“On Seeing”, A Journal. #441
Growing Up: Alana Chan
July 20, 2021
10 years and 27 years
I have studied over 200 children from childhood into their 20’s. I began with some when they were newborns; others, as is the case with Alana started about the time they could read and write. For all of them I made annual studio portraits and asked them to write answers to a series of questions, a kind of diary about their lives, their feelings, their hopes, their regrets.
My exploration, a major 30 year odyssey, has been an adventure that has yielded riches beyond my imagining. This special young woman, Alana Chan, who now owns and operates LUNA Performing Arts (https://www.










I wish you much success and happiness.
Please do return in a year or two, and do let us know how things are going.

The “Growing Up” project:
I am interested in everything about human development, fascinated by maturation, growth, emotional, educational and physical development. This exploration has been a major 30 year odyssey, an adventure that has yielded riches beyond my initial imagining.
Permission was signed by the parents of each and every child every year, and by the participants themselves once they turned 18. In addition, we have now sent copies of all of their writings and edited photographs to the participants for whom I have finished all my editing and have received full permission from that group to publish and post.