Tibet Stories

Our first full day in Tibet, our Chinese hosts took us to an elementary school in Lhasa. They were proud of the fact that the children were taught both Tibetan and Chinese and so they had had several classrooms dress in their traditional finest. The kids were excited to be photographed by a group of foreigners, but the cluster of photographers tripping over each other in the crowded classrooms didn’t interest me. The children were dressed so colorfully and the environment was rather bleak, so I chose one of the kids to come out in the hallway for a portrait. I love the beauty of her face and the splash of color against the monochrome of the walls. There was a Chinese national television crew following us that day and they covered me shooting the portrait and then interviewed me afterwards. I’m told I made the news that night all over China.


	Our first full day in Tibet, our Chinese hosts took us to an elementary school in Lhasa. They were proud of the fact that the children were taught both Tibetan and Chinese and so they had had several classrooms dress in their traditional finest. The kids were excited to be photographed by a group of foreigners, but the cluster of photographers tripping over each other in the crowded classrooms didn’t interest me. The children were dressed so colorfully and the environment was rather bleak, so I chose one of the kids to come out in the hallway for a portrait. I love the beauty of her face and the splash of color against the monochrome of the walls. There was a Chinese national television crew following us that day and they covered me shooting the portrait and then interviewed me afterwards. I’m told I made the news that night all over China.
	© 2005 Forest McMullin			McMullin-007.jpg