Lights, camera\u2026 and one little Chinatown film shop that gets a lot of action.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A tiny, unassuming photography store on 77 Elizabeth St. is suddenly the hottest place in town for a glow-up \u2014 the passport kind.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n Eliz Digital, a cramped Chinatown photo counter, has amassed a cult following of New Yorkers sprinting in for a photo that somehow makes federal ID requirements look flattering.<\/a><\/p>\n The wizard behind the lens? Owner Chunika Kesh \u2014 though she swears she\u2019s no photo magician, as explained in a recent interview with CNN<\/a>.<\/p>\n She said she has \u201cno secret\u201d to her viral portraits<\/a> and credits the craze to something much simpler: making people feel relaxed in front of the camera.<\/p>\n Whatever she\u2019s doing, it\u2019s working \u2014 and the internet can\u2019t get enough.<\/p>\n This hidden gem of a photography store seems to be one of NYC\u2019s best-kept secrets for passport photos. Alamy Stock Photo<\/p>\n On TikTok<\/a>, teacher Sam Shekian (@teachingwithms.shekian) confessed she gets a passport-style photo taken by Kesh \u201cevery single month,\u201d a ritual she\u2019s kept since 2022.\u00a0<\/p>\n She\u2019s even filmed herself arranging the mini-mugshots on a gallery wall in her apartment like an ever-evolving art installation.\u00a0<\/p>\n Sam Shekian makes it a point to get her photo taken by Kesh just about every month. @teachingwithms.shekian\/TikTok<\/p>\n Photographer Laura Fuchs has turned her devotion to Kesh and Eliz Digital into a full Instagram project.\u00a0<\/p>\n Her series, \u201cChunika & Me,\u201d posted on her account @fuchswithfilm, documents her visits<\/a> to the shop \u2014 from Kesh\u2019s warm greeting to the final portraits, displayed side-by-side and like a love letter to the analog arts.<\/p>\n Over on X, the hype machine is just as loud. User @boltsfood went viral<\/a> for posting his polished, white-background passport pic, raving, \u201cthe best portrait photographer in ny is the chinese passport photo lady on elizabeth lol.\u201d<\/p>\n Kesh manages to make everyone look good in their passport photos \u2014 not an easy feat. @adrnvic\/X<\/p>\n But it\u2019s not just the passport posse driving the frenzy \u2014 Chinatown\u2019s new photo queen is also drawing analog diehards looking for cheap, fast and high-quality disposable camera developing.<\/p>\n TikTokker @movewithanj praised the shop<\/a> as a rare NYC bargain, telling followers it\u2019s perfect \u201cto get your disposable cameras developed in NYC for days.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n