Too Cool for Dancing

Sometimes I am thankful I have an outdated, clunker for a camera. Well, that is how others see it, anyway. To me, the horrible noise if I raise the ISO above the minimum setting divulges the unique and unheralded character of the Nikon D100. I have had several chances recently to push it past the “recommended” limits, and what I often find is photos that (thankfully) do not look like all the others out there.

So, setting aside my ISO envy for a moment, because I do not write this as some subliminal reaction to my feelings of inferiority to all those cameras that take beautiful, low-grain photos at ISO one million, I simply want to revel in the grain, the color awkwardness, and the general feel of the photos I have after taking my primal digital camera into the dark no-mans land of light.

Ok…I will admit it…I still want a Canon 5D with a Nikkor Ai-S 35mm f/1.4: not too high ISO tech, certainly sufficiently non-conformist, but solving the core limitations I face with my cropped D100!

Some kind of photographic lightbulb has clicked on in my head; somehow this place just feels right. So much of my experience in China has been in the countryside in these parts, and my archive reflects that. For the past two years, I have been shooting big cities, different countries, portraits for friends, and just about everything but that main interest.

From those very early trips into the Chinese countryside, something about the towns, villages, customs, and people absolutely fascinated me. Then, I stayed long enough that it became normal or as if I was in some kind of race to understand the locals better than anybody else. It became old hat and academic. Having been away for two years, though, and now reentering, much of that original fascination (mixed with some very new passions as well) is coming back.

We have only been here a few days, but I am just itching to shoot. “Patience, Grasshopper.” Right now, it is time to clean house, settle in, clean the coffee house, and prepare the paperwork to open business. The time will come.

Cooper Strange I feel like I am starting a whole new photographic journey. WHY do I shoot? http://bit.ly/klT7Y

****** I feel like I am starting a whole new photographic journey. WHY do I shoot? (via @CooperStrange) Whatever makes you smile and feel satisfied

CooperStrange @****** I sure hope my photography accomplishes more than making me feel satisfied. If that is it, I quit. Just find a good book.

****** @CooperStrange You’ll accomplish whatever you set out to do if you’re passionate about it.

CooperStrange @****** Not true. I can be passionate about the moon coming up every other day, but it will not happen. All is checked by truth.

And that was that. I sure do not want to be rude (thought the 140 character limit sure makes us blunt whether we like it or not), but this is just more of the the same pop-psychology babble I have heard so much (especially from Americans). We buy in without even thinking it through.

Sure, it is ok to be passionate about some things. Fine. And yes, I do enjoy photography a lot and that is a great side benefit, but it is not the purpose. I personally want my life choices to do more than just tickle my fancies. I strive to find the meaning in everything and to make sure every word and action achieves an eternal purpose. If I just want to be pleased in this life, I am headed for a meaningless and painful future…’cause it ain’t gonna happen.

Then, within a day, a friend asked me a question on Facebook that really challenged me. She hit the core of this whole topic, and I did not totally know how to answer because I am right in the middle of figuring it out myself.

“So, why the intense investment in the photographs and websites? Total hobby or more? I enjoy looking.”

And here was my nice sounding, but not so reasonsed response:

“Good question. Photography is more than just a hobby. I approach it professionally, but it is not a profession…in the sense that is does not make me any money and probably never will. I was about to say it is useful to others on this side of the world to help them communicate the local situation and just family portraits and such, but that is not it totally either.

“It is a form of communication for me. It is also capturing that which I know will soon be lost. It is about telling stories of life that are going on everyday, because those stories are valuable.

“Hm…I need to think more about that.”

These are just some of the thoughts from a guy who lives overseas, away from his family, and wants to communicate what life it like here. However, I also realize, this visual communication of mine is helpful in more ways that just between me and my family and friends. It does have a deeper purpose still, but putting that into words is the tricky part.

I used to think to myself, “I want to capture what life is really like for these people so future generations can have the record”. It was my gift to posterity. There is still an element of that, but now it is slowly evolving into something much deeper. For as I said above, if all photography does is give me some superficial satisfaction, I might as well grab a good book, because that is a lot easier and will take up far less time and energy.

To the Next Generation

the Dealer

Personally, I would like to talk about something besides QingMing for a change, but it just would not be right to talk about the preparation for a photo shoot for several days then not show any of the results. As I said in the last entry, it was much less of a shoot than I had thought, so I do not have much to show, but here are some of my favorites.

And remember, I was not necessarily out there to take the most beautiful or the most stereotypical shots of a cultural holiday. I wanted to tell the story of the day (which ended up being a short story), and more than that, to capture some of the spiritual reality behind the obvious.

Riches of the After Life

The first photo says exactly what I hoped it would. If you look at my post from a few days ago, I was wondering how some of these activities and beliefs were passed on to the next generation. And there it is.

