[wulinka]

I am in Huainan once again this weekend, the smaller one of the two Chinese towns I have been living in.
This one feels much more familiar for me, the people here are as warm hearted as you could imagine, so I am roaming around, meeting friends and relaxing from the teaching and the relative isolation in Hefei.

I even have friends here who do photography! We discussed many of my recent pictures and they thought my view on life in China was rather narrow and that I should be looking at more of the beautiful places in addition to the rather poor ones I have been looking at in detail.

Nevertheless, I do seem to end up in more "basic" neighbourhoods automatically.

Yesterday I went down to the river, where there are a couple of small neighbourhoods of families, who were probably once involved in ship building. There is still some building, but overall these neighbourhoods are impoverished, narrow alleys, small houses, and lots of trash in the streets.

My Chinese slowly improving, I am very happy to be able to talk to people a little, it changes the mutual staring at the other one into a situation of a leisurely chat and by the way I can take pictures, people don't mind at all or even appreciate it.

So I took a family portrait.

Whatever it is technically, certainly not a gem, I was so touched in the situation,
and it moves my heart to look at this picture now.
I think this portrait is the fullest of love I have ever taken.



so let me show you where they live:




I talked to some families around here, and I found that they make great effort to send their children to rather good schools, so they can learn and go to university. The children love to talk to me, show off some of their English, and I encourage them to study well.

It's a hugely emotional experience living here, I hope you can feel some of it in my pictures.

Greetings!!

Uli

[DJ1234]

Very good photojournalism. I love the mother looking on in the background. She seems to have a lot of pride in her family. I am especially struck by the situation when you see more of the setting. Good job.

D.J.

[Irma]

Very nice pictures Uli... I love the kid's face...

I don't know much about China. But I would agree with your photography friends that if there was something more to show about the place you are living, it would be interesting to see it too, and from the photographic point of view also challenging.

I think I understand why you take pictures of these places and their people, but it would be a bit unfair for the country not to show the other side of the coin... a prosper and beautiful China...

[Wedding Shooter]

Lovely, intimate look into their family Uli.

[matthew]

Uli, I wouldn't worry about what you're shooting, in fact I think you have a unique perspective on the country. You have access to parts of the country that other westerners might never see, and clearly you're comfortable and welcome there. One of the objections that I have to "documentary photographers" is that they distance themselves from the people they photograph, and exploit them. "Poverty fetches a high price on the luxury market" is one way I've heard it expressed.

From the expressions you've caught here, it's clear that you don't fall into this category, and are welcomed by the people you photograph. It's a wonderful portrait. I really like the woman leaning across in the background; her enjoyment of the scene amplifies the emotion of the man. It's a very nice environmental portrait.

Besides, a single photographer would never be expected to capture all of Luxembourg, so what chance does one person have to document China?

[wulinka]

Thank you all for your comments!!

Irma, I am very interested in what you have to say. It was important for me to hear my friends views here, and naturally, opinions vary widely between Chinese people, as any people of any country. When I show my pictures to rather "not-so-rich-but-not.-poor-either" people, they often find them funny, they see things they don't notice anymore in their daily life.
Once I showed them to the richer ones,there was clearly an element of embarrasment involved, and of course their patriotic pride.
Now I think, in Germany the difference between the rich and the poor is comparatively small, please tell me if you think I am wrong. But at least in Germany every house has running water, heat, cooking facilities etc, and every family has access to basic medical services.
Mexico is probably more like China in that the gap between the rich and the poor is larger, most obvious in large cities and of course in Mexico city, but also when you compare, say, the north to the south. China is just like that. There are people here who cannot afford clothes or a tooth brush, leave alone sending their kids to school, while others buy porsches or big cameras.
I believe that is part of the reason why IRMA, you are one of the first to support my Chinese friends' view and urge me to ahve more of an eye for the more beautiful sights, too. Thank you very much for your input!! Please tell me if I am wrong.

