Tidbits From the World

The last time I updated my blog was long ago. I always feel somewhat guilty when I take that much time to add a new article. I have many ideas for my next articles, but they take much time and energy to carry out… Each article will have some thirty pictures in them… Among the three projects I have in mind and that will, one day(!), be in this blog, I have: an article about the Transiberian trailway (the journey from Saint Petersburg to Beijing), an article about the development of Xi’an (from a vantage point that you will probably find interesting) and an article about the city of Moscow, a city where there seems to be only very, very rich people (and very, very poor ones, with no middle class).

On this picture, you see a new construction site. Some old buildings were torn down a couple of days before I took this picture. These old buildings will probably be replaced by one or several modern high rises, where people will live in. Notice the two Chinese characters in red on the wall: 理发 (lifa). Which means “haircut”. The owner of a barbershop, lucky enough that the bulldozers stopped tearing down at his building, wrote these characters wishing to attract more clients, before his turn comes to let his business be reduced to ashes.

The following day, the hole was dug. Next step would be to build a wall. Unfortunately, they did it the day I left Xi’an, so I have no picture for this.

A panoramic view from the 24th floor of an apartment building, where a French student lives. Click on the picture to see a more detailed view. If you look at the lower-left corner, this is the place where the first two pictures were taken from.

Friday, I went to see a show given by a friend of mine at a bar. This was an opportunity for me to support a friend, take some nice pictures and see some colleagues outside of our workplace.

Here are some pictures that I took yesterday.

I was the photographer for the event. The cameraman, that you see in the background is Jonathan. He is the one who posts comments under the nickname “sleeplow”.

Dany, the guitarist.

The audience was seated at the beginning of the performance, but they stood up after the first song.

That night, four bands were due to perform. The main band, “Old School Politics” was the last one to play. They lent their equipment to the other three bands, including my friend’s.

The two pictures above are failed attempts at taking panoramic pictures. They are failed because some parts are missing in the final panorama. In the second picture, this defect is less obvious because the photo is darker and the missing parts are plain black.

People were chatting in the other room.

Under red lighting, a man is sending a text-message through his cellphone, while another one is taking a picture, using his iPhone, of a couple that is about to kiss.

The red lighting made it difficult to read the menu.

Can you tell who this guy is? He is Dany, the guitarist.

On this photo you have a 180º panoramic view on Zhuque avenue (朱雀大街). This is my first attempt at making a panoramic picture, using a technique that I recently discovered. The photo is not perfect, but it’s a start. Most often, panoramic pictures are taken of landscapes,but I think this technique could well be applied to street photography as well.

The four buildings that you see on the left side of the picture are newly built towers, the first one is completed while the three others are still under construction. There is a saying that no Chinese lives in a house nowadays. They all live in apartments. It stands true at least for Chinese people living in cities. There is no room to build houses in big Chinese cities, pretty much like in Japan.