Self absorbed photographer talks about work

Canal and doorway,Suzhou

I really enjoyed the time I spent in Xi’an , and was starting to feel quite at home exploring the areas within the city walls, trying  the different food styles.  It seemed sometimes from the conversation in the hostel that many of the westerners staying were taking refuge from the foreignness of the exterior, and had lurid stories of the strange food and experiences. Xi’an is a modern city but  it was the beginning of the silk road so has a real mix of cultures and cuisine. Maybe it was all to much for them to absorb .

Booking a berth on a sleeper train was a straightforward affair as despite priming myself with all the right language I was quite deflated when it turned out the woman in the ticket in the office spoke perfect English. I discovered it pays to book early as there are a lot of people coming through Xi’an from further in the interior so the trains are well patronised.  I had planned to be a little bit adventurous and go hard sleeper, but was in unable to book one so fortunately had to go Soft sleeper. 16 hours on a train was a novelty for me, still suffering from the flu I was glad to be able to do it in comfort. When you go soft sleeper, you get to wait in the comfortable soft seat lounge at the station and are spared the scramble for the platform. Thank goodness as it turned into quite a long wait.

Finally we were permitted to go on to the platform to the train.

I only just settled into the berth and was idly staring at the platform and wondering if I should go out and buy some more food when I was greeted by and extraordinary spectacle. Two travellers who turned  out to be Mexican  waving fists full of RMB at the Guard as they wanted to upgrade from the hard sleepers they had originally booked.  It seemed they were getting the last train out of some disaster and more and more money appeared. ”We have money!” they declared.

Their English wasn’t that great and the guard had none so I found myself in the roll of incompetent interpreter. Despite the traveller’s hysteria, the guard was unfussed and found them room on the car, having to shift a few of the other passengers around so they could be in the same compartment. She said to me there was no need for any trouble, it happened all the time. As long as they could pay the extra charge it just took a little patience to work something out. Sadly I couldn’t make the most of the opportunity to extend the conversation. But I was relieved I hadn’t found myself in the same situation.

The train was fairly uneventful. The compartment had four berths but was spacious and comfortable. There was plenty of room for luggage above the door. I shared with two others, but for the most part of the journey we all slept. I got up a couple of times to walk the length of the carriage, to see the bleary eyed guard sitting in her office. At some point she retired and another guard took over duty. When the sun came up the train passed through dusty towns and villages , past power stations and farms. It was all very similar, but pretty in the early morning sun. At a very early hour the radio started, blaring out cross talk ( a  form of spoken chinese comedy not dissimilar to English speaking comic duos)  then at one point exercise suggestions , along with a count . Looking out into the hallway, I discovered many of the older passengers out there actually doing the exercises while admiring the view.

Eventually we arrived in Suzhou ( Venice of the east!) where I disembarked . I walked out of the platform and immediately into what seemed like a wall of touts and vendors. Clearly it was a slow day the way they converged on to the single foreigner disembarking the train. I bought a map and then started to look for a taxi.   I had many offers for taxis from the crowd, but stuck to the plan and got a taxi from the rank, which was half the price I had been quoted by other non official taxis!.

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Baozi (steamed pork bun) stall, Qingdao

Daoist statue, Laoshan national park , Qingdao

Helping Dad in the food market, Qingdao

Leaving Qingdao the dragon bus took us through some of the larger industrial areas in this part of China, and also gave us a view of some of the spectacular construction projects going on . In one case, it was the 38km long bridge spanning a bay.

A bridge outside Qingdao stretches across a bay

A comfortable 5 hr ride took us to Qufu and to the birthplace of Confucius and the home of the Confucius family.

Qufu is a fascinating place, It still has the city wall and within it is set up for the large numbers of Asian tourists who come to the home of Confucius.  After reading the entry in the lonely planet guide I wasn’t expecting much, but in fact they were wrong . While it is a little touristy, its not expensive and in fact my experiences with the locals were very positive. The temple, residence and tomb were all worth seeing. The hostel was clean and comfortable and if you didn’t feel like venturing out the food was ok.

After we arrived in Qufu, Andy and I decided to go to find some food, the others decided on an early night. Most places were winding down for the night ( and highly uninspiring) and eventually we got in a taxi and asked him where the locals would go at such a late hour. He drove us out of the city walls and to a small local restaurant where we had a delicious meal of  various dishes and the small delicious lamb kebabs ( 羊肉串,if you are trying to find it on the menu, just remember the character that looks like a kebab and you are pretty much there).

