A Year of Documentary Family Photography in Taipei

I’ve been documenting the lives of families—of all shapes and sizes—in Taipei for about a year now. I had no idea when I started if anyone would be interested in letting me hang out and be a photojournalist for their family for several hours, and to be honest, documentary family photography still isn’t all that popular in Taiwan. But as far as the families who understand the storytelling power of documentary photography and want it, working with them is a privilege. It feels as if they’re taking a chance and letting me see their whole heart.

Catherine and her family were my first “experiment.” I’ll always be grateful that she took a chance and let me come over and photograph her despite the fact that it meant giving up control of capturing perfect poses and all the best angles. Some things have changed; I use different cameras now and do more color work (and honestly, there’s a lot I’d change about these early photos). But when I look at these photos I see what I was getting at and I’m glad I’ve stuck with it. I’ve always known that the true story unfolds in the in-between moments when we think no one is looking.