Photography Masters Probe Olympic Beijing

In this golden season of Beijing, 13 world-renowned photographers gathered and recorded the life of the city and some of the changes that have taken place in recent decades. They included six foreign and seven Chinese photographers. Their names were Andrew Wong, Cheng Tieliang, Fu Yongjun, Gao Lei, Gideon Mendel, Joseph P. McNally, Li Shaobai, Nagashima Yoshiaki, Pierre-Jean de San Bartolome, Shi Zhiming, Tay Kay Chin, Yuan Dongping and Yves Gellie.

Sponsored by the Information Office of Beijing Municipal Government and organized by the Beijing Foreign Cultural Exchanges Center in association with Beijing This Month magazine, “Vision Beijing” was planned as a way of capturing the colourful life of Beijing, the real Beijing with its flesh and blood, glass and steel in its fine details and moments.

“How can we select and invite the world’s top photographers to gather in Beijing?”

This was the first question that the event’s organizers faced. Mailing introductions about “Vision Beijing” was the first step, with mailings to world-famed photography editors from the National Press Photographers Association in the United States, Life, National Geographic and Stern, as well as to photo agencies such as Getty, Corbis and Sygma. They recommended masters for the event. It was a pity that fewer than 15 could be selected to participate in the event.

For every foreign participant, there was a recommendation letter. The letter for Yves Gellie, sent by Alain Mingan, a former editor-in-chief of Sygma, said, “He is one of the greatest photographers, able to document very sharply the place, atmosphere and people’s inside, as well as a very modern plastic surgeon for artistic shooting.” Joe McNally of New York is described by American Photo magazine as “perhaps the most versatile photojournalist working today” and is listed as one of the 100 Most Important People in Photography. Gideon Mendel, famous for his works involving AIDS in Africa for more than 10 years, is widely regarded as one of the world’s leading contemporary photojournalists. He has won six World Press Photo Awards, an American Pictures of the Year competition (POY), the Canon Photo Essayist Award and the Eugene Smith Grant for Humanistic Photography by New York International Center of Photography.

The Chinese among the 13 photographers also have international experience and have achieved wide recognition. Andrew Wong, the chief photographer of Getty Images China, is one of the few Chinese jurymen for the World Press Photo Competition. Shi Zhimin is a graduate of the Documentary Programme of the International Center of Photography; and Gao Lei is a graduate of The Institute of Photography, Paris.

It is an interesting thing to explore their styles and characters. Mendel, a master of using available light, said “My teacher tells me try not to use flash lighting.” He goes out, finds something distinctive and then shoots. Joe McNally is quite the opposite; he is good at using flash light and thinks a lot before shooting. Meanwhile, Shi Zhimin is an outstanding studio photographer, and Li Shaobai is an excellent landscape photographer. Yves Gellie prefers shooting within a distance, focusing on quiet things. Cheng Tieliang and Fu Yongjun are good newspaper photographers, depicting common people’s daily lives. No matter the style, the pictures these photographers shot were reflections of a colourful Beijing and its changes.

1. Gideon Mendel, German

Profile: One of the fewer-than-ten winners of the “W. Eugene Smith Fund” around the world since its establishment (the most prestigious worldwide award for professional photography); famous for documenting social change and conflict in South Africa, especially with in-depth photos about people with AIDS in Africa

“It is my first trip to this mysterious country. What I’m concerned about is to touch the real life. Getting to know the people, and then you can understand the special culture. Therefore, when I shot the 2008 Olympic construction venues, I had the idea of staying with the workers for a whole day to reach their life,” Mendel said, describing himself as a person hard to be controlled.

“In the workshops of Hyundai, I was astonished at seeing so many robots. It is totally different from what I originally thought before I came to China. China is a labour-intensive country, but you use expensive robots instead of labourers, a thing worth researching,” he said with a smile.

“At Shichahai Primary School, children at about 10 were getting strenuous athletic training, and I guess some of them may become the stars at the 2008 Olympics. After the class when they were taking off their training suits, one Chinese photographer took lots of fabulous photos, and you know it was a really beautiful and holy scene. However, in some western countries, it is forbidden to shoot these kinds of photos. And this is one of the cultural shocks I noticed here.”

2.      Yves Gellie, French

Profile: A World Press Photo awards recipient, a freelance photographer for the Sunday Times, Life and Stern. Working from 1996 to 1998 in Iraq, he portrayed people’s living circumstances there.

