Chinatown, London – January 2009
London’s Chinatown is only a couple of blocks from Leicester Square, but you may as well have stepped into a parallel universe. Chinese grocery stores, Chinese restaurants, Chinese newspapers, Chinese medicines… and alongside an army of tourists, a surprising number of Chinese people. Chinese New Year is always celebrated in January or February and in the weeks leading up to the big day, hundreds of paper lanterns are strung up in Gerrard Street and the surrounding roads, lending an exotic and festive air to a crisp winter morning. These backlit lanterns attracted me immediately, bobbing up and down with with their golden tassles swinging gently in the breeze.
Saturday Snapshots is a series of non-food photographs published every Saturday on CookSister. Previously featured photographs can be viewed on the Saturday Snapshots archive pages. Many photos featured in Saturday Snapshots are available to buy as high-quality greeting cards or prints in my RedBubble store.