Every year the Hmong diaspora in the US celebrates their New Years on different dates in several cities such as Los Angels, Saint Paul, Green Bay and Tulsa. This past weekend i was invited by my Hmong friend Juanita Vang to to photograph the event with my “word” bubble photo booth.
I made some special bubbles for the night with Hmong phrases.
(Don’t even ask me how to say these in Hmong)
Nyob Zoo = Happy New year
Xyoo Tshiab = Hello, how are you
Sib Hlub Tsis Sib Ntxhub = Love not Hate
and Tiger Bite which when spoken in Hmong basically means “F-U”.
At first people were a bit shy to take part in the booth. But as the night went on and the drinks flowed, even the tough guys lighted up and took a silly photo or two. I am glad that i didn’t try to sell these photos. That was the most asked question of the night: “Is this free?” Haha…i am willing to give out digital photos for free on a special occasion.
The party was great and i gotta give props to the Hmong and Juanita Vang for inviting me out to celebrate.
Here are some pix from the event with the full slide show below.
4 Comments
Nyob Zoo = Happy New year
Xyoo Tshiab = Hello, how are you
the expressions are reversed. It was fun having you there and the word bubbles are an awesome idea
Glad to be there..
thanks for the correction.
your bubbles were amazing. what an awesome addition to the festivities. it was great having you there and i hope you can come out to our parties more often!
p.s. you took some awesome photos! id love to get some of the me and my coyote girls if possible. also… to that guy i poured a drink to and got his eye: IM SO SORRY. this site is the best by the way. thanks for sharing!