The Last Emperor Photo

Photographer’s Note

This photo was taken in The Forbidden City / The Palace Museum in Beijing.

Hundreds of people were streaming past this man, who was sitting quietly, deep in thought and oblivious to the crowds.

Maybe it was the cap, but something reminded me of the last scene from Bernardo Bertolucci's movie "The Last Emperor", when the Emperor, Puyi, visits the Forbidden City as an ordinary tourist.

So as not to distract the man, I took this shot while slowly walking past him and holding my camera at my side

Tech:-

Cropped to square format. Resized. Sharpened. Increase contrast +12. Brightness -3.

Links:-

The Last Emperor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The Official web site for The Palace Museum.

Google Earth fans should checkout the map link.

avigur_11, ribeiroantonio, Marche, papagolf21, jhm, triptych2003, sabyasachi1212, banyanman has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

avigur_11 (21247) 2006-06-27 22:51

Yes, there is something that reminds that unforgotten scenr, Andrew. Maybe the hat, maybe the sad face, certailey not the shpoes..

Well seen, we can never know, maybe he is not on;y a visitor.

ribeiroantonio (20431) 2006-06-27 23:03

It is a very fine photo with a great POV and nice colors. However, I would like to see a bit more to his left, to be able to know on what he was sitting.
Also, the reference to Bernardo Bertolucci’s movie is very pertinent and your note veru good.
Antonio

tucancr (24) 2006-06-27 23:54

Hi Andrew,
Very good approaching, the photo it is very good and taking into account your strategy, it has more value. Good composition. TFS Iris

canan (957) 2006-06-28 1:44

colors and pov are nice but more than everything i enjoyed with the name you choose! tfs..

jmdaoudal (18672) 2006-06-28 3:52

Are you sure :-)) He's got the authentic Mao's cap...
This is a great place you offer to visit here and I like the attitude of the man and comosition you have made here.
Compliments
jean Michel

papagolf21 (54110) 2006-06-28 3:53

Bonjour mon ami Andrew,
J'ai beaucoup le titre ! De plus, réussir une photo avec votre méthode relève de l'exploit !
Ne serait-ce pas un sourcier avec sa baguette de bois qu'il tient entre ses mains ? ! ;o))
Bravo, Andrew, pour cette photo originale.
Amitiés.
Philippe

Marche (4307) 2006-06-28 5:23

Bonjour Andrew,
Superbe portrait volé.
Il semble tranquille et insouciant de se faire éjecter de la place.
Superbe qualité d'image se détachant parfaitement de ce bel arrière plan.
Bonne journée
Amicalement
Martine

jhm (76890) 2006-06-28 8:17

Hi Orme,

I'm glad you see again, you placing not much pictures, but this is wonderful taken, this so out of the hand, the shoes maybe not harmonize with the man, but this is the reality, you show us a very really image!

Thanks for shering,
John.

nwoehnl (61227) 2006-06-28 12:46

Good candid photo of the sitting man, Andrew, the compo turned out quite well considering the way you took it. Also, the framing is good with him in the foreground and some details of the famous architecture in the background. The colors make a somewhat somber ensemble that seems to suit the overall mood well. Nice take.

oochappan (22433) 2006-07-07 21:23

Hi Andrew
thisshot pulled my attention by the good deep warm colormood and fine tight portrait toward the sober background, excellent way to shoot unnoticed.
Henk

triptych2003 (1396) 2006-07-09 1:14

i really like this shot... there's a sense of royalty about his demeanour. in such a huge place, you were quite lucky to find this subject. the dof works really well here. it turns such a simple composition into a fine photo.. well done :)

sabyasachi1212 (19513) 2006-07-12 23:59

Hi Andrew,
Excellent POV. I got your point. The man has a very proud look. Well captured.
With Greetings from India
Sabyasachi

banyanman (7691) 2006-09-13 13:56

Good capture, Andrew, and a well spotted photo opportunity. Your focus on the man and DOF is perfect - did you manually set the focus before walking past or did you leave it on auto? I use the same technique for getting shots like this when you don't want your subject to know that they are being photographed, but on auto I have problems with the camera focusing on the background. So I usually estimate the distance at which I will be from the subject, manually focus on something about the same distance, and then walk past the subject with the camera focus fixed. I was wondering whether you did the same. It's good that you were able to get this shot without a lot of tourists cluttering the background as that would have taken away the contemplative mood. Cheers . . . David

kloppenborg (506) 2008-05-30 4:54

Hi Andrew,

I like this picture a lot. The title is very well chosen, as this guy looks like one of the millions of migrant workers in China's large cities. They are being highly marginalized and discriminated against by locals.

But everybody have their free space in their minds. Why should he not be an emperor?

Best regards,

Henrik