“During the recent ten years, this is my fifth trip. The last time I came to China, I focused on the lives of rich people in Beijing. But this time, I changed the subject to ordinary people here. And several days ago, I was thinking the ordinary people may be afraid of foreigners, and tell me nothing about their daily lives. To the contrary, when I enter the girls’ dormitory at Beijing Sports University, they were so talkative. I know that many Chinese like to hide themselves, but if you really want to go deeper, you will find that communications are quite easy. Therefore, I got to know the people and the nation bit by bit, and this is what I was really interested in. And one thing to add, the infrastructure here is good and impressive.”

3. Yoshiaki Nagashima, Japanese

Profile: A member of the Japan Photographers Association, winner of a first prize from the American Art Magazine Association.

“This is my seventh trip to Beijing, so I’m quite familiar with the scenic spots here. What surprised me this time was the Sanlitun area. When roaming the streets lined with bars and restaurants in different flavours with relatively low prices, I feel that I’m in a European country. I shot rolls of photos there. This reminds me of the coming 2008 Olympics, which will raise the city’s general prices, but, on the whole, it will be quite beneficial to the city.”

“I’m impressed with the Chinese people; they always voluntarily say hello to you. And there is specially one thing that moves me. As the media in Japan exaggerate the small tension between China and Japan, many Japanese have not dared to visit China in recent few months. However, what I experienced in Beijing these days was totally different from what they described. So I told my daughter and grandson to visit Beijing in the next few days with nothing to worry about.”

4. Gao Lei, Chinese-French

Profile: Graduate of The Institute of Photography, Paris; works with the Editing Photo Agency; contributes to Paris Match, La Vie, Le Point.

“I haven’t returned to China in four years. I sense the great changes, especially those within people’s minds. I need to talk with people from all walks of life, then I can produce good photos; this is my basic rule. Being familiar with them so that you can reveal their special characters in your photos and they can behave in their best mood.” Gao introduced his experience in grasping the “great” moments.

He also unveiled Mendel’s complaints of these days.

“Every day he gets up at four or five in the morning to find “good pictures.” As the recent two days the weather was bad, he complained about the weather and complained that the time was not enough. This is just because he wanted to exhibit a dynamic Beijing, and a multi-sided Beijing filled with ordinary people and their daily lives.”

5. Shi Zhiming, Chinese-American

Profile: Got a Master of Fine Arts degree at Brooklyn College in New York in 1991, and was published by The Associated Press, The New York Times, Photo District News, Pacific Discovery, International Architecture and other fine publications.

Shi spent 18 years in the United States before returning to Beijing, but the famed Chinese-American photographer is not so amazed by the huge changes of Beijing.

“Beijing is now peeling off its old coat step by step, and taking on a brand new look in front of the photographer’s lens. In the past, foreigners felt strange about the mysterious oriental culture, but now, with the popularity of digital cameras, the direct way to approach Beijing is through images.” Though a professional photographer, Shi never discriminates against digital cameras. He said, the most significant thing about a photo is its content, the quality, not the camera. In addition, Shi thinks photography is also the best way to get rid of the propaganda mode.

Vision Beijing, here, set a good example, Shi said. When all the images are readied for publication, he said it will present the best of Beijing from a new angle. However, Shi expressed his anxiety about the city’s rapid construction and expansion. With the assignments of shooting Dashilan, the old commercial street, Shi also went to the Qianmen area.

“I could hardly find an old trace of Chinese traditions,” he said. Shi said he hopes Beijing will not abandon its attractive uniqueness while becoming a modern cosmopolitan city.

6. Li Shaobai, Chinese

Profile: Director of the photography department at Chinese People; his albums include the Great Wall and Stepping into the Forbidden City.

“I’m extremely interested in the Forbidden City, the Great Wall and Beijing’s hutongs. Many people may think that they’re nothing special. However, I like to shoot the moments that most of the people ignore. The photos have distinctive backgrounds and are able to express a special feeling. For example, people living in the hutong have their own distinctive lives and feelings. I have already shot many moments and I plan to put these moments in a photo album. This is precious to them and precious to the whole nation.”

7. Fu Yongjun, Chinese

Profile: Director of the photography department of Beijing-based The First newspaper, one of China’s top 10 excellent photographers.

Fu Yongjun, a well-known domestic photographer who has won the champion of China International Press Photo Contest, believes that Vision Beijing will serve as a platform for people from home and abroad to learn more about the new and rapidly developing Beijing. As a photojournalist, Fu said: “Compared with words in news reports, photos offer more convincing information without fetters.” He believes that photographers should have more freedom to choose what to shoot rather than just snapping. During days with foreign photographers, Fu sees few differences from works of the domestic and international photographers, because Beijing is catching up with globalization and international trends in photography. Fu thinks in modern terms of information and believes that a photographer should record everyday life. He said he hopes Vision Beijing will inspire ordinary people to pick up their cameras and capture the beauties of Beijing via their lens, too.