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Today is February 7, 2021. And we are here with Mr. Alvin Gee for the Houston Asian American Archive oral history project.

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Welcome back, Mr. Gee. And thank you so much for taking your time today. How have you been since our last interview? Just fine. Thanks.

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Good to hear that. So to start off, would you mind telling us where and when you were born? I was born here in Houston, Texas, on August 26, 1954.

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How would you describe the household you grew up in? Uh, it was a typical household. My parents are -were in the grocery store business here in Houston. And a lot

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of the people, the immigrants that came from China, to Houston, were mainly grocery store owners, or the laundry business or the restaurant business.

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So my mother and father had a small-corner grocery store. And my father came here with my grandfather, when my

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dad was 16 years old, and he, he and my dad had a store. And, and, you know, back then, the people

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that would migrate to America, you know, the plan was to make money and send it back home, to China. And so that's what my dad and

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grandfather wanted to do. And then my dad — After a few years, my dad wanted to go back home. And he-he met my mom.

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And there was a matchmaker that matched them up. And, and my dad really loved my mom. And my mom, on the other hand, kind of didn't really like my dad, at

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the time. And then, but they got to know each other, and they got married. And then they they they migrated here to America. Yeah, that's a very interesting story.

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So do you have any siblings? I'm sorry. Do you have any siblings? Yes, I have two sisters, two older sisters, and an older brother and a younger brother.

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So it's a big family, a family of five, five children and mom and dad. Okay. So are you the youngest one or...? I'm next to the youngest.

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Okay. Cool. What were some values that your parents emphasized during your upbringing? My mom and dad are —my dad’s decease, my mom's still living. She's 93 years old.

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And they're, they're both believers, they are both Christians. And they believed in it in being a good Christian person.

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And so they're, they had very strong beliefs about that. And they shared those beliefs with us. So, at a young age, my siblings would

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go to church, and my mom and dad, having a grocery store business, they pretty much opened seven days a week. So they maintain that and so they taught us ethics and values and to be a good citizen.

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So do you feel that kind of hard work that your parents have been practiced for a long time have also influenced you? Yes. My parents had a very strong worth-work ethic

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and they believed in in working hard and being friends with the customers and their work. They had very faithful customers that would come in, and it was very it was-it

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was-it was a real good — I can sense that, you know, in my in my dad's golden years, when I asked when he was happiest, he shared with me that he was happiest when the grocery store was thriving.

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Like I shared with you, a little mom and pop grocery store with a meat market in the back, and, and mom would check out and dad would would would run the meat market, and he would cut the the the,

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the meat and the chickens and everything and it was just that's when he was happiest. Are there other languages that you speak at home like, besides English? My mom and dad came from a little village.

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And and we would speak Taishan which is a kind of a village dialect from Cantonese. Okay. And how would you describe the neighborhood you grew up in? Like, was it about — yeah, the

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neighborhood, sorry. Of course, the neighborhood was the east side. And it was called Sunnyside. And it’s was a predominantly

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black neighborhood. And that was where we, we had a grocery store. And then at the back of the grocery store,

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were the living quarters. So you know, we didn't have live in a house per se. But we lived in a house for a short time. But then a lot of the times, you know, we we lived in the

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back of the grocery store. And and that was kind of like the general setup for a lot of the small businesses in, you know, the small Chinese grocery stores.

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That's how they they pretty much survived. Were the customers of your parents grocery store, mostly black people also or Chinese people as well?

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Predominantly black. Right. Yeah. And since you mentioned that you, your father moved back to China and get married with your mom, and then, you know, do you know why did they decide to move back to the States? At the

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time, it was a very dangerous time in China, because the Japanese were, were, you know, invading China at the time. So it was-it was a very dangerous time to be living

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in China. So a lot of Chinese people migrated back here, here to America. And and that's, that's exactly what, what, what my mom and dad

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did. My mom has family, you know, in the Chicago-Washington area, and then my dad has family in the Los Angeles area.

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I see. So do you know like, what kind of challenges they were facing when they were moving back to the States at that time?

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Well, when my dad was 16 years old when he first moved here, he did not, you know, he and my dad, my grandfather did not speak English. And so my dad, you know, he was 16 years old.

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And he enrolled in elementary school. So he was a lot older than his sibling, you know, than his classmates but you know, he really wanted to learn the English language.

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So and Dad was a very was a very friendly man. It made friends very easily and was a very likable person.

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That's great to hear. So in terms of your childhood memories, would you mind sharing one of your favorite childhood memories? Do you know we did not get a chance to go on a lot of vacations.

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But we would we would make day trips to Galveston and go crabbing and what crabbing is, it's hard, you know, the shelled crabs, and we would go on the jetties and

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and then tie meat onto a string and throw it in the water and very slowly bring it back up, and then catch the crabs and that was always a very not fun thing to do. Interesting.

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And yeah. So what college did you attend? I attended the University of Houston. And I have a degree in radio and television and communications. And I graduated back in 1977.

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Was communication the subject that you were interested in like when, at the beginning of your attending college? Or did you know like what you want to study when you — before you went to college? Um, you know, my parents were

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very old school. And they basically said, “Alvin, if you want to go to a college, then you go to a college or university, here in Houston, you know, we don't want you traveling out of

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state. And we prefer that you —” So, so I attended the University of Houston. After I graduated from high school, I, I liked the aspect of communications.

