(Events from September 24th… I’m still catching up since moving.)

In which I find an alternative to playing Pokemon Go! (the game is unplayable in China)

There’s this great website called Meetup.  It’s basically a place to find or create community groups in your area focused around different interests or careers.  This site isn’t very popular in China yet, but foreigners are bringing it to international cities like Beijing and the Chinese themselves are starting to catch on.

My latest Meetup event was, of all things, a photography club.  Basically I’ve just been going to whatever events happen to fall on my day off, but this one had particular significance (despite my unprofessional interest in photography and lack of a fancy camera).  The theme for this meeting was “Photomon Go!”  It promised to be a photo scavenger hunt with a catchy name, teams of players, and prize money.  Hey, that sounds fun!  Think of all the experience I could bring to the game!  Photography-wise, it was supposed to be an exercise in taking photos spontaneously with little setup, and asking strangers to pose for photographs.  Pretty good way to practice!

The agreed meetup place was in Sanlitun, the giant foreign shopping center in Chaoyang district, so I allowed some extra time to find the meeting point.

I found the place with time to spare, and found it swarmed with people taking pictures with big fancy cameras (all Chinese).  Were these my people?  I’d never been to the photography club meetup before, so I didn’t know.  I asked one guy in Chinese if he was there for the picture-taking game, and couldn’t understand his answer (but it didn’t seem like he knew what I was referencing).  Because I’m foreign (I guess), I was suddenly the focal point of a lot of pictures… waiting for an event to start just got a little more awkward.

After an uncomfortable wait, the actual photo club arrived, most with cell phone cameras like me.  The group was about half Chinese, half expats, which was a great mix considering what we were about to team up and do.  The group coordinators, Connie and Rebecca (both expat English teachers) collected 50RNB from each person (about $7 USD) to put in the prize pot, organized everybody randomly into 3 groups of 6, and explained the rules: everyone in each team had to fulfill every item on the list.  The first team to finish (or) after 2 and a half hours the team with the most items would win all the collected money.

1. Take a photo through a shop window of only one group member pretending to be a store mannequin, wearing the same clothes as a nearby mannequin.
   

   This item was just pure genius! So ridiculous and fun.

   

   This was maybe the most fun I’ve had posing for a picture. (Photo credit to team member Tony)

2. Get an attractive stranger’s autograph and take a group photo with them as if they are a movie star.
   

   And, the “talking to strangers” skills just got a lot more exercise. I’m posing with the actual signature I got from this random girl on the street. To make the scene more authentic, there were six of us on the team all taking photos!

3. Take a Beatles ‘Abbey Road-style’ pic with team members.
   

   My photos got more artistic as the sky grew darker.

   

   Thanks, Tony, for the photo shat actually shows what we’re doing.

4. Take a pic of a happy dog with team members.
   

   The girl is at least as cute as her dog. Awww

5. Take a pic of a man blowing cigarette smoke rings.
   

   Thank you, China, for your obscenely large smoking population. We need you now! This guy was willing to give it a shot!

   

   We found this restaurant employee on break who was willing to give it a go. Six people all standing in front of him ready with cameras. No pressure!

6. Take a pic of an unhappy child.
   

   She looks pretty bored, anyway. Ehh close enough.

7. Take a candid pic through the glass of three men drinking inside a bar.
   

   We ran around searching a dozen different bars, but it was just too early. Pretty proud of this shot. It’s not in a bar, but it’s through a window!

   

   Later on in the evening we actually found a group in the bar, so we took pictures of them too just in case.

8. Take a pic of a woman wearing red high-heel shoes.
   

   Such perfect shoes! So many well-dressed people in this area on a Saturday evening.

9. Do a Photobomb
   

   I will take credit for this item. “What’s a photobomb?” ask the non-native English speakers on my team. “Just… watch me and get ready to take a picture!” After I demonstrated, Tony got the idea and posed so I could get a picture myself.

10. Take a pic of some very blue shoes.
    

    One of our team members had very blue shoes. I call this one “some very popular very blue shoes”.

11. Take a pic of a Beijing Bikini
    

    A Beijing Bikini refers to the way Chinese men roll up their shirts when it’s hot. The evening wasn’t nearly warm enough for a natural spotting, so we made our team member do it.

12. Take a pic of people holding hands.
    

    Cute couples are everywhere, so this one was pretty easy.

13. Take a picture of birds.
    

    No. Friggin. Birds. Anywhere. In the end we took pictures of the birds on this sign. Close enough.

14. Take a macro pic of flowers.
    

    Thank you, urban landscaping designers.

15. Take a pic of two old people laughing.
    

    A few of the photographers I mentioned at the beginning. Glad they could be of some help!

16. Take a pic of a child on their parent’s shoulders.
    

    We actually staged this one (yeah, I know it doesn’t look like it. I was slow getting my camera ready) then immediately afterwards spotted at least two natural occurrences. When you’re taking photos in a hurry, you don’t want to wait for the perfect opportunity to walk along.

17. Take a pic of three girls with shopping bags walking together.
    

    Just another day out on the city.

18. Take a candid pic of someone who appears to be wealthy.
    

    Random person in an expensive clothing store. Note: it’s easier to take pictures discreetly if there aren’t six of you.

19. Take a candid pic of someone who appears to be poverty stricken.
    

    Noodle time

20. Hot pot shot.
    

    What’s hotpot? Just the most amazing boiled meat dish in China. What’s awkward? Walking into a restaurant and asking patrons if we can take pictures of their food.

21. Light painting shot.
    

    We had no idea what light painting was, but this seemed to fit with a little poetic interpretation.

    

    So, apparently light painting is when you make a light trail on purpose. We tried. It kinda worked. My phone camera is much better at doing that on accident.

22. Architecture pic in Black & White.
    

    More black than white. It was actually dark outside.

23. Rooftop view.
    

    Deciding what to hunt down next.

    

    The pollution sucked that day, but the view was still pretty cool!

24. Sex shop item pic.
    

    “Let’s go find a sex shop!”

25. Mojito man pic.
    

    That must be him.

    My team didn’t finish first, but we did end up being the only team to satisfy the judges on every list item!  So, WE WON!  That’s not the point… but it was exciting, especially as someone who only gets 1000RNB of pocket money per month.  Afterwards we all went to a rooftop restaurant to socialize, catch our breath after running around for 2 hours, and have a drink.  Great way to get some exercise, take some interesting pictures, and meet new friends.  I wouldn’t call any of my photos masterpieces, but it was cool to do a photo scavenger hunt with some friends in one afternoon as opposed to stretching it out over months.  Both have their perks.  I can’t say that this was more fun than actually playing Pokemon Go! (as I’ve not been able to try it) but it was pretty addictive so it might measure up.  10/10, would play again!