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(more examples available at www.foodphotography.co.nz and www.seanshadbolt.co.nz )

The inaugural food photography class for food bloggers took place last weekend at Muriwai at the gourmet gannet workshop www.gourmetgannet.co.nz.  All partcipants all found it useful , but had particular concerns that I thought I could address further in this post.

The basics of cameras is always a good place to start, and some of you found apertures and shutter speeds confusing. Simply put : With the aperture , the higher the number the smaller the hole and the smaller the whole the more there is in focus . With Shutter speeds the higher the number the faster the shutter speed and the better ability to stop fast motion. So if you are pouring cream or sauce in a picture , you might want to consider this. The two are interrelated so in any given amount of light  they need t0 be adjusted to get the correct exposure , and then creative decisions taken as to  whether you want more in focus or you need to stop movement for some reason – or if you are hand holding the camera you will need the fastest shutter speed you can use to make your details crisp and sharp. If you need to acheive a small amount o focus then a wide aperture and a fast shutter speed need to be used.

In focus with detail

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Shellfish for the New Zealand Seafood cookbook

www.foodphotography.co.nz

The New Zealand seafood cookbook

Food photography.

(more examples available at www.foodphotography.co.nz and www.seanshadbolt.co.nz )

The number one rule in food photography is the food must look fresh and inviting. Generally if it can’t look fresh, it means it isn’t fresh and is very difficult to make it look otherwise. Food only stays suitable for photography for a few minutes after being prepared, so you need to be ready in advance to photograph it.

There are very few tricks involved. For consumer law reasons, you have to be able to eat what is photographed. The most common technique is to spray water or oil on to the food to keep it looking moist, but even this is not often used. Food can be manipulated with tweezers and arranged to make it more camera friendly and don’t hesitate to do this if you think it means a better picture.

Equipment and technique.

Professional food photographers generally use expensive medium format digital camera equipment to produce photography. It gives a very high quality result for books and magazines.

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I was recently reading an article where a photographer received criticism from another that he used zoom lenses too much .His point of view jumped around all over the place and he might do better to stick to single focal lengths and to develop a more singular  point of view.

I was coming to the same conclusion over the last couple of years. Modern zoom lenses are great quality and have their place . they can be incredibly useful if you are stuck in one position and unable to move in closer  or out further, I use them a lot in aerial photography as it saves having to continually manouver the helicopter to the right position.

Modern point and shoot photography has also become very convenient with zooms that go from wide to ultra telephoto in the flick of a switch. But there is nothing like a few boundaries to help develop your own point of difference.  A lot of my still life photography is based on one lens and I wanted to see if this could apply in other situations.

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This is a video I was involved with a while ago for a Friend to help promote their business of prints on canvas( www.my canvas.co.nz) It was shot by Duncan Mcadams ( www.mcadams.co.nz ) . It gets the message across with simple instructions, and if you are looking at it , you might actually find some useful hints in there. Duncan did a great job of making me sound good with his editing skills.If you still need a professional to do the work – I’m still there at www.seanshadbolt.co.nz

So you thought those cheap istock photos were a good way to keep costs down? what about the actual value of the campaign? Isn’t the image the first point of contact ?

An interesting article from the New York times…

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/02/study-shows-people-ignore-generic-photos-online/

“Invest in good photo shoots: a great photographer can add a fortune to your Web site’s business value.” After all, most sites are full of “fluff — of which there’s too much already on the Web.”

What about lashing out a bit more and using some original photography!

China always fascinated me, one of the big pieces of Asia on the map that along with Russia , was carefully avoided when questions came up at school about what those countries were . China was always Taiwan to us and the other places were too godlessly communist to mention. Meeting recent immigrants to New Zealand  made the place even more intriguing with their stories of the capitals of China, Beijing and Xi’an ( formerly Chang’an , the capital of the tang dynasty in the 8th and ninth centuries).The German city of Qingdao ( a German city in China?  At the turn of the 19th century, the Germany had owned  by treaty the place and hurriedly put up a city in German style. It must have been at breakneck pace judging by the size of the original city and the number of buildings from that era still remaining) Along with Shanghai and the ancient water town of Suzhou , it really is an interesting (and huge ) place. And that is just the north and not the interior or the southern regions or Tibet!

