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China faces [04]


China faces [04]
Photo Information
Copyright: Ruud Blok (ruudblok) Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1962 W: 768 N: 2222] (22361)
Genre: People
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2007-06-18
Categories: Portrait
Camera: Canon 30D, Canon EF-S17-85 f/4-5.6 IS USM
Exposure: f/7.1, 1/60 seconds
More Photo Info: [view]
Photo Version: Original Version
Date Submitted: 2007-07-07 4:58
Viewed: 382
Points: 38
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
This is a portrait series about the minorities in China
Who are the Sani?
Near the city of Kunming, in Yunnan Province, lies the Stone Forest, an impressive collection of towering natural limestone pillars. It is here where the Sani of China make their homes. Legend has it that the gods created the Stone Forest to give young lovers a place of privacy. Today the Stone Forest attracts masses of Chinese and foreign tourists, providing the Sani with abundant opportunities to sell their traditional handicrafts. It is for this reason that the Sani are believed to be China's wealthiest minority group.
Single Sani girls traditionally wear a turban containing all the colors of the rainbow. This has come to symbolize faithful love, and has its roots in an ancient story about a young girl's devotion to her dead lover. Overcome by grief at his funeral she threw herself into the fire, out of which two colorful clouds rose to form a beautiful rainbow in the sky.
There is a large Catholic population among the nearly 106,000 Sani, along with about 3,000 Christians. Many unbelieving Sani eagerly accept Christian literature offered to them by tourists and Christian workers, however, unless they have a good command of Mandarin Chinese, they are unable to completely understand it. The Sani still wait for the Scriptures to be made available to them in their own language. As they adapt themselves to the Han culture around them, and continue in their profitable souvenir industry, they are further becoming disinterested in spiritual matters.
chocolate29, milas, Ejtaan, Beger, wishnugaruda, nova, TheMystic, vsinopoulos, Silke, philwalters has marked this note useful
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Discussions
ThreadThread Starter Messages Updated
To Ejtaan: Dank jeruudblok 1 07-08 03:56
To Janice: yes there was a sparkruudblok 1 07-07 07:55
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Critiques [Translate]

wonderful portrait
great colours
karl

Superb portrait picture of that nicely dressed woman, Ruud.
Thanks for the story too.
Jan

Beautiful shy-ish smile, gorgeous skin colour and lovely details of fine traditional embroidery. The striking blue and pink of her traditional outfit add to the liveliness of the impression. So well done, Ruud (as always)! Thank you for sharing your image and the intersting information! - Have a good weekend! Cheers, Cordelia :) :)
PS: How do you get your 'models' to look so confidently at you, Rudd?

Hello Ruud, your portrait is great, and I like the twinkle in her eye - and the piece of grass in her mouth - I think she is teasing you!
Well done
Janice

  • Great 
  • milas Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2743 W: 412 N: 2987] (32971)
  • [2007-07-07 11:16]

merhaba Ruud,
wonderful portrait
great colours
selamlar

  • Great 
  • Beger Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 3314 W: 789 N: 4432] (19950)
  • [2007-07-07 12:20]

Hi Ruud,
Superb! The expression lightly shy and amused is so well captured! This woman wears her tradionnal suit with great elegance. Very good ccontrasted colors and fine details. Bravo! Annie

  • Great 
  • Ejtaan Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 981 W: 101 N: 2260] (11419)
  • [2007-07-07 12:21]
  • [+]

A beautiful portrait of a beautiful woman Ruud. Magnificent colors!

Do you know the story about the hat they wear?
On either side of the hat there is a piece of ribbon. If they stand up straight the girl is still single.
A boy can fold one of the points down to express his love for the girl and if she leaves it in that position they are officially engaged. Once married both points are folded down.

I found the Sani friendly, but keeping a certain distance...
Their handycraft was extremely beautiful and colorful.

Again: a great portrait!

Cheers,
Anneke

  • Great 
  • Shogun Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 831 W: 52 N: 418] (10391)
  • [2007-07-07 12:38]

nice portrait Ruud! love the tones, framing and skintone.
Nice and thanks for sharing.

Oggie

This is a wonderful portrait of a beautifull lady, her expression is great. kind regards Joke

Now I know where you have been ...
Hi Ruud, nice to have you back here - and wonderful to see these shots from China.
She is beautiful, an interesting mine and cloth with brilliant colours, I realy enjoy the shot, thanks
Sabine - wishnugaruda

Hi Ruud,

It's beautiful portrait. Excellent lighting and natural skin tone. Great detail and well composed.

Tfs,
Tjutjut

  • Great 
  • nova Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2734 W: 263 N: 864] (8653)
  • [2007-07-07 21:28]

This is a very nice portrait.Beautiful colors and sharpness.The light is awesome.Great model.And wonderful notes.TFS.
Michel

Amazing picture! National Geographic quality here! Lovely portrait, great colors and caught a wonderful expression, with a twinkle in her eye!
Cheers
Otto

Hi Ruud,

Amazing portrait, technically perfect, all elements that make a great portrait are present in this great shot! The clarity, the vivid colors, the natural skin tones, the composition and expression caught.
Stunning!
TFS,
Vassilis

  • Great 
  • Silke Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2846 W: 263 N: 5948] (23590)
  • [2007-07-08 8:31]

Outstanding colours and details and superb composition!
A lovely series! Keep them coming!
TFS
silke

  • Great 
  • matos Silver Star Critiquer [C: 30 W: 3 N: 7] (258)
  • [2007-07-09 10:50]

An impressive gallery. This series of faces from China is superb! Great work.

Hello Rudd. Wonderful portrait, as are all your "China Faces" series. Good work my friend. Thanks for sharing.

Regards Phil.

Do you want to see what is the beauty?
LOOK this one....
Woow.....
More than beauty...purity....
Really great
Claude

Wow,

Nice sharpness and vivid colors. It could be in a poster book photographs...Very nice...

Tfs,
Grace

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