This is a follow up to yesterdays comments about my hiking about in the China Blizzard last January and observing the social conditions and making judgements as to the effects of the on-going changes.
This tiny little market and I think included a resturant (not sure) was not much to look at, and I did not think all that prosperous. But yet as you can see from my resulting photograph, they could get a nice laugh out of the strange looking Western who was out hiking in this awful weather. I know what I looked like a half hour later when I finally made it back to my hotel, a real mess. The little kid kept shouting “Hello” of which I keep repling “Ni hao”, until I relented with a good old fashion, “How ya doing” of which everyone starting laughing again. Probably had no clue to USA slang.
But the point is, they were direct, warm, open, cordial if not outright friendly. I did my best to try to capture that moment, but this is more of a personal photo for me than any that I am considering for my project. And if I think that the changes that are on-going to this society are bad, perhaps it is my perception, not theirs. But nevertheless, I feel that I need to photograph what I preceive and show it.
BTW this is also when my camera (Canon XTi) was as frozen as I was and intermintently shutting down and defaulting to some random settings. Really randome settings or sometimes outright stopped working. Thankfully it defaulted to a RAW settling this time and that allowed me to salvage this image, even as noisy as it is. If this was film, especially color transparency, it would have totally lost, a total gonner.
Best regards, Doug
I am where my emotional connection is developing with regard to my photographic projects from Eastern China, specifically the industrial landscape, such as this photograph. Kinda like the let down that occurs weeks, months or even years after a tragic life event occurs.
At some point, the defenses are far enough down that the events wash over and you make the emotional connection.
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One thing that I have been striving to do is to include a stronger human presense in my landscape photographs. And seems that others have noticed as well. What I did not notice until it was pointed out to me recently, is that the people in the photogaph seem to be moving away from the camera.
They are seen but not really seen, a player in the landscape story, but an unknown player, perhaps more mysterious than they should. I keep them at a distance, I don’t get let them usually get close. These landscape images of mine are very autobiographical after all, eh?
Best regards, Doug
BTW I was in Xitang, the historical “Water Village” near JiaShan. I liked this architechial composition and the way the light was iluminating the surfaces. I found myself waiting for people to walk down the alley way (hutong) that was parrallel to the canal, past my small vantage point. This one was the one that interested me the most.
Well, I continued to think about the publishing strategy for my softcover version of In Passing. It seems that my logic for holding back the softcover version until I complete the Limited Edition was based on traditional book publishing rules.
But I am not doing traditional book publishing, eh?
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I received my other book production proof this week, the second book that came in is the second production proof of the softback version of In Passing. It was my first book production proof of In Passing last April that set me off to develop my POD sharpening book.
I did not use the B3 custom color for the softbound version of In Passing, but I have no issues with a side by side comparison of the “duotone” color between the two proofs. I noticed only a slight tonal change within the images, but I think that this is a result of the slight contrast increase that comes with the sharpening actions.
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I keep coming back to the couple of days that I spent in Xitang photographing the old water village. The 1200 old structures were very intriging, especially since this village is a not a museum, people still live here and continue their normal lives. But there are shops that do cater to those who come to look and see;- )
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While I was on out on assignment today, my updated book Places Amongst Us was delivered. As you might recall, I was disappointed with color of the first production proof, it was like they had put the entire book in a tonal compression chamber; the shadows were blocked and the highlights were blown.
It did not look good, but at least the image sharpening was right on;- )
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As I keep developing my series I’m Just Looking, I keep coming across images that challenge me with regard to the purpose (head) of the series. Trying to keep that balance, and not get too head-strong. Sigh.
Best regards, Doug
After writing yesterday about the balance of hand-head-heart in my work, I realize that I may be way too head-strong. With that I also imply I may be too left side brainy, which is the analytical and verbal side of our brain. I don’t know, perhaps a guy thing or maybe tooo much an engineer. The right side of the brain gets into that feelie, holistic, zen, abstract thing.
Not that it is bad thing, eh?
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I am reading (and re-reading) the article Rigor and Surrender by Bruce Barlow in LensWork #77. An interesting piece and a good self sanity check, or at least for me.
My immediate take away deals with the point he makes about a creative person who needs to be aware of three things, their head, their heart and their hand, and the balance of the three. Barlow points to Rudolf Steiner and his Waldorf education as his inspiration.
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