This week, David Alan Harvey announced the deadline for the Emerging Photographer’s Fund 2011. Having been lucky enough to be the recipient of the first grant in 2008, I wanted to jot down a thought or two about how the grant has impacted me as a photographer.

Burn

The Emerging Photographer’s Fund is an evolution from discussions on David’s old blog ‘Road Trips‘. Road Trips was David’s first foray into blogging and became and intimate community of people keen to learn from David’s experience as a professional photographer for National Geographic and Magnum.

The appearance of blogging has, I feel, been a gift to aspiring photographers as more and more established professionals have gone online to openly and candidly share their thoughts and experiences with their followers. As a young photographer starting out, one of the things I craved was learning from pro-photographers and learning how they approached their careers and their work. Road Trips was a goldmine for any young photographer looking for information and/or advice. It still is a goldmine, although Road Trips is no longer, and has evolved very successfully into Burn. As I have evolved too as a photographer, making the first forays into the beginning stages of my professional career, I still value the Road Trips/Burn community as much as before.

Road Trips

In the summer of 2007, David announced the idea that he was giving out a grant. He challenged the readers of his blog to find a photo-project which they would ultimately submit and he would consider for further funding. I had been sitting on the idea of photographing the issue of desertification (the gradual expansion of deserts and arid land) for some time but hadn’t found the right time to get the project going. The challenge from David was to be my impetus to start.

I packed some clothes and my camera and booked a flight from Beijing to western China to a place I knew was suffering from desertification. At that time, the trip was funded out of my own pocket and I realistically knew that my chances of being awarded a grant were very small, due to the fact I was sure many good photographers would be entering too. It didn’t really matter to me though, as it was a project that I had wanted to cover for sometime and the challenge was enough to make me want to start. My aim was to get the project started and if I was lucky, get it infront of David on a computer sometime and get a few pieces of advice. I didn’t expect anything else. It’s important when you enter competitions or grants that you don’t expect anything. Continue with your work anyway. If you get any kind of recognition, it’s a bonus. You still need the passion for the subject to continue with it, even if it doesn’t pick up and awards along the way. They should never be your goal.

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Hubei Province. Wuhan. 2008

This week’s Photo of the Week comes from the city of Wuhan, in Hubei province. I was in the city as part of a trip I was taking traveling down the great Yangtze River, upon which the city of Wuhan sits.

At the time this photo was taken, I was visiting the Yellow Crane tower, a beautiful structure which sits on one of the highest points in the area overlooking the city. As I was walking around the base of the tower, I stumbled upon the above situation. Of course, it was the man in traditional Peking Opera dress that first caught my attention however as I stood an observed it was the woman on the left who also caught my attention as she was actually teaching moves to the costumed man. Just off camera to the left was a large gathering of people next to a stage, waiting for the performance to begin. This was a little bit of last minute practice happening. The scene became even more interesting when I noticed the man peering over the balcony watching and the girl in the background.

For me, it’s a slightly odd picture. The woman’s gesture is interesting. The costumed man is intriguing. The composition is very pleasing, made complete by the woman in the blue coat. Overall, a very satisfying and enjoyable alternative image of a slice of Chinese life and culture.

Camera Info: Canon 20D | 16-35mm f2.8 lens | ISO 400 | f20 | 1/250th

No. 1

Last week saw the visit of Chinese President, Hu Jintao, to the United States. The visit sparked an online flurry of activity around everything Chinese. As the world wakes up to the looming, unavoidable realisation that China is here and here to stay, more and more people are focusing their attention on the Middle Kingdom and are striving to learn more about it.

One of my stated aims with my photography and this blog is try and assist people in their understanding of China and act as a window into this deeply mysterious and fascinating country. This week, I thought I would be fun to focus on those that I have photographed, in particular a number of Chinese celebrities that I have had the opportunity to meet and take pictures of, since I have been in China. The question is: How well do you know your Chinese celebrities?

No. 2

All you need to do is take a look at the 5 pictures in this post and correctly identify who they are. They all come from quite diverse areas of Chinese culture including politics, education, sport etc but they all have the same thing in common in that they are very very well known here in China. Once you think you know who they are, write a list of their names in the comment section below. The first person to answer all 5 correctly (or closest to 5) will win a signed 9″x6″ print of this image. Easy as that!

To assist you, I advise you to peruse my blog archives, portfolio site and YouTube channel as all of these individuals appear at some point online on my sites. Good luck!

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Schoolchildren in Inner Mongolia. 2010

This week’s ‘Photo of the Week’ comes from Inner Mongolia, a province located in the north of China. I travelled to this province in spring of 2010 as part of a group from the Shanghai based NGO, Roots and Shoots. Every year, they travel to Inner Mongolia to take part in their annual tree planting sessions, normally accompanied by corporate sponsors. As well as planting trees to help combat desertification in the region, they also visit local schools in an effort to try to educate young children about the importance of protecting the environment.

On our penultimate day in Inner Mongolia we woke to see the normally dry and arid landscape covered in snow. A heavy downfall had blanketed the school we intended to visit however we of course went anyway. This shot was captured from the bus as the children bid us goodbye after our visit. I like the angle I was able to get for this shot and using the overhanging branches of the tree makes for an interesting composition. The girl in the center in pink is also interesting as a focal point for the shot.

Camera Info: Canon 7D | 16-35mm f2.8 lens | ISO 400 | f9 | 1/320th