TOP INTRO REFERENCES PRE-PROD PROD POST-PROD PUBLISH AFTER HOURS

Chinatown,

Untranslated

INTRO

Anchor 1

An introduction to the place, its atmosphere, and the mindset needed to photograph it.
This video sets the tone before any image is made.

Entering the Territory • 7 min

REFERENCES

Those Who Looked First

Learning with those who mastered it before us.

Bud Glick

1971

Bud Glick

1983

Daido Moryama

Tokyo

Bud Glick

1971

Anchor PRE

Pre Production

First things first

Weather

Overcast days: ideal for reading layers, signage, and texture
Cold mornings: stronger sense of labor and routine.
Light rain: reflections, separation of planes, visual density.

Location

Streets

Mott Street (nice view to Empire Estate)
Grand Street
Canal Street (edges and pressure points)
East Broadway
Side streets between Elizabeth, Bowery, and Allen

Subway

Canal St. J / Z
Grand St D/ B
East Broadway F
Bowery J / Z
Spring St. 6

Best time to shoot

Early morning (7am–9am): Nice light comes trough Grand St. Local people. Deliveries, preparation, rhythm before crowd.
Midday (11am–2pm): maximum density, compression, friction.
Late afternoon: light cutting through streets, visual breathing.

Suggested Equipment

Kit A — Observational

35mm
Moderate aperture (f/5.6–f/8)
Comfortable distance, no confrontation

Kit B — Compression & detail

50mm
Selective framing inside visual chaos
Signage, hands, objects, gestures

Kit C — Inside / reflections

Fast lens
Glass, vitrines, interior-exterior overla
Accept imperfect light as language

PRODUCTION

Production

Shoot first, edit maybe

What to look for

Sidewalk as warehouse

Sidewalks used as storage, display, and logistics — commerce overflowing into public space. Canon R5 - lens: Voigtlander 35mm 2.0 f 5.6 • 1/45 • ISO 1250

Hands at work

Cutting, weighing, packing, counting. Faces optional. Gesture is enough.

Tourist rupture

A single image that breaks the internal logic: souvenirs, slogans, visual noise from outside.

Sidewalk as warehouse

Sidewalks used as storage, display, and logistics — commerce overflowing into public space. Canon R5 - lens: Voigtlander 35mm 2.0 f 5.6 • 1/45 • ISO 1250

SHOOTING LIST
01. The sidewalk as warehouse
02. Hands at work
03. Language as texture
04. Glass worlds, reflections
05. Generational overlap
06. Compression portraits
07. Delivery choreography
08. The ritual of choosing
09. Edges and seams
10. Tourist rupture

Lets get to the image . 8 min

We’ll break down a selection of photographs from this assignment — how they were made, the decisions behind each frame, and why certain choices mattered more than others.

POST

Post Production

That really matters

Editing

Screenshot 2026-01-15 at 13.48.33 (3).png

Editing as direction • 6 min

This video explores how different editing choices can shift meaning, narrative, and authorship.

Color Grading

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From Capture to Final • 12 min

A practical walkthrough of turning raw files into finished images.

COLOR PRESETS

PUBLISHING

Publishing

Show time. If the work stays on a hard drive, it’s not finished.

Photobook

A photobook forces decisions. What comes first, what follows, what breathes, what repeats, what disappears. Images stop competing for attention and start working together. Meaning is built in the gaps, in the pacing, in the order.

Chinatown demanded this format. Its logic is cumulative, not spectacular. Repetition matters. Small gestures gain weight when placed next to each other. A book allows the work to unfold slowly, without explanation, without translation.