Peter's Photoblog

Pudong Skyline

Sun, 22 Aug 2010 22:51 +0800

From my office window, I am lucky enough to be able to see the unique Pudong skyline, and on a clear day, when the sun sets in the west, the light reflecting off the tall skyscrapers looks amazing. Sadly, Mondays to Fridays, I can’t do much about this as I am stuck at work, so yesterday I decided to brave the hordes of (mostly) Chinese tourists as well as the sweltering summer heat and wandered over to the Bund with my trusty Canon 5D.

I used a very wide-angled lens so I did not need to point the camera upwards which would have made the tall buildings appear to be slanted. I could of course have cropped some of the water in the foreground but I decided to leave the image uncropped.

Hutong Girl

Fri, 04 Sep 2009 07:00 +0800

This friendly girl kept shouting "hello" to my English friend as we wandered around a hutong in Beijing. She was so cute I had to grab this shot before she ran off. I also love her Teletubby pants.

Rolleiflex 3.5F, Kodak Tri-X 400 black and white film. Beijing, 29th October 2006.

X Stands For Xintiandi

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 10:04 +0800

Shanghai's famous entertainment area, Xintiandi, Shanghai, April 2005. No tripod (they're banned in Xintiandi) so I put the camera on the garbage bin to keep it steady. The problem is of course you are restricted by the composition (unless you move the bin around!) so I cropped the shot a bit later.

Gossip Girls

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 11:05 +0800

3 cheerful ladies shooting the breeze on the streets of Shanghai on a Sunday afternoon.

Camera: Zenza Bronica ETRS (hence the rectangular format).
Film: Ilford Delta 400 Professional.
Shanghai, September 2006.

Street Shampoo

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 09:17 +0800

A mother washes her son's hair on an autumn day in Shanghai, 2008.

Down The Track

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 09:31 +0800

Beijing, 1st May 2005.

Parrot Fish

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 12:42 +0800

This is a good example of the importance of having a camera with you at all times. I was on my way to a client meeting and passed this fish tank in the subway station at Jing An Temple and grabbed this shot before continuing on to my meeting.

Shanghai, April 2005.

Lan Zhou Noodle Men

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 07:00 +0800

These guys are from Lanzhou in China's north west province of Gansu (Lanzhou is actually the provincial capital) where beef noodles are a famous local dish. There are many Lanzhou noodle shops all over Shanghai, cheap and tasty. You can see the sign for Lanzhou noodles on the left.

Winter Melon Man

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 07:00 +0800

This guy sells marrows (winter melon) at the vegetable market. It's sold by the slice (you can see his knife in the shot resting on the marrow on the left) and is often used in soup.

Unlike the spring onion man photo (I posted two days ago), this guy was very cheerful and chatty. He came over to ask about my camera so I showed him how it worked and then asked to take his picture. He didn't seem to mind at all. He was a very relaxed subject.

Taken with Ilford Delta 400 professional B&W film on my Zenza Bronica ETRS medium format camera.

Shanghai, September 2006.

Bike Repair

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 07:00 +0800

A bicycle repair cart with the Chinese characters "修车" brightly painted on to the cart. If you have a puncture or need some air, this is the place to come to.

Dong Zhi Men street, Beijing, May 2005.