Last weekend I was commissioned by French magazine Le Point to shoot a series on wet markets. It seems they were hoping that I’d get shots of live animals - preferably exotic wild creatures like pangolins - but the fact is that wet markets in Shanghai are tightly controlled. I thought I’d at least find live chickens, but it turns out that they are banned at all markets at this time of year due to other bird related outbreaks. Apart from the live bullfrogs, multitudes of live seafood and shellfish, the largest of the four wet markets I visited reminded me of the Queen Victoria Market In Melbourne, despite some less sanitary storage of meat at the butcher shops. There has been some hysteria in the western media about wet markets reopening in China. Even Paul McCartney weighed in, calling Chinese wet markets “medieval”. I really can’t imagine that Sir Paul ever visited Chinese wet market. I can only imagine what he thinks must go on at them.
In my opinion, in terms of virus outbreaks and the coronavirus outbreak in particular, the problem is wild animal markets, which are banned now and hopefully will be banned for good. Although some Chinese are overly fond of eating bush meat, if the penalties are high enough it will mostly cease apart from in remote areas. I mean, no one would dare poach a panda these days because the penalties are so severe - the maximum penalty for killing a Giant Panda is death. Unfortunately China doesn’t have any laws against cruelty to animals, but hopefully the total ban on the sale of wildlife for human consumption (and hopefully also use in Tradiotinal Chinese Medicine) will be one positive to come out of this global clusterfuck. We’ll have to wait and see.
For various reasons including the fact that I was the only obviously foreign person at every market, I shot this assignment exclusively via the back screen of my Nikon D850. One thing that I’ve noticed over the last couple of years is that quite a few younger photographers (even one seemed to be a professional who was working an event I was at) only shoot via viewing the screen instead of looking through a viewfinder, even on a DSLR, that is optimised for viewing through the finder window. I’d guess this is because these people grew up taking photos on phones. The drawbacks about shooting this way is that it drains the battery fast and at least in the case of DSLRs, they don’t focus quite as quickly or as accurately. Also, in my opinion, it makes you look like you don’t know what you’re doing which was perfect for me at the wet markets as I wanted to get candid shots, not people grinning or waving or getting annoyed at me. It meant that I could wander around seemingly preoccupied with my camera menu while I picked off shots. The simple act of putting a camera to one’s face and pointing it at someone can make people recoil as if a gun is being aimed at them, so I do find that I’m increasingly shooting off the screen for candid shots. I also like shooting from a lower perspective for a change. Since I’m fairly tall, I’m often looking down on subjects, but when I shoot via the screen it is a bit like using a camera with a waist-level finder.
What’s best of all is that the shutter in this mode can be set to silent on the D850. I also have an older Nikon D3S and although it’s still a capable camera and built like a tank, the shutter is like a thunder crack in quiet conditions. This year, I’ve got into the habit of taking my D850 everywhere I go. Although it’s a bit bulky, it’s still nice and light when it has a compact prime lens on it.
I think Nikon’s done the best job on this camera, relative to the competition, than on any model since their D700 and D3 which came out back in 2008.
Anyway, here are some shots from a few wet markets in Pudong District, on the other side of the Huangpu River to which I live.
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