A dream sort of came true…sort of…as I was hired by National Geographic Traveler to document Honolulu’s Chinatown.
As a kid I had a subscription to the famous yellow framed magazine and would be mesmerized by those faraway Kodachrome destinations. I marveled at the beautifully bold color images of Africans in the bush, a village hidden from time in Italy, or a Japanese geisha putting on her makeup. I learned how to see, and for that matter dream about being a photographer. The magazines were my school books and inspiration for my future career. The dream to be a professional photographer and take pictures seemed SO faraway and as a kid growing up in San Antonio, I never though I’d escape and see the world through my camera.
Well, I finally reached my goal and technically did shoot for the National Geographic Society but it was for their other publication. I can’t complain as Traveler is a great magazine and I had hoped to shoot for anyhow.
The magazine had me shoot for their Neighborhood section. I had about a week to shoot Chinatown and lucky enough it was during Chinese New Year’s so I was guaranteed dancing lions and fireworks along with the usual exotic sights…and smells. I shot oddly shaped fruits, greasy ducks hanging on hooks, pigs heads, interesting people and places. I live just blocks away from the Asian neighborhood so its very easy to not see whats going around you. But when I take a camera out, Chinatown morphs into picture after picture.
I had to cover not just Chinatown but a few shops and restaurants around the neighborhood. I photographed Jamm Aquino and his band Vejj at Bar 35, fashion designer Florencia Arias, dim sum at Legend Seafood, and ramen at Lucky Belly along with a few other spots.
I was slightly disappointed more pictures didn’t run but I got a great layout and full page. The editors did promise more pictures on their iPad edition and possibly web so keep your eyes open for those images.
I’ll post more images to my facebook page so please have a look.