© Ramon Bujanda
China is often documented in ways that shows its scale, landscape images revealing a country of vast and rapid expansion. However 61 Days in Beijing is focused firmly on people. Ramon Bujanda gives us a window into daily life within China’s capital. Beijing is shown as a fusion between old traditions and modernisation, its people embracing both.
© Ramon Bujanda
A sense of surveillance is created with images of the ever-present and stern faced security forces. In contrast the general public are shown merrily enjoying their leisure time.
© Ramon Bujanda
The project was the result of several trips, started in film but later continued in digital. Bujanda’s images retain a consistency through continued use of black and white and a documentary approach.
Although starting out as a stills photographer a career as a cameraman has taken him round the world. For Bujanda although there are common elements such as framing and exposure photography is a more solitary pursuit, he also believes:
‘A good photographer will always be a good cameraman but a good cameraman will not always be a good photographer’
Bujanda last visited China in 2008 and predicts further change:
‘Everything has changed since I first stayed there. Not only how cities look, but mainly its people. There is still much more change coming. I would love to return and document some other areas, not just the capital’
Bujanda is currently working with Visual Impact to publish 61 Days in Beijing as an ebook for smart phones and tablets, believing this to be a quicker, more direct way of distribution than traditional print media.
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