Portsmouth Square, Chinatown

Picture: Card Gambling in Chinatown's Portsmouth Square, San Francisco, California

At Portsmouth Square, you can find men and women playing Mahjong or cards all day long, often for money. Probably due to traditional Chinese customs, the men generally stay on one side of the park while the women congregate on the other.

Initially I walked around trying to ask questions about what card games people were playing, but since I don't speak Chinese, it was a futile effort because few older people in Chinatown understand English. Either that or they suddenly "forget" how once they see a photographer...

Next time I plan to spend an entire day photographing Chinatown in better light. In order to get more insightful pictures, I would probably need to hire a well-connected translator as well. I understand some Cantonese, but that is of little use when you can't speak.

17-35mm @ 17mm, f6.3, 1/160 sec, ISO 200, handheld / no flash