[Leica] Hong Kong & Shanghai

Sun Oct 26 12:48:25 PDT 2014

In Hong Kong and Shanghai people were generally fine with being photographed in the streets compared with Europe or N. America, although there was occasional resistance. In the interior were there were fewer tourists, people were very open to having their pictures taken; even often to the point of asking me to take their pictures, and holding up their children for me to take pictures. Mind you, this was in 2005 and things would certainly have changed. Communication was never really a problem. Gestures and smiles generally sufficed, and when more detailed communication was necessary, children aged 10-12 were called, and many of those had learned a fair bit of English in school.

I had a Canon 5D and an APS-C Canon with me at the time, so I was not really very stealthy. I found China just about the easiest place to do street photography. The only real problem was that we were on a three week tour, and I never had enough time in the places I wanted to walk around.

Henning

On 2014-10-25, at 7:40 PM, Jayanand Govindaraj <jayanand at gmail.com> wrote:

> Luis, Tina
> Thanks for looking.
> 
> One is always more comfortable in one's home environment than as a
> itinerant traveler, especially without any means of communication - nobody
> knows English there, and I do not know Mandarin! So I tend to capture what
> I can, a trifle uncomfortably, because I have no idea what the reactions
> could be, or what the culture allows and because of that I am always wary
> of getting too close - which is the basic problem with travel photos, I
> feel. For example, I remember trying to photograph a bunch of people
> playing Mah Jong once in a small town, and being roundly admonished by the
> local guide, because the players believe that such acts bring bad luck, and
> if they had seen me, things could get ugly....
> 
> Cheers
> Jayanand
> 
> 
> On Sat, Oct 25, 2014 at 11:49 PM, Lluis Ripoll <
> lluisripollphotography at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> Jayanand,
>> 
>> I missed these ones, Selfies is a good capture, it made me smile, also
>> smartphones. Nice colors combination in The Bund on Sunlight and Cigarette
>> Break, I like too Bird Garden. Nice set, but your usual sets from Chenai or
>> Wildlife are better for me.
>> 
>> Cheers
>> Lluis
>> 
>> El 25/10/2014, a las 14:31, RicCarter <ric at cartersxrd.net> escribió:
>> 
>>> the bund skylines look very sifi
>>> 
>>> you capture the metallic quality very well over the flower wall
>>> 
>>> ric
>>> 
>>> 
>>> On Oct 24, 2014, at 11:07 PM, Jayanand Govindaraj <jayanand at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>> 
>>>> Douglas, Richard, Jay, Nathan
>>>> Thanks for looking
>>>> Cheers
>>>> Jayanand
>>>> 
>>>> On Fri, Oct 24, 2014 at 10:14 AM, Nathan Wajsman <photo at frozenlight.eu>
>>>> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>>> Selfies and Pei Pei for me, I think.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Cheers,
>>>>> Nathan
>>>>> 
>>>>> Nathan Wajsman
>>>>> 
>>>>> Alicante, Spain
>>>>> http://www.frozenlight.eu
>>>>> http://www.greatpix.eu
>>>>> PICTURE OF THE WEEK: http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws
>>>>> Blog: http://nathansmusings.wordpress.com/
>>>>> 
>>>>> Cycling: http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/belgiangator
>>>>> 
>>>>> YNWA
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> On 23 Oct 2014, at 18:46, Jayanand Govindaraj <jayanand at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>>>> 
>>>>>> Neela & I have just returned from our maiden trip to China, which
>> kicked
>>>>>> off in Hong Kong and ended in Beijing, following the tourist trail
>> about
>>>>>> which a friend of mine, who travels often on business across the
>> length
>>>>> and
>>>>>> breadth of China, calls "Showcase China". In many ways I found China
>>>>>> fascinating, and full of contradictions. The infrastructure is
>> amazing,
>>>>> but
>>>>>> quite a bit seems wasteful - Chongqing, for example seems to have a
>>>>> modern
>>>>>> suspension bridge across the Yangtze every kilometre or two, and all
>> the
>>>>>> cities I visited had many unoccupied completed residential
>> skyscrapers,
>>>>> and
>>>>>> plenty of half finished ones where no work was apparently going on.
>> The
>>>>>> cities are spotlessly clean, but the air pollution has to be seen to
>> be
>>>>>> believed - we did not see the moon and stars during the whole trip
>> save
>>>>> for
>>>>>> the first night in Shanghai. Amazingly, there are no birds or even
>>>>> insects
>>>>>> visible in the cities at all -  dead from the air pollution, I
>> suppose.
>>>>> In
>>>>>> fact, I just saw two wild birds on the whole trip - which included
>> four
>>>>>> nights on a boat on the Yangtze! Again, the way the historical sites
>> are
>>>>>> preserved and protected, and the same time designed to be tourist
>>>>> friendly,
>>>>>> in places like Xi'an and Beijing, is just very well done. Local guides
>>>>>> spoke surprisingly frankly to us about the pros and cons of life
>> there,
>>>>> and
>>>>>> gave valuable glimpses of personal history to emphasize the points
>> made,
>>>>>> and were not scared of criticizing Mao, the wasteful infrastructure
>>>>>> spending or laws like the "One Child Policy" either. Most were college
>>>>>> graduates who had majored in "Tourism English"!
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Anyway, here are some pictures from Hong Kong and Shanghai. All
>>>>> photographs
>>>>>> with the Fuji X100S or Fuji XE-1 with either the 35mmf1.4 or the 56mm
>>>>> f1.2
>>>>>> lens mounted:
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> *Hong Kong*
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Occupy Central - the few days we were there, the students seem to have
>>>>> gone
>>>>>> home - the protests restarted the day after we left:
>>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141008-034.jpg.html
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Bird Garden:
>>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141008-079.jpg.html
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Conversation:
>>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141008-572.jpg.html
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Shopkeeper:
>>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141009-626.jpg.html
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> *Shanghai*
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Pudong (Grain deliberate) a three vertical frame panorama:
>>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141010-190.jpg.html
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> The Bund at Night:
>>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141010-165.jpg.html
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> The Bund in Sunlight:
>>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141011-716.jpg.html
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Cigarette Break:
>>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141011-718.jpg.html
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Smartphones:
>>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141011-721.jpg.html
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Selfies:
>>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141011-743.jpg.html
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Eye Contact:
>>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141011-875.jpg.html
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Pei Pei:
>>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141011-797.jpg.html
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Please see LARGE
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Comments and criticism, as ever, welcome
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Cheers
>>>>>> Jayanand
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>> Leica Users Group.
>>>>>> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> Leica Users Group.
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>>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>> 
>>> 
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>> 
>> 
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> 
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Henning Wulff
hjwulff at gmail.com