Tsingdao Lantern Festival

This was one of those big staged official pompous events with tons of Chinese photographers from all the other Shenzhen media - nothing to get excited about as a photographer. However, this time it was a bit different. Tsingdao was apparently a sponsor because everyone in attendance (mostly migrant workers) was provided with free beer. It wasn't long before the other photographers started handing cans of beer to me, and we all started throwing them down together. I stopped at two, but it was enough for a nice little buzz. When you're at these events, its common that you'll be fighting for space with all the other photographers to "get the shot". I usually try to stay away and let them duke it out while I get shots from another perspective, but this time I got in on the action. The picture you see above was exactly the result of this friendly competition - and the fact that they are toasting is quite fitting, I think. It was good fun, and I'm getting to know some of the other photographers better at this point, which is really nice. Here's the shot on the front page of the Shenzhen Daily.