[Leica] China Photography

[jnelon at netvigator.com (James R. Nelon)]

Tina,

I've traveled a good bit through a lot of China over the last 11 years, and
I've never had any problems of any kind. I was always carrying two cameras -
one around the neck, the other in my left hand - (R3's, then R8's) with
Stroboframe attached to a Metz flash connected by cable to a Quantum battery
with 20+ lbs. of camera bag slung on the shoulder. I'm 6' 2", 190 lbs., so
I'm hard to miss to begin with. That makes for a large "footprint" but I
never had any problems. The configuration worked in large cities (Beijing,
Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, out west in Muslim country in Urumqi,) as
well as along the Yangtze river. I had a similar experience to Jim Laurel's
in Guizhou province where we were greeted with a great amount of curiosity
and human warmth. The farther away from the cities we got, the more
fascinating were the textiles and cultures. 

I was generally not able to find anything other than negative film, and, as
I was shooting slides, I took along plenty. 

I actually felt more accepted in China, no matter where I was, than many
times in the States, where I'm looked at with suspicion and doubt about my
real purpose. In China, I took slides of kids playing in a playground at a
school. Try doing that in the States. In China, I entered classrooms in the
hinterlands of Guizhou Province and shot freely among the desks while
classes were in session. Try that in the States. Etc, etc., . . .

Go and enjoy the freedom to shoot in China where it may be no longer
possible to do so in many cases here in the States.

Some images from across China and Asia that I'm talking about can be found
at: http://home.comcast.net/~jnelon

Hope you enjoy your trip. It, no doubt, will be memorable.

Jim Nelon 
(Formerly Hong Kong, now Boston area)


-----Original Message-----
From: lug-bounces+jnelon=netvigator.com@leica-users.org
[mailto:lug-bounces+jnelon=netvigator.com@leica-users.org] On Behalf Of Tina
Manley
Sent: Friday, September 23, 2005 4:25 PM
To: Leica Users Group
Subject: [Leica] China Photography

LUG:

I need your expert advice again.  They called today from the Chinese 
embassy about my visa application.  I had put on the application that 
I was a photographer - evidently a no, no.  I had to agree to either 
write a letter saying that I would not be taking photos 
professionally while I am in China or change my profession on the 
application to Housewife.  That's a no-brainer.  I changed the 
profession to Housewife (my husband is still laughing).

What I want to know is, will I run into problems trying to take 
photos with professional-looking equipment?  Do I leave my business 
cards at home?  Do I not ask people to sign model releases?  What 
kind of trouble can I get into?  I'm definitely planning on taking 
photos to sell as stock but should I try to keep a low profile?  No 
photo vest?  No camera bags? I had asked the family that we are 
renting an apartment from to make arrangements for me to stay with a 
family in the country for a few nights to take photographs, since 
that is what I do in most countries.  They said that would not be a 
problem.  Will it?

Thanks in advance!

Tina

Tina Manley, ASMP
www.tinamanley.com 



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