The Sunday Papers Photo

Photographer’s Note

If you want to know about the bishop and the actress
If you want to know how to be a star
If you want to know about the stains on the mattress
You can read it in the sunday papers, sunday papers
- Joe Jackson, “Sunday Papers”

These gents are enjoying the ceremonial weekly perusal of the Sunday newspapers at one of the local Chinese malls. I just happened to glance sideways and catch the row of them, lined up so nicely.

Looking at them, I couldn’t help wondering exactly what they were reading. I’m an international news junkie, not just in the sense of wanting news about different countries, but of wanting to get it from different sources around the world in order to get different viewpoints. I find British news reporting very different from American journalism, for instance. Japan’s news organizations have a different set of priorities than the French ones do. Sometimes it's a matter of emphasis; sometimes the very "facts" of a situation are entirely different.

With news relating to China – whether it’s the People’s Republic, Hong Kong, or Taiwan – this is especially important since the politics involved seem to affect everyone’s viewpoint at one time or another. The best you can do (at least as far as I’ve been able to figure out) is to keep an open mind, read a lot of different publications from different sources, question everything, assume nothing, and sort through the reports as best you can.

I read news from a lot of different countries, but with regard to China, here are a few English language sources. They’re in no particular order and I don’t endorse any of them as being better than any others – I just thought they’d be convenient for anyone who’s interested.

Beijing Scene
Asia Times
Taipei Times
China.org
China Now
Shanghai Star
People’s Daily
Hong Kong Herald
Yahoo News re China
Yahoo News re Taiwan

zeus, KevRyan, RandomCameraGuy, Paker, christina, gezgin37, caspita, quillo has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

zeus (1462) 2005-06-17 13:06

Wow! this is such an interesting picture....i loved the way you caught the three men looking at the newspaper. You got a very good DOF and the warm tone lighton her faces is perfect. Great shot!

RandomCameraGuy (3063) 2005-06-17 13:13

This is a well composed shot Lee, and a good note!

Though you took this photo just last month it looks like it kind of has a older feel to it, probably you addition of more oranges and yellows help in that. As for that colour it's interesting and I like it, but that blue hat is a bit distracting [minor]. It's a little noisier than I'd like, but again not too big a prob.

Overall an effective shot!

* * *

[in reply to your critique:] Yeah, I heard about your little "heat wave" here :) Bring it on I say!

I also saw that Live Aid stuff on the news, too bad it'll be outside the city though eh? You planning on going?

Cheers man!

alex

Gdouble (5245) 2005-06-17 13:37

Great compo, and warm colours for a very interresthing subject.
Well done
Guy

MiguelP (14290) 2005-06-17 13:53

Very well seen, Lee. A right perception of reality, well, of one reality among many of them possible in a city. I like the warm color of the photo, congratulations from MAdrid where a pacific battle between free people and slaves of the religion is going to take place tomorrow. Thanks good Carlinhos Brown is our side. Take care.

chaitee (136) 2005-06-17 13:55

A very nice picture! I believe this is "corbis" quality! You should try to summit it there, it's really good. Perhaps fix the color balance a bit and everything's ready to go.

KevRyan (22297) 2005-06-17 14:32

Excellent observationa nd very well captured Lee - I like the subtle differences in expression and the overall colour of the image. Very nice. A great note and thanks for the links.

best wishes

Kev

Furachan (0) 2005-06-18 4:28

Well seen, very exciting perpsective here, like cascading Chinese readers...;)I loe the gradation from deep sunglasses to regualr old guy specs to none at all. Superb, delightful! Francis

migsy (349) 2005-06-19 13:33

Glowing - I love the colour and the the sense that these men are so oblivious to the world.

christina (2040) 2005-07-13 0:23

Hello Lee,

I like the light in this shot. It is very interesting and the warm light compliments the subjects as the read the paer with such concentration. Very nice work!

jasmis (49589) 2005-09-23 9:14

Excelent idea. Good POV. Important note. Impressive potraits. Warm colours.

gezgin37 (3390) 2005-09-23 13:43

Hello Lee,

I like the way you took this photo. They look so concentrated, i wonder if they noticed when you took the photo.
Well seen, composed and captured.

Greetings,
Selçuk

quillo (7060) 2006-05-10 12:16

Hi Lee, these robbed photos enchant to me mainly by the naturalness and espontaneidad of the actors, is the images that really show as we lived. I like much the expressions of concentration in the hot reading of the gentlemen, colors and the frame.

Congratulations friend.

A hug from Spain.

Paco

nika (0) 2006-05-27 13:14

Hello Lee!!

It's a fantastic shot! Lucky you that you could capture these Chinese men reading the paper line! Great compsition!!! I love your photo a lot!
Thank you!
Anette

herowono (438) 2009-09-04 9:52

Hello Lee,
Very nice moment, very nice expression on their faces too and the light is beautiful...

Have a nice weekend

Best regards,

Photo Information

Copyright: Lee Sato (ElSato) (824)
Genre: People
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2005-05-22
Categories: Daily Life, Humorous, Ceremony, Event
Camera: Minolta Dimage A1
Exposure: f/3.5, 1/40 seconds
More Photo Info: view
Photo Version: Original Version
Theme(s): Sato: Forget it Jake, It's Chinatown, Sato: Toronto is a Trip!, Readers [view contributor(s)]
Date Submitted: 2005-06-17 12:50
Favorites: 1 [view]