Photographer Lucien Liu is the Edge of Humanity Magazine contributor of this photo essay. From the project ‘City of Love’. To see Lucien’s body of work, click on any image.

I have always watched public areas in big cities to observe the lifestyles of people. Since leaving my hometown Hohhot to study and work in Beijing, I have always lived in larger urban areas watching people just play their public roles and never show their true feelings. Based upon my living and working experiences in Beijing and Tokyo, I have come to understand that people have to get used to a high paced and crowded life with little public privacy. Though, I have noticed the differences in people between different cities, and I can feel they learned the modern rules of the city now but have lost the emotional part. Some people forget how to express their most essential emotions, especially in public spaces. High pace, busy and exhausted life is my impression of the life in big cities.

Since I have come to San Francisco, a city on another continent, I have found people who live here have their ways to relax themselves. They show their love in public places through some intimate connections with each other. This is what I have never seen before I came here, and the intimate moments I saw make me realize big cities are still warm. I want to show my understanding of the city that people should be more relaxed and show more love in the cities.

For this project, I have created a series of black and white images which investigate the contrast between our joyful private moments, and our complicated and crowded environment. Through exploring urban romance and intimate behavior, I want to explore the emotional life of cities and make myself find out the warm part of the cities I have not felt before.