吉姆 JIM HOFMAN | Photography Faces & places in China
Shopping
Art in the Chaos
Street photography is like a scavenger hunt. Sometimes you’re rewarded with the gift of an amazing image. A small slice of the temporal continuum is captured by a few million pixels. Someone’s ordinary life frozen in time for others to see. They may not consider that particular moment precious, but when removed from the context of their everyday existence it can become special. Perhaps art?
Shanghai II
More photos from wandering around the Pudong area of Shanghai. While in Paris people photograph the Eiffel Tower. In Shanghai you photograph the TV Tower. I like to photograph architecture in black and white because it reminds me of the opening sequence of Woody Allen’s movie “Manhattan” – complete with Gershwin music.
Zhujiajiao
I went to Zhujiajiao today. It’s a water town on the outskirts of Shanghai that was established about 1,700 years ago. It’s a tourist village these days, full of restaurants & shops. It was nice to escape the big city…
Shanghai I
Shanghai is huge. REALLY huge (23 million people). It’s ten times the size of Chicago. And this week is was hot. REALLY hot. There were lots of umbrellas on the streets to make-your-own-shade.
Nanjing
I just spent a couple days in Nanjing, which is a few hours west of Shanghai. It was my first trip there. I always seem to visit the same manufacturing hubs in China and it was nice to go somewhere new.
Market Sights
Sights from a couple market places in China (Qingxi + Yangjiang). I love to photograph these places. Lots of interesting sensory inputs: sights, sounds, smells, people, activities.
The Supermarket
In many ways this China grocery store is similar to a US store, but in other ways it’s VERY different. Most items are sold in small units to keep the price and size down. There aren’t rows and rows of minivans & SUVs parked in front of the store – you buy what you can carry home.
Saturday Afternoon in the Village
I took these shots on a cool January afternoon on the weekend before the Chinese New Year holiday began. The overcast weather produced some nice flat outdoor lighting. The lighting in the meat market was a different story.
Beijing – Fun & Shopping
Besides the historic sites there are many other cool things to do in Beijing.
Village Nightlife
I went prowling around the village last night with a fast 35mm f1.8 lens to test the low light capabilities of the D3100. Not bad. Some of these shots look like they were taken in the middle of the day because of the amount of lighting in the village and the fast lens.
Retail Parallax
There are miles of these “retail alleys” in every small village in China. Inexpensive retail space for entrepreneurs. The stripped tunnel visual effect can be dizzying.
Hong Kong Nature
There isn’t much nature left in Kowloon, so when a muti-million dollar shopping center was built a few steps from the harbor the developer spared no expense to preserve a very old tree so they could excavate a lower level courtyard.
Makeup Lady
I bought some “Ugly Girl” brand “Snake Oil Hand Creme” for my daughter. I’m not sure that brand name would play well in the US.
Billboard Love
Sometimes the juxtaposition of advertising billboards is funny. The jewelry girl is totally checking out the Pepsi dude.
Underwear Shop
Bashful clerk went into a giggle-fit when I stopped to take her photo. I didn’t buy anything.
