Pinghai Roadtrip

Just up the coast is the PInghai peninsula, part of Huizhou, which I have been trying to visit for years. I always see it on Google Maps, and it's the next peninsula up from the Dapeng peninsula (Nan'ao, Xichong) In June, I finally got the chance to go with a couple of good friends. There's nothing better than setting off on a roadtrip like this. I didn't know what to expect, and I guess that was a good thing because I was neither blown away nor let down. Here's a few photos from the trip:

The view I knew I had t...Read more

Aloha Sunrise Beach Party

I've been doing beach parties with my friend Sebastian for several years now. It's become a kind of tradition that we both look forward to every time. Our first party was only announced the day before, and we got 33 of our friends on a bus and had a great time, despite losing a couple hundred RMB in the end. No big deal. Since then, we've learned how to properly arrange a party. Several weeks ago we held our 4th event: Aloha Sunrise Beach Party. We decided to offer as much as possible for as little as possible, and in th...Read more

Man's Day 2: Chinese Street Portraits

Continuing the Man's Day series. Walking around the streets drinking beer is very conducive to street photography. I don't know why, but almost everybody I came across was very receptive to having their photograph taken. Maybe its the extra smiles that come with the consumption of beer. I can only recall one person who actually ran away from me as I pointed the camera in their direction. In conditions like this, give me a fast prime lens, and I'm good to go. In this case, its the Sigma 30mm 1.4 (50mm equ...Read more

Man's Day 1: The Dudes

Last Thursday was "Man's Day" in parts of Germany. Apparently, men go around the neighborhood with a mini keg on a wagon, greeting and sharing brew with the neighbors. My German friends brought this holiday to China last year, and it was a blast. Our personal Chinese twist involves going around to different 7/11s and convenience stores, one by one, and having a beer at each one. Seedy train station area Luohu was our stomping ground of choice. All in all, we made 8 stops (a bit past my plan of 6). It was a good night ...Read more

Weird People

My friend Maggie created a group called Weird People and organized the first activity a few weeks ago: an alien walking tour of Shenzhen. The idea was to wear a mask and walk around the city shocking people and shooting their reactions. Being a bit of a weirdo myself, this was right up my alley. SZStuff only had about 3 people show up (slackers!) but we got about 15 more through Douban. It was definitely a ton of fun. Here are some of my favorite shots:

Ob...Read more

Deqing Weekend Trip

When my friend invited me to join a tour group to Deqing in the Guangdong countryside, I jumped at the opportunity. It's easy to get sucked into the Shenzhen nightlife every weekend, and while it's fun to party, it's nice to get out of the city from time to time. Deqing is a small town beyond Zhaoqing, almost to the Guangxi border. The highlight of the trip was the hot springs, which were the nicest I have been to, by far. Each one had a different flavor of Chinese medicine.

First we hiked down a series of trails on a...Read more

Xichong Surf Reunion

I broke my shoulder a little more than two months ago while snowboarding in Harbin. This put a stop to my planned one month surf trip across SE Asia, but I took it in stride. Last weekend, I went to the beach for the first time in a while, as my friend wanted to try surfing for the first time. I didn't intend to surf, as my arm isn't completely healed, but ended up doing it anyways. Check it out:

Fooling around on the beach at night. Manually popping an external flash.

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One crazy night in Zhanjiang

During the CNY Spring Festival holiday, I took a roadtrip with some friends along the southern coast of Guangdong, stopping in all the major cities. By far, my favorite place along the way was Zhanjiang. The people were the nicest, the old streets were interesting, there was a strong sense of local culture, and the city just felt pleasant. I wish I could have spent more time there, but the one night was a good one. Here is how it went down:

Seb in Red. Hitting the streets with bottles in hand.

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Street Portraits at Night

One of my favorite things to shoot are portraits at night on the street using natural lighting. Natural in the sense you aren't using studio lights or flash guns, but finding light sources that already exist. You can find so many vibrant colors for backgrounds, and street lights can give great illumination to your subjects. I want to take this concept and develop it further, and to this end I'll be doing a wedding shoot on the gritty and grimy streets of Luohu soon, at the request of the bride and groom. Nice to have people ...Read more

New Compact Camera

I got a Canon S90 from my parents for Christmas. Some people are saying its the world's best compact. I'm happy with it, especially the control ring around the lens. I even dropped it one crazy night out and it survived unscathed. Here are a few photos I've taken with it over the past few months. All in Shenzhen:

The view from Seb's balcony. I work in the far background!

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