But in an effort to revisit a time when I took photos of more than just the cutest baby in the entire world, I’ve created a new collection on Flickr of my favourite photos I’ve taken over the past few years. Some of them are rather horribly over-processed due to at the time having equal parts poor hardware, poor software and poor skills.

Here’s the first 28, check out the whole set here.

Casey, Casey, Casey, Casey…

Date:
Saturday 29nd May – 7.30 pm

Title:
Tom Carter, author of CHINA: Portrait of a People

An internationally published freelance photographer and travel writer, Tom has traveled extensively throughout all 33 Chinese provinces and autonomous regions before publishing ‘CHINA: Portrait of a People,’ the most comprehensive collection of imagery of contemporary China ever published by a single author. Tonight he shares his experiences through the Middle Kingdom and India, seeking out photo opportunities and human experiences.

Note: tickets might be required — I’m not sure. Check with the Bookworm

Tom and I have crossed digital paths a number of times over the last several years, and I’ve yet to meet him. When Tom e-mailed to say he would be in town, I was hoping to get out and fix that this weekend, but that “all about the baby” bit carries much past these dusty pages of HTML.

So, if you see Tom tomorrow, please let him know I sent you and give him my best. Also, if you’ve seen his book, be sure to let me know what you thought.

I’ll be doing a proper review soon on Lost Laowai (it’s about 2 years past due — but coincides well with its June 16th Amazon availability), but I think its fantastic. The thing is massive. For a preview of some of the photography, head over to Tom’s photostream on Flickr.

Maggie, Button and I spent most of the afternoon with our good friends, and about 1.3 billion others, down at the nearby lake. Between our big dog and their beautiful baby with big bright blue eyes, we grabbed a bit of attention — somewhat of a rarity in the expat-saturated neighbourhood we live in.

Aside from a nice stroll outside yesterday, I also finally got around to taking some pregnancy photos of Maggie. We’ve been talking about doing them for ages, but it always seemed to slip deeper down the “todo” list. However, about to hit week #35, the pressure to get it done or risk never having them gave us the kick in the pants we needed.

Having ventured out a few times now to check out our local maternity- and baby-goods buying options, I’ve seen no shortage of studios offering to take the photos for us. And while I’m sure they would have done a much better job than myself, the thinness of my wallet wouldn’t allow it. That said, I’m pretty happy with what we managed to take. As is Maggie, the proof being that she’s letting me share them

To tide things over, here are a few photos from our trip that I shot with an eye towards converting them to High Dynamic Range (HDR) images. HDR photography is a method of processing images to “accurately represent the wide range of intensity levels found in real scenes ranging from direct sunlight to shadows [thank you Wikipedia].”

The Drum Tower in central Xi'an.

An HDR image of the Xi'an Bell Tower. You can just see the Drum Tower in the background.

Xi'an Bell Tower at Night

An HDR image of one of the many temples in the Forbidden City, Beijing, China.

Mutianyu Great Wall

A temple in Jingshan Park on a hazy Beijing morning.

I love HDR images — well good ones at least (it’s pretty easy to get carried away). However, I’ve met more than a few photographers that feel HDR (or anything but the most minimal image editing) is blasphemy in the photography world. Perhaps it is because I’m a graphic designer, but bunk I say.

If photography is the exercise of trying to capture the truest representation of light, and cameras by their very design are only able to make a single decision for exposure and stick with it when the shutter is opened, then HDR seems — to me — to allow a photographer a method to step closer to that loftiest of lofty photography goals.

Fantastic photographers have a wealth and breadth of hard-earned skill — this cannot be argued. The learning curve for good photography is steep and can be unforgiving. Perhaps this is why a few of them are so eager to dismiss the use of technology to improve their images. They worked hard to get the abilities to get those perfect photos the first time and damn if some $99 software package can now make some half-rate’s photos pretty good. But I maintain that technology is merely a tool, and should not be faulted or shunned because of its perceived threat to a profession.

I *think* most HDR detractors are the same folks that were saying that they’d never switch from film to digital because digital will NEVER (ever, never, ever) obtain the quality of film, which it arguably has (alright large-format guys, I’m open, hit me). I also *think* most feel that using any sort of digital image manipulation software is “cheating”. This is where I disagree most. Unless you are drawing in extra lines, the photo is still the photo. Using software to improve your image is no different than adjusting the aperture/shutter speed/iso/exposure compensation settings on your camera. What’s more, your camera uses many of the same software techniques (white balance, histograms, image stablization, sharpening, etc.) to digitally manipulate the image behind the scenes. And all of this can be taken one step further back to being creative with dark room practices of burning, dodging and exposure/chemical bath times.

