Peasant with Basket
Yunnan Province, China 2005
A Chinese farmer heads home for the day. He carries a typical basket on his back. Farmers don’t leave home without it. They carry their tools in it, throw the harvested crop in it and maybe even put the baby in it if the farmer is a mother. I’ve often wondered what people like this man think as they work their farms. Do they enjoy being in the fresh air, smelling the freshly turned earth, the tangy scent of vegetation when the dew rises? Or is it all hustle, hustle, hustle? I admire farmers no matter where they live, hard working, no-nonsense people. You know where you stand with them.
Manpower
There is no such thing as a small town in China, even this one somewhere in the hinterlands of Yunnan, had millions of inhabitants. There were two main roads lined with commercial property. Most were small shops selling food, tools, seeds or they were small restaurants where you could get a delicious bowl of noodles for pennies. Men and women from the countryside hunkered down on the corner to people watch or traffic watch. It was odd to see people squatting as if they were back in their farmyard, oblivious to pedestrians swarming around them.
I was standing on the corner myself trying to get some shots while I waited for our group to finish breakfast. I have no advice for this type of shooting…just have the camera settings right. I check the ISO, shutter speed or aperture depending on what I’m shooting. I leave my white balance on automatic since I shoot RAW. After that, a lot of it depends on who comes down the street.
A nice looking young man. I can’t tell for sure if he is wearing glasses or not but he seems very healthy judging by posture, weight, etc. Wonder how many pounds that basket will carry. J.
Hi, Jerry.
Yes. I was struck by his posture, also. Those baskets are like iron…they will hold as much as you put into them. The Chinese have used them for thousands of years and they know how to make a basket. They have specialized baskets for every use. I wanted to bring some home, but they were too large…some were half the size of a twin bed. I didn’t find out their purpose, but they were beautiful.
Best,
Rosemary