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When I was in high school, I was the yearbook editor. So I learned, I had some friends, and they taught me how to develop film and how to take pictures and how to make photographs in a

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darkroom, in a makeshift darkroom, and I was just very, I really enjoyed taking photographs. And, and so I learned everything I possibly could.

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And then and then. And then when I graduated from high school, I continued working at the University of Houston, a student publications and continued working on the yearbook there at the

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University of Houston. And there, I had the opportunity to photograph student life, group photographs, Dean's of colleges, I actually photographed the president of the University,

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Dr. Philip Hoffman. And it and that was quite an honor to do. And he was very polite and very friendly. And and here's this 20 year old

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student, photographing Dr. Philip Hoffman, and I was just kind of perspiring, and really nervous and set the lights up, and photographed him in the photograph turned out very nice.

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But it was it was something that I really, really enjoyed taking photographs. Unfortunately, the University of Houston did not offer a photography degree. There were photography classes taught on campus, one in the

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color one a color class in the College of Architecture, there was a journalism class, photographic class. And in the fine arts, they had some photography classes there. So I took every photography class I could.

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And then, and then, and then worked on the yearbook. And I think I was paid $40 a week —a month, to be on the yearbook staff. And then $2, an 8 by 10 per photograph, which back

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then was a really a lot of money. So that gave me spending money to buy more cameras. And it was just a wonderful

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opportunity to take photographs, a wonderful opportunity to meet the faculty and friends. So during class, I always had my camera with me.

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So I would be photographing different things and events focused specifically for the yearbook, I would make contact proof sheets. And this would be all of the photographs that I took. And I would give them to the photographer, the-the editors of the yearbook, they would

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choose the photos that they would like, we would print them and then at the end of the month, we get our big check for maybe $80 or $90, which was, like I shared with you, a lot of money back then.

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Yeah, definitely. So besides the photo-photography classes you took in the University of Houston, did you also receive other kinds of professional training photography?

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I, y, when I was growing up my next door neighbor Arthur Manning was a professional photographer. And in the summertime, I would work at his studio, cleaning the studio doing darkroom work, just miscellaneous things.

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And I just really, at that time, knew that this is the profession, and I would really like to do, it's, it's, it's work, but it's almost like a hobby of sorts. And so I, I was a member,

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I'm, I participated in the Professional Photographers Guild of Houston, they would have monthly meetings and monthly speakers. And then I would glean a lot of information there, I became a member of the Professional Photographers of

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America. And there, they would have annual conventions, and I would try to make those conventions, either fly or drive there. And so that's how I

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learned a lot, by going to conventions. And, you know, it's not like today where you can just, if you want to learn something, you just go to YouTube, or you just Google something, and there's just lots of information.

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Back then it was harder to learn. And so it was, it was, so it was just a lot of training. You know, it's just taking classes when

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you could. Yeah, definitely. So I was wondering, like, when did you start get interested in photography? Like, did you start from like your work in your neighbor's studio? Or, you know, how has that started?

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Well, when — it was in high school, when I really enjoyed taking photographs, and, and then my neighbor, Arthur Manning, the professional photographer said, ”When you graduate from college, if you

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if you want to come work here, you're more than welcome to.” So when I, I have a degree in radio, television, and I interned at Channel 20, in my senior year, and so, I had an internship there, I ran a camera studio camera there,

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learned a lot about-about studio camera work. And then in my senior year at the University of Houston, every week, we would

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meet it at Channel 39, there was a program called Campus Workshop. And then every week, we would take turns being the director, the sound engineer, the cameraman, the lighting engineer. And we just so

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so, at the end of the semester, we, we had a we actually had a program that we that we put together. And when it was my turn to be the

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director, and my turn to be-to have a theme, a program, a 30 minute program, it was it was the University of Houston's a sesquicentennial. And there we interviewed Dr.

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Philip Hoffman, since I knew him from photographing him. He, he came to the, to the studio, we interviewed him. And I did a lot of research on the

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University of Houston. We took— the nice thing about the University of Houston campus is they have all the yearbooks from many, many, many years ago.

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So we would photograph and kind of put a historical spin on this, on this program, where we would break up the decades.

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So we would start in the 20s, the 30s, the 40s, the 50s. And then we took photographs of the University of Houston's activities in each of those in each of those decades. And it was a lot of fun.

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And it was just a very, and what was really, really exciting is when that program, when my program came out, the Chronicle TV Guide that — when you used to get the Chronicle, there used to be a TV Guide in the in the in the

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Sunday paper, well it listed my my program and and it was it was something like sometimes in these TV guides, they would they would say this is something thing that you should watch, this is something you should watch.

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And it was highlighted. And so it was really exciting to know that my program was selected to be this week's favorite show to watch.

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Yeah. So I had a lot of training at a TV station. And so when I graduated, jobs are real hard to find at a TV station, because at the time, there were

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very limited opportunities, I really had the desire to want to be a TV producer. And what a TV producer does is he or she conceptualizes the program, and then pitches

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the program to the director and says, “I think that this would be a wonderful thing to talk about.” And, and then the producer, finds the talent, finds the subject matter, finds everything, and puts it all together.