But then I mostly see photography as an art form, a method of expression, by any means. Whether a photographer does that with or without digital image manipulation is no different to me than whether a painter uses water colours or acrilics.

Of course it’s the perfect time to take a holiday and trek around the country — so that’s exactly what I’m going to be doing next week and the week after.

Heat or not, I couldn’t be more excited. The timing of the vacation is because my best friend Cory is (coufinallygh) coming to visit me in China. We’ve been friends for going on 20 years, which for me is no small feat. See, I’ve called 25 different places “home” over the course of my 32 years (birthday this Thursday), and as such have shuffled through friends nearly as much as I’ve shuffled through addresses. But whereas many friends come and go, Cory is as close as to being kin to me as you can get without sharing blood. It’s been a year and a half since I’ve seen him, and even then it was only short visits. It’s going to be great to be able to spend two weeks catching up.

As it’s his first time here, there’s no shortage of things that he would like to see — 3rd or 4th largest country in the world be damned. So in the two short weeks of his visit we are going to attempt the following jam-packed itinerary:

Our Chitinerary

Despite living here, I’m pretty excited about the travels as well. I’ve become entirely too sedentary in recent years, a sharp contrast to the itchy-footed globetrotter (I suck at basketball) that washed up here nearly half a decade ago. This will be my first trip to Xi’an and first *real* trip to Nanjing (I bussed up there for a cheap airfare once, but only saw the bus station, airport and a traffic-filled blur inbetween). It will also be the first time I’ve been back to Beijing since travelling there in 2005, only three months after arriving in China.

Cory and I will be leaving Maggie at home, and so will largely be depending on my craptastic language abilities to navigate us through — a fact that excites me nearly as much as it scares the hell out of me. I mean, I’ve travelled in 10+ countries, many of which couldn’t speak much English, and have done fine. I guess I’m just apprehensive about being the sole language-point for us. It will, however, give me the opportunity I need to dust off my Chinese skills, which have been steadly going stale since we moved from downtown Suzhou out to the SIP area — a district where you’re nearly as likely to pass a foreigner on the street as you are a local.

Recapturing the Shutter Bug

The trip will also provide me with an opportunity to revisit a former passion – photography. I got into photography in high school, and was knee-deep in SLR gear by my late teens. I then studied photography, if rather basically, in college as part of my journalism program, and adored it. After college I went to work for some magazines and got to play concert photographer for a few shows, which was awesome (I think I still have lumps on my skull from water bottles being thrown at Cake during a outdoor summer festival).

But when I decided to pack in the journalism career and live out of a backpack for five months, I made the difficult decision to trade in my SLR and lenses for a much more compact digital point-and-shoot. It served me well (see photos from UK/Ireland, Mainland Europe and Thailand), but I’ve always missed having a real camera.

After deciding to stay in China I flipped a coin on whether to buy a DSLR or a new laptop with some of the money I had saved to move to Australia. I ended up meeting in the middle and getting a new laptop and a prosumer p&s. Over the years I’ve had a few opporunities and wasted much of my friend Derrick‘s time asking endless questions of what his recommendations for DSLRs is.

Finally, after humming and hawing about this for a few years (ask Maggie, next to a sailboat, it’s the “awe I want one” thing she’s listened to me whinge about the most) and with this 2-weeks of travel looming, I bit the bullet last week and grabbed myself Canon’s new entry-level DSLR, the 500D. A few of my friends have the 450D, and I was decently impressed with it. The 500D is a mild improvement over the 450D, but among its new features is the ability to shoot HD video.

I wrestled over whether to buy just the body and grab the lenses seperately, but the minimal cost difference (and lack of time) prompted me to just grab the kit with a Canon EF 18-55mm IS lens attached (effectively about a 30mm-70mm lens). It’s alright, but a bit slow — basically just a 100% mediocre lens. However, it and the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 I’ll grab this week will do the job until I can afford to laydown some serious bucks on a good telephoto and a nice wide-angle. Suggestions enthusiastically welcomed.

