Yuan Peng’s favourite gear
‘For the ‘ The Twins’ Gymnastic Dream’ project, I used a Canon EOS 5D Mark II, which I have been using for many years,’ Peng explains. ‘Lens wise, I used the 24-105mm f/4 and 70-200 f/4. These are also my favourite lenses and were great for the story as I could zoom in on the twins as they worked out or relaxed, without being too obtrusive.’ twins. I am good at communicating with children of this age, so it was easy to earn their trust. Before I took the pictures, I spoke to their coach about my ideas and got a special licence, so the coach was also on-board. With the coach’s help, I met the parents of the twins. I shared with them my ideas for the series and the range of images I wanted to publish. I gave them pictures of their daughters, and gradually gained their confidence.’
When the twin girls Bingqing and Yujie were photographed, they were only 7 years old, so Peng reckons they were pretty cool about the whole project. ‘ The twins were more curious than shy, so they easily accepted being photographed. When shooting the series I tried not to be too noticeable or prominent, so that they would not feel the presence of my camera too closely.’
The actual series only took a month to shoot, and the images were taken in 2013. In 2015, the twins switched from gymnastics to diving. ‘I hope to keep shooting them as their diving training progresses,’ Peng explains. ‘ The girls returned to Jining to train for three months in 2017, so I continued to shoot them then. When they come home in the holidays, we have a big party with them and their family!’
Hard, but not cruel
Peng’s winning portfolio is filled with great images, but it’s the image of the twins grimacing on the horizontal bar which attracts most attention (see right); it’s also Peng’s favourite. ‘ The theme of this series is not only the tacit understanding between the twins in training, but also the differences between them. This portrait shows that there is a difference in how they train, even in the slightest movement.’
China is established as a global economic and military superpower, and clearly wants to become a global sports superpower too. The Chinese Communist Party realises that lots of gold medals remind the rest of the world of the country’s
Top: Peng had to work hard to get the twins’ coach and parents on-board, but the effort paid off Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 24-105mm, 1/200 sec at f/5.6, ISO 1600 Above: A great example of the use of creative motion blur Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 24-105mm, 1/15 sec at f/7.1, ISO 100 Above right and Right: Yuan Peng insists the training isn’t cruel and the twins get a lot out of it Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 17-40mm, 1/125 sec at f/5, ISO 1250, and Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 70-200mm, 1/500 sec at f/4.5, ISO 1600
Yuan Peng was born in 1974, and lives in Jining City, China. As well as his success in the 2017 Sony World Photography Awards, he has won the gold medal in the 15th China International Photographic Exhibition. His work has been exhibited in the UK, USA, Iceland, Russia, Japan, as well as shown extensively in China. The winners of the 2018 Sony World Photography Exhibition will be on display at Somerset House in Central London from 20 April to 6 May. For full information and tickets, see www. worldphoto.org
inexorable rise, while stoking patriotic sentiment back home. The training regimes are tough, with little allowance made for the tender age of the trainees. Some of the teaching methods, particularly in diving and gymnastics, are seen as pretty brutal in the West. Does Peng think this is a fair observation?
‘I think all children’s gymnastics training methods are similar – they need a lot of training everyday and it is very hard. This is not only in China, but also in the UK and other countries. I can understand that some viewers would feel the training is cruel without seeing the actual school. When I was shooting there, I noticed the children worked hard in training, but they were happy, normal kids when they were resting. I did take pictures of them relaxing too, but I didn’t show these as part of my series at the Sony World Photography Awards because the pictures didn’t fit the theme.’
Peng is gratified by how his success in the Sports category of the 2017 Sony World Photography Awards has made his work better known, both at home and abroad. He also thinks it’s changed how he approaches photography. ‘I now have a more international outlook than before. It makes me look at China from a global perspective, and it leads me to shoot my pictures in different ways than before. You must work hard to take pictures which can [touch] people’s hearts – I believe this is a really important part of photography.’ As for future projects, Peng is focusing on a project on a Chinese village and has more plans in the pipeline for 2018. ‘Photography plays a very important part in my life.’