I had read about them. I had heard about them. I wanted to see them.
The hutongs of Beijing. You can read a formal definition here, thanks to Wikipedia.
The hutongs are dying off and I wanted the chance to see them, and photograph them. So while the rest of the team set off for The Silk Market, our translator, Maggie, took me to the hutongs. She hung with me for a while, then set me free to wander.
It was my type of afternoon.
There are some hutongs that are more commercial, with small stores and shops selling prints, like above, or trinkets.
But then other areas are so much not so. These are the true hutongs, glimpses into Beijing’s past that still endure.
Pretty incredible.
The people were great, friendly, though guarded. I was shooting mainly with my 70-300mm lens so while they saw me, I wasn’t right on top of them. And, if in the case of one old gal, they didn’t want me to photograph them, I smiled, bowed and said Xie xie!
In a city of 17 million people, 4 million cars and a, as some say, a bike to every person…well, bicycle repairmen are in demand.
Overall, this was a perfect afternoon to me. Wandering around old streets filled with history, camera slung over my shoulder, seeing things that I never would have expected (three guys in chef whites, plus three other guys physically moving a car from one side of the lane to the other to let another car out. Video to come…) and taking some interesting photographs.
As I type this, it’s Monday night in Beijing. Our shoot is done. I’ll be packing up and, tomorrow, headed to the airport. By Tuesday night, I’ll be back in the Great State of New Jersey filled with some fantastic memories.
Headed home a little lighter – I jettisoned some reading material along the way – but also heavier – souvenirs for my girls back home, a new bracelet on my wrist (a personal talisman to ensure a safe, healthy pregnancy for my wife. This woven one from the base of the Great Wall joins the silver one I picked up, and got blessed, in Pinjore, India, last fall) and probably some body weight due to all the dim sum and dumplings I’ve eaten.
Lunches like this.
Yeah, it was that good.
And there’s still so much I want to share…vids that I haven’t been able to upload from here, some incredible people at the Forbidden City, more thoughts from the road.
But I’ll give them to you from NJ….see you soon.
© Mark V. Krajnak 2010 | JerseyStyle Photography | All rights Reserved
Unless otherwise noted, images captured with a Canon 50D, SanDisk digital film, finished with PS2 or PSE6 and Nik Software.
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