The Cutthroat Abacus Trade
This is a shot from the markets that surround Yu Yuan Garden. I was on a quest to find old vintage cigarette/alcohol advertisment poster prints. As a quick FYI, Yu Yuan Gardens is a major tourist attraction in Shanghai. It has old chinese gardens, old chinese buildings (built to resemble) and KFCs, Starbucks, etc.
Anywho while walking along the outdoor markets, i saw this stand selling abacuses (abacii???). I couldn't resist taking a shot of these elderly people just chilling and manning their abacus stall. Immediately after i snapped the picture, the guy in the middle made a grunt and pointed his hand at me in disapproval for taking the picture. Realizing that it was already too late, he sighed and put his hand back down. I smiled, bowed my head and moved along. :)
I think you can JUST see his left hand starting to come up in the photo. I like how the guy on the left is kinda just staring like a deer in headlights. :)
Anywho while walking along the outdoor markets, i saw this stand selling abacuses (abacii???). I couldn't resist taking a shot of these elderly people just chilling and manning their abacus stall. Immediately after i snapped the picture, the guy in the middle made a grunt and pointed his hand at me in disapproval for taking the picture. Realizing that it was already too late, he sighed and put his hand back down. I smiled, bowed my head and moved along. :)
I think you can JUST see his left hand starting to come up in the photo. I like how the guy on the left is kinda just staring like a deer in headlights. :)
Shooting Info Capture Date: October 20, 2005
Capture Time: 15:07:44.2
Camera: Nikon D50
Lens: 18-55mm F/3.5-5.6G
Aperature: F/5.3
Shutter Speed: 1/30
ISO Sensitivity: 1600
Focal Length: 46mm
Shooting Mode: Aperature Priority
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern
Flash: None
Capture Time: 15:07:44.2
Camera: Nikon D50
Lens: 18-55mm F/3.5-5.6G
Aperature: F/5.3
Shutter Speed: 1/30
ISO Sensitivity: 1600
Focal Length: 46mm
Shooting Mode: Aperature Priority
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern
Flash: None
posted by scottchin at 11:57 p.m.
2 Comments:
I love the character in the men's faces. Not to say the woman's not possibly interesting or anything, but she's not showing herself the way they are.
Hi joan! Marie had pretty much the same reaction to the photo! :) I agree totally with both of you (plus the woman's out of focus.) Maybe just for fun, I will try editting her out one day to see how the photo looks like.
I am thinking that the woman is probably only interesting to me as the photographer because I was the one taking the photo and i know what happened before and after the shot. I took this photo really quickly because I didn't ask for permission first. As i walked in front of them, i stopped, composed the shot as i raised the camera to my eye and pressed the shutter release as soon as i could see through the viewfinder. It was all really fast and must have been out of no where for them.
One of the fun points of this photo for me is that i can see that the man in the middle wanted to stop me but didnt even have time to react (his left hand slightly rising). The man on the left has a surprised look on his face with his mouth kind of hanging. And finally the woman doesnt even have a clue that i took the photo. She is just in her own world.
So for me, it's almost like a progression. Man in the middle saw it coming and is about to react. Man on the left caught by surprise but sees me taking a photo. Woman on the right totally oblivious to me.
Maybe if i caught the man in the middle with his hand totally raised, the viewer would experience the photo closer to how i did. And i guess that's the trick of photography, getting the viewer to see the photo the way you intended it.
But all that aside, i totally agree that the photo would be more appealing in terms of portraitature if the woman was cropped/editted out :)
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