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Home Living in China Foreigners in China Foreigners in China An Interview With China Photojournalist Tom Carter
An Interview With China Photojournalist Tom Carter
Foreigners in China
American photojournalist Tom Carter has spent the past four years in the People's Republic of China, traversing all 33 provinces and autonomous regions not just once but twice. The San Francisco native's hardback book, a definitive 800-image volume aptly entitled CHINA: Portrait of a People, is due out this winter from Hong Kong publisher Blacksmith Books. Tom took a day off from travelling to discuss the challenges of taking pictures in China, how he evaded censorship in the tightly-controlled republic, and to share a few insider tips on visiting what is to become the world's largest tourism market.

Your upcoming book focuses heavily on photographs of people, from peasants to punk rockers, ethnic groups to entrepreneurs. As a lone foreigner in a faraway country, how did you approach so many strangers, let alone become intimate enough with them to take their portraits.

Most of my photos came about as a natural result of my curiosity and interaction with Chinese people during my travels. It wasn't until the end of my trip that I thought about compiling them into a book. This is a tribute to all the people I met along the way. For the portraits, it just takes a sincere interest in your subjects to get that close. I don't believe in hiding behind a zoom lens; I was actually as near to all those people as you see in the pictures, sometimes just inches away. The candid life shots, which comprise a good third of the book, were actually more of a challenge. As a foreigner walking down the street in China, all activity stops the moment you are seen, so it's tricky to photograph life before life stops to stare at you. I don't believe any book can capture the true spirit of a country with only pictures of places. Sure, a photo of a sunset over the Great Wall is nice, but what do you really learn from it? I wanted to show the people, and dispel the stereotype of the Chinese as a homogeneous single nationality.

You must speak the language pretty well.

That's the very first question I always get from other expats I meet in China! It humbles me to admit that my Putonghua borders on offensively poor. I taught English when I first arrived in China, which left me no time to formally study Mandarin. I picked up my entire vocabulary while travelling. I call it Survival Chinese. I can communicate, but I'm usually left out of the gossiping granny circles. A friendly smile works well when all else fails. I might add, though, that Chinese dialects vary widely by province, so even most nationals have trouble understanding other Chinese outside their own hometowns.

You say you came to China as an English teacher, but four years later you're a published photojournalist and author. Did you plan this career move?

Never, but that's China for you, a real land of opportunity. Teaching was just a means to an end, which was travelling. Out of that first long year on the road sprung my collection of photos, which resulted in a book contract and travel assignments from various periodicals, which brought me full circle back to my second spin around China. I believe I stand apart from my contemporaries in that I'm not sitting around a cushy foreign correspondents club networking [makes mock quotes with his fingers] and waiting for my next assignment; I'm out on the road finding my own. But maybe that's why Reuters still hasn't called me.

Guerilla-style documentary photography is something you are obviously proud of. Someone said you have "turned mundane daily life in China into a work of art\" but one reviewer wrote that your photographs are "an assault on ordinary people who should be left alone." What's your take on such extreme responses?

Which one was the criticism? [Laughs] Actually, I prefer the term "street photography," because that's exactly what I do. I'm out pounding the pavement from 6am to 6pm every day, learning about the culture through observation and interaction. Many photojournalists cover their assignments as quickly as possible so they can remove themselves from the elements, but I revel in the elements. I don't have any technical or artistic preconceptions to my photos. The whole idea of spending an hour setting up a shot and then photoshopping it to death afterwards is not what I'm about. I just capture life as it is, then move on. If the picture turns out crooked, so what! Life is crooked! I have no desire to make something palatable, even if it means not getting on Getty. On the other hand, any of my photos that are considered beautiful I credit entirely to my subjects. They are the ones who deserve the compliments.

China really is a vast country to explore, and you have been to every corner of it: 33 provinces and over 200 cities and villages. Travelling for a living sounds like a life of leisure, but what's the reality?

