I Love China

In China the wedding photography business is a thriving industry. Chinese people get their wedding photos well before they actually get married, unlike in the west, and they can spend vast sums of money for the privilege of having some very cheesy photos taken. These photos are usually then put in to wedding albums full of cringe-worthy, cheesy phrases like “Aching desire, adorable beauty“, “Yearning tenderness, youthful glow” or “Meeting you was fate, becoming your friend was a choice, but falling in love with you was beyond my control“. I could go on but you get the idea.

One wedding company went a step too far though and are being sued by a furious couple who opened their wedding album to find the words “no freedom, no future” plastered across the pages.

I feel a bit sorry for the photographic studio, who must be the first people to be sued for saying something which is blatantly true (yes, yes, I am a terrible cynic, but I can count the number of happily married couples I know on one hand and I don’t need to use all my fingers).

Photography is probably my biggest passion. Well, okay, my 5th biggest passion, after drinking, casual meaningless sex with strangers, playing pool and watching classic movies, but it’s right up there in the top five. So I make no apologies for posting about photography from time to time.

Without getting too technical, in order to take pictures in low light, you need a tripod to hold the camera steady, because the exposure has to be longer than it would be in bright light. I bought a very steady tripod about 15 years ago, and on the rare occasions I’ve used it, the images have been more than satisfactory:

Taken by me in Hong Kong in August 1998 using a Zenza Bronica ETRS mounted on my old Manfrotto 055 tripod.

But the problem is, it’s extremely heavy and not convenient for wandering around Shanghai in 40 degree heat, together with a camera bag full of lenses and accessories.

I’m sure you’ve heard the adage that the best camera is the one you have with you at the time. Well I guess it’s the same for tripods. There’s no point having one if it stays at home all the time. So on Saturday, I bought myself a lighter tripod and a handy strap that allows me to carry it over my shoulder without a bag, and on Sunday, I decided to try it out and set off with the tripod over my shoulder together with my camera bag.

Of course, it soon started to rain and I was cursing the awful Shanghai weather as I sought shelter in a shopping mall as the heavens opened up. What a waste of an afternoon, carrying all that equipment and no chance of even one decent shot.

But then, as the light was fading, the rain finally stopped, and I managed to end up at Shanghai’s famous Yu Gardens just as the last bit of daylight was disappearing to get this shot:

The shot itself was easy, but I did have to fight through crowds of out of town tourists who would often walk straight into the shot and I had to shoo them away with my hands, like pesky flies. But it was all worth it, the day wasn’t a complete write off and I went home happy.

So last week I took photos for my friend Yiko. Last night, I took some photos for Anabela, a Hong Kong friend who’s living in Shanghai. Yiko and Anabela of course do not know each other. However, through the miracle of Facebook, I managed to link the two girls in exactly six degrees of separation as follows:

Yiko’s boyfriend is Dan, Dan has a friend called Jeffrey, Jeffrey is friends with John, John used to work with Alice, Alice used to work with me in Hong Kong back in 1999, and Alice is the one who introduced me to Anabela (below in red dress) a few years ago.

And while you ponder that, here are a few photos from last night’s exhausting photo shoot.

The idea for a rock star picture came to me while I was at work so I asked the girls to make sure they bring some sunglasses to add to the rock star look for this picture. I don’t have a real guitar so I used my Nintendo Wii Guitar Hero guitar, and the microphone is just something I’ve had for years and isn’t actually connected to anything.

And of course, one of WoAi’s trademark moody, low light portraits:

Can you believe it, tomorrow’s Fashion Friday again!

The new photoblog isn’t as successful as I’d hoped, so I’m giving it a bit of a plug here, and I’m also working harder to take more photos to put on it.

I had a very busy Saturday shooting both outdoors and in the studio. Something I’ve always wanted to try was a long exposure with the model standing perfectly still while people around her are moving, so they’ll be blurred. I decided that Shanghai’s Nanjing Road was probably a good place to try this as it’s always heaving with tourists. And there’s also a subway station there which is always pretty busy.

This looks better when you view the large version.

Then just for fun I did a few regular outdoor shots, slowly making my way to The Bund:

This is a pretty standard jump shot, but they can still be lots of fun I find:

By the time we reached the Bund, it started raining, so I took a few shots before heading home to my studio.

You can’t tell but it’s actually raining in this shot. Although not ideal, it is still possible to get some good images in bad weather, so it’s no excuse not to get out and take some pictures.

