A PICTURE taken during the Olympic torch relay in Shenzhen by a local amateur photographer has been placed in a permanent collection in the city’s archives.
The photo, entitled “A Family Following the Olympic Torch,” was one of more than 30 pictures snapped by Zou Bixiong, an employee of an electronics company in Bao’an District, on May 8 during the Shenzhen leg of the torch relay.
The picture was chosen as an entry for a photo exhibition featuring the torch relay in Shenzhen. The exhibition was held jointly by the Shenzhen Archives and Shenzhen Folklore Photographic Society from May 15 to July 15.
“I didn’t know why the experts selected it,” Zou said while holding a collection certificate and beaming with pride. “Perhaps they felt it was an original approach. Other photographers tried to capture the torch, but the subject of my picture was the people who watched the torch relay. I devoted myself to taking this picture and the smile on the faces of a family of three was inspiring.”
Zou was exposed to photography in August 2006 and was immediately hooked by this special art and found it hard to part with his camera. In the next two years, he clicked his camera at whatever images came his way: flowers, birds, blue sky, white clouds, pedestrians and vehicles.
Zou went all the way from Bao’an to the Window of the World theme park in Nanshan District on May 8, hoping to catch a glimpse of how the torch was relayed and snap the precious moment when the torch changed hands. However, walled off by a big crowd, he could only hear the thunderous cheering without seeing anything when the torchbearers arrived.
Forced to drop plan A, Zou redirected his attention to the people who went to watch the historic torch relay and a flag-waving family of three soon captured his attention. The couple each had a miniature national flag on their faces while the mother and the daughter each wore a silk headband bearing the characters “China will win” and five yellow stars. Led by instinct, Zou clicked his camera and snapped the picture of the happy family with a Metro construction site as the backdrop.
(Kang Wei)