陈海汶 (Chen HaiWen) lead a team of 14 photographers, traveling over 100,000 km from 2008 through 2009, photographing all 56 ethnic groups making up China. They took roughly 570,000 photos during this period. The result was 和谐中华——中国56个民族剪影 (“Harmonious China – Silhouette of China’s 56 Ethnic Groups”). On August 18, 2009, the book was officially released in the Shanghai Book Fair.
[Click on image to launch slideshow of the individual ethnic "family" portraits.]
For a better sense of the undertaking, Todou has a 12-minute documentary of Chen and his team visiting all corners of China to bring this rich tapestry of ethnicities to the world.
Chen is a renowned photographer from Shanghai having established himself as someone who has a unique talent to capture the authenticity of every day life. Sina.com conducted an interviewed of Chen on September 29, 2009, and here is a link.
Chen’s previous publication is simply titled, “Shanghai.” Its available on Amazon.com and is a very unique look from a tremendous photographer through the eyes of a Chinese.
The heading is actually the description of an image from Michael Anderson on Flickr.com where he titled it, “Timeless.” Look at the photograph, and if we replace that kerosene lantern with a candle version, then the picture might have been the same if the photographer were to have taken it two thousand years ago! The raft is made out of 5 bamboos. His basket is weaved using bamboo. The oars are wooden and bamboo. Timeless, indeed!
Timeless by Michael Anderson
Few years ago, we took a boat cruise from Guilin down to Yangshuo on the Li River. We saw bunch of cormorant fishermen along the way. We had a chance to take a picture with one of their birds. The cormorants are big birds – each weighing about 20lbs.
The most memorable was the fresh carp we ate while on the boat, presumably caught and coughed up by a cormorant. It was steamed with ginger and scallion with soy source. Thinking of that trip today, I can still almost taste the fresh Li river water on that carp.
Talking about timeless, I wonder if the Chinese cooked the carp 2000 years ago also with ginger and scallion?
Btw, if you are an aspiring landscape photographer, I highly recommend following the link to Michael Anderson’s collection of photos – his photos are out of this world! I am just happy he has among his collection this “Timeless” piece while traveling through China.
Some of you who are into photography might have heard of HDR – high dynamic range. HDR images are generated using computer software by combining multiple exposures of a same picture – the resulting image is usually of higher fidelity in terms of color. I recently came across a number of pictures on Flickr.com (shared publicly by a user “Franck” – follow link if you would like to go there and see his entire album) showing breath-taking views of Shanghai.
Shanghai’s skyline is world renouned. When the sky is clear, the place is absolutely stunning.
The Oriental Pearl TV Tower (东方明珠广播电视塔). It is located on the Pudong side – just opposite The Bund on the other side of the river.
The Bund or Waitan and both sides of HuanPu River. The Bund still has many European style buildings built around the 1900′s.
A park (This is 正大广场 I think. Someone would like to confirm for me?)
I took this picture at the same park few years ago – in April to be precise. The tulips were still in full blossom.
China’s rapid industrial revolution in the last couple of decades has brought so much pollution, yet there is a side of China that is still pristine and incredibly beautiful. Hopefully more Chinese get to see it so they will work harder to protect it. Its really rare to see something this pristine about China, and BBC has done an incredible job.
A reviewer on Amazon.com has this to say about “Wild China“:
July 4, 2008, natascha wiegand: “This is truly an incredible documentary. I knew that there were both marvelous animals and picturesque natural beauty in China, but never like this. Each episode [8 in total, viewing time of 377 minutes] makes you gape in awe at both the vastly diverse environments, animals and human tribes that make China their home.”
Below is a segment on JIU ZHAI GOU 九寨溝 on YouTube.
This is an amazing collection of photos by a Dr. Feng Jiang. They are breath-taking. Its a bit of a bummer – of all the places hosting his pictures, no one has a link to the photographer. I have spent a lot of time on the web trying to find more information about him. The only information I found is that he teaches (or at one point taught) at University of York in U.K..
Few years ago, we took a boat cruise from Guilin down to Yangshuo on the Li River. We saw bunch of cormorant fishermen along the way. We had a chance to take a picture with one of their birds. The cormorants are big birds – each weighing about 20lbs.
The most memorable was the fresh carp we ate while on the boat, presumably caught and coughed up by a cormorant. It was steamed with ginger and scallion with soy source. Thinking of that trip today, I can still almost taste the fresh Li river water on that carp.
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