I'd like to give a big shout out to Tepara [link] for giving me a 1 year subscription to DA. Unexpected and extremely welcome. Show her some love and visit her page here on DA and check her out her work. And thanks again to her.

I'm off back home to Ireland for a couple of weeks. But before I go I thought I'd leave you with a few photos from a project that I've been working on. I’ve been busy on a long term project that I’ve long wanted to start, well, since I arrived Shanghai in fact. I wanted to photography the architecture of Shanghai and although I’ve done stuff here and there I always failed to find a specific vision of the Shanghai I wanted to represent, focusing on the architecture but representing the emotional and fantastic rather than the mundane.

Then another thing happened. Almost every other photographer in Shanghai was shooting the same god dam thing! Pictures of piles of rubble from demolished old houses in the foreground and skyscrapers in the background. This annoyed me on several levels. 1. everybody was doing the same thing and the trend was getting old before it had even begun. 2. It was lazy, everywhere you go this can be seen and photographed with a casual stroll around the city. And indeed I saw many of the same shots on the backs of digicams at parties. The photos were unattractive and I disagreed with the vox populi that they are uniquely Shanghai. Any city that has gone through rebuilding is littered with these scenes, sure the architecture in question is always unique but the idea is not.

So ignoring what everybody else was shooting I went out last March and made two or three pretty lame attempts to capture the Shanghai of my imagination. I had recently seen an exhibition by Jerry Spagnoli of his Daguerreotypes of New York and I think they were too fresh in my mind. I came back with second rate versions of Jerry Spagnoli shots instead of Mick Ryan shots. I also realized that I had chosen the wrong area of Shanghai and what really embodied my apperception of the city. The architecture was right, British Colonial but the area I was in was inhabited by luxury brand clothing store and swanky bars. A short trip across the canal and I found the dilapidated haven of inspiration I had been searching for. The area was a wonder of historical architecture that spoke of times past and smelt of the rot that accompanies the abandoned blocks of a city racing ahead so fast it can no longer see the value of what it is leaving behind.

But I am not looking to expose the underbelly of the disheveled. There is still great beauty for me in these monuments despite their uncared for condition – the blackened stone, the damaged steps, the obtrusive air conditioners and variety of modern cabling that now looks dated itself. I’ve only started the project but I’ve already whittled hundreds of shots down to 60 or so that I am happy. And there’s a little bit of interest in them. One shot is being featured in next month’s B&W Photography magazine in the UK and a local gallery that is interested in putting a show together. When I have about 200 to 250 or so then I think I will have the collection of photographs that will represent Shanghai the way it has always been in my mind.

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I've gotten around to putting a calendar together of some of my work. I hate having to choose for competitions and the like, it's always a painful process but it's done. It's available now at [link]

I'm off to Taiwan for a 5 day shoot. It's a pain in the ass getting there as I have to fly via Hong Kong (God please don't let me have enough time to buy something expensive in HK) as the two Chinas don't have official diplomatic relations. On the positive side I found out I could get my mobile to work abroad. I just have to put a large deposit down and call China mobile and request international roaming to be switched on - which they will do for only 30 days. That's right! If I need to call abroad form my mobile or make calls from abroad I have to cal them every 30 days and request it to be activated. It's amazing what you get used to living here.

I have a small exhibition starting on the 20th of October which will be my first solo exhibition so I'm hoping that goes well. Also, fairly meaningless but I have 2 photographs [link] and [link] that are 'finalists' in American Photo magazine's Image of the Year competition. I say meaningless because the next part is judged by others so I might not even get a runner up prize so I'm going to pat myself on the back for getting this far. It was tough making a choice as you really have to try to second guess what each competition holder likes. I've only ever seen one issue of the magazine so I did my best to try to choose the right images for it. I chose by lighting rather than subject matter. Strange one perhaps but we'll see where it gets me – and then maybe I'll know not to do that again in the future.

Just got some horrible news. A friend of mine, also a photographer was traveling around Tibet for the last few weeks with a couple of others. I was originally supposed to go with them but decided not to for several reasons, including that it would be troublesome for them to travel with a foreigner. I only just found out but it happened nearly ten days ago – he was in a serous car crash in Tibet and has only just returned to Shanghai. There is no brain damage but they reckon he will be crippled on is left side for the rest of his life as has spine was damaged just below the neck. He's still in hospital and doesn't want to see anyone until after his operation. It's a horrible reminder of how dangerous the roads are in China.

China Photographer
China Photography

My second series of photos based on the couple of photos I took that became known as propellor girl. Hopefully it will bring a smile to your lips.























China Photographer
China Photography

I shot these over a week in the summer. In my mind when I shoot a character there's always a kind of narrative in my mind so I decided to go the whole hog and expand the original Ballet Bug photo. I had a stab at it before but I wasn't happy with it. It's meant to be read from part one to part fifteen as a loose story. Feel free to make it up yourself as you go along. I also shot the first adventures of propellor girl and when I have time I will get around to processing them. I think they're quite funny shots so hopefully you guys will too.

















China Photographer
China Photography