And finally, a few studio shots to end what was a very long 4 hour photo shoot:

Of course, Tommy felt a bit left out so as soon as the chair was vacant he jump right in and insisted on having his picture taken:

So just to keep him happy, I took a few shots of him before packing up the studio lights and going for dinner:

Apologies for Caturday fans for a lack of post yesterday. I hope this picture makes up for it!

Ron lines up a difficult shot at last Sunday night’s practice session.

Well folks, now this blog seems to be ticking over quite nicely, I’ve decided in true CSI style to launch a spin-off. No it’s not WoAi Miami or WoAi New York, it’s actually WoAi’s brand spanking new photoblog.

Some of you may know I am a keen photographer, yes, because it gets me a lot of action, but also because I actually quite like taking photos. And this isn’t the place to be showing lots of images, so I’ve launched a totally separate photoblog which I hope you will enjoy visiting each day, once you’ve finished reading WoAiZhongGuo, ISpyShanghai, Dingle Speaks and of course, Shopgirl! The tone will be a bit more serious, which is another reason I didn’t want to just post photos here, but also, in most cases, the image sizes would be too small to fully appreciate the pictures here. Someone once said it’s like music – it sounds much better when it’s played loud!

I’m only going to upload one picture each day (at most) so it’s going to be easy to keep up and savour each day’s image before eagerly anticipating the next one.

For those of you unfamiliar with the photoblog concept, here are a few examples of good photoblogs which inspired me to start my own:

Gonzo Gallery – Talented UK based photoblogger

Daily Dose Of Imagery – Toronto based photoblogger

Tom Kaszuba – An America based photographer

And for the technically minded (geeks), the blog is powered by Pixelpost which is an open-source, standards-compliant, photoblog application for the web.

In keeping with spin-off tradition, the same image has been posted in both blogs today, but from tomorrow, there will be no more overlaps between the two blogs.

Here at WoAiZhongGuo it will of course be business as usual.

Purely by chance I stumbled across this cyber romance on Flickr. Two keen amateur photographers sharing their photos online, meet and fall in love. Her name is Rosie and she lives in England, his name is Aaron and he’s in America. They’re very much in love even though they’ve never met. Every Sunday they make a composite photo which reflects their dreams of one day being together and they’re being supported by romantic Flickr members.  This photo is amazing, considering the hands belong to Rosie’s 60 year old father!

I’m always a little nervous when I hear of these types of stories. Will they feel the same when they meet in the flesh? Will it be awkward? And with their whole story so public, what will happen if it all goes wrong? Well, who knows, there are never any guarantees, but in the mean time, I’ll enjoying tuning in to see these wonderful images.

Good luck Rosie and Aaron.

My Rolleiflex 2.8 E2 with Zeiss Planar 2.8/80 lens, made in 1959.

My biggest passion isn’t actually fashion, it’s photography. I have a large collection of cameras including 3 vintage Rolleiflex Twin Lens Reflex cameras from the 1950s, and one of them is pictured above.

They all work perfectly and use 120 roll film, which believe it or not, you can still buy fairly easily in Shanghai. I use these mainly for street photography, not because of the texture of the emulsion or anything remotely pretentious like that, but simply because people are much less threatened by such an old antique and rarely look away when I point it at them. In fact, most people seem to be hypnotised by these cameras and look straight into the lens, which is perfect for street portraits where some kind of eye contact is desirable. It’s almost impossible to achieve this with a normal digital camera, especially in China where people seem very suspicious if you walk around with a camera and a long lens. I guess with these antiques, they probably think if I had more sinister motives, I wouldn’t bother using a 49 year old antique.

In the picture, I’m holding a Rolleicord Vb from around 1962.  The Rolleicord was a cheaper range that was produced for enthusiasts rather than professionals, who couldn’t afford the cost of the Rolleiflex range.  Rolleicords are made to the same high standards but the lenses were lower quality and the features were more limited than on the pro range.

These cameras get a lot of attention whenever I go out with them. People look in wonder, some ask me questions about it and while it takes up a lot of valuable picture taking time, I usually spend time to show them how it works and let them play around with it before continuing on my merry way.

As this is a blog about China, I’ve decided it’s completely relevant to show some of my street photos here on my blog, so here are a few to start the ball rolling.

Rolleiflex 3.5F, Kodak Tri-X 400 black and white film. Beijing, 29th October 2006. (Note the Tellytubbies on her trousers.)

Migrant workers waiting to return home at Shanghai Railway Station in late summer, 2006. Again, they seem very relaxed and not at all upset by my intrusion.

Elderly man sits outside his home on a chair that’s chained up (I assume) to prevent theft. Notice also the bricks under the chair legs to achieve that perfect angle for maximum comfort!