken today on the little G5 X.

It’s fine that it’s over.

January 31, 2024

Christmas is way over. The 2023 Holiday Season is done. I love the holidays but it’s also nice when it ends. Besides, I really love winter in New York. I feel like I’ve been hearing more people share that lately. The bitter cold feels great. I just wish the sun stayed out longer.

A dozen lives.

January 28th, 2024

Every time I look at these photos I want to go back. Lately though, it feels more like I want to live a dozen lives. Live in a dozen countries, have a dozen different jobs, have a dozen different passions, a dozen different dreams. I’m not afraid of dying, but if given the chance, I would totally live forever. I daydream about owning a small, 24-hour, single screen cinema and cafe. After 10pm, into the early morning, the theater seats are moved aside and replaced with cafe tables, small dim lamps topped with amber shades; sure you can use your laptop to work, read a book, we have some stationary for sale if you need, oh and we’ll be screening Chungking Express, Stranger Than Paradise, The Transporter and Perfect Days tonight. Enjoy.

Canon G5 X and 5D Mark IV and some 35mm film.

Very few of them.

January 27th, 2024

I know when I take a photo of someone there is always a good reason. There has to be. Because, for me, taking photos of people on the street is always uncomfortable. While I believe street photography is really important that doesn’t mean it’s not, to a degree, invasive. And yet, if we don’t capture images on the street, then all that’s left is entertainment, the news, marketing; all these other forms of media that capture the world for reasons that are complicated, sometimes nefarious, often commercial.

I think street photography presents an opportunity for honesty. Most of the visual media we consume (ads) are not made with any intention to present something honest. I think this is the core of why I believe street photography is something that is actually important to the world.

For just some of these photos, very few of them, I wish I could go back and talk to the person. I don’t realize it until I get home and look at the images. It’s a strange thing. In the moment, taking these photos, it’s so instinctual that I don’t even really know consciously why I’m capturing it. The impulse is coming from a place that I’m not in conversation with. There isn’t enough time for that. There’s just a lot of mystery in the process. I love that.

What I do know is - the images that I like are the ones that make me think, “I wish I could talk to them.” That’s the strongest compass I have with my street photography. It’s what makes these images feel important, at least, to me.

Shot on a defective Ricoh GR III.

I feel you.

January 25th, 2024

I think almost everyone can relate to what this person is feeling. It’s hard to know, in the moment, if it’s worth it. How much are our jobs truly taking from us? Too much? For those of us who have always had to work to survive, that constant pressure can create a uniquely oppressive sort of tunnel vision. When every single one of your loved ones is struggling financially, it can feel like no matter how much you support one another, you’re all trapped on the same sinking ship. And for those of us who have been in debt our entire adult lives, well, I don’t know how to put that experience into words. But you can’t know it unless you’ve lived it. Period. So, for everyone out there with student loans, medical debt, debt from supporting loved ones, any kind of debt... you’re not alone. Don’t isolate yourself, be open with those you love and trust and seek professional financial guidance. I can say that a long, slow path towards relief still ends with relief. <3

Shot on a Fuji X-E4 that I sold.

When are we living?

January 24th, 2024

I took this photo last year but I think about it a lot. I was catching up with a good friend of mine yesterday and our conversation reminded me of it. She’s about to have her first child. I’m so happy for her. She is an artist and we started talking about social media, or more specifically, the platforms that exist for sharing our work. Of course, social media dominates this space. I just can’t take it anymore. I am thankful to spend very little time on social media. It has been an intentional practice to step away. I see more and more of my friends doing the same. I hope that the younger generations reject it. There is some hope. I hope.

Finally... snow.

January 19th, 2024

It finally snowed. Not flurries. Snow. I heard it had been over 600 days since NYC saw snow. It was beautiful. I want more of it. Took these photos in my apartment and just a few blocks away. Didn’t stray far. Didn’t bring gloves and my hands were freezing in no time. Took the Canon G5 X and the Fuji X-H2 with me. Edited these on my iPhone with the Photos app.

Up we go.

January 3rd, 2024

This is why I love shooting on this solid little G5 X. I stood here just waiting until someone walked up the stairs. No one cared about me. I just kept snapping.

Upper West Side, NYC. Just south of the Museum of Natural History. I took this photo about 15 minutes after this next one.

Lunch break.

January 3rd, 2024

Okay so this is just another G5 X photo that I edited in the Photos app on iPhone. I even used the marker tool to just draw over some spots in the bottom dark area I didn’t like. This photo never hit Lightroom. G5 X straight to my phone using the SD to lightening adapter.

Museum of Natural History in the Upper West Side, NYC.

Buildings in buildings.

January 3rd, 2024

Taken the same day as the last few photos. This is actually a pretty significant crop of the original image. It’s wild how sharp it stays. G5 X again.

North Midtown, NYC.

Travelling again.

January 1, 2024

I started travelling again for work and somehow remembered this photo. Taken in 2018 in a hotel room somewhere in the United States. G5 X. Sometime in 2018. Travelling for Canon.

NYC in 2023