http://cargocollective.com Noticing the Details Wed, 16 Dec 2015 16:29:54 +0000 http://cargocollective.com en https://blog.noticingthedetails.com/Hong-Kong-Heightens-the-Senses https://blog.noticingthedetails.com/following/blog.noticingthedetails.com/Hong-Kong-Heightens-the-Senses Wed, 16 Dec 2015 16:29:54 +0000 Noticing the Details 6601233 <img src="https://payload.cargocollective.com/1/13/444526/6601233/101_1300.jpg" width="1300" height="650" width_o="1500" height_o="750" src_o="https://payload.cargocollective.com/1/13/444526/6601233/101_o.jpg" data-mid="35677716" border="0" align="left" data-title="1300 — 1300 × 650"data-hi-res="https://payload.cargocollective.com/1/13/444526/6601233/101_o.jpg" /><br /> Hong Kong<br /> Hong Kong heightens the senses. Lights, color, movement at every angle. The city is vertical and sideways at the same time. Past, present and future rushing at you simultaneously. Brushed steel newness merging with street level grit. A multi-layered urban retail jungle where luxury and the lowest common denominator are separated by only a few footsteps. Color. Vibrant, alive, though you can almost feel the steamroller of progress wiping away some of the rich, deep hues and texture that only time brings, replacing them with geometric, linear lines and the fresh hazy glow of LED screens.If you ever need to disappear, this would be the place. Duck into a back alley in Wan Chai and into another reality. The streets seem to hold so many secrets they stopped counting decades ago. The air is thick, the buildings dense, yet there’s a smoothness to it all. People have learned to live with each other. The mechanism of the city works and absorbs you in a heartbeat. They say you can tell a lot about a city by the pace of people’s footsteps. New York and London are fast, frenetic. I expected Hong Kong to have a similar feel, but the rhythm is different. It’s quick, yes, but the place has an almost effortless flow. A pulsing, consistent, low beat. A slower, different sense of time. Less immediacy, as if this city has lived through enough moments to know that seconds pass quickly and that decades and centuries matter in the long haul. Perhaps it’s the tropical air, but there is a wash of calm within the dense urban chaos. Hong Kong seems the kind of place that could teach patience, even to the unwilling. This city makes me feel alive. I want to steal a bite of it to savor later. Stow it away in a box to pull out on a gray day that could use a little spice… Hong Kong Hong Kong heightens the senses. Lights, color, movement at every angle. The city is vertical and sideways at the same time. Past, present and future... https://blog.noticingthedetails.com/Rough-around-the-edges https://blog.noticingthedetails.com/following/blog.noticingthedetails.com/Rough-around-the-edges Wed, 16 Dec 2015 16:29:53 +0000 Noticing the Details 6584801 <img src="https://payload.cargocollective.com/1/13/444526/6584801/IMG_1311_1300.jpg" width="1300" height="650" width_o="1500" height_o="750" src_o="https://payload.cargocollective.com/1/13/444526/6584801/IMG_1311_o.jpg" data-mid="36358338" border="0" align="left" data-title="1300 — 1300 × 650"data-hi-res="https://payload.cargocollective.com/1/13/444526/6584801/IMG_1311_o.jpg" /><br /> Shanghai.<br /> Seeing beauty here makes me know that it exists anywhere. Real beauty. Raw. Rough around the edges. Shanghai. Seeing beauty here makes me know that it exists anywhere. Real beauty. Raw. Rough around the edges. https://blog.noticingthedetails.com/Your-Biggest-Fan https://blog.noticingthedetails.com/following/blog.noticingthedetails.com/Your-Biggest-Fan Wed, 16 Dec 2015 16:29:52 +0000 Noticing the Details 6788171 <img src="https://payload.cargocollective.com/1/13/444526/6788171/3ii_1300.jpg" width="1300" height="650" width_o="1500" height_o="750" src_o="https://payload.cargocollective.com/1/13/444526/6788171/3ii_o.jpg" data-mid="36643910" border="0" align="left" data-title="1300 — 1300 × 650"data-hi-res="https://payload.cargocollective.com/1/13/444526/6788171/3ii_o.jpg" /><br /> Tunxi, China<br /> Your