Matthew, I hope I am not taking these pictures out of a craving for sensation in any media..... Generally, I feel comfortable wherever I go and the people are extremely friendly and welcoming. They don't seem to be ashamed of their lives, quite the opposite they often invite me to sit and chat, stay for a meal..... If ever anyone asks me not to take a picture, I won't take it.

However, when we were having the discussion with my Chinese photography friends, my fiance also made an important point: this kind of life, of scenery, is very accessible to me. How often, on the other hand, do I get to see something fancy like an expensive wedding party? Who is going to invite me to their fancy new house for lunch?
Moreover, the more modern things are, the more "global" they are also, I think new houses look much more similar to what we know from any city in Germany, the US, Australia.... the older style of living is more traditional and thus more interesting for me as a foreigner..

thanks again for looking an commenting!

Uli

[Irma]

You are right, Uli, what you are showing about China is very similar to many places in Mexico. Poor people is very common to see in any street, and you don't need to go too far to see real poverty. They are also very open as you say and your comments remainds me more the communities I used to visit in Chiapas. Where now my son is working as a physician, btw.

As a Mexican I can tell that I am not embarrassed about the poverty in my country, we all are aware of that, we have seen this already in many ways, pictures, movies, tvmagazines. That is why I like very much to see when someone shows also how beautiful landscapes it has, interesting towns and traditions. El dia de los muertos (The day of the deads), just to name one, when people spend the whole day and night in the cemetery sharing their meals with their deads and playing music, lots of yellow flowers and happiness, mainly celebrated in little towns in the countryside. This is what I mean about showing the whole picture.

When I say I understand why you take these pictures, it is because I know that those scenes you photograph are not seen in this country, and as you once said, living in China has opened you to think about how many things Germans take for granted, and think there is no other way of living but the way they do. Now that you have seen that there is another very different way of living has caught your interest.

At the end of the day, Uli, you are the photographer who lives there and is sharings with us her very own experiences and feelings about a country through her pictures. That is why I like your pictures...

[Toad]

I think these shots are wonderful - Uli - how talented you are to be able to get at the essence of people without seeming obtrusive or patronizing. I am in great admiration.

[wulinka]

Thank you Rob *bow* !!

And thank you Irma for your thoughts.

The kindness of these people is exaclty what draws me there.
And even though these people are poor by all our standards, the picture shows primarily a happy family!

I made similar experiences in (North-) Mexico when I was there. Mexicali, not far from Tijuana, is also not exaclty a beauriful City, but one with much going on. when there, I visited a camp for Mexicans who had been trying to cross the US border and had bounced e.g.
I also made friends with a teacher at the local university and he invited me and my friend to his house, and their lives were very simple, though not poor by comparison. And just like here, the people in Mexicali were generally the more great-hearted the less they had to give materially (I hope my language makes sense).

In Germany you would not find that kind of thing: WHO would invite a stranger into their house for lunch?!?!
I can't imagine who would....

Uli

[Wedding Shooter]

Uli,

Just out of interest do these people have more than one child? I understood that China limited families to one child, but some rural people are able to get by this. It appears in the picture that there are two children - of course the older boy could be someone else's child.

My wife is from the Philippines and there is a lot of poverty there too. I admire you for your ability to interact with these people and be a part of their lives.

[ADK_Jim]

Very nice. I don't shoot people photos much but I like good ones and those are good. They would benefit from the Defog or Clarify USM technique I just posted in your autumn leaf thread. Here is what it does to the 1st photo above.


Many digital images shot in flat light have an overall dull look. Using USM in this way takes off the fog look. This was an instance where I did go to 20 on the amount. The light must have been very flat.

[wulinka]

Thanks for your tip, Jim,

but unfortunately in this case I don't like the result too much... seems overdone to me, although I would have to have a second look on a different screen. Maybe a little bit of this effect at a more moderate setting couldn't hurt.

Greetings!

Uli