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And that's what I like to do, I like that a whole lot more than directing. Directing is very stressful, you have to keep an eye on several cameras, and then cut from each camera to the best shot. And it's amazing when you're watching a show

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how good directors just effortlessly do that. And it's a great talent. And unfortunately, there were at the time, there were just very few TV stations and, and so I opted

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to work for my next door neighbor, that at his photography studio; I worked there. And then I worked there for a short period of time. And then I worked for a commercial

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studio, just to learn more about the different aspects of photography. The studio that I worked for mainly specialized in people and not a whole lot of commercial photography.

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So I went to work for a commercial photography studio, where they would make inanimate objects like pipes and rock bits attractive, and then as soon as you photograph them, they would create them and send them off

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to another, to another country. And so it was really exciting to learn commercial photography that way, just pretty much hands on. I believe those are

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definitely very meaningful experience for you. How did you decide to start your own business? I worked — So I worked for a commercial studio.

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And it was a, it was a partnership. And, and these two gentlemen allowed me to do, to kind of start my own business, because there was not a conflict of interest.

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I really liked photojournalism. And so the next best thing with photojournalism would be wedding photography, because it's kind of capturing the moment, capturing a day, capturing a story between two

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people. So um, I started off my I started off doing wedding photography. And then the commercial photography studio, they dissolved their partnership.

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And so one person had — one had asked me to work for him. And the other person said, “Let's share a studio.” And I said, “Hey, that sounds like a great idea.” So we we shared a studio and it

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and then everything just kind of evolved. So this year is my 40th year in photography. Oh, congratulations! Yeah, thanks. So were there any challenges you faced where you

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or things that you didn't expect when you first started your own business? Yes. There's a lot of things that are very

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challenging. And this was, you know, in the early 80s, and, you know, at that time there were, you know, it wasn't the best atmosphere to-to open up a photography studio, but

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I did, and, and was and learned a lot of things along the way. And-and, yes, there, there are a lot of challenges. I think, one, one aspect that was very difficult

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for me was, at the time, I was a very shy person. And when you're a shy person wanting to do wedding photography, it's quite a challenge, because you have to be

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a psychologist, a motivator, a director, all these different people in very stressful times. And I was— being Chinese, being

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Asian is, you know, I guess we learn to be very humble, be very quiet, just do what you're told to do. So I, it was, it was

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kind of a hard thing to kind of break out of. I had a real difficulty with that. And I, I talked to my my brother-in-law about this, and he gave me some really good advice, he says,

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“Alvin, take this as a challenge to yourself, that whatever you do, you are going to be in a Caucasian society. So being Chinese, you're going to look

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different. So because you're going to look different, you're going to have that one special thing that other photographers don't have, you know, and, and so you, you do your, the best you can, and then you'll be known as

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that, ‘Oh, that's the Chinese photographer.’” And for a long time. I, but I always hoped that people would like me because of the work that I do, and not because I'm Asian. I was also wondering,

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like, since you mentioned that photography was not a very conventional job at that time. So I was wondering, did you like, what were your parents reactions, when they first hear that you're going to be a photographer, and even starting your own business?

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Um, my parents were extremely supportive of my work, I would kind of turn the living room to camera room, into a studio, you know, what, before I had

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a studio space to work out of, you know, I would have a background and then I would invite people over to be photographed. And so they, my parents were very, very supportive.

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You know, people in my age group, you know, parents would like them to be an engineer or a lawyer or a doctor or an accountant. But my parents, the one advice that my dad gave me, he said, “Alvin, you

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can do anything you want. The important thing is, don't go in the grocery business, and invest in buying your own building.” And so I said, "Okay, Dad,

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I appreciate the advice." And so I did not go into the grocery business. And, you know, back in 2000, I did purchase a building. So, you know, everything kind of came around

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at the right time. That's nice to hear. What would you say the differences are between managing your own business versus working as a freelancer or working for other people? Wow, that that's really a good question, Kelly.

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When, you know, I don't think there's anything wrong. In fact, if someone were to ask me, ”Alvin, should I go to school and study photography? Or should I go out, start my

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own business or should I work for somebody.” I would always encourage someone to work for someone else. And when you work for someone else, you don't really, you look at that person successes, and

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you learn from their successes, but more importantly, you learn from their failures. When I worked for the commercial photography studio, one day the photographer that I worked for,

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he accidentally plugged the flash into the wrong spot on the camera and none of the pictures turned out And I really appreciated the way he handled this, because he didn't want to just lie to the customer, he called the customer and said,

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“I just want you to know, I'm sorry, but none of the pictures turned out. I, me, I plugged the cord into the, into the camera, and it was the wrong place to plug it in.” And so I learned so much

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from someone's failure than someone's success. And so whenever I make a mistake, and we are going to make mistakes, the quicker you can apologize, fess up, and then try to redo

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something, that's the best thing to do. Certainly. How did you grow your business?

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I, it, business, n, you know, you could use social media, you know, you buy Facebook time and different things. Um, you know, back when I started, there was the Yellow Pages. And then they were very expensive

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newspaper, and magazine ads. So the way I learned is just how to market myself is through word of mouth, I wanted to just do the best I can every single time, and then

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hope that they would share their like a Google review, that they would share their positive experiences with us with their friends. And so that's how we just kind of

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started. I, since my business was wedding photography for 25 years, I made sure that reception venues knew me. I

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wanted to make sure that wedding coordinators knew me, I would give complimentary photographs to the people that made the cakes, the people that that made the flowers, the event, the wedding venues, that I would try to make

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sure I got to know the pastors and the rabbis in the priests and judges that would marry people. So and then if there was a band that was playing at the reception, I would give them a photograph.