I bought the camera at one of Canon’s authorized dealers in Suzhou. It involved some pretty heady negotiations on the part of my wife, as we wanted to get the price down to approximately the costs found on Taobao. We considered buying it from Taobao, but were a bit nervous getting such a large purchase from someone we couldn’t physically visit if something went wrong.

We couldn’t get the price as low as it is on Taobao, but did mange to wrangle a pretty decent deal in my opinon. I got the Canon 500D (18-55IS) kit, 4GB SD card, 58mm UV filter, a crappy little bag and LCD scratch protector for 5750 RMB. I’ve all but tossed the waffer-thin lunchbox style bag they gave me, and instead ordered a rather awesome Crumpler bag.

Both my friends Ric and Elvina swear by them, and they look great — not much like a camera bag, which is exactly what I wanted. I checked out Crumpler’s US site and the bags were a bit pricey, and so I decided to see if Taobao had knock-offs cheaper. Sure enough, it does. I ordered the 7 Million Dollar Home, as it is big enough to fit extra goodies in it and wont force me to buy a new bag when I finally get some new lenses later this year. It took 2 days to get here, and while I don’t have a *real* Crumpler to A-B it with, it looks just as advertised, and appears good and sturdy. In fact, comparing it to the pictures on Crumpler’s site, the only difference is the colour of the interior lining. Everything else seems pretty much exact — and at about 1/3 the price of the US Web site, I ain’t complaining.

Well – best I publish this and get back to the rather insane list of things I need to get done before I shut down shop for 2 weeks. I love holidays, and love that my situation allows me the flexibility of choosing my holidays whenever I want – but the unfortunate side-effect is there’s no one here to fill in for me while I’m gone.

Oh, as I do whenever summer hits, I’ve been listening to a lot more Sublime. Have had Doin’ Time stuck in my head for the last few days, but keep singing it with a slight China-tinge…. it’s stupid, but I just can’t help it. Such a great song though.

Doin’ Time – Sublime

Summertime and the living’s easy
And Bradley’s on the microphone w/ ras m.g.
All the people in the dance will agree
That we are well qualified to represent the PRC
Me and Louie run to the Party
Dance to the rhythm it gets harder
Me and China we got this relationship
I love her so bad but she treats me like shit
On lock down like a penitentiary
She spreads her lovin’ all over
And when she gets home there’s none left for me

[chorus]

Oh take this veil from off my eyes
My burning sun will someday rise
So what am I gonna be doin’ for a while
Said I’m gonna play with myself
Show them how we come off the shelf

[chorus]

Evil I’ve come to tell you that she’s evil most definitely
Evil ornery scandalous and evil most definitely
The tension is getting hotter I’d like to hold her head underwater

—

Incidentally, if you find a puddle of fleshy goo that smells faintly of maple syrup and bacon somewhere between Xi’an and Suzhou, please scoop it up and return it to my dear mother – you can keep the camera. Damn it’s hot.

It was with moist eyes that I heard Derrick (Dezza) was hanging up his blogging cap, despite having seen it coming for a long time, as he constantly told me he was losing interest in writing, and shifting his energies to other creative endeavors – namely, his amazing flare for photography.

However, it was still tough to hear, as his blog was really the first China blog I ever read – and had a lot to do with easing my tensions about moving to China (those that know Derrick, know how great he is about sharing advice).

Well, it is with a bit of pride that I announce that www.MaskofChina.com will not be fading gently into the abyss, but has rather (like its owner) just shifted focus. Instead of maintaining the blogs, Derrick has instead converted the site into a showcase of his beautiful photography.

This announcement also works in tandem with me announcing my official transition from ESL teacher to Web designer, as I performed the Mask of China redesign. Though I’d done quite a lot of design work previous to coming to China, it’s really been in setting up my own sites that I’ve really cut my teeth with all that it takes to be a competent Web designer/developer.

Though my own business identity site isn’t up yet, expect an announcement about it in the coming weeks. And if you, or anyone you know, needs Web design, graphic design, content creation, or editing services, please don’t be shy and throw some love this way.

Oh, and be sure to go on over to Mask of China and tell Derrick how great his photos look (and let him know you like the design as well ). If you should require the services of a professional photographer or would like to purchase prints of any of Derrick’s photos, please feel free to contact him.

If you’d like to beautify your computer with some of Derrick’s photos, they have recently been featured in a screensaver, People of the Middle Kingdom, helping publicize the excellent Library Project.

[Download the screensaver - Mac and PC versions available]