Two Cities, One Pocket Camera: Shenzhen & Guangzhou with the Ricoh GR IV

The story

I had the opportunity to go on a work trip to Shenzhen through Guangzhou, China. Beyond managing my work-related duties, I naturally wanted to document the cities the way I enjoy photographing most: through candid, unpolished and what one sees exploring the cities.

This article is therefore a documentary-style visual diary of this very short trip.

The Chinese do not joke around where it comes to constructing monolithic structures.

As usual, I’m drawn to the more “everyday real”: places where you can simply walk, observe, and let small details carry the story. So this sharing won’t focus on the typical tourist destinations, but rather the quieter in-between scenes such as the commutes, sidewalks, lunch-hour and the fleeting moments that represent’s the city’s soul.

My full review of the Ricoh GR IV and GR IIIx HDF is here and here if you are looking for a more in-depth read on the cameras.

*All the images shared here were basically SOOC, directly transferred from the Ricoh GR IV to my phone as I did not have the luxury of time to post-process like I usually do.

The gear

Just the Ricoh GR IV, two batteries and the tiny dedicated Ricoh GF-2 flash (which I did not use much) and here we go!

Let’s start!

Flying by China Southern airlines into Guangzhou and taking a coach to Shenzhen was the plan. The trip began with a boarding process that felt quite different from what I’m used to flying with Singapore Airlines.

Different but interesting.

The flight was uneventful, which was good and for many reasons I must say that the flight experience felt like flying in the 1990s lol.

Once out of immigration, my first scenes of Guangzhou unfolded with the ‘common’ reminders of how one should behave and contribute to the greater good of the community.

The even more complicated line of Chinese characters below literally translates to: “Forever sharing the same breath and fate with the people; hearts aligned towards realising the people’s dream as an aspiration”.

After a 2 plus hours drive, I reached Shenzhen late in the afternoon, and very glad that I managed to steal some time for the streets of this city.

I was quite floored with the abundance of restaurants selling all sorts of food, and it is quite true that Shenzhen being a relatively ‘younger’ city simply ended up much like Singapore – a hotpot mixed with food choices from people who brought along their cultural foods when they migrated to the city.

Traffic, whether human or vehicular was an never ending stream of lights, colours and activity. Yet, there was little chaos, with every single element seemingly knowing where to go; what to do in this tapestry of night life.

The area around my hotel was so quiet when I checked in late at night that little would I know that there was a school next to it.

Morning soon arrived, and to my greatest amazement I saw for myself from my hotel room’s window the intense hum of activity formed from parents rushing to ready and send their kids to school that I simply grabbed the GR IV and went for some shots.

Amongst the hive of activity, it was extremely interesting to see again that there were many ‘spots’ of peace where students who arrived earlier were simply having a good-old chit chat over breakfast.

And of course, you have the kids whom starting the day early is always an struggle for them. Education is taken seriously here, and when I conversed with a few parents, some willingly take journeys of more than 3 hours to ferry their children to and from school on a daily basis.

Another unexpected surprise was how well barricaded and guarded the route to the main school gate was, with at least two layers of armed guards standing right at the main entrance to ensure no unauthorised entry.

Scooters were also one interesting sight here, with them allowed on the pedestrian pavements and on the roads, basically everywhere. At peak hours, one can easily see them speeding around on the pedestrian pavements but in my time there, it was impressive that I did not even come across one accident.

Soon the day begun, and as the day proceeded, I was reminded multiple times of the beauty that describes some of the architecture in China, with the DJI/Hasselblad building alone being one most beautiful example.

Small tip: Don’t miss the opportunity to pop by the hidden out of sight private room if you are invited.

After the visit to DJI/Hasseblad, I was blessed to be able to pop by Shenzhen’s Ancient City of Nantou, founded in 331 AD and now ‘sorta’ preserved with its own mix of modern shops housed within the maze of much older worth preserving buildings.

After Nantou Ancient city and back on the main roads, I do realise that China is always in a perpetual state of development, with always the next ‘big project’ lurking around the corner.

Dinner for the evening landed me at a most retro-themed quaint restaurant. In fact, if you recognise anyone from these portraits, you most probably should be around a minimum of 40 years old now.

Here, it is quite possible to order a meat, vegetable and soup dish with rice here for around the equivalent of USD15 dollars. And no, there is no tipping culture and no service charges here.

And with dinner done, it was lights out until tomorrow’s sunrise, when I’d be leaving China for my flight home, already wondering which camera I’d bring along for the next short trip.

It is not often that I only bring along a fixed lens compact for a trip but this round, it does seem that the Ricoh GR IV even given its limitations proved itself competent for documenting the sights and scenes of Shenzhen and Guangzhou.

Thank you for reading.

Disclaimers:

1. All product photos and samples here were photographed by me. I believe any reviewer with pride should produce their own product photos. 

2. All images were shot with my personal set of the Ricoh GR IV.

3. This review is not sponsored.

4. I write as a passion and a hobby, and I appreciate that photography brands are kind enough to respect and work with me.

5. The best way to support me is to share the review, or you can always help support me by contributing to my fees to WordPress for the domain using the Paypal button at the bottom of the page.