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And, and so when someone would get engaged, and then they would go to these different venues, they would hear my name repeated more than once. And that was very, that was very, a

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very good way to— a good investment to give them photographs. Because when they would want to show what they do, it would be a photograph that we took, and our logo would be on the bottom of the photograph.

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So would you say you have found a niche in the photography business? Yes, I-I did wedding photography for 25 years.

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And then we, we stopped doing wedding photography a few years back. And so I have a niche, and that's photographing large family groups. We have a large studio, we have

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techniques, how we are able to photograph large groups, how to light them. And we, we sit down and chat with the client, find out exactly what their needs are. We get names of everybody, I sketch out the photograph before I

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actually take the photograph, so that I know exactly where mom and dad are going to be, where siblings and spouses are going to be. So when you look at a large family group that we do, you'll see that the sub families

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are all together. It's not like there's going to be one little child that doesn't belong, that's on the far side and then their families on the other side. We try to create a very cohesive, good looking group with

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everybody smiling, everybody looking into the camera with their eyes open. And it's— I'm very happy that that we can do that. And when I was thinking about what to do, once I

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finished the wedding photography business, I wanted to do something that was challenging. I wanted to do something that you can't do by yourself because usually, you know when you're photographing a family when I was growing at,

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when I had my my small family, I was the photographer. So we always had pictures of my wife, my daughter, my son, and where's dad? He's taking the photograph. So it's nice that

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I can, you know, give, let me create the photograph for you. And, and, and that's what we've been doing for the last several years. How important teamwork is for your photography business?

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Teamwork is extremely important. You're only as good as your weakest link. I personally know my, the Federal Express driver's name, the, so

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that when he comes in, we'll say, "Hi, Eric, how are you doing? Would you like a coke?" Because he- Hi, we still there? Okay. That was someone calling.

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So you're only as good as your weakest link. I have a very small staff. And, and I outsource everything. So that's basically how we, we, we

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take the photographs. And then we outsource the retouching, the printing, and then, and then we do the framing. And so there's, so there's

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different aspects of the business. And it's, it's teamwork is is very, very important, in work. Google reviews are

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very, very important in your work. So you really want everybody to— you want every aspect of the business. A business is very delicate, you have to balance great

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work with great business practices. Because I know a lot of great photographers that, that are not very good business people. And then I know some really good business

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people, and they're just average photographers, but they have a very thriving business. So it's important that kind of balance those those two things. How did you maintain that balance?

00:37:38.770 - 00:37:54.200

Maintaining it, is not easy. Because it's so it's human nature to get lackadaisical. And so you really have to surround yourself with really good people, and you need to stay motivated.

00:37:54.770 - 00:38:10.460

And I, I still enjoy taking photographs a lot. It's, it's, it's like, it's not work. I know that I'm kind of thinking about retirement,

00:38:11.710 - 00:38:26.640

but only thinking about it. Because I would like to continue to work. As long as people like when I do, I'd like to continue to do what I love to do. And that is photographing people, making them look their best, making

00:38:26.640 - 00:38:35.970

them feel good. Making them enjoy, helping them enjoy the experience. Everybody's a little self conscious. So sometimes when I'm taking

00:38:36.010 - 00:38:51.000

photographs, and I see that they're very self conscious, I'll just ask them, I say, "Tell me about the last time you were photographed. And what did you like about the photograph? And what did you not like about the

00:38:51.050 - 00:39:06.370

photograph?" And people will just open up and they'll just say, “Well, what, as a child, I fell down and my front tooth is slightly yellower than the other teeth. And I am just real self conscious about that.” I said, “Don't worry

00:39:06.370 - 00:39:21.440

about that. I'll fix that.” “Well, I have this blemish right here.” And I'll just say, “Don't worry about that. I'll fix that.” So we fix little things. That so you can just see on their faces to go.

00:39:21.790 - 00:39:32.670

Ah, that's great. That's wonderful. And so that that's, that's my job is to make people look their best. That's very inspiring to hear.

00:39:34.610 - 00:39:47.590

So if the people you photographed reflect the changes and Houston's demographics since you started your photography business in 1978, how would you describe the changes? Well,

00:39:51.610 - 00:40:08.840

there are a lot more interracial families. You know, where there's decidedly a lighter complexion person and a darker complexion person. And you need to make sure that the group is very cohesive.

00:40:09.740 - 00:40:27.560

And, and so you want to... So just physics, just when you light a family, a darker person should be a little bit closer to the light,

00:40:28.630 - 00:40:39.170

then in that way, they'll get more light, and the lighter person should be further away from the light, and then they'll get less light. So it has a tendency to kind of equal things out.

00:40:40.690 - 00:40:51.630

A light person doesn't want to be completely white In a photograph, and a black person doesn't want to be dark in a photograph, is it? So you want to make sure

00:40:51.690 - 00:41:07.220

that there's a pleasing balance in the photograph. And then we always have a consultation with the client, it's a design consultation. So we asked them to wear more, medium to darker

00:41:07.640 - 00:41:21.680

clothes, because you always want the face to be the lightest part in the photograph. And these are all and then we pick the backgrounds that will work best. And, and then we can, and then there's some things that we can do

00:41:23.300 - 00:41:39.270

after the photograph, and that's the post processing that we can effectively lighten and darken complexions to. And so those so I guess, Kelly, that is kind of been a difference.

