Shanghai Streets In Colour

The Weather these days in Shanghai is trying to become semi decent an I thought it was a great excuse to go out and shoot some street again seeing as it has been a while since I've done it. Unfortunately I didn't get one decent shot, somedays it happens. It could be wrong place at the wrong time but in a city as vast as Shanghai I think it's more realistic to say that I just wasn't on my game and I wasn't looking at the city and the people through the right eyes.

Anyway it just serves as more reason for me to get my ass out there more often and improve. I'm going to try to make it a regular thing and after looking at the results of my last session in the street using flash I've decided that I quite like the resulting motion blur so I will continue the same style for a while and see what sort of body of work I can create.

Here are a few shots that I forgot about from my last time shooting in the streets. If there are any street photography shooters here in Shanghai that follow this blog and are keen to shoot together then let me know. I'm keen to shoot with new people and discuss ideas.

Have a great weekend.

The Face Of Work.

The Face Of No Work. Don't Worry Man I Feel You.

Eye Contact.

No Eye Contact.

And Finally Spiderman.

Shanghai Streets In Black & White

These days I am really trying hard to push myself to shoot for color but I keep going back to black and white. For me it has so much more depth but this is just my opinion based on my skill set. I think I would consider my color work less strong compared to my black and white work so I have to keep reminding myself to get out of my comfort zone otherwise 2 years from now I will still just be admiring the brilliant work of photographers such as Steve McCurry, JoeyL and Sue Bryce instead of raising my own skill level.

So shoot, shoot and shoot some more, and when you get tired and despondent, pick up your camera and carry on shooting.

Shanghai Streets In Color

Shooting street in Shanghai sometimes feels like cheating because there is so much of interest you barely have to walk 20 meters to find a subject but this too comes with it's own problems. I find it challenging to push myself to think of new themes, to look beyond the obvious street vendor shot right in front of me. At the end of the day we all add our own touch to each photo and view the scene slightly differently to everyone else no matter how many times it has been done before, this is how we differentiate ourselves. I am sure that is the goal of many photographers, when you take a shot of something that has been seen before but whoever is looking at it can recognise it's your work by the style of the photo. 

The lesson to be learnt is keep pushing yourself, the harder you push the more you surprise yourself. Appreciate the failures, those are the building blocks from which you make success.

The rate at which Shanghai is expanding and modernising is impressive. It also makes for a great contrast, out with the old and in with the new. In a way though, it is sad to see all of these old buildings crushed to rubble.