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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Three: Expressing human values > Readers, Luxun Park, Shanghai, China, 2006
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20-MAR-2006

Readers, Luxun Park, Shanghai, China, 2006

Bundled against the morning chill, these Shanghai residents prefer to do their reading outdoors. Perseverance and determination come to mind here – both are human values that I found demonstrated time and time again on my journey through China.

(I owe a debt of thanks to Shanghai pbase photographer Jen Zhou - http://www.pbase.com/angeleyes_zyl/root -- for this and other images made in Luxun Park. Jen spent a day and half shooting with me in Shanghai, and it was at her suggestion that we spent several hours photographing people in this relatively obscure but beautiful Shanghai Park.)

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ30
1/125s f/5.6 at 48.9mm iso80 full exif

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Phil Douglis13-Aug-2006 04:41
I agree with your point about newspaper reading, Christine. I often photograph behaviors that are common to all cultures. I do it in search of the essence of the activity itself. In this case, it is about maintaining appearances, perseverance, establishing privacy and establish space. I've tried to make this more than just an image of a common cross cultural experience. I've tried to go beyond here, and explore the behavioral aspects of communal reading.
Christine P. Newman13-Aug-2006 02:17
Phil, Reading the morning newspaper is common everywhere in the world. In the Toronto Subway, one person our of two reads the newspaper in the morning. The there are all those who read the paper while having a coffee. However, it is always interesting to see people from very different cultures doing the same thing as we do.
Phil Douglis28-Jul-2006 23:56
And they ignore each others presence because neither man wants to intrude upon the other. They are strangers. So courtesy might be yet another human value expressed by this image. Thanks, Emi, for this thoughtful comment.
Guest 28-Jul-2006 16:48
Hm... comfort yes, but no trust can be said here I guess. You can tell from their facial expressions - they only care what they were looking at, but just ignore each other's presense.

Emi
Phil Douglis24-Apr-2006 20:44
You make an excellent point here, Jen. I did indeed use my vantage point to make them seem to be closer to each other than they actually are. Reading is a deeply personal experience, yet these men seem to be perfectly comfortable intimately sharing space on this park bench with each other. And comfort and intimacy are both human values. Add them to the list here! I look forward to my next shooting session with you, Jen.
Jennifer Zhou24-Apr-2006 14:12
It was really one of my precious experences shooting with you Phil, and I hope we can do that again soon!

What I like about this picture is the two strangers in a such big park come and share one bench, and from the angle of your lens, they sit really close to each other. In this moment, they seem like old friends, we can feel the trust and comfort here. Also you composed the picture with two people and two trees, there is a link of nature and human implied as well..
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