Biggest Fan Tunxi, China Your Biggest Fan https://blog.noticingthedetails.com/Eat-the-Sky https://blog.noticingthedetails.com/following/blog.noticingthedetails.com/Eat-the-Sky Wed, 16 Dec 2015 16:29:51 +0000 Noticing the Details 6618277 <img src="https://payload.cargocollective.com/1/13/444526/6618277/54_4_1300.jpg" width="1300" height="650" width_o="1500" height_o="750" src_o="https://payload.cargocollective.com/1/13/444526/6618277/54_4_o.jpg" data-mid="35786535" border="0" align="left" data-title="1300 — 1300 × 650"data-hi-res="https://payload.cargocollective.com/1/13/444526/6618277/54_4_o.jpg" /><br /> Shanghai.<br /> Buildings in Shanghai and beyond. Miles upon miles upon miles upon miles of apartments. You can drive two hours in any direction and the scene is the same. Highrises as far as the eye can see. And then some. Mostly monotone with little to no discernible earth between. Like jagged teeth, cutting the horizon. As if one day the city will simply split itself in half and eat the sky. Shanghai. Buildings in Shanghai and beyond. Miles upon miles upon miles upon miles of apartments. You can drive two hours in any direction and the scene is the... https://blog.noticingthedetails.com/The-Gift-Shanghai-Gave-Me-Perspective https://blog.noticingthedetails.com/following/blog.noticingthedetails.com/The-Gift-Shanghai-Gave-Me-Perspective Wed, 16 Dec 2015 16:29:48 +0000 Noticing the Details 6640343 Shanghai, China<br /> They say seeing Shanghai is like peering into the future. I wanted to love it, to be amazed by it, to see and experience it with my own eyes. If that’s the future, though, it’s grim - a glaring reminder that we need to clean up our collective acts. <br /> <br /> The contrast and contradiction in Shanghai cannot be overstated. There are pockets of calm, idealized Chinese beauty, pockets of cosmopolitan renovation and redevelopment and pockets of the pure unfiltered atrocity of deep poverty. You see hard-lived struggles in people’s eyes and the heaviness that comes from living in scarcity. Where beauty is found solely in the resilience of the human spirit - in the glint of an eye, the upturned corners of a smile and the hope of child. I’ve spent the bulk of my years trying to find the beauty in things and there were times here when I simply couldn’t. Times when I didn’t lift my camera because the mere act of trying to capture that moment on film seemed shallow. I find it tremendously difficult, impossible even, to point a camera at someone who is suffering. I was not prepared for how much that would happen here. Perhaps nothing could have prepared me for China. <br /> <br /> I spent my first month in Shanghai with a family in a suburb outside of the shiny, new city. They call the place a water town. It’s full of canals, steeped in history and tradition. I hoped to see 'behind the curtain' before venturing into the center of Shanghai, to see more than just the glossy new parts. I wanted to know what it feels like to be alive here. What it's like to live in this place during a time of significant change and development. <br /> <br /> Enormous empty buildings pepper the landscape. Cranes seem to be everywhere. There is endless development interwoven with sections of deep poverty at ground level. Across the river from where I am staying is a slum. I walk through it every day for a month. I’m so far outside my comfort zone I can't even remember where the line is anymore. <br /> <br /> I’ve never been more grateful in my life. <br /> For the simplest of things:<br /> Water that you know you can drink. <br /> Fruit that doesn’t taste of pesticides. <br /> Air that’s breathable. <br /> Free access to information. <br /> When everything you know is somewhere else, you really notice the fundamentals in life. <br /> <br /> After two months in China, the whites of my eyes are dull, almost yellow. I don’t drink or smoke so can only surmise that it’s from pollution and chemicals in the food - and I tried to eat as healthy as possible. <br /> <br /> As I reflect on the experience - moments ranging from awe inspiring to heart