00:41:40.040 - 00:41:55.720

The other difference is usually when people would go to the photography studio early in my career, they would dress up, it was more, the men would wear coat and ties and women would wear long dresses, it was very formal.

00:41:56.300 - 00:42:09.580

Now very seldom do we photograph families that way, it's a lot more relaxed. If the man wears a jacket, a jacket, he won't wear a necktie.

00:42:10.820 - 00:42:23.430

And that is just a very nice sharp look. A woman on the other hand, she can wear a nice blouse, dark slacks, and that. So it's kind of more of a dressy casual look versus a dressy look.

00:42:24.090 - 00:42:41.240

So that is... but the most important thing is they're being photographed because historically this is this is what are, this is what their children and grandchildren are going to remember the the the family,

00:42:42.640 - 00:42:56.250

like the family legacy. So I imagine that changes in customers preference also happens throughout the years. Can you talk about the

00:42:56.500 - 00:43:16.430

chan-changes and challenges to keep up with customers’ requests? How do you envision the future of photography business? Our studios, we specialize in,

00:43:18.130 - 00:43:38.160

in wall portraits, in wall art. And it it people still do like to have wall portraits. And we find that people like to have smaller photographs, photographs and

00:43:38.300 - 00:43:54.220

albums. So instead of just one special photograph, they have an album of the family portrait to just the children, individuals of the children, Mom and Dad together. So they prefer a collection.

00:43:54.830 - 00:44:12.340

And and by all means we'll be happy to create collections, as well as a single portrait on the wall. So that is something that has... the evolution evolving

00:44:13.610 - 00:44:29.270

those-those ways of enjoying photographs. Has the iPhone and the ability to create instant photos impacted your business? I would probably say yes.

00:44:30.780 - 00:44:45.450

You know, everybody thinks they're a photographer. And you know, and because everybody's carrying it an iPhone now or a smartphone and and they're quite good. In fact, they're

00:44:45.480 - 00:45:05.960

excellent. But, you know, everybody, anybody that has a typewriter cannot be Stephen King. They can't be a great novelist, just because they own a typewriter.

00:45:06.280 - 00:45:20.360

So and then just because someone has a grand piano doesn't mean that they're going to be a great musician. They're going to have to practice and practice and practice. And there's

00:45:20.360 - 00:45:33.650

an old saying that you become an expert, once you do something 10,000 with, with 10,000 hours. I have mastered the art of taking photographs.

00:45:34.890 - 00:45:49.700

There's so many elements in taking a photograph, there's this, like, the psychology aspect of it, you know, getting people that don't want to smile to smile. And, you know, lighting the face, not

00:45:49.780 - 00:46:02.490

everybody has a perfect symmetrical face. You know, Caucasians have very deep set eyes, Chinese on the other hand, we don't have deep set eyes. So Asian faces are easier to light than Caucasian faces.

00:46:03.950 - 00:46:17.770

So be what you do is you observe you, and, and then you capture the moment. And that's, that's basically what we do. And, and then it's

00:46:17.770 - 00:46:33.850

very subjective, you know, I can feel like I've, I've taken a wonderful photograph of somebody, but if the client says, “I hate it, I don't like it, this doesn't look like me.” We start over again. And we try again.

00:46:33.850 - 00:46:47.160

And, and so that's the so that's the subjectivity of this, there's not like, a level of expectation. You know, it's kind of like a singer.

00:46:48.660 - 00:47:04.240

They can sing a song over and over again. But, you know, very seldom are they going to hit a bad note, you know, because they've practiced, they've practiced and, and that's basically, when you hire a professional photographer,

00:47:04.830 - 00:47:22.650

like myself, I have practiced and practiced, and-and it, and one, in their lifetime, they may use a professional photographer, just a handful of times, when they graduate from high school, when they get

00:47:22.650 - 00:47:38.170

married, when they have their first child, a generational family portrait. That's about it. You know, it's not like, it's not like, going to a restaurant once a week, it's, it's something that, that you do

00:47:38.490 - 00:47:52.960

on a special occasion. When taking family pictures, you must have observed differences in family interactions from the various ethnic groups, as you just mentioned, so can you share memories of some unique situations?

00:47:53.320 - 00:48:07.700

How from your observations, do you see the common areas where the families value disregard the different backgrounds? I do photograph different ethnic groups. And

00:48:10.780 - 00:48:27.700

sometimes, this doesn't happen very often, most of the people when I photograph them, they will, they'll take direction fairly well. The only time I have a difficult time is when

00:48:27.700 - 00:48:45.810

there's a pet, like a dog, or in the photograph, or a small child, who's kind of like, in their twos and threes. Sometimes they just kind of like to challenge the adult and just say, “No, no, I'm not going to do that.” So the nice

00:48:45.810 - 00:49:00.360

thing about digital photography nowadays, is that if I have a really large family group, let's just say I have 40 people in one photograph. And then I have a child that really, there's a meltdown.

00:49:00.910 - 00:49:12.720

And it's and it's, it's a bad meltdown, you know, this little child didn't get a nap. And he's all sugared up because the mom gave him a lot of sugar, candy.

