From Left to Right: Jessica, Sean, Pip, Ross, Rita, Fredrik, Eva, Andrea, Alexia
Last Sunday saw the 4th in our series of Hutong Photography Workshops. We had nearly a full class with nine students attending; Jim, Pip, Ross, Andrea, Daphne, Eva, Rita, Alexia and Fredrik.
Andrea, Eva and Rita
City Weekend
We were delighted to find out last week that Chelin Miller, who is a former student from one of out hutong workshops, was featured in Beijing City Weekend and interviewed about her experiences taking on of our classes. You can read a snippet of the interview here online and read it reproduced below. Well done Chelin! To see images from the workshop Chelin attended, please go here.
Snap Happy: Hutong Photography
*Amateur photographer Chelin Miller tells us why she hones her skills in Sean Gallagher’s photo workshops
What is it about photography that draws you?
Photos tell a story, preserve memories and can be a fantastic creative outlet.
Have you ever studied photography before?
I have never studied photography seriously, but I’ve had a passion for it since I was a teenager.
(c) City Weekend
How did you find the hands-on photography workshop?
There was a feeling of camaraderie from the beginning. We were eight in our group. Armed with our cameras, we went out around the hutong and although we were all together, we all perceived different aspects of the area, the people and the architecture. It was fascinating to come back to the hostel and review everybody’s photos; I think we all learned a lot from each other.
Is the workshop accessible to the camera challenged?
Yes, the workshop was very clear and concise. It covered enough basic technical and composition steps to be able to take good photos even if you were a total beginner, without slowing down the pace for those with a little bit more experience.
Will you be taking the workshop again?
Yes, definitely. I can’t wait to go to Harbin for the ice festival with Sean and Jessica’s group. Being with others who share my passion, making jokes, feeding ideas off each other and learning from each other is what makes the workshops so enjoyable.
Chinese New Year Special Workshop: White Cloud Temple Fair
February welcomes a very unique time of the Chinese calendar; Chinese New Year! To mark the most important holiday of the year, we are running a special workshop to coincide with the celebrations here in the nation’s capital. We continue in the vein of trying to introduce our workshop participants to less-visited and authentic locations, therefore will be holding this workshop at the White Cloud Temple, in XiCheng District on Tuesday 16th February from 11:00 a.m. to 16:00 p.m. This spectacular Taoist temple is over 1000 years old and is one of the city’s hidden cultural gems. It will be the perfect place for photographing the true, authentic and traditional new year celebrations. To find out more details about how to join us on this special workshop, please head to our workshop page here.
For those of you leaving Beijing for the holidays and won’t have a chance to attend the Chinese New Year workshop, do not worry! The increasingly popular Hutong Photography Workshop is back again on Sunday 28th February from 10:00 a.m. to 18:00 p.m. and will again offer participating students the chance to explore the maze-like hutongs whilst improving their photography. We were delighted to learn that this month a former student from this workshop was featured in Beijing City Weekend Magazine talking about her experiences taking this class. Read a snippet of her interview here and then find out how to book your place here through our workshop page.
We look forward to seeing you!
Heat of the Moment
Over at the Pulitzer Gateway, I am now taking questions from students in the US about the effects of desertification in China and how I reported on the subject last year. As part of the Pulitzer Center’s efforts to break down the barriers between reporters and their readers, they have provided a great venue for people to log-on, view the reporting and then ask the written journalists/videographers/photographers how and why they reported these issues.
As well as my work on desertification in China, there are many other fascinating stories on diverse subjects such as ‘flooding and drought in Mozambique’, ‘climate refugees in the south Pacific’, ‘water issues in Ethiopia’ and reports from COP15 by Pulitzer journalists. Spend some time there and find out about some of the ways we are all being affected by climate change.
Student Questions
Hutong Photography Workshop | Beijing | China
The temperature plummeted in Beijing this month but that didn’t stop us from heading out into the chilly hutongs for another “Hutong Photography” Workshop this weekend. Luckily for myself, guide Jessica Zheng and our students Bonnie, Scott, Tina and Kirsten the thermometer crept up over the weekend, hovering around 1-2C making it a perfect winter day to explore the hutongs.
