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Today at an “exclusive interview” with Yao Ming, I realized how short I am.

Although I’ve seen him on television before, you really feel small when you stand next to a 7 ft 6 in man trying to take his picture. For reference I am 5 ft 5 in. If your unfamiliar with Yao Ming, Wikipedia tells us:

Yao Ming (Chinese: 姚明; pinyin: Yáo Míng; born September 12, 1980) is a professional basketball player who plays for the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is currently the tallest player in the NBA, at 2.29 m (7 ft 6 in).

Although he is very famous in the United States, he is a pop icon in China, and a very positive symbol. The interview was 30 minutes long. At the end, I got about 45 seconds to take a portrait (the shot above). I was fortunate to have a mobile lighting kit with me today (the interview was filmed for chinadaily.com.cn).

The shot above was taken with a Canon EF 50mm f/1.2 L USM (at f=1.2). I can’t say enough good things about this lens and its ability to give you raser sharp accuracy with depth-of-field.

If you notice, in this shot I’m actually looking down at the man who is more than 2-feet taller than me. Although I thought about bringing a ladder, it didn’t fit into my backpack. Friend @beijingdaze recommended:

Since I didn’t have a chainsaw or bat with me I ended up climbing the wall of the hotel room we were in, until I had a foothold high enough to shoot down on Yao Ming, allowing me to catch one of his eyes in focus (which his PR people thought was very entertaining), in my allotted 45 seconds for the portrait (not much time to screw up).

The other 30 minutes proceeding the above portrait, I spent watching the interview and shooting. However, there is two cameras rolling which makes it pretty hard to navigate the room without getting in their frames. On top of that — in this situation, you are really just shooting a man sitting in a chair (be it, a very large man).

Since the cameras were rolling, it also stops you from using a flash. As a self admitted ISO snob, this could be a problem. For this interview, I managed to stay under 400 ISO, and given the Canon 5D Mark II’s sensor, it didn’t produce much grain. The lights also produce some very warm temperatures in the film representation. Most images all had to be bumped down to around k=2800.

The images from the rest of the interview, mostly are tight frames (like the two above) of his head, in an attempt to find some emotion in a relatively emotionless room.

You may have noticed at the top of this post, I quoted the words “exclusive interview.” This was an interesting lesson I learned today. I’ve noticed the Chinese use this term differently for a long time, but today it really clicked what the difference is. In the west, we consider an exclusive interview an interview that no one else gets. However, in China — it only means that you (your media organization) is the only one in the room at the time. So even if the subject gives 15 interviews on the same subject that day, if you were the only one there — it’s exclusive. Non-exclusive interviews refer to those that happen at press conferences.

Surely the funniest part of the shoot was while we were packing up. One of the camera man asked me if I thought it would be ok, if he asked Yao Ming for a photo. I replied something simple like “it probably wouldn’t be very professional, and I wouldn’t do it.” But sure enough, about 2-minutes later I’m taking the China Daily staff’s picture with Yao. He’s standing about .5 feet behind the group, and still towers over them. Their expressions are priceless.

On a final note, I wanted to point out that Yao Ming is actually quite the philanthropist (unlike Tourise). The Yao Ming Foundation helps the lives of children in the U.S. and China. Check out his official NBA page here, his foundation’s page here and his fan page here to get an idea of the scope of Yao Ming’s reach.

Update: Thursday, July 21, 10:17 am

At the request of friend @sueannetay, author of Shanghai Street Stories, I’ve added a shot where you can see his legs. In the photo above you actually get an idea of how big he is — the person doing the interview is not a small guy; however, next to Yao he looks miniature.

FINDING CREATIVE INSPIRATION FOR PORTRAITS

Last week I took a portrait of revolutionary Chinese poet, artist and photographer Zhai Yongming 翟永明. Although hard to tell from the photograph above Yongming is 55-years-old. Yongming was sent away during the cultural revolution to “learn from peasants” by doing manual labor. When she came back to city life in 1976 her poetry, “inspired by the breakthroughs that were taking place in literature in the early post-Mao period,” became known as China’s first feminist writings. She is now an icon of culture.

Before I take a portrait I always spend some time researching the subject. I look for other portraits that have been taken and information on the history of the subject. Any bit of information that can help you:

• (a) Understand where the person is coming from and hopefully connect with them.
• (b) Help give you an insight into something creative you might be able to do with the frame, light or subject.

When researching Zhai Yongming I learned the literal translation of her name means “eternal light,” however, her poetry is of a darker nature. Poetry International Web writes:

Although her name means “eternal light”, Zhai Yongming is primarily a poet of inner psychological darkness and the best way to read her is in utter gloom. At the heart of Zhai Yongming’s poetry is a certain idea of femininity. In a statement made in 1986, Zhai declared that she wished to be a poet rather than a poetess, but that in her life she was first and foremost a woman. According to traditional Chinese thought, the feminine or yin principle is characterized by darkness, water and the spectral light of the moon. All these images are on prominent display in Zhai’s work.

I took the portrait trying to show dark shadows representing her work, and a slightly ethereal brighter light, representing her name. The shot above was photographed with a Canon EF 50 mm F1.2L USM lens at f/1.2. The focal plane falls right on the inside of her eye, creating a large bokeh on both sides of the subject. The bokeh falling on the soft light gives that slightly ethereal look.

China Daily reporter Chitralekha Basu wrote a nice story on Yongming in today’s China Daily. Read her story here.

DIRECT TRANSLATION AND PORTRAITURE

The above example brings up a greater point about photographing people whose names have a direct translation. While the name “Jon” has historical meaning, the stories and etymology associated with it can’t necessarily be captured by using light, an object or finding an environment or interesting frame that helps tell the person’s story.

This creates a lot of possibilities for photographing many Chinese people or even people with biblical names. My name, Jonah — according to the online etymology dictionary means:

Jonah: masc. proper name, biblical prophet, from L.L. Jonas, from Gk. Ionas, from Heb. Yonah, lit. “dove, pigeon.”

This could give a photographer a couple ideas into making a creative portrait with a subject with my name.

Here’s a couple examples of other methods I’ve used used to take creative portraits, when people’s names don’t mean “eternal light” or “dove.” More portraits at my site here.

This is part of a greater photo essay called The Will to Live, see essay here.

This is part of a greater photo essay called Isolation in Desolation, see essay here.