All Photos:

Yellow Selection:

Green Selections:

Red Selection:

I heard lots of Hutong from my parents, they always say Hutong is where they grew up and Hutong culture is the root of the Beijing spirit. There are many stories to tell and abundant memories to cherish…… From the photos I picked,  there is a sense of the Beijing Hutong culture, the truth is the people; who are warm-hearted, passionate, loving, inclusive, and diversified. They enjoy their routine lives to keep the core values of the traditional culture, and also to embrace the changes to progress to the future. It was fun talking to the hutong Ye-Yes, they were very nice, extroverted, and allowed us to take photos. Hutong might disappear in a year’s time, but the Hutong culture and values will be preserved and transferred to the new generations.

I selected these photos as my final set because they visually look balanced and connected. The close-up of the faces made the audience focus on the people and elicited a stronger feeling. These photos are connected in different ways; the ages of the old man and lady, and the background- the trees in both photos of the old man. After I picked these photos I realized a funny detail: the background of the old lady shows the sign of “no smoking,” however, the Ye-ye in the last picture is smoking. The close-up and black-and-white techniques made these photos more focused and created a timeless atmosphere. The faces of the elderly further establish the emotion of calm and the sense of story. This is because people commonly believe that the elderly have more experience and stories, and they are often quiet and calm. Moreover, the wrinkles on their faces and their expressions made the image very strong. My vision was to show the Chinese culture and daily life in hutongs. In my opinion, these old- Beijing grandpas and grandmas are the best way to show the hutong culture. Connecting to the photographer I picked Vivian Maier, I used similar techniques and elements in the composition. For example, close-ups, black and white, and big aperture. These photos are similar to the photos I picked from Vivian Maier; where she used a big aperture to focus on people’s faces, and how she took many photos of old people. Although it’s not the same as his style, I think it’s a combination of mine and his style. To conclude, these are my three most successful and strong photos for this set, which can communicate my vision and connect with the photographer I picked.

I eliminated photos from the green selection because they don’t have a good composition and don’t match my intention. For example, I eliminated the photo on the right (second row), because although the faces in the front created a focus on the center, the composition is a bit too much. I deleted the bottom row middle and right photos because the angle is “normal,” and there are no unique perspectives, so it doesn’t create a strong emotion. Also, some photos have high exposure, which makes the image unclear or too white. I removed photos that created different emotions. For example, I deleted the photos that contained too many elements, which might distract the audience.