Strike A Pose!

A Model Citizen

The Westerners’ fixation on the “self” and emphasis on independence of the individual is a distinct contrast to the Chinese’s focus on the family unit and on filial duty and honor.    However, the more China opens up to the world, the more she embraces the culture that the world sends her way.  Yet even when adopting new aspects of culture, the Chinese have a way of making sure it retains plenty of their own character.  From a Westerner’s perspective this tends to translate as “Western culture on crack.”  For example, the Chinese love name-brand clothing and accessories.  Rather than wearing one signature piece they will often drape themselves with as many competing brands as possible.  The bigger the better; the more glitter and sparkle the better.  The brands don’t have to be legitimate or even spelled accurately; they just have to be visible.  Though I found it odd at first, I have come to love this enthusiastic way many of the Chinese dress. 

Along those same lines, when I first got to China I noticed these bizarre Wedding Photoshop studios everywhere.  They are easily recognizable because they invariably have huge, frilly princess dresses on display in the front windows.  These dresses are unlike anything I’ve ever seen before.  It’s as if some Vegas show girl outfits had head-on collisions with the most elaborate Miss America evening gowns you can imagine and in a poof of magic, these feathery, frilly frocks emerged from the cloud of smoke. 

In malls across America we have cheesy Glamour Shots and various other places to get baby pictures or family photos done.  But somehow they always seem a little contrived, like everyone is trying to look natural and a camera just happens to catch the moment.  The Wedding Photo Studios of China are unabashedly all about the model in the picture.  They have hair and make-up gurus, and seemingly endless reserves of outfits.  Sailor outfits, flower outfits, animal outfits.  Anything you can imagine, they probably have.  This holds true for both sexes and for every age group.  The Chinese are fanatical about getting professional photos for everything. They take professional pictures when they get married, when they have a baby, when their baby turns one, when their baby turns two, when their baby graduates from school.  You get the idea.    The most unique and also most traditional are the wedding photos.  Every couple gets them taken (if they can afford to, of course), and almost without fail, they buy a huge blow-up of their favorite picture, put it in an ornate frame and hang it directly above their bed at home.  I don’t know when this photo craze began, but it is definitely here to stay.

It just so happens that a Wedding Photo studio is located upstairs from the school where I teach.  One day the owner of the school informed me that the studio wanted to take pictures of me to use for their website www.sdyphoto.com and other marketing purposes.  In exchange, they would give me a CD of all the pictures they would take of me for free.  Typically these shoots cost several hundred RMB at the very least.  The proposition sounded great to me.

I have been an avid viewer of America’s Next Top Model for several years. It’s a guilty pleasure of mine and I was ecstatic to try and put my many years of viewing to good use. I tried to remember all of the tips from Tyra (Tyra Banks, former supermodel, and the show’s creator and host). I wanted to look fierce! 

Though I can’t say much for my ability as a model, I can say with confidence that the photo studio did a pretty damn good job.  It was a five hour session and full of plenty of hilarious moments for me.  Like when the dresses wouldn’t fit and I had to get sewn into them.  Or when the swarms of employees would stand around and watch while I got my hair and make-up done and in their broken English would comment on how I had such a beautiful, big nose.

I’ve gotten used to feeling like an occasional rock-star when walking around on the streets of China.  Many Chinese people have never seen a foreigner and some will openly stare at me, take pictures of me and occasionally approach me and attempt to say something.  More often than not I will simply get hello sniped, and hear the chirping “hello –ooo!” after I’ve already walked by.  Feeling like a rock star walking down the street is one thing, but I have to admit, at the photo studio I had a lot of fun getting to feel like a Diva! 

Summary: If you are in China and have the time to stop in at one of the Wedding Photo shops, I highly recommend it.  It’s incredibly fun and silly all at the same time.  Because you’re a foreigner they will spend extra time on you and try to make you look exceptionally good (because they will then use your picture for all of their marketing and show future customers how international they are).  Other lessons I learned from this: hair and makeup can make a big difference on appearance; good photography can go even farther; but with today’s technology any photo can be altered to make virtually anyone look like a supermodel.  And though I know I shouldn’t say it, I had a blast and kind of want to go back and try on different dresses and get more pictures taken!  America, why don’t we have this tradition – it’s awesome!!!!!