The pictures selected below will give you a sample of contemporary China, where for my first trip, I spent several weeks in several cities. Shanghai was my bridgehead-city for a photographic conquest of this new territory. I have a preference for this burstling city which is both old and new, and where you can regenerate along its life-artery, the Huangpu, listening to the ship horns, the old Customs clock chiming on the Bund side, and watching the futuristic skyline of Pudong on the other side.
Chinese people are proud of the rapid growth of their country and confident of a better life tomorrow.
Foreigners are favorably viewed and I even occasionally saw some chinese go out of their way to pose near me while their friends took a picture : With my glasses and demeanor, I may have had for them some resemblance with Da-Shan, the canadian national who became a star all over china after his first appearance on China CCTV in 1989 (I heard about that story one day while watching a program on TV and it seems to illustrate the thirst and fondness chinese have for westerners).
The landscapes are often misty and foggy in China, and it is hard to know if it has to do with the traditional weather conditions here, or with the dust and exhaust fumes from the industries and utilities which here use primarily coal as fuel. Anyway, the place offers many opportunities in terms of visual experience.
Pictures shown here were shot with Canon cameras on slide (Kodak EPP 100) colour negative (Fuji Venus 800) and on digital.