The Turning of the Year

Old Town, Shanghai

Today (January 23rd, 2012), about 1/5th of the population on this globe celebrates the Chinese or Lunar New Year. There will be family reunions and feasting, fond reminiscing of good times, and hopeful planning and eager anticipation of even better times. If you are celebrating this auspicious occasion today, I wish you a Very Happy New Year. May the year of the dragon bring you health, happiness and good fortune. 新年快乐! 龙年行大运, 恭喜发财!

Photog Notes
1/750 second, f/8, ISO 200 on a Nikon D300 + 18-200 mm Nikkor at 200 mm. I made this image on a gorgeous spring afternoon in old Shanghai last year. These decorations were on the vertical display of a streetside vendor. The symbolic shapes, bright colors and characters of good tidings are popular year round, and especially proudly displayed during the weeks surrounding the turning of the year. In making this image, I chose to isolate the bright red-and-gold fish with an especially short depth of field (f/8 which, not coincidentally, is the sharpest aperture on my 18-200).

The End of an Era

RIP, Steve

Steve Jobs
1955-2011

Thank You. May You Rest In Peace.

Symbols

Here are a couple of characters that I ran across while wandering around Shangri-la. This first one is the word “da” or “large”. It stands on the side of a new establishment in new town, waiting to be fastened into place.

Living Large

I found this second character painted on the mud wall of a traditional Tibetan building in old town. It is a stylized version of the word “zhong” – medium or middle. In this context, I think it symbolizes the zhong in “zhong guo” (i.e., the middle kingdom, aka China). Or perhaps the zhong in “zhongdian”, the former/Chinese name for Shangri-la.

Zhong