I wanted to throw in a couple more to show more of what is done in a typical QingMing Festival: offering incense, “gold”, money, and much much more.

Actually, this last one brings up a new topic I was thinking of talking about. I was using my 35mm lens, which acts like a 50mm on a full frame (or 35mm film) camera. It is not that wide of a lens, but by playing with your angle to the subject and getting close to part of it, the wider angle feel comes out. Now, this is no 20mm lens or anything, and I am not even very close (it was fire, after all), but it gives an idea of how to add depth and “closeness” in the photo. Of course, the effect and feel would be greater with a wide angle lens.

I will be returning to my wife’s hometown tomorrow and the next day heading to her Dad’s hometown for the celebration of QingMing. The whole Chinese side of the family will be there. Yes, it will be nice to finally meet all the family on my wife’s dad’s side, but I have to be totally honest, I am giddy with the thought of the photo opportunities.

You do not get much better than a cultural holiday. So many aspects of what people believe and how they interpret the world comes out during holidays. Though you are just used to it, pick any holiday and any people, even Christmas for Americans…you can observe belief of individual families, cultural norms, history, and what parts of Christmas we find important enough to pass on to children.

The last QingMing I was able to take part in was QingMing 2007 in a Dong village in China. Photographically, I am very excited about this one. Not only am I family this time (though still far from an insider), but I had some mysterious issues with my color during the last QingMing Jie (oh…sorry, the Chinese for ‘festival’ slipped out there).

Not that it was anything about QingMing itself that messed with my color and not that I expect any such issues this time, but I still think about that day’s issue every time I hear the word “QingMing”. Actually, that funky color issue inspired me to play around with the photos some to make them even more “unreal”. It certainly was out of my style, and I would not even claim it was in any way clever, but it is good for the creative juices to try new things, to make it different every once in a while.

So, here are the things I am thinking about to prepare myself for the upcoming festival of photography:

• What do they really believe?
• How sincere is their belief?
• In what ways is this QingMing (among Thai Chinese) similar or different?
• How many generations back do they pay respect?
• How many generations are present?
• Is this being passed on to the next generation?
• Are there other stories going on?
• How much money is actually spent in this festival of veneration?
• …and my main focus: What is the underlying spiritual reality of what is going on?
• How can I capture that “real” reality?

Not that all or any of those questions will be answered, but I want to keep my eyes open for all kinds of stories or angles on this day. I want to get my mind in gear.

Craftsman selling Buddha idols and amulets on the side of the road.

Finally, the kind of photo I have been looking for. I have been trying to capture the spiritual side of things. I am not talking about some visually appealing monks-in-a-temple shot, but the spiritual reality behind what we see with our eyes, and I am especially focused on the spiritual realm right there on the street and a part of everyday life. In a place like Thailand, it is everywhere, woven into every part of life.

Preparing the Rooster for a Mock Fight

I met some of these guys a few weeks ago, and have really enjoyed just hanging out. My son has really enjoyed all the roosters. For all the friends of the owner of this lot, like this guy, who do not have a place to keep their roosters, this place serves as a small center for neighborhood rooster fighting…well, preparation for the real fights. I am guessing another translation of all that is that the owner’s wife is the only wife in the neighborhood who puts up with all this. She is a nice lady, I can say that much.

Another interesting thing about Thailand is the love Thai people have for their king. If you have been through Thailand at all in the past three years, you probably would have noticed the inordinate number of yellow-shirted citizens walking around. Do they just like yellow or what? And what in the world does this all have to do with photography. Stick with me, I will pull it all together in a minute.

The yellow shirts are worn in honor of the king. It is patriotism. It is love for the king. It is his color because he was born on the day of the week somehow connected with yellow, so yellow is his color. In the same way the queen is blue, and others in the royal family are pink and orange and so on. I digress.

Well, everybody wears these yellow shirts, and being in Thailand so often, I want one myself. However…

The majority of the photos you see of the king, he has his camera around his neck. I just love that. It is not some PR stunt, at least, if so, he has been faking his love for photography for a few decades now. It adds a layer of authenticity to him. Anyway, the thought hit me, what if I could find a yellow shirt with a camera printed on it? Awesome.

I have mentioned it to a few Thai folks and I always gets suspecting looks. In other words, the king is extremely highly respected and people just do not know if that would be disrespectful in some way. So, I kept suppressing my urge to go out and  have one made. Then it happened…

I saw some for sale! No way! Evidently, I was not the only person thinking it. The nasty twist to the story is that they only had make-me-look-like-a-sloppy-foreigner XL and show-off-my-scrawny-muscles SM. Grrr. What mental anguish! I did not buy one, blast it.

So, I am still looking, but at least I know that others would see it as a sign of respect, a way to say, “Hey king, I really like that you have the guts to be yourself even though you are a world leader and beloved king…and I really like that you carry your camera around more than some self-proclaimed photographers. You are my kind of guy.”