The Bund is one of the most fascinating places to sit and simply watch people go by. If you happen to have a camera with a zoom lens, it's even better. It's a beautiful scene, with Pudong reaching up into the sky on the east and colonial-era architecture stretching out into the north and south on the west. It's a tourist spot with an attractive force similar to Tiananmen Square, but without the awful Soviet-era architecture and overbearing police presence. LBXes from all across China come to take in the sights and experience Shanghai, and there is no shortage of interesting characters. As we mention in the LBX writeup accessible at the top of the page, the term LBX was first coined during our year studying abroad in Beijing in 2004-05. I took this picture on the Bund in 2005 (without any of the fancy equipment I now own, so apologies for the blurriness), and the title I gave it then was simply "LBX." I still find it equally fitting.
I really like how you do portraits with the white light background and the off center foreground. How do you accomplish this? Is it Photoshop or do you have a camera technique?
This one here was definitely the product of a cloudy, hazy day where exposing for the guy’s face made the background so light it became almost white. I think you can still see some of the Pudong buildings through the haze in the background.
The one of the guy on the cell phone I’m not entirely sure. I took it about five years ago. I’m pretty sure the sun was somewhat behind him and it was a similar situation were exposing for the man (and the photo is actually rather over exposed) blew out the background so much that it became white.