The temperature and humidity difference between our hotel room and the street proved to be very troublesome for our equipment and film. On the first morning of shooting my assistant was horrified to find the lenes sweating like cocktail glasses. This is when fungus is most likely to develope between the lens elements, thus destroying the entire lens. We deviced a method to minimize the differences in temperature and humidity by putting the lenses in a waterproof camera bag and hanging the bag out the hotel window. In this way the lenses were always at ambient temperature. We also tried to let all the equipment to adjust to ambient temperature slowly before we started shooting which means we have to be ready an hour eariler everyday.
Two 35mm cameras were used for scouting locations, a Nikon F and a Nikon F2. the accompanying lenes were: Nikkor 28mm, Nikkor 50mm, Nikkor 90mm.
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All images ©Paul Pak-hing Lee - 1997Technical Notes
These photographs were taken in July and August of 1994. Fortunately it only rained for four days during this two month period. We experienced many days with low humidity and clear blue sky, which was quite unusual for Shanghai during that time of the year. On the days when the wind stopped blowing from the Huangpu River, the entire city would be covered by a blanket of yellow smog. Photography was impossible on those days. The average daily temperature was between 85 - 92 F. We got almost fourteen hours of daylight in July and slightly less in August.
Photographic Equipment
Two 4x5 large format cameras were used in the project. A SINAR f2 and a Super Graphic folding camera. Three lenses were used to cover the wide range of shooting distance. A Schneider Kreuznach 90mm Super-Angulon, a SINAR 210mm Sinaron-S, and a Graflex 135mm. A Gossen spot-meter was used to determind the exposures.
Film
ILFORD XP2 4x5 chromogenic film was used for the black and white photographs. For the color negatives, FUJI NSP160 (now NPS) 4x5 was used. FUJI RDP100 was used as a slide film in both 4x5 and 35mm format. Polaroid Type 54 4x5 film was used for proofing.