wrenching - my overarching feeling is that I’m tremendously grateful that I was able to leave. The friends I’ve made here can't. Visas are difficult to get. They’re wrapped in an oppressive system that doesn’t value people. Life for the common man in China is not easy. Your life, what you want to do, that has little value here. <br /> <br /> As part of China’s capitalist makeover the majority of the rural population is being transplanted into the city. People who spent their lifetimes working the land, being a part of nature’s rhythm, are being moved by the thousands to high rise apartment buildings in cities. They have no choice in the matter. Imagine what that must do to a person - uprooted, everything you know, torn away. Now imagine that type of forced change on an enormous level. <br /> <br /> I ask about solutions. I ask about what people can do on an individual level to change things and am reminded that the individual here has little meaning. I am reminded that when people are discontent in China they smile and pretend that everything is okay. On every level, nothing is as it seems here. A friend says softly, “history repeats itself. People can only remain quiet for so long.” Those whispers echo throughout China as the disparity deepens and more people recognize the gap.<br /> <br /> One would hope with China’s deep, often tragic history that they’ve learned a thing or two. China’s definitely been around the block. Yet here they are, surging ahead with a newly adopted, rather twisted, capitalist vision. It’s as if someone gave the keys to a fifteen year old kid - nobody’s looking in the rear view mirror or thinking about where they’re headed. Just putting a brick on the accelerator and steamrolling ahead through finite resources. The price of it all is the humanity in its wake. It's heartbreaking. <br /> <br /> I exited China today feeling freer and more thankful than at any point in my life. Knowing that the world is bigger, crazier, more complex and convoluted than I ever could have imagined. Appreciating the privilege of this journey - the vast adventures, both the fantastic and the challenging. I am ridiculously grateful for whatever cosmic roll of the dice landed me on the other side of the world’s tracks. <br /> <br /> I hope this experience will influence my work in the years to come. That I will always remember how fortunate I am. That I will remember to tread a little lighter in everything that I do. To simplify my wants, needs and life, remembering that on the other end of anything that I consume is someone else’s labor and life. <br /> <br /> If you’re reading this, it means you have free access to information. It means you have a computer and electricity. Maybe even running water. Be very grateful. Because from where a lot of folks are sitting, you're on top of the world. <br /> <br /> For the next couple of months, I will be posting images and thoughts about my time in China here: https://blog.noticingthedetails.com <br /> <br /> As much as I wish it were all rosy, my posts will cover the full spectrum. I hope to paint a solid picture of the experience, from the wondrous to the grisly. As it goes, without the dark we wouldn’t recognize the light. I look forward to sharing the adventure with you. <br /> <img src="https://payload.cargocollective.com/1/13/444526/6640343/lucky_1_1300.jpg" width="1300" height="650" width_o="1500" height_o="750" src_o="https://payload.cargocollective.com/1/13/444526/6640343/lucky_1_o.jpg" data-mid="35900294" border="0" align="left" data-title="1300 — 1300 × 650"data-hi-res="https://payload.cargocollective.com/1/13/444526/6640343/lucky_1_o.jpg" /> Shanghai, China They say seeing Shanghai is like peering into the future. I wanted to love it, to be amazed by it, to see and experience it with my own eyes. If... https://blog.noticingthedetails.com/What-Lies-Beneath https://blog.noticingthedetails.com/following/blog.noticingthedetails.com/What-Lies-Beneath Wed, 16 Dec 2015 16:29:47 +0000 Noticing the Details 6785564 <img