Seconds before this was taken, Lucía Mara had chased the woman down New York’s Third Avenue. It was the Argentinian photographer’s last day in the city and she was running late to a meeting before her flight home to Buenos Aires.

It was a sunny October day, bright after a night of rain, and the early afternoon light had illuminated the woman’s violet hair just as Mara, who studied photography and film at the University of California, passed by. She abandoned thoughts of her meeting and took off in pursuit, then, breathless, requested permission to take a photo. The woman, she says, was “ecstatic”.

“I took this picture while she was still reacting to my question. I liked how her full-blown expressiveness matches her bold hair, and how the green window display reflects in her sunglasses. I’m always drawn to reflections, shadows, windows, doors and the visual multiplicity and ways of seeing that they offer,” Mara says.

She believes she works at a much slower and more deliberate pace when using a normal camera. “Looking through a viewfinder somehow changes my rhythm; I even breathe differently,” she says. “With a phone, I’m less rigorous. There is an immediacy and a spontaneity which allows for the unexpected. This moment was all about her.”

Olayinka Sodiq AbdurRaheem is the founder of Yinka Da Image Studio. Yinka Day Image Studio is into photography, filming, framing, branding, printing, live streaming of events, and training people to become professionals in the photography industry.

AbdurRaheem believes his journey into the industry was not an accident. “It’s a natural gift. I loved to sketch and draw as a child, and it whetted my appetite for photography even before I had an opportunity to hold my dad’s gear, the camera.”

Motivation

“What motivated me to go into this business was the camera I held. That experience sparked the desire to know more about photography. And I saw it as a career path to follow, along with my inquisitiveness, so I enrolled at Yaba College of Education and the Nigeria Institute of Journalism (NIJ) to pursue a photography career,” he said.

Lucrativity

AbdurRaheem believes that the business is lucrative. “One, there is a huge market for it more than ever before, with different areas to focus on such as interviews, sports, conferences, comedy skits, weddings, and even working with the movie industry. So when you have large clients depending on you for their events, believe me, it’s lucrative.”

Challenges

To him, “every business has its peculiar challenges. In the visual industry, equipment is costly. From lighting to the camera, A lens on its own is a challenge. Also, we have different clients, each with their own opinion. Electricity is also an issue; most of the time, we had to provide power ourselves because we had to meet client deadlines.

“Another issue we face is a lack of access to funding. You have to carry your cross, except you are fortunate to have someone supporting you.”

Advice

To anyone coming into this profession, he urged them to “ensure you evolve and be willing to learn new things because the more you invest in the knowledge of photography, the more you create a craft, and the greater your reward. Always criticise your work for better performance. Look at other photographers’ work and learn how to do it best. Attend exhibitions and exhibit your work too.”

Biography

Olayinka Sodiq AbdurRaheem is a Nigerian professional wedding, lifestyle, and documentary photographer and videographer.

Born in the Agege area of Lagos, AbdurRaheem began his education at CAC primary school, Agege, and Dairy Farm Secondary School, Agege. He then proceeded to Yaba College of Technology, Yaba, to study photography, and later to the Nigeria Institute of Journalism, Ogba, to study photojournalism.

He founded Yinka Da Image Studio some years ago and has handled many events in and outside Lagos. As an inquisitive person, he has attended several trainings, seminars, and conferences on photography, both in and outside Lagos, and has trained over 500 people in photography.

SEATTLE — Seattle’s Chinatown-International District has been captured in photographs during the Lunar Year of the Tiger. This, as one of the city’s most iconic neighborhoods feels itself under threat.

Seattle’s Chinatown-International District has been named one of the nation’s most threatened neighborhoods. But the CID retains a cherished place in the hearts of the Asian-American community across the state.

An exhibit at the Nisei Veterans Hall reflects the CID vibrancy.

Perhaps the one constant in the history of Seattle’s Chinatown-International District has been change.

After all, this is the CID’s third location since the first Chinese immigrants arrived in Seattle in the 1850s.

“There was the time when little kids could run through these city streets here and play,” said Ron Choi. “And you did not feel in any danger. A village, it was like a village.”

In 2022, longtime photographer Rick Wong got a grant from tech giant Amazon for a CID exhibit to be displayed at the Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience.

But the lead time for Wing Luke is years long.

“And so, Rick realized the Lunar New Year is not only two weeks during the celebrations,” said Choi. ” It’s the whole year. So, he got an idea to invite some photographers that he knows to join him and continues to project unofficially.”

Twenty-twenty-two was the “Year of the Tiger.” So, “Through the Eyes of a Tiger” was born.

Wong asked Choi to coordinate.

“So, through the lens of photographers, it was sort of a play on the word,” Choi said.

Photographer Sherwin Eng grew up with Choi and Wong. His CID roots go back to his great grandfather who came to Seattle from China in the late 1880s.

“It is like everything else, the neighborhood of Chinatown was our playground,” Eng said. “We would run down the street, not a care in the world, no fears, anything. So, I’ve seen the changes, unfortunately, good and bad, of the Chinatown-International District over the years.”

He, Wong, and four others agreed to capture their beloved “playground,” one photograph at a time.

“This one,” Eng said, pointing to a photograph, “I just love, I love bad lighting just because it gives you so many different opportunities.”

Then a photograph of the blight. “This place was a place called Jackson Beverage in the 60s,”

Both men say that the Chinatown- International District of their childhood is essentially gone. But with this exhibit, they have captured the CID at a particular time, a photographic record of what was for those who will come after.

“I’ve been a lifelong resident and it took this project for me to get closer to the community,” said Choi. “I mean, I’m like other people who would come down here, have a half a meal once in a while.  But I was able to discover more.”

A discovery that awaits any who venture here.

©2023 Cox Media Group

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