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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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What a busy few days it has been since I arrived in the US 5 days ago. I spent the first few days at Kent State University, where I gave a total of eight (yes 8!) presentations for my work for the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, mainly to students enrolled in the school’s various journalism/photojournalism programmes. Even though it was rather intense, it was great to meet people such as Barbara Hipsman, Karl Idsvoog and Glenn Luther who apart from being lovely people, are also great journalists and are working on exciting things intheir various fields. I encourage you to check out their websites via the provided links. To see a nice write-up of my public lecture at Kent State, please go here.

Georgetown University

Last night I visited Washington’s Georgetown University where I presented to an environmental action group of students. Along with the Pulitzer Center’s Nathalie Applewhite, we presented Pulitzer’s new ‘Heat of the Moment’ Gateway (which you should definitely check out by the way, if you have any interest in global environmental issues) and got a good response from the students there.

American University

Today, I head to American University to speak to journalism students about my experiences working in China as a photographer. If the students are like those at Kent State and Georgetown, then it should be a good day. It’s a lot of fun talking about these climate issues and getting feedback from students who seem so keen and thirsty for information about these topics.

The Climate Institute

Finally, tomorrow I shall be speaking at the Climate Institute here in Washington, which is a public event. So, if you have time, please do come along, as I believe there are a few places left. Again, I shall be presenting my work on desertification in China and talking about climate policy. Hope to see you there!

Lots of things seem to happening at the moment and I am struggling to find time to write individual blog entries, so forgive me for including three subjects in one entry today.

Kent State Univeristy

First, I shall be heading the US on Saturday to speak at a number of events for the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting who are bringing me to America to take part in a number of outreach programmes, aimed at highlighting their sponsored work and the issues they cover. As a result, I shall be heading to Kent State University in Ohio for two days on the 26th and 27th, speaking in a number of classes and presenting my work on desertification in China. There will be a public presentation I believe on the night of the 26th, from 6:30 – 8:00 p.m. in Room 340 in the First Energy Room at Franklin Hall, in the School of Journalism and Mass Communications. If you are in the Kent State University area, please come by and say hello!

After Kent State, I shall be heading to Washington DC where I am scheduled to be speaking at the American University and Climate Institute. More details on those to follow later. Needless to say, I shall be updated this blog whilst on my travels in the US, so please check back for up to date info.

Heat of the Moment

The next piece of news is that my work on desertification in China has been featured on the new Pulitzer Gateway “Heat of the Moment”, a portal of the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting highlighting their work on various climate issues. The subjects are incredibly diverse and it is well worth exploring many of the different topics. The Pulitzer Gateway is another source of outreach, mainly targeting students who will begin to log-in to the site to learn about Global Climate issues. In the next week or two, video interviews will be uploaded to the site and dialogue will begin between the journalists and students. It should be very interesting, so please do check back again sometime to see how it all developing.

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NOVEMBER WORKSHOP – “Hutong Photography”

Dates: Sunday 15th November 2009 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Course Leaders: Photographer Sean Gallagher & Guide/Interpreter Jessica Zheng

Location: The Far East International Youth Hostel, Beijing

Participants: Minimum 5 people, Maximum 10 people (Registration is on a first-come first-serve basis)

Student Level: Beginner/Intermediate – All ages welcome!

Cost: 499 Chinese Renminbi per person*

As a result of the success of the first “Hutong Photography” workshop in October, another workshop has been scheduled in November for those who missed out on the first one. Just like the first workshop, our class will focus on one of the special areas that makes the Chinese capital so unique…the hutongs!

A chance to photograph the people of the hutongs

During this workshop, we shall focus on photographing the unique way of life that still remains in the hutongs of the central Qianmen district. Photographer Sean Gallagher will guide you through these maze-like communities to show you the best ways to approach and photograph the people and architecture. Along with tuition ‘on the street’ we will also cover the basics of photography before we head out, to make sure you are getting the most out of your camera. Professional guide and interpreter Jessica Zheng will be on hand at all times to offer you insights into the background and history of the hutongs and will also give a brief lesson in ‘Photography Chinese’, key words and phrases you need when photographing people.

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Sean giving advice to Prachit and William in the first editing session.

Tuesday saw the first of our new “Hutong Photography” Photo Workshops, held in the hutongs of Qianmen near Tiananmen Square. The workshop was a great success and we had five participants who spent the day exploring the hutongs and learning about the fundamentals of photography. Below is a selection of photos taken by Jessica Zheng, who also acted as our guide and translator throughout the day.

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The day started with a class introducing the basics of photography, covering topics such as ISO, using light, aperture, shutter speed and how to approach people to take pictures. Following on from that, we had a second short class on ‘photography chinese’, learning useful words and phrases that would assist us in speaking and connecting with the people we photographed. We then headed into the hutongs for the first shooting session, focusing on the points we had learnt from our first class.  Returning to the Far East International Youth Hostel for lunch, a 12-dish spread of traditional hutong food awaited us!

While we digested our feast, we entered into our first one-on-one editing session, looking at each student’s images from the first shooting session. Once we had reviewed each student’s images, we headed out for our second photographing session, aiming to improve on what we had learnt in our editing and earlier classes. Having navigated the hutongs for a second time, we returned to edit our images again, this time in a group setting, sharing our ideas and common experiences from the day in the hutongs.

As you can see from the above photos, a great day was had by all, exploring both the hutongs and our photography. Thanks to Jennifer, Bruce, Prachit, William and Myles for helping to make this a memorable first “Hutong Photography” Workshop!