These days it seems to  be the number one concern of the rest of the world . What will china do? And strangely for a communist country , it now seems to have the most efficiently functioning capitalist system the world has seen. Of course it isn’t either, its a Chinese system , with all the apparent contradictions that implies to western sensibility. Why there wouldn’t be one never seems to occur to the western media , but seems to make perfect sense to all Chinese , whichever their political persuasion. I can’t remember in the economic rules where it says capitalism has to have a western style democracy to function.

Beijing family in Hutongs ( traditional alleyways) enjoying spring sunshine

Part of the temple of heaven , Beijing

Beijing opera actor applies makeup

Making breakfast , Beijing

Dumpling stall , Beijing

I planned a working trip/holiday there and thought it might be a good idea to take some language lessons before I went. Unexpectedly I found my self  fascinated by the concept of a tonal language , and the arcane but highly sophisticated writing system . I was , and still am , very enthusiastic  about learning more about chinese culture , language and cuisine.

Photographically I wanted to explore another country and culture , particularly one where English wasn’t a major language, and to see what I could achieve traveling relatively  in that kind of environment.

I had worked in Thailand and the Pacific previously , and was keen to see some really major cities again ( call me crazy but living near a nice beach and the sea,in a relatively rural setting – I wanted something a little different.)

Tiananmen square , Beijing

I expected to ease into using  the language on arrival in Beijing. Despite  the previous eighteen months with regular lessons I didn’t feel confident , but arriving off the plane by myself  was quite a shock . I needed to speak mandarin straight away to do the basics , find a taxi and get to the hostel then buy food . Thankfully the hostel staff there and later in other places all had a very good command of English , but once outside the doors it was a different situation.

I spent a couple of days in Beijing by myself , exploring the city , experiencing a  few of the tourist traps and well run historical sites. I spent half a day in the forbidden city and sadly it wasn’t enough time . despite having purchase a map at the entrance , I found it to big to take in in the time I had allocated. I had by passed the hall of clocks with the thought that it might not be that interesting but later seeing the fabulous timepieces in that location I regretted the decision.

Bridal photographers window , Beijing

After carefully avoiding the year of the Olympics , I had found an independant tour company that seemed to offer what I was looking for , independent travel with  language and logistical support . On the internet I found www.dragonbuschina.com, it seemed to be the solution to the sort of service I was looking for , rather than the package tour kind of trip with sights and Hotels included.

It was avery good experience and way to travel China, and although we went to places that seemed obvious tour destinations , there were often few , if any other europeans there . In fact the bulk of tourists in China are chinese , going to experience some of the highlights of the country often for the very first time .

Electrical wire Beijing

Comrade Obama in Beijing shop window

Our Guide Andy’s knowledge of local areas and appreciation of aspects of chinese life  was impressive. An Australian married to a chinese woman who spoke fluent mandarin and has lived in China for nine years, he had a good knowledge of how everything worked and how to interact with Chinese.

After meting the other members of the tour , we unanimously agreed at our hostel in Beijing the first thing we all wanted to do was see the Great wall, Although a day trip was included , we all were very keen to see it , even if it meant going to Badaling , the main great wall tour destination. Andy warned us it might be a  little crowded and so it turned out to be, with a mass of humanity moving up and down the wall between the first three towers heading up the hill , after that as the hill got steeper, the crowd thinned out . Nevertheless , the approach to the great wall was an awe inspiring experience and to see Chairman Mao’s statement  that “if you haven’t been to the great wall then you aren’t a  real man” was greatly encouraging to my masculinity. After the trip to the Great wall , we spent the afternoon at the temple of heaven , another vast historical site in Beijing . On entering the exterior park we encountered many , mostly older people playing shuttlecock ( where a shuttlecock is kicked around a circle of people) and others talking and playing musical instruments. The weather was cool , so every one including us , was dressed warmly.

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A couple of years ago I was given the a job to produce a number of photographs for a tourism brochure for Samoa. The deadline was very tight and so was the brief, a range of photographs had to be produced making Samoa appealing as a holiday destination . I had spent some time working there some years before so knew a little of what to expect in terms of the conditions there , so was well equipped for the assignment. The weather proved unexpectedly challenging but fortunately was never for too long.

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alexandra bridge pylon, South Island , new zealand

invercargill

thistle rolled oats works , gore

Building early morning , bluff

Church for sale , bluff , South Island

I have just been going through some of my images I have not had time to really look at and found these of the south island of New Zealand that I took a couple of years ago . The light really was so clear and colours intense , it really is like no other place. Bluff had this wonderful faded splendour quality to it , and so many other places had been spared the development that seems to destroy the character of many New Zealand towns and cities.

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