How many people come from so far away to this magical island with the seeds of their hopes and dreams in their pockets hoping to grow a small beginning here among the giants… some give up and others stay and continue the search for as long as the city lets them.
Day 26 of 365
Photos taken in Dumbo
It’s late afternoon, all are a bit too sluggish to go fast, slow moving people, dragging their feet, pushing their bikes uphill over the bridge and the woman too tired to walk, sits on top of her bike load letting her husband pull the tricycle; it has been a long day. Even the shadows are unable to catch up. I watched it all and marveled at the beauty of life and the wonderful world of contradictions that is Shanghai today.
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There is a great magic to seeing a place at sunrise, before the rush of day clouds it. Early in the morning, there is a bliss that relaxes the faces of early risers, as though they are reminded that there is still magic in life, how can there not be? Light colors the sky as stars give way to the great sun, and stillness can still be heard over the water.
Out of about 4 million people found in New York City on a given day, only about 1.6 million are local residents. Most of the rest are travelling back and forth in and out of the magical island.
city center, originally uploaded by ~mimo~.
Shanghai grows in front of our eyes at a staggering speed. When we moved here over 6 years ago, the SWFC (also known as the bottle opener), currently the tallest building in Shanghai was barely visible at its early stages of construction. Now, the new shanghai tower has risen to almost the height of the jin mao tower and the ifc twin towers are standing and buzzing with life. The circular walking bridge is also a new addition and it keeps on going and transforming on a daily basis.
Via Flickr:
odc~ starts with c
A view of Shanghai’s financial district from the oriental pearl tower.
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My project finally comes to its ending at the exact ending of the lunar year. With its end we moved into a new year, an auspicious year, the year of the Dragon! This daily project started in Shanghai and went to the Philippines, Xinjiang, Germany, Spain, Lebanon, Switzerland, Hong Kong, France and then back to Shanghai again to end on the eve of the big celebrations in the vibrant city.
It has been quite the journey for me, filled with inspiration, endurance, discipline, moments of joy, freedom, seriousness, quiet, chaos, new ideas, new skills, learning, contemplation, expression, art, sharing and a great new open way of looking and of seeing the world around me.
Best of all, it has been a great chance to meet so many people of like mind, wonderful photographers, inspiring artists and so many whose daily presence was interwoven into my project and whose work and support inspired me and kept me going.
At the end of this, I want to thank you all, my friends, for being the amazing people that you are and hoping to continue this brilliant and inspiring affair with photography together along the way.
photo taken: a composite of the skyline of shanghai with the year of the dragon fireworks on the night of January 22nd.
We find ourselves in a world that has more and more toxic bodies of water every year. You see a river or a sea on a hot, humid day and your first instinct is to jump in and get refreshed, but doing so in most cities might just cost you your health, life or skin! And still we go on polluting…
photo taken: a ferry between Hong Kong island and Kowloon
This year Shanghai reached the highest level of pollution ever recorded in its history…
On days like this, the city looks surreal, almost like a futuristic movie, the kind that forecasts a not so bright future, where people have to move around with masks (as is actually the case here) and where the sky looks all kinds of murky colors. It is frightening really what we are doing to our planet, and how happily most of us seem to go about ignoring it. And Shanghai is only one of many polluted cities on our pretty blue (not so blue anymore thanks to us) globe.
Looking forward to some clean air in our the next month of travel! Greetings from Shanghai!
Today was a beautiful sunny, crisp and freezing day in Shanghai. I impulsively decided to take the ferry across the river from Pudong to Puxi (literally east of river to west of river) and took pictures from the bund looking onto Pudong skyline. It was exhilarating to say the least to witness a rare clear sunset and mix with so many people (wish I could show you the rest of the pictures, but one a day, right?)