The memories of bungalows, roofed with grey tiles and shadowed under elm trees, are fading away in Beijing, a city now crammed with geometric apartment blocks and modern shopping malls. French photographer Ambroise Tezenas' shots display a sequence of scenes: a shared kitchen in a courtyard, several frozen pieces of clothing hanging outdoor in frigid winter and dim public toilets along narrow streets. Significantly, these ordinary images have been blurred in the last few decades as the ancient city capital experiences dramatic transformation. (Video: French photographer Ambroise Tezenas wants to present the poetic side of Beijing )

Yet the photos taken by Tezenas while exploring Beijing's remaining alleyways conjure up serene moments in Beijing's past: birds chirping at dawn into tightly shut windows; faint summer scents from blossoming Chinese scholar trees wafting over naughty children climbing and brightly patterned cotton curtains veiling mysterious indoor lives. Tezenas' work reflects these scenes, subtly highlighting forgotten beauty, gracefully revealing charm. Tezenas himself explained that his efforts are meant to depict an "eternal Beijing".

Ambroise Tezenas

The French photographer has paid five visits to Beijing since 2001, when he learned that the ancient capital was elected to be the host city of the Olympic Games in 2008. "Many changes are going to take place in Beijing and I wanted to record that," he told Beijing Today last December. Certainly, Tezenas chose an unusual angle to document the changes before the upcoming Olympiad – all of his photos on exhibit at the Paris-Beijing Photo Gallery in Dashanzi 798 have uncovered ancient alleyways, gently carpeting the city's serene nights inside an urban milieu.

His photographs capture unadulterated images: vegetables scattered around a shabby storeroom, colored brightly behind a dark backdrop of a bleak night; a grocery stand located under a massive tree lies braced in light pink along a dark street, as a bicycle leans against a patched brick wall. For even more dramatic effect the viewer's eyes are drawn to a bunch of chrysanthemums grafted in a flower pot in front of a modest bungalow built around a towering tree – looking inside, a shaft of electric light penetrates pink curtains stamped with the auspicious Chinese character "double happiness", following tradition and indicating the home of a newly-married couple.

"My aim was to get a feeling of the ancient city. We all have feelings towards things, we like a color or find some curtains interesting because we imagine life behind it," Tezenas said in an exclusive email interview to China.org.cn. To avoid catching any passer-bys in the frame, the photographer prolonged his exposure times during night shots in the "Hutongs", describing his experience as "a visit to a theater". "No reason to include faces and modern signs when I'm trying to show an eternal Beijing," he remarked.

The long exposure time and special lenses have made Tezenas' photos resemble paintings; they are impressionistic. Shadows of houses and trees frame the pictures. Spotlights illuminating detailed life scenes from windows, gates, billboards, worn-out sofas or construction scaffolds, are highlighted by colors applied in natural layers on all ends of the spectrum – from emerald green to dark blue, shades of gold to yellow, maroon to pink, white to gray. "I greatly admire landscape photographers like Edward Steichen (1879-1973). He chose to take pictures using artificial effects to get a stronger feeling of things," Tezenas commented.

When Tezenas incorporated special techniques to depict a city reflecting his emotions, some domestic viewers voiced diverse reactions. "The color he adopted in the pictures does not make them unique to Beijing; it brings to my mind other Hutongs around China.  But his images all create nostalgia for our Chinese childhoods," remarked Wang Zhe, a 25-year-old woman from southern China. "For me, Beijing appears stern because of the gray and black Hutongs."

Tezenas believes that he has photographed an authentic facet of the city without modifying it by using additional light. "I tried to make the city mine, just by looking at it. When I was passing by a greengrocer, I had no reason to beautify scattered vegetables; I just felt that the scene under these light conditions was certainly worth a try, it deserved a shot. Good pictures tell stories. By taking pictures the photographer creates his own story; a viewer might gaze at my photos and have another story in mind," Tezenas said.

Recent years have witnessed a process of rapid modernization in Beijing. No more than 220 days are left before the upcoming Olympic Games. Transportation lines connect the urban and suburban parts of the city into a whole; apartments, office buildings and shopping malls are mushrooming; construction of the Olympic National Stadium and the National Swimming Center, deemed the "Bird's Nest" and the "Water Cube", have captured global attention.

Trying to understand authentic culture in Beijing, a city that is now experiencing profound changes, inspired Tezenas read prolifically before coming to this frenetically evolving oriental world. "In a certain kind of way for me, as I walk around Beijing by night, it's a bit like walking in Buenos Aries or London. First and foremost it's me who's trying to see the world through my own eyes. The photographer's psychotherapy, some would call it. Now, by coming back to Beijing year after year, I have become closer and closer to the city." He added that he would continue visiting Beijing and discover more about China.

Dates: Dec.8--Jan.19
Venue: Paris-Beijing Photo Gallery
Address: Dashanzi 798, No.4 Jiuxianqiao Rd, Chaoyang District

(China.org.cn by staff reporter Wu Jin January 8, 2008)