Published by Swiss James on 11 Dec 2007 at 11:59 am
Shanghai 2006
For the last one or two years I’ve made a calendar at Christmas. Photography is in my top three hobbies (others: binge drinking, teasing shrimp) so by the end of the year I tend to have 12 shots that I think would look good in a calendar. Let’s face it, only my Mum looks at it, so the bar does not have to be set high.
Anyway, I’m rambling- the point is that whilst looking through my photos for this year’s effort I came across some of the first shots I took of Shanghai back in March 2006.
March 2006, from Science & Tech museum towards Lujiazui
The way I came to Shanghai in the first place was that I was working in Seoul, South Korea at the airport there. I took a weekend trip across the (<insert name of sea or whatever here>) and had a look around Shanghai, loved the place, and decided it would be a place I’d love to live. My company won a contract at the new terminal here, I told anyone who would listen I’d be prepared to go, and bish-bash-bosh, here I am.
Before I made the big move though I came over for a month in March- partly to introduce myself to the customer, partly to work every hour Jah sent on whatever crisis we had at that time.
A park near the Four Seasons, just off Nanjing Xi Lu
Looking back at the photos I took then is strange. It seems like a really long time ago, and I remember how the city looked very strange; foreign, alien.
I’m sure Shanghai has changed a lot since then, but I’m guessing my view of it has changed more. Some things don’t change though, seems that even back in the mists of March 2006, manbags were all the rage on the streets of Shangers.
The Spring ‘06 collection
I think it’s normal that your perception of a city changes as you become familiar with it. I still remember when I first arrived here, walking down Huai Hai Rd and grinning from ear to ear, pinching myself, not believing I was actually living in China. But now it’s just home.
That’s a damn fine photo by the way, I mean the first one - the horizon is almost straight, it’s in focus and there aren’t any peasants spoiling the scene (harder than you might think in Shanghai).
It’s clear (and comforting) that manbag styles have progressed since 2006 - they’ve become more feminine, although back then they were well on the way …. I’d write more but I have to hit SUBMIT before that dreadful Texam woman posts!
“the horizon is almost straight” - hehe, I know, and I was only there for about 10 minutes setting it up too! Stupid Canons with their tiny optical viewfinders.
Actually these three photies were taken with three different cameras. Compact film, film SLR, digital SLR- am I a geek? I think I am.
A calendar with only three months?
I always tell my students to take lots of photos in their first few weeks in London before it all becomes normal.
Things that I am glad that I took photos of early on include:
-a combined coffee machine and public telephone complete with pull down seat,
-crowds of kids giving us the finger,
- piles of peppers drying on the streets
Things which I almost forgot to take photos of include:
-white dogs with pink ears
- crowds of soju tents in Mokpo
- and inside of a norae bang
and I completely forgot to take any photos of my schools, the teachers i worked with or my thieving directors who between them owe me two grand plus my degree certificate! Shame
Nice looking photos there, James, I am sure that you are getting better at this- I remember the beginning of lostseouls when it was al blurry and half obscured by yet another photo of your finger over the lens
James they make tripods with spirit levels now, you’d be surprised how helpful that can be.
hold on, whereabouts in london can you find “combined” anything? not to mention piles of peppers drying in the street, soju tents and norea bangs?
dingle- New Malden (AKA Koreatown).
WoAi- yeah I think I might have to get one of those fancy tripod things.
missbels- these photos are from last March sadly, so maybe I got better back then, and now it’s all gone wrong again. You really can’t have enough photos of kids flipping the bird though, it’s one of Korea’s great national resources I reckon.
Did you ever take any photos inside Bumpin? One or two?
Lived in London 28 years, never seen any peppers in the streets but plenty of people have given me the finger!
hum, I lived in Korea- oops, sorry, I tend to forget that it is not just James that reads this… or is it?
i am going to use the merriam webster 2007 word of the year:
W00T! #10 . . . rounded out the top 10 . . . kind of like your boy hatton.
nice photos btw.
love the last picture of this post.
One interesting thing about the last photo… there’s still goldfish in the pond. They haven’t been scooped up for sale on the street markets yet.
This guy here: http://picasaweb.google.com/edjones08/JinanChina/photo#5120643411830937346
all fishing for goldfish in Jinan, in Shandong province. Imagine that as your day job.