It was the dawn of a New Year and I was ready to make my resolutions. As I watched the countdown of 2012 and prepared myself to usher in 2013, I made a commitment to complete a 1- year photography project that would explore and encompass Vancouver's Chinatown.

I began in the cold months of early 2013 and started walking around Chinatown rather casually. I usually started from the large gate standing over Pender Street and then worked my way around the various other avenues and roads that encompassed Vancouver's Chinatown. I explored shops and stalls and observed people going about their daily lives, all while documenting it with my camera as best as I could.

As I passed by people and observed both from a distance and up-close, a thought came to me: I was an outsider. I didn't know anyone in Chinatown and having not grown up in the neighborhood I found myself in unfamiliar territory. This meant that everything was fresh and new to me as I walked around the Chinatown streets but also meant that, despite a few visits to Chinatown in my earlier years, I was basically a blank canvas.