A CHINESE NEW YEARS GALA
Yongping Deng
The Chinese New Year Gala is a special occasion for every Chinese person. St. Andrews’ 2023 Gala took place on February 5th, the day of the Lantern Festival. Alongside many students and scholars, I was immersed in the vision of the Year of the Rabbit, and the mercy, elegance and beauty it symbolizes. I took some photos to record the event, through which I have been inspired to do more portrait photography in the future.
When I tried to leave my comfort zone and start exploring portrait photography, I began to realize the difficulty of capturing the precise emotion of models in one moment. Often, this is because models become uncomfortable when first facing the camera, and must learn how to behave naturally in front of its gaze. In Sartre's Being and Nothingness, there is a section called On Gaze, which is about the experience of being watched by a subject.
They discuss the fear that can arise from being watched, and how it creates a sense of objectification. This was not an issue I had to contend with during the Gala, however, Here, standing on the sidelines as the performers focused on their show and immersed themselves in their routines, I was able to take photos which captured genuine emotion. The subjects are comfortable in their surroundings, and their joy and energy come through in every shot. These photos therefore capture the spontaneity and drama of the event.
This article first appeared in PRISMA, Issue 3.