Along with our class in the morning introducing everybody to the key, fundamental technical aspects of photography we had two shooting sessions in the morning and afternoon. The hutongs are a constant inspiration and you never know what may be round the next corner. For this month’s workshops students encounters included photographing a 98-year old hutong resident, bicycles buried in snow, conversations with pipe-smoking locals, coal deliverers and many more unique characters.
Thanks again to our students Kirsten, Bonnie, Scott and Tina who braved the threatening cold to make it another memorable workshop!
Weekend Workshops
I am delighted to announce two new workshops in January, to welcome in the New Year.
The first, is the next in line of our increasingly popular “Hutong Photography Workshops” which will be held on Sunday 17th January at the Far East Youth Hostel in Beijing. As ever, this will be a great opportunity to explore the maze-like hutongs in central Beijing.
The second workshop, will be in Harbin and will coincide with the famous Ice Festival. Our workshop will run all day on both Saturday 30th and Sunday 31st January. Sign up for either one or two days (get a discount for two days) and come and explore this amazing winter wonderland with us and your camera.
Also, as it is the New Year, we would like to extend a *Happy New Year Special Offer* to all former students, giving a 10% discount on any workshops (both group and one-on-one) taken in January.
For details on all of the above workshops, please go HERE to our workshop page.
We look forward to seeing you on one of our workshops soon!
Our Facebook Page
As of this weekend, our WEEKEND WORKSHOPS programme now has a page on Facebook. To get updates on news, upcoming workshops, student photos etc. please become a ‘fan’ and get those updates sent straight to your news feed so that you know exactly what is happening and when. Click on the ‘Find us on Facebook’ link below to take you straight to our page.
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We’re really excited about the quick success of the workshops and also the enthusiasm of the students who have attended so far. We’re currently working on the plan for the next couple of workshops, so please stay tuned!
It is ALWAYS great to receive feedback from our students about how they think our workshops have gone. Over the past couple of weeks, we have gathered a few of their responses, which you can find below.
Chelin
Frank
Weekend Workshops Beijing
This weekend saw our WEEKEND WORKSHOPS continue with the second of our “Hutong Photography” classes. Braving the bitter cold in Beijing were Anne, Charlotte, Frank, Chelin, Jenny and Josh. The weather was against us, but a great day was had by all in the end, as we were determined to explore the hutongs against the dropping temperature! Below is a selection of images from the day.
As in our first “Hutong Photography” workshop in October, our schedule began with a class introducing the basics of photography, making sure everyone was comfortable with how their cameras worked and providing everyone with advice about how to approach people to take pictures in the hutongs. We then had a ‘Photography Chinese’ class taught by Jessica Zheng before heading out into the cold to begin our first shooting session.
We had two shooting sessions, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Both were followed by group editing sessions where we sat down and looked at everybody’s photos, sharing ideas and thoughts about how we could improve. In between the morning and afternoon sessions, the usual hearty spread of food was layed on by the Far East International Youth Hostel, to keep us fuelled for the day’s work.
Even though it was a bitterly cold day in Beijing, it was great to see everyone’s passion for photography keeping us going (although the heater in the hostel did help…see gallery photo of everyone franticly trying to warm hands!). A big thanks from me and Jessica to Anne, Charlotte, Frank, Chelin, Jenny and Josh for making this another enjoyable and successful “Hutong Photography” Workshop!
Charlotte, poses for a photo, during a break between classes. 2007
*This week’s ‘Photo of the Week’ is an image from my story on the Bethel Training Center for Blind Orphans, currently being featured on the Photophilanthropy website. Below is the extract which supports the story. To see more images from this story, please click on the Photophilanthropy link.”
“I can see, and that is why I can be happy, in what you call the dark, but which to me is golden.” – Helen Keller, Blind and Deaf US Writer.
There are around 500,000 blind and visually impaired children in China. As a result of China’s strict one-child policy, children born with physical or mental disabilities are regularly abandoned as parents strive to have their only child born ‘normal’ and well.
