This is a short film I made on the artist Amalia Ulman about her piece "Rescue", an interactive sleepover, where 15 strangers were asked to dispose of phones and personal belongings and were left stranded in an art gallery for an all-nighter. The film was made for AirBnB
Some pictures from a story I shot for California Sunday on long distance biking in Sichuan China.
Check it out here...
https://story.californiasunday.com/long-distance-biking-in-china
It's been too long since posting here but it's nearly spring and I have a lot of recent work I would love to share. Here is a photo I took for Modern Weekly of Ms. Jade.
Article by JOHN W. W. ZEISLER from The Picture Professional Art direction by Ophelia Chong
NOAH SHELDON HAD BEEN TRAVELING back and forth from China to New York for work, where he is represented by Julian Richards, but when his wife, an architect and artist, was offered a job in Shanghai, they jumped at the offer. Aside from being able to raise his daughter bi-lingual, Sheldon would also have the opportunity to ingrain himself in a culture not often photographed. Now, when you look at Sheldon’s photographs, one of the most apparent things is what’s missing. He often refuses to show a finished product. Instead, he brings the viewer into a moment of process; an empty stadium, the politician on his way to the stage, models receiving last minute instructions backstage before heading down the runway. There is something unnerving but also invigorating about this, and Sheldon’s new project Weightlifters continues in this vein.
For this collection, Sheldon got the opportunity to photograph members of the Chinese national weightlifting team preparing for the London Olympics. It is a precise and captivating essay on the process of training the body for a Herculean task.
He blends relaxed portraits of the men and women with staged shots that show off the athletes’ statuesque bodies. There are also several compelling images of the artifacts of the gym, where the athletes have spent most of their lives—damp towels, the daily log book of accomplishments, the fading colors of weights. A sweaty, humid light pervades the images. The effort and preparation of the athletes is palpable.
In China, photography is sometimes a difficult passion. A crumbling wall or old building may call out to a photographer, but such documentation is not always welcome. Sometimes the sight of Sheldon setting up his tripod draws the attention of Chinese officials who don’t want him photographing old things. He says, “I’ve gotten really good at taking quick pictures of everything my minder wants me to, then I go and photograph what I want to.” Sports photography can be even more difficult because the athletes are important representatives of China’s image abroad, and access to them is limited. As in much of East Asia, sports academies are common in China, and Sheldon had been trying to do a project about them for a while. When he was finally granted access to photograph a school in Beijing, he hopped on a plane only to arrive at the location and be turned away for being a foreign photographer.
Undaunted, Sheldon turned to an art director friend who had just been asked by Nike to do a shoot. The Nike imprimatur had enough cachet to get Sheldon over the hurdle of “sensitive matters,” and he was able to visit a sports school for weightlifters. Although Sheldon had limited access, only two minutes with each athlete, he was able to snap enough to cull into the sixteen images he finally chose. Many of the lifters he photographed went on to cover themselves in Olympic glory, but somehow these before shots tell a more intriguing story. They are relaxed, down-to-earth, and atmospheric, eschewing the spectacle of sport for the quiet moment. Even the photos of the athletes as statues have a playful quality, displaying the humility and dedication of the men and women.
He’s made the most of his time in China. In addition to his professional work and artistic projects like Weightlifters, he maintains the photoblog Far East Broadway where he displays photos, often portraits, of his time in China. Spending a good deal of time in factories, he often thinks of Lewis Hine’s photographs, and these photos carry a casual, everyday quality, documenting the diversity of the country. He says, “When the West thinks and depicts China, it is so often huge masses of conforming people.” However, living there has allowed Sheldon to contextualize and sympathize. He has come to believe that China is “a land of eccentrics with a quiet kind of individualism expressed in small gestures.” Weightlifters, with its soft-spoken candidness, gives viewers one such glimpse into this unexpected perspective.✹
I had a great time shooting Converse’s Get Dirty campaign for greater China. It was super fun. We set up a seamless backstage at a concert in Shanghai sponsored by Converse - I photographed each member of all the bands that played right before and after their set. We featured band members from Hell Yeah, New Pants, Queen Sea Big Shark and more.
The recent issue of the excellent magazine "Icon" is about space.I am honored that they featured 6 pages of my biosphere photos.
Click here to download a PDF. Check out the magazine at http://www.iconeye.com/
More cat news - I photographed the China Cat Fanciers 15th annual competition in Beijing last week for Nowness.com
Here is a link to the story on Nowness and some outtakes from the day...
Be the first of your friends to get the new 2013 United Bamboo Cat Calendar that I shot and Alex Lin designed. The calendar will feature super thick pages drilled through for hanging on a wall. We need your help! Please support our project via Kickstarter.
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I am happy to say that I have a story about the Chinese Olympic weightlifting team on Nowness today. An amazing day at the Chinese national sports training center in Beijing.
I had the honor of photographing Wu Jingbiao (吴景彪), Zhang Jie (张杰) Lu Xiaojun (吕小军), Zhou Lulu (周璐璐), Li Xueying (李雪英) and Tian Yuan (田源).
Zhou Lulu is considered the worlds strongest women after winning the gold medal and beating the world record in the process! Lu Xiaojun both won a gold medal and beat the world record as well. Li Xueying won a gold medel and Wu Jingbiao won a Silver Medal.
A short video I shot from my apartment in Shanghai on Chinese new year 2012 of fireworks. It get's interesting around the 1 minute mark.
I have a 46 page story in the current issue of NOT Magazine - a great new magazine by Les Suen out of Shanghai. The writing is by Ellen Lai and Parii. Thanks to all the super helpful people we met in KZ, especially Vitaliy Kotov, Kuat Sagintayev, and Victor Magdeyev.
I started a photo-a-day blog when I moved to China in April. It's been 6 months so I decided to go public with it. check it out here... http://fareastbroadway.tumblr.com
A recording I made a while back of slot machines in Las Vegas was selected by Domus Magazine for Domus Mixtape #9: The Sound of Las Vegas Click here to check it out...
A silly time-lapse of the Pearl Tower from my window set to music.
First Lieutenant ADRIENNE SERBAROLI, Quantico, VA
A couple of months ago I shot a story for Barnard Magazine about alumnae in the military. It was a pleasure to meet such interesting and smart women and hear their stories about life in the military.
BONNIE O'LEARY, Aurora, CO
Captain KATHERINE DIEFENBACH, Washington, DC
Uploaded a new gallery of images from the Midi Music Festival in Shanghai last weekend.
Shanghai's first multi day rock fest ever! check it out here...
More portraits...
click here to see pictures from the festival
A story I shot about Terrence Koh for the first issue of GQ China Style. Excited to be working with GQ China - They have a great crew in the art department! CD: Vicson Guevara AD: Roxane Zargham Writer: Aric Chen
A short video I shot with my iPhone.
I am happy to be writing this from my new home in Shanghai!
I am available for projects in China as well as any where else in the world as usual. Now a local in Shanghai and New York City!
Contact info... my phone number in Shanghai is +86-186-1687-5337 and in New York +19177213243
