• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

My Favourite Lens

Vintage Lenses and Film | Information, Inspiration, and Creation

  • photography guides
  • reviews
    • film reviews
    • vintage lens reviews
    • camera reviews
    • book reviews
  • photo essays
    • film photo essays
    • vintage lens photo essays
    • digital photo essays
  • projects
    • shoot all the films
    • lee sixty five
  • resources
    • start a blog
    • guest post
    • blogging resources
    • lightroom presets
    • prints + merch
You are here: Home / Film Photo Essays / Water Colour Pictures in Wuxi, China [Fujicolor Industrial 400]

Water Colour Pictures in Wuxi, China [Fujicolor Industrial 400]

Images shot on Fujicolor Industrial 400 in Yashica Electro 35 GSN

If you’re into painting scenery and landscapes, I imagine the canals and bridges around Wuxi’s Nanchang Street would be a prime spot to get some done.

I really can only imagine this because I’m pretty terrible at painting of any kind. Acrylic, oil, a fence, someone’s nails; all are going to be bad.

That’s why I’m showing you some photographs I made on film here rather than anything put down on canvas.

They’re not watercolour. They were just shot in colour – on Fujicolor Industrial 400, no less – and a few of them feature water.

Boats and buildings on the water

Walking up and down Nanchang Street and Dayao Road on the other side of the canal is a perfectly serene way to spend a sunny day. It also gives you lots of things to shoot.

You’ve got the water itself, along with the boats, buildings and of course bridges on it. As a tourist area, you’re also going to have people you can use in your shots too.

This means that whatever your style of photography, be it street like mine mainly is or more humanless landscapes, you’ll be able to come away with some work to share.

And share it you should.

The bridges of Wuxi County

Only joking, of course. Wuxi County is in Chongqing, nearly 1000 miles away from where we are in this article. The city of Wuxi does have its fair share of picturesque old bridges, though.

You’ve already seen how they can serve as landscape models, but their foot traffic makes them equally useful as street photography backdrops too.

The technique here was mainly to stand with the sun behind me, compose the shot, and wait for people to step into it. I give myself bonus points for getting eye contact also, but that’s just me.

You do it how you want.

Noticing a pattern after shooting

I like to squeeze at least a couple of blog articles out of each roll of film I shoot these days. It’s just more efficient and productive that way.

Getting more posts up with less shooting is good for this site and it’s nice to give you some bite-sized pieces to consume alongside the more meaty reviews and guides too.

This can bring up the issue of how to split up the photographs from a single roll, but for this post it was quite easy. Choose the ones with a connection to the water – be that the canal itself or the bridges over it.

I’ve written before about giving yourself a photography theme before you go out shooting. That’s still a good thing to do when you need inspiration, but sometimes you’ll notice a pattern after you’ve shot.

That’s certainly what happened here.

Actual watercolours in Wuxi

While I made my pictures of Wuxi on a roll of Fujicolor Industrial 400, there are some people who do theirs on canvas. Some even with watercolour. I know this because I had a look on Google.

I quite like this one, this one, and also this one. The artists have a talent that I don’t and probably never will do. And the only way to take that is as a source of inspiration.

Think about this from your own perspective. If you’re out there with a camera, putting in the time to deliberately make photographs, there are going to be people who look at your work in the same way I do those paintings.

People who look at it and know you can do something they can’t. Even if you don’t think you’re at that level yet, you soon will be if you keep going.

I know it’s cool to be aloof and say you only shoot for yourself, but it always feels nice to have your work complimented, whoever you are.

That can only happen if you actually produce, though. Just like those painters, this about showing, not telling.

If you’re going to have anything to show, you’re going to have to get out there and #shootfilmmakesomething  🙂

… p.s. if you enjoyed this post or got inspired by it and think others will too, why not share or pin it?

Picturesque Wuxi is probably a lovely place to paint some watercolour. Me, I shot some colour film photographs around the water. Come take a look.
Share on twitter
Twitter
Share on pinterest
Pinterest
Share on facebook
Facebook
Share on reddit
Reddit
Share on email
Email

You'll Like These Film Photo Essays Too

The Sequel to the First Roll in the Yashica Electro 35 GSN [Fujicolor Industrial 100]

Two Simple Black and White Film Photography Tips [JCH Street Pan 400]

A Few from the m50 Art District, Shanghai [Fujicolor Industrial 100]

Related Posts

The Street Photography Look by Dmitri Tcherbadji [Ilford Pan 400]
london underground film photography
A Little Taste of London Underground Film Photography [Kodak Tri-X 400]
theo santana trip to iran
A Trip to Iran by Theo Santana [Kodak Gold 200 + Fujicolor C200]
Subscribe
Notify of
guest
guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Primary Sidebar

Recent Posts

  • A Little Taste of London Underground Film Photography [Kodak Tri-X 400]
  • Some City of London Film Photography [Kodak Tri-X 400]
  • Multi-Project Shooting With a Lesser-Known Kodak Film [Kodak Pro Image 100]
  • Kodak Pro Image 100 35mm Film Review
  • Sony Alpha A6100 vs A6400 vs A6600 Comparison – the Differences and Similarities

Can’t find what you’re looking for?

Footer

Recent Posts

  • A Little Taste of London Underground Film Photography [Kodak Tri-X 400]
  • Some City of London Film Photography [Kodak Tri-X 400]
  • Multi-Project Shooting With a Lesser-Known Kodak Film [Kodak Pro Image 100]
  • Kodak Pro Image 100 35mm Film Review
  • Sony Alpha A6100 vs A6400 vs A6600 Comparison – the Differences and Similarities

The Small Print

  • Affiliate Disclosure
  • Copyright + Usage
  • Privacy Policy

Come Say Hello

  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Copyright © 2021 My Favourite Lens

wpDiscuz