Zengchong village in Guizhou province, nestling in the bend of a river, is one of Carter's favorite photos. (Photo: China Daily)

 

 

"China: Portrait of a People" is a snapshot in time of the country's diverse people, provinces and regions. Carter graphically documents the old China (some of which has already disappeared) as well as the work in progress that is New China. He shows us the grand vistas and peeks behind the curtains, too.

There is little text, just introductions to the various provinces and regions with a personal note or a Chinese poem. The pictures speak for themselves.

"The goal was to portray China as it portrayed itself to me," Carter says of his travels with his trusty Olympus Camedia C4000, a no-frills four-megapixel camera.

And while the quality of the pictures is not coffee table standard, the lack of gloss emphasizes the absence of Photoshopped trickery that characterizes other photo books. This is an honest work.

The 36-year-old from San Francisco is a political science graduate who worked on several state and national campaigns, but became so disillusioned with the "finance and marketing that comes with politics" that he gave it up to indulge his wanderlust.

He now claims to be apolitical, though his black T-shirt with a communist red star would appear to suggest something else. A San Francisco baseball cap, and tattoos of the Virgin Mary and Sacred Heart on either arm indicates the Catholic wears his heart on his sleeve, literally.

After tracing his Cuban-Panamanian roots and exploring Central America, Carter came across an advertisement to teach in China and touched down in 2004. The job was a "scam" but he "pounded the pavement", found a teaching position and saved enough money to embark on what would eventually become a 33-province odyssey.