{"id":1472,"date":"2008-09-18T06:19:44","date_gmt":"2008-09-17T22:19:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.asianramblings.com\/?p=1472"},"modified":"2008-09-18T06:19:44","modified_gmt":"2008-09-17T22:19:44","slug":"off-stage-attention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stevepeer.com\/blog\/off-stage-attention\/","title":{"rendered":"off-stage attention"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>
The host and hostess of the Mid-Autumn Festival show.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I\u2019m usually on stage when the estate puts on a show. My phone rings when they need a foreigner that cleans up nice and is generally sober. I have always lamented not being able to shoot the performances I’m in. Waiting in the wings, a forced smile on my face, trying to remember my lines, generally prohibits photographic adventures.<\/p>\n

As the Mid-Autumn show wasn\u2019t televised I wasn\u2019t needed. I didn\u2019t even know the extravaganza was taking place until I wandered by. Not being able to read signs has drawbacks. It was hot, I was tired, but I trotted home for my Canon EOS<\/strong> 40D and my new Canon EF 70-200 f\/2.8L USM IS lens.<\/p>\n

People stared as I walked the quarter mile from my apartment to the outside stage. Carrying the camera, with a giant white lens attached, I felt like an armed soldier on patrol. I think some machine guns weigh less than the 40D with a 70-200 USM IS attached.<\/p>\n

I pushed through the crowd, not as bad a boarding the subway<\/a>, but holiday crowds, especially Grandmother with grandchildren appearing on stage, can be formidable foes. The lights went down and the music came up. The beautiful hostess, in a shiny sequined dress appeared, a dapper man at her side. As the orchestra started their first number the local press photographers appeared.<\/p>\n

I had seen them before. While waiting in the wings at previous shows, I cursed them. They looked and acted just like their North American counterparts. Journalist and photographers must be the same the world over.<\/p>\n

I did not want to be in the paper. I don\u2019t want any photos taken of me (from 1993 to 1998 I think there are two photos of The Stevo<\/em> in existence, one being a driver\u2019s licence mugshot). Ironically, it was once me waiting, camera and flash at the ready, stalking stage-bound quarries. Turn about is fair play, someone said.<\/p>\n

\"Children<\/a>
Children dancing as part of a Mid-Autumn Festival Show.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I shot, and shot, adjusted my exposure and ISO settings, and shot some more. Practice makes perfect, and I\u2019ve only had the Canon EOS<\/strong> 40D for two months. We haven\u2019t bonded yet. We\u2019re getting closer, but our relationship has not yet been completely consummated.<\/p>\n

The band did a second song and I lowered my axe. As I adjusted the ISO settings, I saw a Chinese photographer, with same gear as me, pointing his giant zoom lens in my direction. I pretended I didn\u2019t see him. Another photographer, I saw from the corner of my eye, slyly trained his lens on me.<\/p>\n

\"Crooning<\/a>
Crooning by the lanterns.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It\u2019s been hot in south China as of late. Okay, it\u2019s usually hot nine months of the year, but the last two weeks have been damn hot<\/em>. Imagine:\u00a0 A red-faced, white man, dripping with sweat, holding a camera and ginormous zoom lens. Yeah, a great newspaper photo.<\/p>\n

A group of dancing children bounded on to the stage. I raised my camera. In my haste I had only brought one memory card. I didn\u2019t have many shots left.\u00a0 I fired away.<\/p>\n

Out of the corner of my eye I saw a weak flash. When I lowered my camera I saw an old man standing ten feet away. He held a video camera and was shooting stills of me, unabashed. A print photographer would have been more discrete. I\u2019m sure he\u2019s a neighborhood monitor and immediately sent my photo to someone in charge, with exclamations of a foreign reporter being present.<\/p>\n

My card full, I beat a hasty retreat. Yeah, the new lens, attached to a Canon EOS<\/strong> 40D, rocks, but I stand out even more in a crowd.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I trotted home for my Canon EOS 40D and my new Canon EF 70-200 f\/2.8L USM IS lens to shoot the Mid-Autumn 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