I want my audience to think about the details in life, to slow down, catch a breath from the constant hurry in an urban center such as Beijing. I want to impart a sense of bittersweetness, that even though the moment has passed, it was a good moment. I also want to give a sense of melancholy, for people to focus on the time that has passed that cannot be fought back for. It’s gone, you can’t get it back. I think 798 is a very good place to show this, as it used to be an industrial area, that has now been revamped into an artist district. With a contrast between the old brick walls with the new sleek galleries and cafes, I want to preserve a sense of the past that at least I will never get to see. I’ve also done some research on the area – 798 used to be a state-owned military factory before becoming a place of art and culture. This is a very stark change over time, which could be a concept I explore more on. 

To develop some inspiration for taking photographs, I went on Google arts and culture and looked around. Through Google, I was reminded of Chinese ink paintings, and how people’s everyday lives depicted in them are not so every day now. I was also reminded of how reverent people were of nature. This gave me inspiration in terms of what I could photograph; people’s everday lives, like a cafe owner, but from a different point of view, like that of their shadow. If I can, I’d also like to get an image of a plant in the industrial and now artistic world.  

Clicking around, I also found images of something called “woodstock”. A quick search on Google told me it was a 3 day music and art fair that eventually became a symbol of counterculture and anti-war sentiment, a moment of peace within conflict.  

This image in particular stood out to me. The sheer scale of amount of people – it was near half a million –  for a single concert, everyone united by a common cause. Especially with the current political context, peace is not a concept everyone has access to. While I don’t think its possible for me to photograph something like this on my trip to 798, I want to see if I can take a picture of something similar in concept, like the sheer scale, number, people’s attention on a stage you can’t even see.  

For specific photographers I want to learn from, I want to take Aaron Siskind’s focus on texture, Uta Barth’s ideas on space light and focus, and depending on if the weather cooperates, something like Paul Strand’s Porch Shadows. I will get more inspiration by looking for photographs that have contrast in concept and in subject. 

 

Dominis, John. Woodstock Music & Art Fair. 1969. Google Art and Culture, TimeLife, Bethel New York, US, https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/woodstock-music-art-fair/_gHVvr7b0tErpw. Accessed 11 Sept. 2025.