i love this photo, #20

Sandy's Deli (towers) © hee jin kang

I love this photo by the photographer Hee Jin Kang. It's a small part of a larger series, in which she photographs small details and vignettes in her parents' business, a deli in New York City.

“Through this photographic investigation of a place, I created a portrait of my parents without pointing the camera directly at them. Working with a 4x5 camera, I saw layers of accumulation, and objects that, in their disarray, made rhythmic juxtapositions. This accrual of stuff can be peeled away to reveal something simple, poetic and intensely personal, even within a public space like a Korean deli."

And of this particular picture, she says, "It's only recently that I've begun to realize the significance of September 11th to this series. I've lived in New York for most of my life, having grown up here. Two weeks after 9/11, I had to leave New York to go back to London and finish graduate school. When I returned a couple years later, I felt a strong need to spend time with my parents though I didn't really know why at the time. I started photographing at their store, Sandy's Deli, partially as a way to feel closer to them."