Some street candid photos ...

[fengwei]

Hi All,

I went to Beijing China for a long vacation several weeks back. There was one day I got chance to walk around some streets (HuTongs) with another friend to shoot some street and candids. I love street photography, especially shooting street candids. But in Beijing, it's a different story. People over there are very shy to cameras, and most time they don't like to be photoed

I brought a long lens (135/2.5 manual lens) and a wider 31/1.8 lens for the shootout. Ended up I used the 135/2.5 lens almost the whole day, just like I expected. Because it's daytime, and people sit either under shade or in the sun, the exposure was quite challenging. So this time I converted most photos in black and white. Another reason is because most candids looked quite sad or serious for some reasons, I think b&w photos would enhance that feeling even more.

Some photos to follow. All except the 1st and the 8th photo were taken by the 135/2.5 lens wide open.

Please look through if interested

[fengwei]

[fengwei]

[fengwei]

[fengwei]

[fengwei]

[fengwei]

[fengwei]

... made me feel not comfortable when taking these photos:

[iboey]

nice set of pictures and they indeed look sad

[fengwei]

[Dream Merchant]

That made me feel sad...the photos of the old folks. Some of them look like they are truly sad, and longing for a reason to feel joy, or just waiting to die.

Sorry for the frankness. They are brilliant socio-docu photos.

[John Kwa]

nice shot,indeep everyone say they feel sad.YES if you are leaving in China you may feel the same way.........

[fengwei]

Originally Posted by iboey nice set of pictures and they indeed look sad

Thanks I don't know why they looked so sad. Probably these are just some lonely people (well, no friend or family around them when I took the photos). Most other Chinese I met are not like these though ...

[fengwei]

Originally Posted by Dream Merchant That made me feel sad...the photos of the old folks. Some of them look like they are truly sad, and longing for a reason to feel joy, or just waiting to die. Sorry for the frankness. They are brilliant socio-docu photos.

Well, I guess they didn't want me to take their photos, that can be seen clearly in those photos . Anyway, thanks for the comments

[fengwei]

Originally Posted by John Kwa nice shot,indeep everyone say they feel sad.YES if you are leaving in China you may feel the same way.........

Thanks John. But most Chinese I know of are not like these people. I guess I can't agree with you on the last part

[wranger]

They look sad indeed. Maybe they didn't like their photo taken without permission.

[fengwei]

Originally Posted by wranger They look sad indeed. Maybe they didn't like their photo taken without permission.

Yeah, I guess you are right...

[Bored Dad]

Nice series, but other than they look sad, but the whole series gives some kind of 'being old' kind of sadness.

The b&w photos only to give such grey days and age even more 'feel'.

[Terrence]

of all, i love this the most. this is one great shot!

Originally Posted by fengwei

[asterixsg]

Nice photos

I think we all got sidetracked into the expressions and sadness of the people. On the contrary, I presume that these are 'sniper' shots and most of the times the people that were photographed were alone. Had they been engaged in conversation, I suppose you would've got other expressions.

In future, if you realize that the subject has spotted you taking a sniper shot, give them a big huge smile. I am sure they will reciprocate and then you can shoot a couple more photos with smiles on their faces. Old age doesn't necessarily mean sadness.

Overall, the quality of the photos is awesome.

Cheers.