Photographer captures life in ‘City of Bridges’

A woman, with a torch in her mouth, works in a vegetable market under Shuangbei Bridge in Chongqing. [Photo by Yin Jun/Provided to China Daily]

Photos of ordinary people near bridges make waves. Tan Yingzi reports in Chongqing.

Chongqing has built more than 4,500 bridges in recent years, the largest number in China.

Located in Southwest China, through which the Jialing River flows into the Yangtze, it is often referred to as the "City of Bridges".

Unlike some photographers who focus on the architectural beauty of bridges, Yin Jun pays attention to the lives of ordinary people around them.

"Bridges symbolize the development of a city," he says. "They also bring many changes in the lives of people, and I want to record that."

Since 2015, Yin, 54, an amateur photographer, has visited major bridges in downtown from Chongqing and taken more than 20,000 pictures. He lives there as well.

His photo collection, titled Under the Bridges, recently won the top prize at the 2017 Chongqing Photo Contest, which is the largest photography competition in the city held once in two years.

The collection includes eight pictures that show daily life of the local people. Under the bridges, people sell vegetables, have picnics, develop farms, dance, sing, pray and sleep.

The picture of a woman selling vegetables one dimly-lit winter morning with a torch in her mouth has won high praise from the judges and the media.