src="https://payload.cargocollective.com/1/13/444526/6785564/26_1_1300.jpg" width="1300" height="650" width_o="1500" height_o="750" src_o="https://payload.cargocollective.com/1/13/444526/6785564/26_1_o.jpg" data-mid="36665629" border="0" align="left" data-title="1300 — 1300 × 650"data-hi-res="https://payload.cargocollective.com/1/13/444526/6785564/26_1_o.jpg" /><br /> Shanghai, China<br /> Somehow, the Musee d'Orsay and all the beauty in mid- newspaper led me to seeing the chipped paint on the side of a bus shelter as gorgeous. Dark paint on top, light paint underneath, here comes the light, here comes beauty. -- Anne Herbert Shanghai, China Somehow, the Musee d'Orsay and all the beauty in mid- newspaper led me to seeing the chipped paint on the side of a bus shelter as gorgeous. Dark... https://blog.noticingthedetails.com/Time-Gone-By https://blog.noticingthedetails.com/following/blog.noticingthedetails.com/Time-Gone-By Wed, 16 Dec 2015 16:29:47 +0000 Noticing the Details 6658029 <img src="https://payload.cargocollective.com/1/13/444526/6658029/19_1300.jpg" width="1300" height="650" width_o="1500" height_o="750" src_o="https://payload.cargocollective.com/1/13/444526/6658029/19_o.jpg" data-mid="35969303" border="0" align="left" data-title="1300 — 1300 × 650"data-hi-res="https://payload.cargocollective.com/1/13/444526/6658029/19_o.jpg" /><br /> Shanghai<br /> Tell me a tale of time gone by. Make it weave like a river, filled with half-truths and hope. Shanghai Tell me a tale of time gone by. Make it weave like a river, filled with half-truths and hope. https://blog.noticingthedetails.com/Give-Me-Truth https://blog.noticingthedetails.com/following/blog.noticingthedetails.com/Give-Me-Truth Wed, 16 Dec 2015 16:29:46 +0000 Noticing the Details 6673775 <img src="https://payload.cargocollective.com/1/13/444526/6673775/59_1300.jpg" width="1300" height="650" width_o="1500" height_o="750" src_o="https://payload.cargocollective.com/1/13/444526/6673775/59_o.jpg" data-mid="36051360" border="0" align="left" data-title="1300 — 1300 × 650"data-hi-res="https://payload.cargocollective.com/1/13/444526/6673775/59_o.jpg" /><br /> Shanghai, China<br /> The way the internet firewall works in China is that when you attempt to go to a website, nothing shows up. There’s no announcement telling you that you don’t have access. The page simply doesn’t load. I used a VPN during my stay, but there were many times it didn’t work. Restricted access to information is a quiet kind of oppression. In a place that’s quite loud on average, oppression speaks softer than a whisper. "Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth"<br /> - Henry David Thoreau<br /> <br /> Shanghai, China The way the internet firewall works in China is that when you attempt to go to a website, nothing shows up. There’s no announcement telling you t... https://blog.noticingthedetails.com/Studious https://blog.noticingthedetails.com/following/blog.noticingthedetails.com/Studious Wed, 16 Dec 2015 16:29:45 +0000 Noticing the Details 6673744 <img src="https://payload.cargocollective.com/1/13/444526/6673744/22_1300.jpg" width="1300" height="650" width_o="1500" height_o="750" src_o="https://payload.cargocollective.com/1/13/444526/6673744/22_o.jpg" data-mid="36051263" border="0" align="left" data-title="1300 — 1300 × 650"data-hi-res="https://payload.cargocollective.com/1/13/444526/6673744/22_o.jpg" /><br /> Shanghai, China<br /> Studious<br /> Shanghai, China Studious https://blog.noticingthedetails.com/Bustle https://blog.noticingthedetails.com/following/blog.noticingthedetails.com/Bustle Wed, 16 Dec 2015 16:29:44 +0000 Noticing the Details 6680711 <img src="https://payload.cargocollective.com/1/13/444526/6680711/8_1300.jpg" width="1300" height="650" width_o="1500" height_o="750" src_o="https://payload.cargocollective.com/1/13/444526/6680711/8_o.jpg" data-mid="36088275" border="0" align="left" data-title="1300 — 1300 × 650"data-hi-res="https://payload.cargocollective.com/1/13/444526/6680711/8_o.jpg" /><br /> Shanghai, China<br /> Street level bustle. Urban chaos. Never dull.<br /> Shanghai, China Street level bustle. Urban chaos. Never dull.