Community photographer Frank Jang tells San Francisco Chinatown stories through his lens

(SAN FRANCISCO) Well known and popular photographer Frank Jang has been taking pictures at San Francisco Chinatown for decades with over two million photos. It will be the first time that members of the public are able to view his works at his first solo photo exhibition on September 23 and 24 in Chinatown's Waverly Place.

Jang's exhibit will be held from 10 am to 4 pm on September 23 and 24, Saturday and Sunday, at 132 Waverly Place where the Chinatown Photographic Society office is located.

Jang, 69, is a celebrity, super volunteer, historian and photographer. He is always wearing a red jacket and carrying his camera with smiles on his face saying hello to everyone at all events in Chinatown. He has been invited by many groups to take photos for them. "I have been doing volunteer work for most of the events," said Jang.

Jang is also famous for providing free senior portrait services at the street events in Chinatown for years. During his upcoming solo photo exhibit, free portrait service will also be included. As always, Jang would donate his time and work, the materials to make the photos' print copies are usually funded by groups or organizations.

In an interview with Wind Newspaper, Jang shared more stories of his own journey to become one of the most famous photographers in the history of San Francisco Chinatown.

Jang was born in the Chinese Hospital and raised in San Francisco Chinatown. The lifelong connection has strengthened Jang's commitment to serving the community by playing different roles.

His father passed away when Jang was a toddler at three years old. He grew up in the Ping Yuen public housing in Chinatown. His mother became a single parent to raise three young children by sewing clothes from morning to night, earning minimum wages.

"I remember that no matter how busy and tired my mother was, she always had a smile on her face and never beat or scolded her children. Her hard-working and optimistic nature deeply influenced us," Jang recalled.

Jang started working in a relative's restaurant at the age of 12 to stay out of mischief. In junior high school, he became a photography enthusiast and was the photographer for the school journal. He saved some of his wages to buy camera equipments.

"In the old days of the film era, it was expensive to shoot and develop color photos, so I went with black and white photos. Taking pictures requires a lot of films, so I bought bulk 100 feet rolls film, from which I then cut into small rolls to use," said Jang.

"Because there was no darkroom at home for developing film, I locked myself into the small storage closet to process my film," Jang remembered with smiles about the old technology of photography.

After graduating from college with a degree in Hotel and Restaurant Management at the San Francisco City College, Jang spent several years in various chain restaurants specializing in Western cuisine.

In 1978, Jang joined his wife's family business, Man-U, to import and export Chinese furniture and antiques. After 30 years of traveling between China and the United States to search for the antiques for the company, he has gained a deeper understanding of the profound Chinese culture.

"Because of the Man-U Company's business, I have been more proud to be a Chinese American," said Jang. He retired in 2008 after his daughter went to college on the East Coast.

"As I am growing older, my sense of mission to the Chinese community has grown stronger," Jang said. "In the year of 2000, I returned to San Francisco’s Chinatown, and participated and served on the board of directors in a number of community organizations, such as SF Unified Lions Club, Chinese Historical Society of San Francisco, Association of Chinese Cooking Teachers and more. I wanted to serve the people and give back to his community."

After stopping for 30 years, Frank decided to pick up his photography hobby again and learn digital photography from scratch, photo editing, and becoming a community photographer.

For more than two decades now, Jang's lens has been capturing countless San Francisco Bay Area Asian community events, politicians, dignitaries, businesses and ordinary citizens.

Since Jang has been back to Chinatown to serve as a community photographer for the past two decades, he has also witnessed many important moments of Chinatown and the development of the Asian American community.

"I believe that to record history is not only to record social events, but also to film everyday’s life, like the opening and closing of shops. Various large Chinatown restaurants, Four Seas, Empress of China, New Asia, in Chinatown were closed in recent years," said Jang.

In addition to his photographic work, Jang has been a leader of the San Francisco Chinatown Photographic Society which has over 200 members. Since 2015, Jang has teamed up with the Society to hold free portrait events for the seniors in Chinatown. He donated money to the Society as the funds for the portrait project.

For more than two decades, Jang exhausted the use of nine digital cameras to take more than two million photos for the Asian community.

Jang wants to share the San Francisco Chinatown stories through his lens with the community on September 23 and 24 on Waverly Place. 80 photos among the 2 million photos have been selected for public views in the exhibit. Again the exhibit is a free event for the public and the community.