Monthly:September 2009
SPECIAL 1-DAY OCTOBER HOLIDAY WORKSHOP – “Hutong Photography” Dates: Tuesday 6th October 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 the October holidays are upon us here in Beijing, a special workshop has been organised to focus […]
This week’s ‘Photo of the Week’ was taken in 2006 as part of a story that I did on the destruction of the ‘hutongs’ of central Beijing. For those of you who aren’t aware, the hutongs are a maze-like series of homes and dwellings that used to dominate central Beijing. I say used to because many of them were destroyed in the run-up to the Olympic Games as the city strived to modernise in anticipation of all the visiting eyes […]
This week’s ‘Photo of the Week’ comes from my wanderings on the streets of my Chinese hometown of Beijing. Last week I had a two-day assignment for my German agency Laif, who had arranged for me to shoot a story on Beijing’s infrastructure. Whilst meandering through Beijing’s CBD district, Guomao, the amazing light that afternoon drew my attention to the gleaming architecture of the area. As they shone in the dying afternoon light, one building in particular drew my attention. It was […]
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxSifGgJsbs[/youtube] This is the third and final installment of mine and Mark MacKinnon’s short videos from our trip in North Korea. This third video focuses on the Chinese city of Dandong, which lies on the North Korea/China border and offers a startling contrast between the two sides of the Yalu river. Whilst the city of Dandong thrives, fuelled by the economic boom in many of China’s cities, the North Korean side is devoid of life, except for the odd fishing boat and abandoned building. I hope you […]
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BO1-X3-gNP0[/youtube] The above video is the second short-video by myself and the Globe & Mail’s Mark Mackinnon from our assignment in North Korea. The topic of this video is the Arirang Mass Games which are held in the May Day stadium in Pyongyang. In case you don’t know, the Mass Games are a gymnastics, dance and song spectacular that showcase North Korean history and culture. Using hundreds of participants, mostly schoolchildren, the games are an imposing and impressive sight which symbolise […]
This week’s ‘Photo of the Week’ comes from North Korea. I wanted to post a photo from NK as last week’s POTW but I held off as I was waiting until the Globe & Mail, who commissioned the shoot, published the images on their website. Throughout my journey with the G&M’s Mark MacKinnon, we were whizzed across the country from site to site, trapped in our own oversized minivan which could of held about 15 people but was strangely reserved only for […]
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BHVnG3m7BU[/youtube] As some of you may already know, last week I was on assignment in North Korea. Forgive me for not giving a hint of this exciting assignment beforehand, however myself and Mark MacKinnon from Canada’s Globe & Mail, for whom I was working, wanted to try and keep this as quiet as possible until (a) we made it out safely and (b) the work was first published on the G&M website. Well, we are now back in Beijing and […]