00:49:13.630 - 00:49:28.290

What we can do is, even though the child is melting down, I'll take the photograph anyway. And then, and then after we've taken the photograph, and the child's really in, you know, we'll just take the we'll just

00:49:28.290 - 00:49:43.750

take my assistant, we'll just grab the charges, take the child out of the photograph, then what we'll do is, is after the child has calmed down and cleaned himself up, we'll just take a photograph of him individually. And then

00:49:43.750 - 00:49:58.980

we'll drop him into the photograph, into the family photograph. And so that, so that that's very helpful that we can do that digitally. In the past when it was film, it was almost impossible to do.

00:50:00.400 - 00:50:12.540

So, yeah. Do you have some favorite photophotogers? Like who inspired you? Oh, there's so many photographers

00:50:14.870 - 00:50:29.990

you know, some contemporary portrait photographers would be Annie Lenovitz, you know, a lot of fashion photographers are kind of like the trendsetting photographs. You know, Richard Avedon.

00:50:32.080 - 00:50:48.970

Arnold Newman was a very famous Life magazine photographer. In fact, I studied with him for a week at the Palm Beach School of Photography, you know, to listen to

00:50:49.840 - 00:51:05.490

really wonderful photographers is very inspiring that I always learned something from from someone's presentation. And now we're going to shift gears a little bit.

00:51:05.650 - 00:51:26.260

And I'm gonna ask you some questions about your family and your identity. So how did you meet your wife? I met my wife at, at church, we, we, we both sang in the choir at church.

00:51:26.770 - 00:51:41.480

And then, and then, and then she was going to school at the University of Houston and I was going to school at the University of Houston. And we met and it was, it was a very, it was great.

00:51:42.110 - 00:51:57.620

She — we’re a lot alike, but we’re very different too. When did you guys get married? Or like, how does that happen? Um, you know, I was photographing a wedding.

00:51:58.080 - 00:52:12.360

And she was assisting me at a wedding. And after the wedding, I had an engagement ring in my pocket. And, and the only thing I can think about was the engagement

00:52:12.360 - 00:52:27.530

ring in my pocket. Because I was going to propose to her after the wedding. And so I was just real happy and relieved that when I proposed to her, she said yes, and I didn't have to worry about the ring in my pocket anymore.

00:52:28.450 - 00:52:43.570

How many children do you have? I have two children, I have a boy and a girl. What values would you, I mean, what values, have you instilled in your children with their upbringing?

00:52:45.750 - 00:52:59.410

I too, wanted them to have to be believers first, to be Christians. And, and they are. And I think it's really

00:52:59.410 - 00:53:15.770

important that, you know, that that honesty, and truth and virtues are very, very important in their life. And it's wonderful that they are very great, wonderful

00:53:16.480 - 00:53:39.960

city citizens in this and where they live. How do you identify yourself? Um, I would identify myself as an American. You know, I am of

00:53:40.320 - 00:53:53.950

Chinese descent. But, you know, being born and raised here in Houston, not I believe that I'm, I'm a Texan. And, and I'm a believer.

00:53:55.150 - 00:54:12.170

And, you know, I'm a dad, I'm a grandfather, I'm a son. And and that's how I see myself. What is the first experience where you feel that the demarcation of

00:54:13.060 - 00:54:29.970

being a minority, different? Um, just growing up, you know, my dad had grocery store, and it was it was in the east side of town in

00:54:29.970 - 00:54:47.400

Sunnyside, and you you look different. And and, and I think it's always kind of in the back of

00:54:47.460 - 00:55:00.450

your mind that you want to fit in. And, and, and it's kind of uncomfortable, but like the story that I shared with you about it my

00:55:00.450 - 00:55:16.230

brother in law who shared with me, you know, you, you use being different to your advantage, you do stick out, you are different. And and then you try to do the very best you can

00:55:17.690 - 00:55:35.480

because- because -because you are different. How important is the Chinese heritage to your, to your life or to your upbringing, or even now, or even your photography business?

00:55:38.470 - 00:55:53.210

I think it's important. Um, I, I am, uh, you know, my last name is Gee. And there is a huge Gee Family

00:55:53.210 - 00:56:07.090

Association here in Houston. And, um, and so, consequently, I think one's heritage is, is very important.

00:56:09.410 - 00:56:25.410

You know, there's a lot of people that that they do want to know, their family heritage. And it's, it's, it's good to know that. And I, you know, I feel like it's important

00:56:25.910 - 00:56:43.270

to, you know, me being a photographer, toto create a legacy to create a heritage. No matter what nationality

00:56:44.420 - 00:57:01.960

you are. How did you celebrate or embrace or even challenge your Chinese heritage? Um, my... You

00:57:08.200 - 00:57:26.660

know, my mom and dad are, are both Chinese and I have a Chinese name. I like Chinese food. And, and I think that in

00:57:26.970 - 00:57:42.150

any nationality, especially in Chinese, Asian, that we're taught to respect our elders, which I definitely do. Respect my elders.

00:57:46.370 - 00:58:05.970

And then that's, that's important. Do you celebrate some festivals as well? Yeah, as of late... I, you know, we don't celebrate

00:58:08.070 - 00:58:24.140

Chinese New Year, but I remember as a child, you know, we would go to, to the Chinatown, the original Chinatown that was Downtown, not the one that's on Bellaire Boulevard. And there were there would be dragon dances and fireworks,

00:58:25.250 - 00:58:32.990

celebrating the Lunar New Year. And we would go, we would definitely do that. I see.

