Willie Pickens - Hyde Park Jazz Festival

Saturday. 9-29-12

Hyde Park Jazz Festival - Tomeka Reid

Saturday. 9/29/12

Toisan. 1/31/03

University of Chicago

Monday. 9-24-12

University of Chicago

Sunday. 9-23-12

Toisan 1-31-03

Toisan. 2-2-03

Taishan 2003 New Year

Toisan 2-2-03

The firecrackers never really stopped during the night. That's when they lit the large one's, resonating in a deep boom rather than a sharp crack, making it pretty much impossible to sleep through the night even with my head sandwiched between two dense pillows. I suspect it was one fellow walking through the fields on the outskirts of the village, merrily heaving these 3-4 inch bombs throughout the night.

And then when the roosters started their thing before dawn, there was no choice but to start the day.

Taishan 2003

Toisan. 2-2-03

Taishan 2003

Toisan 2-1-03

The house that my grandfather built, that my mother grew up in, not returning until 40 years later. I wish I knew more about it.

Another forgotten negative from 2003. I don't even recall ever putting this shot into the enlarger though I did use the next strip of negatives for the 2004 grant. I think I'll be able to do something with this after I balance out the image.

Taishan 2003

Toisan. 1-31-03

My mother's village is a maze of narrow walkways between brick buildings. I would hear people saying that they remember me from 15 years previous and who I was related to. The man in the dark attire looked like he was carrying something in his right hand. It was only when I zoomed in on the monitor that I found that he was not carrying anything. It was just a chicken walking behind him.

Taishan New Year 2003

Toisan. 2-3-03

Taishan New Year 2003

Taishan. 1-31-03

Taishan New Year

Toisan. 1-31-03

Toisan is closer to the phonetic pronunciation of our village dialect. Some say Hoisan but it depends on where you're from. After years of listening to proper Mandarin and Cantonese pronunciation it's comforting to hear the Toisan/Hoisan dialect. I grew up hearing it and it's a part of me that I'd like to keep.

Lan Pu

Guangzhou. 2-4-03

Lan Pu

Guangzhou. 2-4-03

Lan Pu / Orchid Garden again. IR again. I believe IR is all that i shot on this visit to Lan Pu with Konica IR 750 in the Xpan. Though I used this film in both 35mm and 120 formats over a ten year period I never really grew comfortable or familiar with it as results were not consistent but it was fun.

Perhaps photography is more interesting that way with the uncertainty that lies waiting if you're willing to accept it.

Lan Pu

Guangzhou 2-5-03

Lan Pu, called Orchid Garden in English, is one of my favorite places in Guangzhou. I've never been here without a camera, but the film has always been black and white. I haven't yet been to Lan Pu with a digital camera.

Here is another shot from 1992 linked to an earlier post on Lan Pu.

Birds on a Wire

Heyuan 2/5/03

Heyuan

Heyuan. 2-5-03

Pool Table

Heyuan. 2-5-03

Room

Heyuan. 2/5/03

This room had a beautiful view and I knew that I had to shoot it but the XPan didn't see it the way I did. So I took just two shots and moved on. Perhaps I needed to have a seat. This place had some history to it that I'll never know about.

The scan is showing much more than I could pull out of the darkroom processed silver print. In 2004 when i was trying to print this negative I just wasn't able to pull out the highlight area and my printing ability at that time was probably the best it ever was.Now I just juggle it back and forth between Photoshop and Lightroom, move some sliders around and there it is.

Today I received a piece of anti-newton glass from betterscanning.com that has a better effect on sharpening negatives than any software can ever as there is no substitute for a flat negative.The only caveat is that it introduces two more surfaces to the scanning equation meaning more dust potential. Definitely recommended for scanning and I'm going to email thanks to betterscanning.

...eeway 125

Heyuan, 2-5-03

"Specializing in noble model street bike for noble life..."

The scooter was owned by my wife's uncle who was a doctor and I felt that he led a noble life.

Kunming

Kunming 1/23/03

Lijiang

Lijiang. 1/26/03

Stone Forest in Kunming

Shi Lin.  1/27/03

Dali

Dali 1/24/03

I don't remember much about this shot or why I took it. I believe that this person is of the Bai minority.

Ferry Leaving Huangpu 2003

Two Children Leaving Huangpu. February 2003

 

A lot was happening on this day. First a visit to the Huangpu Military Academy, now
a museum on Changzhou Island. The academy was started by Sun Yat Sen and Chiang
Kai shek with the assistance of the Chinese communists and the Soviet Union (Stalin).

What a crazy combination of comrades! Unbelievable.

Growing up in the US with a healthy dose of western civilization left me fairly immune
 to the troubles of China trying to shed it's imperialist past along with the oppression of the western powers along with Japan. The1920's decade roared with a different meaning for China than it did for the US.

Back to February 2003. New Year is on people's minds, not the past of Chinese history. This
shot was the adjacent frame to an image that I had selected for a grant proposal the next year.
That image focused on the child on the motorcycle. On this shot, a glimpse at the contact sheet
told my editing mind that the child in the van was distracting.

Funny that I was drawn to this shot almost ten years later - the mother and daughter in the van
are my own.