Asia is great for photography, especially photojournalistic photography. You can always find people on the streets and, from a Western perspective, there is always something interesting going on. Having just returned to the United States, I have to adjust to the new situation, adjust to the rhythms and patterns of the American culture, to be able to catch those photos which can portray life and work and reality in the United States.
This photograph was really quite important for me. The biggest adjustment to do everyday documentary photography is that I am driving from place to place instead of walking, and when I see something to photograph, I cannot just aim and shoot as if I were on a sidewalk in China.
I had just left the grocery store and these guys were working on the intersection at the edge of the parking lot, on the busiest street in Temple, Texas. Perfect: opportunity and I am not driving 60MPH. Not only was I able to take some shots of everyday work and life (which marked a re-entry into my favorite kind of photography now that I am back in the United States), but I settled some old questions, found new information, and met an interesting guy.
I had been told traffic lights were incredibly heavy, maybe in the hundreds of pounds. I never could figure out how those poles, regardless of their construction or the materials used, could hold up such weight, especially in high winds. Well, he said they were 60lbs. And the poles were in the neighborhood of 3000lbs. Ok, I am all clear now; I can believe that.
They were installing the video cameras. Having lived in China under the watchful eye of “the authorities”, cameras in public piqued my interest. He explained, however, that the cameras are not for surveillance or even for auto-camera-ticketing, but simply as the eye of the system so that the lights could detect traffic and increase efficiency at low traffic hours. High traffic hours would not even use the cameras, because the system is on a pre-set timing, coordinated with other lights.
So, I have officially entered the American documentary photography scene…well, officially for myself, anyway. Especially since I have lived in China for ten years, and thus see my own home culture from a very different perspective now, I look forward to documenting what I see and trying to explain what the culture and society of the United States is really like.
Wow. I never new that. Its crazy what you can learn if you just ask.
I assume you mean you never knew all that about traffic lights, because I guess you already know that China and the USA are different. 🙂
Yeah, I love learning those kinds of things. I wish I could do it more often. I just have to keep my camera on hand, and when I see an opportunity or something interesting (and have a few minutes), I take a few shots and ask a few questions. I like learning new things about new people.
[…] than it is living as a semi-local here in the United States again. I have talked before about the difficulty of street and culture photography in America, and it is a daily struggle. Americans are always in their air-conditioned houses, offices, and […]