00:58:34.720 - 00:58:46.470

And this could be a bit challenging question. Have you ever had conflict with our earlier generation or later generation due to different opinions regarding your cultural heritage? Um,

00:58:51.310 - 00:59:07.960

I don't think that's ever come up. Not gonna say my parents were old fashioned or liberal, or... They were, they were

00:59:10.640 - 00:59:31.890

I think when they instilled the values that I have, I-I've had the opportunity to maintain those values. And, and with my children, they're terrific.

00:59:35.090 - 00:59:56.050

I think as parents, you know, there's always a conflict. There might be a conflict or two, but for the most part, you know, we could. We've gotten along very, very well. That's great to hear. So how would you describe the Asian or

00:59:56.050 - 01:00:15.410

Chinese American community in Houston? I, I think that Asian and Chinese community here in Houston, I think there's, if I had to guess there's

01:00:15.710 - 01:00:38.650

probably at least 100,000, Chinese in Houston, I'm just guessing. I think you'll find that a lot of Asians and Chinese, they take care of their own. Very seldom will you go to a street corner and see an Asian person

01:00:39.050 - 01:01:00.200

with a sign wanting a handout; you just don't see it very often. I think-I think most

01:01:03.630 - 01:01:21.640

Asians want to be law abiding citizens; they want to be good small business people. They.. there, there's a lot more professionals,

01:01:23.330 - 01:01:36.880

Asians, a lot more. And they're very, and they're very diversified in their field, in, in their field of education. And,

01:01:42.140 - 01:01:53.980

and I'm, I'm very, and I'm very happy, I'm very proud of that. Sure. Yeah, because of the nature of your business, you must have been in contact with various community

01:01:53.980 - 01:02:09.600

activities, which are the ones that you consider most meaningful, and best reflect your idea of giving back to the community? I belong to First Baptist Church.

01:02:10.260 - 01:02:27.080

And before COVID, I belonged to the baptism committee. And what the baptism committee does is, on the second and fourth Sundays of every Sunday, we would —

01:02:27.340 - 01:02:40.190

there would be three or four or five people be baptized, and what my job would be, would be to photograph the baptismal candidate with the pastor that's baptizing them.

01:02:41.650 - 01:02:59.940

And then, as they're being baptized, I would photograph them being baptized, submerging into the water and coming out, and then we would do this at no charge, and then we would send the photographs to the church, the church, in turn, would give the

01:02:59.940 - 01:03:15.470

photographs to the candidate as a memento and and that's just a wonderful way to give back to the community, photographically speaking.

01:03:17.850 - 01:03:33.100

And then, and then once a quarter our — the men at First Baptist Church have something that's, have something that's, that's called

01:03:33.100 - 01:03:50.640

”Men Serve”, and what men serve is that we would help the widows in the community, you know, we would help them change light bulbs, change, cut their grass, painted bathroom, and, and do things that sometimes

01:03:53.190 - 01:04:05.460

the widows aren't able to do. So that that's something that we get a chance to do. And that that really gives back to the community and in a very visible way.

01:04:05.530 - 01:04:21.070

That's great. So my next question is, what role does your Christian faith play in your life or in your business or yeah? Well,

01:04:23.410 - 01:04:37.160

I don't put a sign out that I'm a Christian photographer. I'm a photographer that happens to be a Christian. I, I, I want to do what's right.

01:04:37.600 - 01:04:54.980

I want to do you know, basically, in a Christian faith, you basically want— I remember years and years ago, there there was a bracelet that was WWJD, and in those those four

01:04:57.190 - 01:05:13.870

letters was an acronym of “What would Jesus do?” And, and as a Christian as a believer, it basically boils down to, what would Jesus do what?

01:05:14.740 - 01:05:28.560

To be more like Christ. To you know to live in a humble fashion, to-to not cheat, steal. These are virtues that-that Jesus had.

01:05:28.860 - 01:05:44.920

And he taught. And, and that's very important to me. And very important to me to pass on to my children, too. Since you mentioned that you are part of the Gee Family in Houston, would you like to talk

01:05:44.920 - 01:06:00.140

about your involvement in the Gee family as well? Oh, sure. Um, the Gee Family Association is, is, is an organization that we

01:06:00.140 - 01:06:14.070

meet on an annual basis, we just celebrate Chinese New Year. Several years ago, one of our Gee family leaders, George Gee, started a scholarship

01:06:14.210 - 01:06:31.840

for high school, Gee high school seniors, or, or other Gee's that are maintaining further education. And so Harry

01:06:31.840 - 01:06:49.430

Gee, one of the leaders, Jr, had asked me if I would like to be on the scholarship committee. And so this was many years ago, and I said, “Sure, I'd be happy to participate.”

01:06:50.180 - 01:07:04.510

So I participated several years. And it's really, we used to just give kind of small scholarships. But now, you know, that were just maybe

01:07:04.640 - 01:07:22.000

$250 now we're able to give, you know, $1,000 $2500 scholarships to about, you know, to 15 deserving high school seniors or people that are, are,

01:07:22.170 - 01:07:39.150

are getting higher education. So it's, and, and it's a, it's a time when we can give scholarships, it's a time to socialize. And we usually have

01:07:39.610 - 01:07:58.390

these events, like at a Chinese restaurant, there's usually something like 300 people that are there, and there's a lot of city council people, there's a lot of very high profile people that are there. And it's a wonderful place to mingle and socialize and just

01:07:58.390 - 01:08:12.800

kind of renew friendships. Yeah sure. How has that experience as a member on the scholarship committee shaped your understanding of Houston's Asian community?

