the best portrait photographer in ny is the chinese passport photo lady on elizabeth lol pic.twitter.com\/JDOrqIMl7f<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 me (@boltsfood) September 13, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n \n \u201cShe\u201d is Chunika Kesh, the proprietor of Eliz Digital, an unremarkable storefront in New York City\u2019s Chinatown.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cIt\u2019s crazy because it\u2019s a very small place,\u201d Brown said. \u201cYou just sit against a white wall and it\u2019s a tiny little chair, and she just takes one photo of you with a huge flash and it looks perfect. She\u2019s just good at what she does. She\u2019s really sweet but also very fast, no-nonsense and gets it done. She\u2019s a good example of doing your job exceptionally well.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Kesh\u2019s setup is, in fact, disarmingly simple. I know because I went to check it out in October, eager to see her sorcery up close. Even as I stood outside, watching a steady stream of customers flow in and out, a woman walked by leading a large tour group. She paused to declare: \u201cThis is my favorite film store!\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n The store itself is narrow with a long wall of mirrors \u2014 great for a last-minute hair check. The passport station is at the back and consists of a low chair in front of a counter lined with a white sheet.\n <\/p>\n \n There is the master herself. \u201cI always try my best,\u201d said Kesh, who swears there\u2019s \u201cno secret\u201d to her stellar results and insists it\u2019s more about her subject relaxing. A passport picture should look like the person, she said, so that\u2019s what she\u2019s aiming for: \u201cIt\u2019s more you guys, not really me.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Kesh was already a legend in my mind. I\u2019d already talked with several of her devotees who\u2019d described their beloved ritual of swinging by her store; each explained that much of their love for the place lies in their love for its owner. Many described forming fast friendships with her across the film counter. I couldn\u2019t wait to meet her. But when I called to ask if I could drop by to shoot a little video, she demurred.\n <\/p>\n \n It would be all right, she told me, if I came by and filmed her customers \u2014 and she would be happy to take my passport picture \u2014 but could she not be a part of the story, she asked?\n <\/p>\n @cnn<\/a> <\/p>\n Eliz Digital, a small photo shop in New York City’s Chinatown, has developed a cult following, in part because the owner takes incredible passport photos. CNN’s Meena Duerson visits the store to see what the hype is all about. #cnn<\/a> #news<\/a> #nyc<\/a><\/p>\n \u266c original sound – CNN<\/a> <\/p>\n \n That reticence is core to Kesh\u2019s charm. She displays no ego and is deeply self-effacing about her talents. As I discovered when we did finally meet, her hesitation stemmed from a deep desire not to disappoint anyone. She seemed bemused by her shop\u2019s recent virality and we were all making her nervous that people would come expecting something she could not deliver.\n <\/p>\n \n That anxiety hardly seems necessary. In under two minutes she took, without exaggeration, the best photo anyone\u2019s ever taken of me.\n <\/p>\n \n Here\u2019s how it went. She had me take a seat and then began to make very minor adjustments in a soothing voice \u2014 telling me to sit up straight, lean to the right, relax, tilt my head, shake out my shoulders, fix my hair, smile, smile a little less. She modeled the subtle movements she wanted me to make, slowly and delicately, supportive and gentle \u2014 but with the clear vision of an art director.\n <\/p>\n \n Shooting on a fairly basic DSLR camera, Kesh has her primary light attached to the top. Behind the chair, she\u2019s positioned a light to get rid of any shadows, and a piece of white foam board angled in front of the subject adds an extra pop of brightness, \u201cto even it out a little bit,\u201d she said.\n <\/p>\n \n From everything I saw, the magic actually comes from her, not what she called her \u201cvery simple\u201d setup, which she hopes to someday upgrade with more lights. \u201cI\u2019ve been thinking about it a long time but I don\u2019t know when it\u2019s going to be,\u201d she said, and smiled. It\u2019ll have to wait until she\u2019s \u201cnot so lazy,\u201d she said.\n <\/p>\n \n The shop\u2019s utilitarian vibe hasn\u2019t changed much since she took over the store 10 years ago from her late brother. He opened it in the late \u201880s, a few years after the family emigrated to New York from China\u2019s Guangdong province when Kesh was a teenager. For decades they had two locations, though the second store closed before COVID; Kesh helped out with the business while pursuing a master\u2019s degree in accounting. She doesn\u2019t have a formal background in photography but says she\u2019s taken a few classes over the years to learn the basics.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI wish I can be better,\u201d she told me, as she handed over the best pictures that will ever exist of me in my lifetime. \u201cNext time maybe I can do better and take a better photo of you.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Though she has no desire for the spotlight, Kesh is very much the star of a handful of social media series. There\u2019s the TikToks<\/a> Sam Shekian posts every month<\/a>, chronicling her trip to take passport pictures.\n <\/p>\n \n Shekian, 26, is a kindergarten teacher on the upper East Side, and first had Kesh take her picture as kind of a gag. She was in the neighborhood with a friend, hoping to get their auras read, but found the place closed. Already familiar with Eliz Digital from getting film developed, Shekian suggested passport pics instead; at the time, \u201cpassport photo makeup\u201d was a TikTok trend. It went so well she came back the next month, and the next, and the next. Now she\u2019s come every month for nearly four years.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI\u2019m a woman of routine,\u201d Shekian said. \u201cIt just became a thing that was \u2014 I can\u2019t stop now, how can I stop?\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Her Eliz Digital pictures now serve as a time capsule. \u201cTo see where I am as a person, to look back at the photos and to see the different points in my life and who I was, that in itself shows me it\u2019s ok to change,\u201d she said. \u201cWhether I look good or not, it looks like myself and she\u2019s just capturing who I am, so I think that\u2019s the special part.\u201d\n <\/p>\n![\"Chunika](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/chunika-kesh-20251125170057573.JPG\")
<\/p>\n![\"Time](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/meena-passport-photo.jpg\")
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