Stills

How much more attractive this place would look in a warm and dry climate :-)

I'm guessing that the green nets are for fishing because I'm guessing that that is a fish shop - live fish in those red basins?

I reviewed a book of contemporary chinese photography sometime last year and this was exactly the sort of photo that was absent from it. In the rush to be modern and creative the chinese photographers were neglecting to record the changes around them. When this street has gone people will wonder why nobody had recorded it as a reminder of why being cold, wet and poor isn't all that good an idea.
 

You must travel a bit Doug, one moment in China the next in Suburban US.
A dirty looking back alley with some colour and life. More interesting than our back alleys, they are just dirty and since they have no stream of people they are also places for thugs to hang out.
It is great to wander through the scene, from man under umbrella to woman behind bike and then down the road to distant people.
 

'How much more attractive this place would look in a warm and dry climate :-)'

That would ruin it!

This reminds me of Howard French's Shanghai photos.

I love the receding line of the alley, and the way my eye can race little bits of color - not just red, but yellow too - all they way down.
 

I can see why this reminds you of Howard French's Shanghai shots (thanks for the tip). Yet I also see differences with Howard across Doug's set from China: the latter tends to pick out an individual; which is not to say that some of Howard's don't but, in the majority, one senses a more crowded, even bustling, environment.
 

Matt, thanks for the link to Howard French, I was not familiar with his photographs. My guess his emphasis is the person, while I am interested in the landscape with some people.

Because of this storm, I did have the chance to photograph his spot without people, but to "strech" myself, I was working on including people. I had photographed the man with the blue umbrella a number of times, but then the woman on the left stepped out of her stall for just a moment. Bingo!

Yes, fish net, fish basins, some live fish, some being cooked while you wait; real Chinese fast food;- )
 

'How much more attractive this place would look in a warm and dry climate :-)'

That would ruin it!

Well, it might ruin the photo, but I doubt that it would ruin the place :-)
 

'but I doubt that it would ruin the place :-)'

Hah, says the man living in a rainy region. I'm so sick of seeing that bright sun. I'm dreaming of clouds and rain.

'My guess his emphasis is the person, while I am interested in the landscape with some people. '

Oh certainly. I'd not want to overstate the similarity. It occured to me that he was another photographer showing things Chinese that may soon be gone.
 

China is diffinitely in a huge state of flux. Noticing what "may soon be gone" is part of my theme that I am developing for my China photo series.

John, the hutong on the facing bank of this river across from where this photograph was made had just been leveled. Gone. So my guess is that this place will soon be gone too.
 

Fascinating in every detail -- with the bright colors in contrast to the dreary weather and dinginess. Really effective composition -- so nice to have the figures with a yellow coat and red umbrella at the far end.
 

Though the streets are a little less rugged and the houses a little less 'tatty' there are still parts of Tokyo were you could see similar streets and open fronted shops. Though most of the world is given the neon glitz of Tokyo and now Beijing and Shanghai there is plenty of real estate left in these cities that will long remain behind the development curve. Photographs like these are capturing the moment and go back in five years and you'd be seeing something different I guess. Tokyo is constantly rebuilding. Remember the shot I did a while back of Neil Armstrong's Garden Gate? That piece of land is currently under reconstruction so I am glad I got the shot beforehand. Likewise will be happening and at much greater speed in China over the coming years and what a wonderful place to be based as a photographer.

On a historical level this works well and combined with a technical excellence this is will form part of a great future memory.