01:08:16.470 - 01:08:31.880

When you're on the committee, the, the scholarship the person that's trying out for the scholarship fills out a form. And, you know, there's a lot of need, in

01:08:33.510 - 01:08:50.850

the, in this area where we're working, where it's wonderful that that that the recipient can apply. And, and it's wonderful that you know, there's, they'll be about 15

01:08:51.370 - 01:09:11.590

scholarships that we've given out, and like I shared with your your $1000, $2000, $5,000 there to very people that that definitely need need the support. Besides scholarship, are there any other like Gee family functions that are related to

01:09:11.630 - 01:09:29.840

Houston community? Um, there are. That is for the Gee Family Association. They... There-there

01:09:31.240 - 01:09:50.090

are several different organizations, Chinese organizations that help in the community. One is the Chinese American Citizens Alliance. They participate— They're an organization that

01:09:51.270 - 01:10:08.190

they're like a spokes. They're kind of like a mouthpiece for the, the Chinese community at large,. They— I'm just trying to think of a situation

01:10:09.400 - 01:10:24.090

where they are. Well, I'm not gonna say their political activist, but if something occurs in the news that

01:10:27.220 - 01:10:45.210

were, let's just say there's an Asian or Chinese person that has been unjustly accused of something, then they will write and, and make it known that, that we—

01:10:45.410 - 01:11:03.790

that they would like to see justice served. I guess another organization is the, the offshoot of the Chinese American Citizen Alliance, is is that there's a Miss Chinatown, Houston pageant.

01:11:05.050 - 01:11:19.840

That's an annual event. And I've had the joy and honor of photographing this event for many years now. I know there are other Gee families in other parts of the US.

01:11:19.950 - 01:11:34.780

So how connected is that you family Houston to other Gee families? I've heard that it is, ight, there are. I think, in Houston, the Gee family is probably one of the largest

01:11:35.610 - 01:11:53.020

groups that maintain an annual get together. They-they do interact. It's my understanding that every few years, there's

01:11:53.490 - 01:12:09.760

kind of like a National Gee Convention of sorts. I remember many, many, many years ago, b a photographer, I was

01:12:09.760 - 01:12:32.210

asked to go in, and I did photograph some of the some of the events and things and then, and then those photographs published in their newsletters. From the standpoint of a member of a major Asian American family,

01:12:32.270 - 01:12:44.800

Houston, in what ways do you think an organized large family group can play a role in representing the Asian Americans in a major metropolitan city in the US? Um,

01:12:47.250 - 01:13:06.990

I'm I think it's, it's wonderful that there are Asians that are, are, are

01:13:06.990 - 01:13:22.620

shaping the community in a very, very positive way. I want to do my small part, and, and, and participate in any way that I can.

01:13:25.220 - 01:13:39.000

I sit on the board of the Better Business Bureau, and have done that for the last maybe three or four years. And, and I sit on the

01:13:39.000 - 01:13:55.660

membership committee, as their, as the chair. It's — Better Business Bureau does a lot of wonderful things in the community. They are, they're a mediator between

01:13:57.400 - 01:14:10.990

a business and the consumer. And whenever there's a disconnect, you know, when the customer is not happy, they have the Better Business Bureau to be the

01:14:11.650 - 01:14:31.060

intercessory. And, and the be that liaison between the two to and, and I really believe in that kind of mediation, you know, so that there's not any ill will, and it gives the

01:14:31.780 - 01:14:49.720

the small business or the large business the opportunity to to work things out. And yeah, before closing our interviews, would you like to share any update about yourself or your business

01:14:49.720 - 01:15:08.720

since our last interview like on COVID experience? This is, I'm very flattered that that that Ann had asked to me to be a part of, of this, I think that having interviews like this, it gives,

01:15:11.460 - 01:15:23.400

from a historical perspective, kind of gives you a flavor of, of, of what's going on. And it's it's, it's impartial. You know, I wasn't given the questions early.

01:15:25.570 - 01:15:40.490

I just kind of answered the questions off the cuff. And I think I would be kind of like a typical Chinese American that, that, that has grown up in this

01:15:40.680 - 01:15:56.570

wonderful city. I think that Houston is the most wonderful place to live, if I had a place to choose, this would be the place that I really want to live, because we live in a city that so— there's a lot of diversity.

01:15:57.450 - 01:16:12.020

And everybody seems to kind of get along. You know, when, when, when there's, you know, in some cities, when, when, when the

01:16:12.080 - 01:16:24.520

city wins the World Series, you know, they kind of get a little rowdy. That didn't happen here in Houston, you know, in 2017. It's a very respectful city.

01:16:25.110 - 01:16:41.930

It's, it's a great place to, to live, and work and play. So now, if you're asking to leave a message for your later generations, what would you say to them? I would say, do your best.

01:16:42.560 - 01:16:55.380

Invest in your community when you can?. And-And just have a great life. That's great. Yeah, I think these are my questions.

01:16:55.380 - 01:17:06.310

Do you have any further sharing for now? Oh, I think you covered it. Kelly, I, thank you very much for being such a wonderful interviewer. Well, thank you so much for taking your time again.

01:17:06.450 - 01:17:15.040

And yeah, I enjoyed this interview so much. Thank you. Okay. Bye. Have a nice day. You too.