The opening party for the China-wide Iron Mic competition kicked off this past weekend at Yugongyishan. The festivities also joined hands with Section Six, the longest-standing freestyle hip hop party in Beijing. Overall it was a great night and included an appearance by Damon Dash who is supposedly trying to break into the China market with some new bands and supposedly even here to poach some talent to take back to the America – all hearsay for now. The highlight of the evening was definitely MC Davey. He came out early for a few numbers, but truly shined when the freestyle battles ensued. Although most of the old school Beijing MCs were taking a seat to make room for some of the young bucks, it was obvious that MC Davey’s rhyming skills were some of the best in the house. He easily took the opening competition and got the crowd riled up at the beginning of every set. It’s going to be interesting to see where MC Davey goes in the future, and whether or not he could be a new hope for Beijing’s street hip hop to break into the wider market currently dominated by studio-groomed, pop-flavored hip hop. The attached video highlights some of MC Davey’s skills.

First of all, congratulations to South Africa for hosting such an amazing World Cup. I think they did an exemplary job in the face of many obstacles and managed to pull off one of the most successful World Cups of all time. One of the host nation’s greatest assets was definitely the stadiums. The exterior of Soccer City in Johannesburg and Green Point Stadium in Cape Town were incredible, but the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban with it’s giant arch extending over the field proved to be the clear winner. Attached are a few of my favorite architectural shots from World Cup 2010 in South Africa.

Although I might not be the biggest fan of electronic dance music, the INTRO 2010 Electronic Music Festival help in D-Park was an amazing visual fest that could not be resisted. Brought to Beijing by the infamous Acupuncture Records, it is the largest outdoor electronic music festival in China. Kids were running wild. Next year I plan on doing a more in-depth review.

I got prime access to a Lenovo manufacturing factory for a Washington Post article on China’s efforts to create name-brand innovation and recognition globally. Although not as big as other assembly centers in Shanghai and Shenzhen, it still pumped out thousands of desktop computers on a daily basis.

Two of my favorite rocker outfits are now working out of Shanghai. Duck Fight Goose, led by Miniless Records founder Han Han, and Booji are playing amazing concerts of their self-styled Death Ray Rock. Let it be known: Duck Fight Goose and Booji are officially killing it. Check out Dan Shapiro’s post on CNNGo for more information and other interesting facts.

What could be naively described as a hipster transformation is taking place in Beijing. Although some may only dress the part, others are the first in China to truly embrace alternative lifestyles that fly in the face of social conformity so desperately imposed by the Chinese state. Whether shopping at second-hand clothing stores, scouring the Internet for fringe media, pursuing careers in the arts and generally rejecting the popular molds of their communist past, these youth are seeking to stand out from the masses. This increasing tendency toward individualism coupled with newfound online forums for self-expression is one the cornerstones of China’s emerging civil society and often comes with a social stigma that is hard to imagine outside of China. Many don’t wish to participate in a largely vacuous and unsustainable consumer culture taking hold of the country. While they might not brazenly attack the government, their embracement of such a lifestyle is a powerful statement in and of itself. The biggest congregations now occur at major music festivals sprouting up all over the country. All of these portraits were taken at the 2010 MIDI Music Festival.

Cars are quickly becoming the most hypersexualized and sought after commodity in China. Purchases already surged 45% last year, surpassing the US with 13.6 million vehicles sold, and show no sign of stopping. The greatest manifestation of this phenomenon is now the Beijing International Automotive Fair held every year on the outskirts of the city. With scantily clad models striking poses in every booth, over 40 luxury cars were sold in the first few days alone including a Bugatti Veyron sporting a 5.5 million USD price tag. Every car manufacture in the world comes to pay homage to the fastest growing car market on the planet.

This past weekend I embarked on a very intense assignments. Working with the potentially bereaved wife of a Shanxi coal miner, Shi Weike, only a week after a major mining incident was delicate work to say the least. Shi Weike moved between different jobs in rural Shanxi before taking up the dangerous but relatively lucrative position as an electrician in the Wangjialing coal mine. Coal is big business in the mineral rich but relatively poor province and provided Shi Weike with steady income to support his wife, Guo Qinqin, and daughter, Shi Rongrong. However, on the morning of March 28, the main shaft of the Wangjialing coal mine flooded when workers accidentally broke into an abandoned shaft filled with water. Although over a hundred miners were miraculously rescued over a week after the flooding, the fate of Shi Weike looked dark as the government still refused to list the names of the survivors and deceased. His uncle, Yang Shirong, faced the task of consoling Guo Qinqin who after two-weeks of waiting is began to lose hope for her husbands’s survival. Every day she stayed in bed and took an intravenous glucose drip due to her inability to eat. Shi Rongrong, her six-year-old daughter, was also not informed of the possible loss of her father. Like many other coal mining families Quo Qinqin will now have to seek compensation from the government in order to support her family. Coal miners die on an average of seven per day in Shanxi as safety regulations continue to be overlooked across the province. Taking the photos of Guo Qinqin on her mourning bed was one of the toughest things I have had to capture in my life. You can see the article and slideshow online at the Wall Street Journal website.

The annual wedding expo went down this past weekend at the Beijing Exhibition Centre much to the delight of hopeful young couples all over Beijing. Booths offering complete wedding packages were packed with small tables and agents showing off their look books and other materials guaranteed to fulfill matrimonial fantasies. In other sections of the expo, young potential brides tried on a wedding gowns of all shapes, sizes, and colors. Quite frankly, the bustle and intensity of the engaged couples was overwhelming – everything was imbued with desire and hope. Right now, western-style weddings are all the hype in China, and people are willing to go to great lengths to guarantee their own vision of modern and cultured wedding ceremony.

My first major commercial campaign for Levi’s done in conjunction with BBH Singapore is finally finished and will be popping up on billboards and in magazines across Asia this summer. It was a stressful two weeks with last minute modeling changes and constant placation of artist directors and client representatives. Still, it was an extremely valuable experience and came out very well. Each color represents a different musical theme: blue is electronic, pink is pop, rock is red and yellow is hip hop. Plus there is a website that accompanies the print campaign. I shot all the footage of the dancers with my Canon 5D Mark II.