One of the great things about documenting weddings is the opportunity to get to know friends and family of the bride and groom that I never would have met in other circumstances. In 2018, I documented Alex and Vania's wedding in Yaletown. In 2019, I received a message from someone named "Hae-In" who asked about my wedding availability. At first I was like "who is this?" but I later found out that she was at the wedding of Alex and Vania the year before. After further chatting, I found out she was Alex's sister! Unknowingly to me, in 2018 I was already documenting her.
I’ve started to make it a habit to post up these Chinatown Parade photos a year later… whoops! Life does get busy and now even more so with my daughter’s arrival. However, this has allowed for a strange benefit: After having faced a Chinatown Parade in the freezing cold and then in a blizzard (literally moments ago… and the snow is still falling as I type), I now look back at the photos from last year’s parade and am able to enjoy them more after having let them sit and marinate for a year rather than if I had simply posted them straight away. There’s something about the passage of time that really matures a documentary photograph.
Since 2013, I've been continually photographing Chinatown and as the years went on, I found myself meeting people and getting more involved. Eventually, I ended up joining the Wong Association and well... here I am.
Right after the first look and a few formal photographs, the bride and groom pulled out some nerf guns and started pelting each other and the groomsmen and bridesmaids with soft and harmless foam projectiles (yet another hazard wedding photographers have to watch out for on a wedding day. Hah! I kid!.... It's green goop and shaving cream). All images taken while on seconding assignment for Jody Wiger Photography.