You know, for all the tourism I've promoted for China with my photos and travel articles, you'd think the CNTA [China National Tourism Administration] could at least have comped my hotels. But the truth is I've never received a cent in financial backing. During the two years I spent travelling across China, I slept in 15 RMB [2 USD] flophouses with particleboard walls, which are illegal for foreigners to stay in, with the occasional youth hostel or night on a bus station floor. I taught English for two straight years beforehand so I could save up to travel, and I really had to pinch my pennies to make it last. The upside is that my insolvency resulted in experiences that staying at the Sheraton could never produce.


All travellers are running away from something. What's your excuse?

I come from a long line of nomads - my mother a Danish immigrant of good Viking stock and my father a hybrid Panamanian-Cuban-Italian - so drifting is in my blood. It's my dream to travel the world, take pictures and write about it. I have no intention of succumbing to that thirtysomething syndrome of settling down. The world is my home.

So what day-to-day difficulties did you encounter during your marathon journey across China?

You mean hour-to-hour difficulties. My photos might excite a lot of potential tourists, but I'm not going to sugar-coat the reality of actually travelling in China. The consensus among backpackers is that China is probably the single most challenging country in the world to navigate. Aside from the obvious language barriers, you have 5,000-year old customs and extreme cultural differences that can be quite vexing for the typical westerner. Most of these nuances are not something that you can catch on film; travellers have to discover them for themselves, and that's part of the fun.

It seems like everyone wants to know more about China these days. Do you see more people planning on visiting the country?

China will become the world's largest tourism destination of the next decade, no doubt about it. The 2008 Beijing Olympics and Shanghai's World Expo in 2010 are expected to attract between 50 to 100 million tourists annually. China's doors were closed for so long that it's only natural the world is curious about what?s behind them. What the pictures in Portrait of a People are doing is fuelling this curiosity by offering an intimate glimpse of humanity in China, and scenes of daily life that even publications like National Geographic overlook.


You're something of an authority now on Chinese travel. Can you offer any tips for travellers?

Well, what China wants tourists to see is often at variance with what is actually marvellous about the country. You've got these highly-sheltered tour group packages that cover the Forbidden City in Beijing, the Terracotta Warriors in Shaanxi, a boat ride on the Yangtze and shopping in Shanghai [makes yawning noise]. Or you can remove yourself from the souvenir shops and luxury hotels, get a local street map and travel on word-of-mouth. Lonely Planet would go bankrupt if people actually took my travel advice, but you definitely see more of the real China my way.


Finally, what's next for someone who's been everywhere in China?

My publisher and I have been talking about taking the "Portrait of a People" concept to other countries in the region. I would jump at the chance. So I have no idea where I?ll be this time next year.


对在中国的摄影记者汤姆.卡特的采访

    美国摄影记者汤姆卡特花了近4年,两次游历了中国人民共和国所有33个省,自治区。这本旧金山的精装书中,有800个人的形象,很好的定义了中国:其中有一个人的照片,是这个冬天香港的出版商Blacksmith Books。汤姆从旅行中腾出了一天来讨论在中国拍照的挑战,他如何在管理严格的共和国逃避检查,并分享一些成为世界上最大的旅游市场的国家的内幕。

    你即将推出的新书中的重点是大量人物的照片,从农民到朋克摇滚,从少数民族到企业家。作为一个在遥远国度的外国人,你是怎样接近这么多陌生人,和他们渐渐熟悉,而被允许拍照的呢?

    大部分我的照片是因为我在旅行中的好奇和与中国人的交流的自然结果。在我旅行结束的时候,我打算把它们汇编成一本书。这都要归功于我子阿路上遇到的人们。为了拍照,必须找一个你真的感兴趣的方面来接近他们。我不相信隐蔽的镜头记录的东西;实际上,我和所有的人都非常接近,和你在图片中看到的一样,有时仅仅隔了几英寸。乘人不备的时候拍摄的镜头,也是这本书的重要组成部分,更是一个挑战。就像一个外国人走在中国的大街上,你看到的活生生的镜头,所以你要用照片记录下来生活注视你的时刻是很有技巧的。我不相信一本仅仅有地点照片的书能够展现这个国家的真正面貌。当然,一个长城落日的照片很美,但是,你能从中看到什么呢?我想展示给人们,让他们打消对中国单一国籍的偏见。

    那你中文应该说得很好。

    这是我游览中国经常被问到的问题。我不得不承认我的普通话很差。我第一次到中国的时候教授英语,这让我并没有时间正是的学习普通话。我是在旅行中学习的词汇。我把它称作“生存必须的中文”我可以交流,不过我经常会漏掉习语。当其他都失败的时候,微笑会很有用。我要补充的是,汉语在各省的方言差别很大,即使是国民他们自己在离开了自己家乡的其他地方也会碰到交流障碍。

    你说你刚开始来中国的时候是一个英语教师,但是4年以后你成为了出版社的摄影记者和作者。你有计划过你的职业生涯吗?

