Beijing is probably the last place you'd expect to find an Ohio State fan. Then again, maybe he just liked the bright red color of the jersey.
One of the most disconcerting discoveries I had upon arriving in Beijing was that in most respects it didn't look all that different from Los Angeles. It was packed with cars, bicycles, pedestrians, huge shopping centers, and office buildings. Aside from the people, signs, and a few of buildings being Chinese, Beijing could have been almost any oversized Western metropolis. Combine that with gray skies and flat lighting caused by air pollution, and the result is a city that is not particularly photogenic. This is true of many other travel destinations as well--you can't just start snapping pictures of everything you see and expect them to be any good; you've got to work for them, just as you would if you were at home.
Nothing says "China" to me as much as bicycles and the color red.
These are the stairs leading up from one of Beijing's massive train stations. I still don't know how I managed to capture a scene like this with only two people in it.
Not only did this sudden rain shower add visual atmosphere, it helped clear the air of oppressive pollution and the sidewalks from ever-present dust.
Since I was travelling with my wife and kids, I didn't have the luxury of being able to photograph wherever and whenever I wanted. That meant I had to be extra alert to any opportunity to shoot anthing better than the average tourist "happy snaps." For me, these opportunities presented themselves in the form of dramatic lighting, colors, graphic shapes, patterns, and weather conditions. They may not have appeared as often as I might have liked, yet often enough that I had a good time taking advantage of them. Had I been there longer or in the right places, I could also have taken advantage of special occasions and activities, such as festivals, ceremonies, games, sports, and so on. No matter; as I often remind my kids, "You get what you get and you don't get upset."
I am enjoying your China pictures, particularly since they are probably not the pictures I would have shot; seeing from someone else's point of view while they are travelling is always interesting to me. And of course there is the question, "Why China?"
Having just returned from a six week cycling trip in Germany with my husband, I appreciate your comment about not having the luxury of shooting wherever and whenever you wanted. On the other hand, it does hone the eye when opportunities to photograph are reliant on where and when one happens to be. We missed a couple of places I would have liked to have seen, but, if you're not seeing something, you're seeing something else.
Posted by: Lesley | June 13, 2012 at 12:00 PM
Funny - our kids (aged 3 ,5, 6) are always telling each other 'you get what you get...' as well :)
I had a similar trip to Korea recently. Being there for business I didn't have much time for photos, but it was interesting to try and find images that captured the feeling of the country without just getting snapshots.
Posted by: Brad Calkins | June 13, 2012 at 06:10 PM
Wow, it's been a long time since I visited Beijing. I enjoyed a midwinter trip there ten years ago. I was 12. I still remember the sights fondly, but I also remember the brownish-grey dust on the sidewalks and the air pollution-- of the 9 days I spent there, I saw blue sky on only one day. Every day, I would wipe my nose and find that black dust thoroughly coated the insides of my nostrils. No doubt the tens of thousands, if not millions of households burning coal for heating contributed to that.
Wonder if it's still like that today. I might visit again some time, I liked the place.
Hopefully some of the siheyuan and the hutongs still stand-- I loved wandering about in them back then, and was greatly saddened to find many of them slated for demolition to make way for development projects. At the time, many siheyuan slated for demolition had a big, ugly word "拆" (meaning "break apart") spray-painted on them in garish red paint. Many others were remodeled into separate houses to be sold off by residents who could not afford to maintain the complex. Some of them jokingly referred to their homes as "dazayuan" (大杂院, big property housing a motley assortment), which was a pun on another term for siheyuan, "dazhaiyuan" (大宅院, big mansion). I found it admirable that people who had to tear apart their ancestral homes still found the fortitude to joke about it.
The Beijing of 2002 was a time of change, movement, and uprooting. Wonder if it still is now.
Posted by: Zeeman | June 17, 2012 at 06:23 PM