We Are Here Just For You.

We Are Here Just For You, Chongqing. 2009 © Shen Wei

I walked pass this neon sign many times in Chongqing and am always so fascinated by it. The sign reads "We Are Here Just For You" in both Chinese and English. It is hugely located on the top of some residential buildings. It lights up at night beautifully, sometimes red, sometimes green, sometimes just white, with or without the frame. I don't know what this sign is for, perhaps an advertising for something, or a city slogan, I don't know... Whatever it's for, it reads good, a message that makes me feeling extra safe every time I walk by it. I love these images of the sign, now I just have to decide the red sign or the white sign.

The Changing Landscape.

June 2008. © Shen Wei

January 2009. © Shen Wei

I grew up by the infamous Suzhou Creek of Shanghai. The creek was very stinky then, with hundreds of boats going through everyday. One summer I discovered this huge slump by the creek, it was an amazing maze. I liked to ride my bicycle in and get lost, when I want to come out, I just follow the smell of the creek. Gradually, I was addicted to that smell. One day I rode my bicycle there, the slump was flattened, completely. Then, the boats were slowly disappearing. Then the smell is gone.

Me doing whatever in China.

One of the benefits of traveling with my friend Baibai is that she constantly photographs me doing whatever, not that I am so narcissistic, I sometimes like to know how I look like in real life... you know, look at the mirror is quite not the same as look at a candid photo of yourself. So here are some photos of me doing whatever during our Chongqing-Wuhan trip.

Practicing Yoga in the hotel room.

Changing film while being observed.

Photographing what I can't remember in a tea house in Chongqing.

Me and Baibai eating (all the time) in Wuhan. Photo by 阿D.

A Workshop in Shanghai.

Last weekend I taught a workshop in Shanghai. The workshop is sponsored by Kunst.licht Shanghai. We choose only 10 photographers among numerous applications from all over China. The 3-day workshop was very inspirational to me. I also have received many joys of interacting and communicating with Chinese young photographers. Here are the work of all 1o photographers from the workshop. I wish I will have more opportunities to participate such wonderful events in China in the future.

© Pan Xiaochun 潘晓春

©Zhou Yang 周仰

© Zhao Xiaomeng 赵小萌

© Li Lefang 李乐方

© Yu Cong 于聪

© Shun Yanchu 孙彦初

© Shen Mujin 沈木槿

© Li Yuning 李宇宁

© Fei Tian 费天

© Chen Jian 程剑

The Almost Naked Press Check.

Match making.

Such a beautiful test strip.

Pretending I know something :-)

I apologize for the lack of updates recently. I had a couple of busy weeks. I traveled to Chongqing and Wuhan for 7 days (many stories to tell...stay tuned). When I come back to Shanghai, I discovered I still have a planet of things to be taken care of, some interviews, teaching a workshop, and very important, press check for my Almost Naked portfolio book.

The press check lasted for almost whole day, many hard decision has been made. Now all 218 books are packed and ready to ship. I am so excited and nervous, when I saw all of them together for the first time, I was so happy and curious, I did not know how to react to them. Here are some photos from the press check. I was told that I am one of the pickiest person they have ever met. Honesty, I thought I had not even shown my pickyness yet, they should see how I order my breakfast...haha...

Fujian Province

Yong Chun County, Fujian Province

My new obsession is drink tea. I have had drank more tea in the past one week than I have had in the past one year, I am feeling healthy and wake. The tea culture is phenomenal in Fujian province, everywhere I go, I am offered with a cup of finger-burning hot tea. During my trip in Xiamen, I have also learned how to make tea from the locals. There are a lot more steps of tea-making than open a package and dip dip, tea tastes much better without the bag.

While in Fujian Province, I made a special side trip north of Xiamen. After a three-hour bus ride, I arrived in Yong Chun Xian (a.k.a. Spring Forever County). It is a small town of 600,000 people, yes, it is small in China. My darling friend Lao Ying is originally from Yong Chun Xian and she invited me to stay with her for a day. In the morning, we climbed up to one of the highest peaks nearby and visited a monk-less temple, which has been taken care of by an old man. The old man of course had to stop me for a cup of tea - Iron Guanyin - a popular Wulong tea named after a Buddha, very light and a bit tart, best drink with some dried orange, which I have gotten the whole case from Lao Ying’s mother for a gift. Yummy!

The temple on the mountain is fantastic, the magnificent location, absolutely peaceful. Out of respect, I did not take too much photos of inside the temple, but even when I was trying to shoot some images in the dinning hall outside, temple keepers were getting a bit frustrated, they said they must clean up the whole temple before allowing me to photograph inside. They then offered me the best home grow mandarin oranges I have ever had, the local sweetness. Just imagine eating a Buddha blessed orange on the misty mountain balcony with the morning breeze. It was heavenly !

The Dish.

In this trip to Fujian Province, I have made two very special friends. Lao Ying and Tang Nannan, who I have met both during the Pingyao International Photography Festival, I was not able to chat with them much at the time, but in this trip, I had lunch and dinner with them almost everyday. They both had brought me to the most authentic places in Fujian, which I would not ever find it on my own. Lao Ying is a very young photographer who just graduated from Xiamen University, she is working as a freelance photographer and also working on her own projects including some very cute photo collages. Before I leave Xiamen, they brought me to a street front restaurant; we had this must-have The Dish where seafood cooked in a pan of red oil and mysteries. If you two are reading, I really appreciated your kindness.

PS: Sorry for the image quality, all taken with iPhone.

American Photo Image of the Year 2008

© Steven Meisel won the Commercial Work category.
How can you go wrong with Madonna?

Just received American Photo magazine Image of the Year 2008 issue. I was surprised to see my work won Honorable Mention in the Personal Work category. This is the second time I have been included in this category (last time was in 2006 for my portraits from Almost Naked). This year, I send in some work from my on-going project Chinese Sentiment.

A nice spark in a cold and rainy weekend.

Bare at Michael Mazzeo Gallery

Hyrand, 2005 © Shen Wei

I am so pleased to be included in this very seductive exhibition with a group of extraordinary photographers. The reception will be held at the gallery on Thursday, December 11, from 6PM to 8PM. Hope to see you there.

MICHAEL MAZZEO GALLERY

DECEMBER 11 - JANUARY 24
BARE
Curated by
JÖRG M. COLBERG
Featuring Artist:
Amy Elkins, Rachael Dunville, Ethan Aaro Jones, Richard Learoyd,
Jennifer Loeber, Hellen van Meene, Josh Quigley, Richard Renaldi,
Jessica Roberts, Alec Soth, Shen Wei, and Carmen Winant

PDN30 on Kodak Jumbotron Time Square

Kodak is presenting a program on their Time Square Jumbotron - The New Faces of Photography: 2008 Photo District News Photographers. The program will be run through November 10th.

I went over to Time Square late this afternoon and it was quite surreal for me to look at my work showing in the middle of the Time Square. The program started with the title and the alphabetical list of the name of the 2008 PDN 30 photographers. The motion graphic of the presentation was very clean and impressive, it displays 4 photographs per each photographer which you can see from the video below. If you walk by Time Square in the next 2 and a half weeks, please check it out! I have made a video on my camera showing below, you can also see the situation shots here.

Chinese Sentiment Updated.

I have updated my website and added some new work from China.  Please check it out and comments are more than welcome.