    没有,这就是中国带给你的机会。教学只是为了旅行的一种手段。在旅行路上的第一年就有了很多照片,使我得到了写书的合同和很多期刊的旅行任务,这让我又回到了第二次游览中国的起点。我相信我的立场不同于我的时代,我不是在一个轻松外国记者俱乐部网站前等待自己下一个任务;我在寻找自己的路上。也许这就是我什么路头社始终没有打电话给我的原因。

    流动式的照片式你感到自豪的事情,有人说你有“把平常生活变为艺术品的能力”但是一位评论家写道,你的照片是“伤害了本该自由的普通人”,你对这样极端的反应有什么看法?

    是批评吗?【笑】实际上,我更喜欢“街头摄影”这个词,因为那就是我真正做的。我每天从早上六点到晚上六点都走在路上,在观察和交流中学习文化。许多摄影师会尽快完成他们的任务,尽可能快的离开这些要素,但是,我沉醉于这样的要素。我对我的照片没有任何技术和艺术的成见。花一个小时摆造型,然后把它死死的定格,不是我想要的。我要捕捉原生态的生活,然后继续。如果照片是扭曲的,那就那样,生活本来就是扭曲的!我从来不想让照片变得美好。从另一方面来说,在我看来美的照片,是真正值得褒奖的。

    中国是一个幅员辽阔的国家,你到了每一个角落:33个省市以及200多个城市和村庄。旅行的生活听起来像奢侈的生活,但现实是怎样的呢?

    你知道,我为我在中国的整个旅行停工了照片个旅行设备,你可能认为CNTA【中国国家旅游局】至少会为我提供住宿。代是事实是我从来没有收到一分钱的财政支柱。在我穿越中国的两年时间中,我住在15元【2美元】一夜的有刨花板墙壁的小旅馆里。而且留外国人住是不合法的。有时候在青年旅馆或公共汽车站楼里睡觉。我之前教了两年英语,这样让我有钱去旅行,我真的做到了,我节约每一便士最后我做到了。好处是我无法支付住喜来登的钱了。

    所有的旅行者都是为了逃离什么,你的看法是?

    我来自游牧民族的后代,我妈妈是丹麦移民,爸爸是巴拿马-古巴-意大利的混血儿,所以我漂流的血统。我的梦想是环游世界,拍照些东西。我不想屈服于定居的户口证。世界是我的家。


    那么,在你在中国的马拉松似的旅游中每天会碰到什么困难呢?

    可能是每个小时会碰到什么困难吧。我的照片可能刺激了很多潜在的旅游者,但是我包装在中国的旅游现实。背包族的共识是中国可能是环游世界最有挑战性的一个国家。除了明显的语言障碍,还有5000年的旧习俗和极端的文化差异,足以让一个西方人困惑了。大多这些小时不是你能从电影中得到的,旅游者自己去发现,这也是乐趣的一部分。

    近来好像很多人都想了解中国,你知道又很多人在计划游历这个国家吗?

    毫无疑问,未来的十年内,中国将成为世界上最大的旅游圣地。2008年的北京奥运会和2010年的上海世博会将预计每年吸引50-100万游客。中国闭关自守了多年,很自然世界会为之好奇。人物的照片就是和鲜活中国的亲密接触,是日常生活的写照,有些甚至出版在国家地理杂志上,这些都满足了他们的好奇心。

    最后,你已经到了中国的每一寸土地,下一步你将到哪儿呢?

    我和我的出版商一直在讨论把“人物肖像”的概念映入其他国家。我会抓住这个机会,所以我还不知道明年这个时候我将到哪。


 

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