Last Days in Shanghai IV: The last of the early morning pictures

Last ones I promise although I'm sad to be coming to the end of this little series (of course there's at least a hundred more...)

I always loved these posts with the streets spray painted on them. Chinese characters look cool.

This is a seductive old bicycle cart.

This guy was nice. He really loved his bird. He could speak Chinese that bird.

Bamboo birdcages are gorgeous.

Fresh soybeans

A great way to travel after hours of walking in the sun.

Fin.

Pretty Ladies

Hello! I've been photo editing...which means I'm finally scheduling some posts so stay tuned. These are still from my last weeks in China. Sadness.

I took some pictures of my friends/co-workers at our going away lunch. Using the 35mm lens on my Seagull, I took a turn at experimenting with portraits. It would be hard not to take good pictures of these lovely ladies. Don't you agree?

group pic sans moi.

she's looking into your soul.

Lo is super fashionable.

Love this. She could be on the cover of a novel. Maybe I'll write one so she can be on the cover of it.

I love her expression!

This is the cutest Chinese person on the planet. Really she is. And the sweetest.

Our lovely intern. She really likes Korean emo music.

And swoopy bangs.

oh wish this was more in focus. marrr. this gal rocks fascinators (the thing on her head).

the end.

Mao Was Here

More pictures! This time of a partially condemned area near Xintiandi in Shanghai. Xintiandi, which means new heavens and earth was an original meeting place of the communist party in the traditional shikumen (a stone colored brick) style. They tore down the area and then rebuilt it with similar architecture. It's now a popular, high falutin' shopping/dining area. But that has very little to do with these pictures, which I took on a Saturday. There were hardly any people in the area, though it seemed a few still lived there...

Mao was here.

This place was boarded up, but a whole in the door showed a window on the other side and an old wicker chair still in there. I really liked the perspective.

Looky here...another picture of a bike. What are the odds?

Not sure if this is a good picture, but I like it's washed out-ness for some reason.

Wen: culture.

Chinese People

I've been working on the elusive skill of taking Chinese people's pictures. It's so unfortunate that they shrink from the lens because they are so photogenic, interesting and beautiful whether young or weathered.

Taken with my box camera. She asked a customer, "why is she taking pictures of me." "Maybe it's her hobby," he said.

Also with my box camera. I thought this girl was lovely. She had a nice personality too. Didn't really mind the camera...although she thought it was weird I was taking pictures of the steamed dumplings she was selling.

A man looking walking through the wet market.

This guy was one of many who thought it was hilarious that I was taking pictures of the wet market, but he let me take his picture. I think he's eating a sunflower seed.

Does this guy scare you as much as he scares me? He's lookin' for you. He's gonna find you.

Nanjing and the Gray Haze

Nanjing, a historic city that was one of China's capital cities, is a mere 90 minutes from Shanghai. I finally made it there a few weeks ago on a photography expedition with a friend of mine. It was great to get out of Shanghai for a few days, but it was so gray while we were there that I didn't get as many good pictures as I was hoping. 

"They" say that gray days are great for photo taking but this was a permeating gray haze. Still had a great time and got some good pics--including a few odd signs (China never disappoints on that front.) 

The last picture is my favorite so you have that to look forward to...

 A very Chinese looking Mosque.

 Lunch options at a back alley noodle shop.

 The Nanjing Japanese Massacre Museum. Very well done museum detailing the brutal Japanese invasion of the city in which 300,000 people were killed in the span of six months. Just awful and explains why China has a hard time getting over their anti-Japanese sentiments.

A wall of names of those killed during the invasion.

This was part of the window display at a shop in a mall across the street from the museum. I mean what...?

Fried dumplings. Delish! I love this picture.

The ascent to Sun Yat Sen's Mausoleum

Do you see the haze?

Flags at Jiming Temple. There are about 50 more pictures of these from every angle conceivable.

I do not know what this says. I should figure it out, but it might ruin the strangeness and that would be a shame.

Uncontrollably love this picture of the city wall. I like to think of it as being in England or France. I'm pretty sure there is some dashing literary figure just around the bend.