Adithya Sambamurthy

The New York Times

admin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 07:01:33 +0000

A few of my favorite layouts from the past two years photographing for the New York Times Bay Area pages

Marina Beach in Red Scale

admin — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 06:20:42 +0000

I recently returned from a trip to Chennai, in India, where I visited family and friends. Whenever I visit, I try to go to Marina Beach for some street (or is it beach?) photography. I enjoy shooting film when I’m not working an assignment, and this time I decided to red scale a role of color negative film, and walk the beach with my rangefinder.

Candy Seller, Marina Beach, 2012.

Horsemen. Marina Beach, 2011

The results are pretty stark, but I think the red scale works well with the beach sand.

Discarded Wedding Picture

I finished the roll in Kerala while vacationing with my family.

Chinatown Politics: Behind The Curtain

admin — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 13:59:45 +0000

In November 2011, more than 160 years after the first Chinese immigrants arrived in San Francisco, voters overwhelmingly elected Ed Lee the city’s first mayor of Chinese descent. The election proved to be a historic milestone for the Chinese-American community. In a city where Chinese were once required to pay a $2.50 monthly tax and William Randolph Hearst’s Examiner newspaper stoked fears of “yellow peril,” five Chinese-American candidates were now running for mayor. This essay looks at the forces and institutions that helped galvanize San Francisco’s Chinese vote, and follows the candidates on the campaign trail, as they vie for the city’s highest office.

The Goddess of Democracy statue at Portsmouth Square in Chinatown, the center of political life for San Francisco’s Chinese community, on Friday, November 2, 2011. More than anything, the San Francisco mayor’s race has showcased the ascendant political power of a growing Chinese population, which now appears likely to produce the city’s first elected Chinese-American mayor.

Fan Xie, center, counts votes cast by members during a gathering of the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association (known as the Chinese Six Companies), the umbrella organization for Chinese family and regional associations in San Francisco’s Chinatown on Saturday, October 29, 2011. Since the 1860s, the Six Companies enforced order over Chinatown politics. In a city where Chinese were once required to pay a $2.50 monthly tax and William Randolph Hearst’s Examiner stoked fears of “yellow peril,” the associations provided jobs, legal assistance and protection from white “anti-coolie” gangs. But over the past three decades, the family associations have ceded influence to hundreds of community organizations run by politically savvy, American-educated activists and social workers.

An exhibit from the Chinese Historical Society shows community organizations registering Chinese voters and protesting living conditions in Chinatown. During the 1960s, a new generation of American-educated Chinese formed non-profits that lobbied the city to change housing and employment laws with a new degree of sophistication, thereby taking political power from the family associations.

Mayoral candidate Ed Lee, the son of an immigrant restaurant owner, comes from that world. He began his career as a tenant lawyer at the Asian Law Caucus, a Chinatown-based non-profit legal and civil rights organization.

Campaign posters for Leland Yee and Wilma Pang for mayor on display in San Francisco’s Chinatown on Monday, October 31, 2011. An unprecedented five Chinese candidates are contending for the city’s highest office.

Mayoral candidate Leland Yee (standing at right), canvasses for support in a Chinatown restaurant. His political signs are on display on every Chinatown street corner. Yee grew up in Chinatown, and hopes to cap a 21-year-career in public office with the mayoralty.

David Chiu announces his candidacy for mayor in Chinatown’s Portsmouth Square. Chiu, a Harvard graduate who touts his city-wide appeal, can appear more comfortable touring tech companies than sitting through the lush banquets that underpin Chinatown political life. “It’s often easy for some elected officials to gravitate to one community or another,” Chiu said in an interview. “I’m running to represent all of San Francisco.”

Ed Lee campaigns at a dim sum restaurant (left) on Saturday, November 5, 2011. Since he entered the race, Lee has been the target of attacks by Leland Yee, but he has maintained the lead in the race. According to The Bay Citizen/USF poll conducted October 7 to October 13, 2011, Lee held 31% of first choice votes.

An elderly voter leaves the polling station at the Chinatown branch library after casting his ballot on election day, November 8, 2011. Nearly one-quarter of San Francisco’s population is Chinese, and for the first time, Chinese voters returned absentee ballots at a higher rate than the city average, heralding a record turnout.

Ed Lee’s campaign staffers check the election results outside the San Francisco Department of Elections at City Hall on Wednesday, November 9, 2011, the day after ballots were cast.

Ed Lee is declared the winner of the 2011 mayoral race, becoming the first Chinese-American to be elected mayor of San Francisco, and only the second Chinese-American mayor elected in a large American city.

New Year’s Day Loss

admin — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 23:48:51 +0000

Lillian Leal comforts her son David Leal, 3, at the scene of a deadly fire Sunday morning, which claimed the life of David’s cousin Joshua Rivas, 2. Michael Leal, 8, inspects the remains of a bicycle. The Leals, who live next door to the Rivas family, came to inspect the damage and to salvage what was possible. Lillian Leal said Joshua was in the bedroom when the fire broke out while the two families were barbequeing outside. Tice District firefighters believe the cause was faulty wiring.

General Election

admin — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 23:01:21 +0000

Voters go to the polls at the Montclair Womens Cultural Art Club in Oakland, November 4, 2010.

Giants Win

admin — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 22:56:20 +0000

Xy Lene, center, celebrates with Giants fans at Public House next to At&T Park, after the Giants scored 6 runs in the 5th inning of Game 1 of the World Series to beat the Texas Rangers in San Francisco.

San Bruno Fire

admin — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 22:44:12 +0000

Charred remains of a truck burned out by a fire in a residential neighborhood in San Bruno, California, where a gas pipeline fire led to a huge explosion. Photo from September 9, 2010.

BART Protest

admin — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 22:11:32 +0000

A protester falls to the ground during a scuffle with riot police, who closed in on the group near San Francisco’s City Hall. Protesters converged on Bay Area Rapid Transit stations after the shooting of Charles Hill, a homeless man, by BART police.

Oscar Grant Riots

admin — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 21:39:47 +0000

Rioters loot a Foot Locker store in downtown Oakland, California, after judges ruled that Johannes Mehserle would be sentenced for involuntary manslaughter, not second-degree murder. Mehserle, a white Bay Area Rapid Transit police officer, killed Oscar Grant III, an unarmed black man, after shooting Grant in the back of the head while he was lying face down on a platform after being removed from a train during a fight.

Sun Yat-Sen

admin — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 17:18:21 +0000

A tribute to Sun Yat-sen, revered in both the People’s Republic of China and Taiwan as the “Father of Modern China,” was erected in San Francisco’s St. Mary’s Square in 1937 by Beniamino Bufano, an Italian-American sculptor.