This has been a long time coming. I’ve been working on a project photographing cyclists in Beijing for about a year now. If you haven’t already seen them then this is what you have missed.
Beijing Bicycle Portraits
The main problem I have had is that its been difficult to organise and shoot individual cyclists. So I decided to change tactics and focus on groups of cyclists. I was given the perfect opportunity when Ines owner of the Natooke a really friendly bike shop in Wudaoying Hutong in Beijing invited me to a Li Ning sponsored bike event in 798. I knew lots of riders would be attending so I decided to take my studio lights and set up a little space and take some portraits. There were riders in town from all over China and so finally I was able to capture the small but growing trend of fixed gear bikes in Beijing and China. Also like to say a big thank you to Geraldine Cuason an excellent photographer for all her help with the shoot.
I will be putting more of these portraits into a gallery on my photography portfolio once I check I have everyone’s names spelt properly as I don’t trust my reading of Chinese characters just yet!
2 Comments
April 20, 2011 at 3:24 pm
i like your new approach. i think focusing on the groups of cyclists is the way to go. it’s not just in terms of access, but in terms of having a stronger journalistic angle. shooting single cyclists is too arbitrary, and it’ll only ever be an incomplete overview. but by focusing in on communities or “tribes” that coalesce around specific kinds of bikes, it speaks not just of bikes, but of a larger process happening in Chinese society now; a desire to mark oneself out as different from the mainstream through consumer choices. and judging from your photos (and knowing the Chinese indie music scene too…) the “looking cool”, “looking successful” and “belonging to a tribe” aspect of fixed gear in Beijing is probably stronger here than in the West, no ?
April 20, 2011 at 3:53 pm
Yes I think groups is much more interesting socially and visually and is also much easier to organise and shoot. I will be photographing some road cyclists in a similar fashion simple portraits in large group this month or next. In terms of the beloning to a tribe I think its much less in the West. There is a big fixed gear movement in cycling however a lot of it is also anti big brands people buying old bicycles and converting them and restoring older bikes or removing and decals from big brands as they don’t want to be seen to be supporting big name brands or want to be part of an “alternative” movement.