On a recent trip to China I was determined to capture great moments on people's faces. The secret to making street portraits is getting over your fear of rejection. Just do it! When I would walk up to someone with my camera and be very friendly, even without speaking Mandarin, my enthusiasm would usually be met by a positivity. Yesterday I shared street photos of women and today it's the guy's turn. Tomorrow I'll share some wider street scenes.
Wow, this guy with his hand-rolled cigar was super friendly and loved getting his picture taken on the streets of Emeishan town at the foot of Mt. Emei... one of the four sacred Buddhist mountains in China.
This monk at Mt. Qingcheng, one of the four sacred Taoist mountains of China in the Sichuan province, represented something interesting to me... the mix of religion and game play. Taking pictures in this area was discouraged, so this one was shot from the hip.
OK, this soldier at the Forbidden City in Bejing wasn't into it... but I was pushy with him anyway and luckily didn't get arrested!
The soldiers were not happy with me shooting them (go figure), and I was warned multiple times before I finally gave up.
(It was actually a bit scary because I definitely pushed it a little too far.)
But most people really appreciated my engaging with them. I'd smile, make some hand-motions about the camera, "asking" them with gestures if it was ok to make their portrait.
Pizza Hut! One day my daughter and @anwenbaumeister (who, with her mom hosted us on this trip) decided that they'd had enough Chinese food, so we dropped in here and when I saw our waiter's "Customer Mania" pin it was just an irresistible shot.
Shopkeeper at a religious artifact store next to the Wenshu monastery in Chengdu. This gentleman was so distinguished, with his matching hair and jacket... I just pointed to both, smiled, and he knew exactly what I was going after.
Of course any trip to Bejing is incomplete without being harassed by someone on the street trying to sell you counterfeit watches. This dude was extremely tenacious and it was hard to shake him, so eventually I just pointed a camera in his face to unnerve him, and it worked... right after this shot he took off.
Thanks for watching.
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