Giant Panda

A quick post for the weekend of one of my favourite images from the last week of shooting in Chengdu, Sichuan. As you can probably guess, this image is of a Giant Panda, taken at the Chengdu Panda Base in Sichuan Province. I was at the base this past week photographing the Pandas and interviewing scientists and staff as part of the next chapter in my ‘China’s Fragile Forests’ Series for the Pulitzer Center. The post will be coming soon, so please stay tuned. If you’ve missed my other posts and images from this new project, why not check them out over on the excellent Pulitzer site here.

Have a great weekend!

Viewing the Terracotta Warriors

Last week, I had the opportunity for the first time to visit the Terracotta Warriors in Xi’an, in central China. I was excited to have this opportunity althougha little wary that I would be visiting a location that has been photographed from nearly every angle over the years, since their discovery in 1974. This is often the case when visiting popular sites and it is sometimes a real challenge to find something unique and different when you feel like you know a place well, even before you have visited.

As I wandered around the vast pits containing the warriors I, like everyone else, was stunned by the sight in front of me. The only problem was that there was quite a large distance between the visiting areas and the warriors themselves. This sense of wonderment in the visitors was therefore difficult to capture.

Upon further exploration of the site, I happened upon a room which containing a number of individual soldiers, encased in glass displays. This was the closest that visitors could get to a warrior. As a result, the hoardes of tourists squeezed around the case, all trying to get a good look.

My attention became focused on the visitors and I began to photograph them and their reactions to the warrior in front of them. It was their reactions which fascinated me the most and offered me the best opportunity at capturing the reaction of the people to seeing the warriors. I hope that the image above reflects (excuse the pun) their feelings and hints at the importance of this site to the Chinese people.

Camera Info: Canon 7D | 16-35mm f2.8 lens | ISO 1600 | f2.8 | 1/30th

Collecting Firewood in Inner Mongolia

This week, I returned again to the deserts of Inner Mongolia, whilst on assignment. I have been to this region a number of times over the past few years and really enjoy my time there. For those who don’t know, Inner Mongolia is one of China’s most northerly provinces, stretching across most of northern China. The landscape is dominated by grasslands however much of it is under serious threat from desertification.

In this photo, locals were collecting firewood, moving it from their truck to the side of the road. Deforestation is one of the main drivers are desertification in these regions. As trees are uprooted and roots removed, the soil loses its stability, drying quickly  as the desert moves in.

For those living in very rural areas, firewood is essential for their daily lives, however unregulated collecting can have disastrous consequences, especially when combined with other activities that fuel desertification. It is difficult though to implement a workable balance between local people’s needs and their impact on the environment.

Camera Info: Canon 7D | 16-35mm f2.8 lens | ISO 100 | f8 | 1/500th

Beijing, China. 2005

This week’s image comes from my first ever trip to China, back in the autumn of 2005. I had just finished an internship at Magnum in their London offices and I decided to go to Beijing, to start to photograph some stories I had been forming in my mind during my internship. One of the stories I worked on during my first six weeks in Beijing was on the destruction of the old ‘hutongs’ in the centre of the city. Hutongs are old courtyard communities, based around mazes of alleyways and form an integral part of the character of old Beijing. In recent years, many of these hutongs have been destroyed in an attempt to modernise the centre of the city.

I was out wandering the hutongs one day, as I had been doing a lot during the trip, when I cam across a family moving out of their hutong home. The surrounding area was being demolished and their small community was one of the last that was left. As I watched them start to remove tables, chairs and other items I decided to position myself down one of the small alleyways outside their home. I was hoping that I may be able to catch an interesting moment when someone walked past with an item from their home. I couldn’t hoped for better when for a brief second, someone walked past with a large classical Chinese painting depicting a group of cranes underneath a tree. I managed to capture two frames before the person was gone. Compared to the regular chairs and tables I had seen pass me, this image was the obvious choice from the situation I found.

Camera Info: Canon 20D | 20mm lens | ISO 100 | f4.5 | 1/60th

Chinese New Year | Temple of Heaven | 2011

This week’s ‘Photo of the Week’ comes from the Chinese New Year celebrations here in Beijing. This year, I decided to go to the Temple of Heaven, situated just south of Tiananmen Square, to photograph the festivities taking place there. In case you don’t know, the arrival of CNY is accompanied by what are called ‘temple fairs’, which are basically festivals held within the grounds of many of the city’s temples. They are normally quite interesting places to wander around and photograph, especially at this time of the year when there are many activities taking place.

This image was taken whilst a performance was taking place in the central part of the Temple of Heaven. The people pictured were watching the performance whilst I took this picture. The performance itself was quite interesting, although I had a terrible view. I therefore decided  to turn my attention to the large crowds of people who were there.

What I like about this image, are the faces. It reminds me of a miniature Where’s Wally/Waldo. You can spend a lot of time just going from face to face, each with their own interesting expression. I also love that people aren’t reacting the the camera. I’m not a huge fan of images where people are looking at the camera. The more natural, the better. The majority of the people were conveniently distracted, so I was free to photograph them quite closely with little reaction. I’m looking forward to perhaps printing this photo. I think the larger size will be even more intriguing.

Camera Info: Canon 7D | 50mm lens | ISO 200 | f8 | 1/640th

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

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

Tibetan Monk - Gansu Province

It has been some time since I have posted a ‘Photo of the Week’, so I thought it was about time that I revived this popular feature which I hope gives you a small insight into some of my thought processes when making images.

This week’s image comes from western China, from the Tibetan regions where I have been recently travelling.  The Tibetan areas of China not only comprise of the Tibetan Autonomous region but also spreads into neighbouring province Qinghai, Gansu and Sichuan. Most of my travelling the past week was in Qinghai, a visually stunning part of the country, rich in spectacular landscapes and a diverse mix of people. This image however was taken just across the border of Qinghai province, in Gansu province.

As is quite clear, the image is a portrait of a Tibetan monk. He is standing in a cave that we were visiting, deep in the mountains in the west of the province. Inside the cave are a collection of Buddhist artworks and special areas which house shrines that people often make pilgrimages to.

I chose this image as it is maybe my favourite portrait of a monk that I was able to capture during my short travels. As many visitors to this blog will know, I primarily use natural light and am always looking for how I can capture images without having to rely on artificial light. For this image, the only light that was used was the light shining from the entrance to the cave. We had just completed our trip into the cave, a somewhat difficult and arduous journey into the depths of the mountain. Preparing to leave, I was stood near to this monk and saw him gazing out of the cave entrance. Even though I was very tired from the climb inside the cave, I tried to steady myself enough so that I could compose the shot. I was wide open at 2.8 and knew that would have to be incredibly steady and accurate to capture a sharp image in the limited light. I captured a few frames and this was the one I was most happy with.

Camera Info: Canon 7D | 16-35mm f2.8 lens | ISO 400 | f2.8 | 1/10th