Firefighter turns up heat with photographs
The photos are taken after a body-building competition.
A full-time firefighter has taken a series of professional-looking photos of his workmates.
The pictures, by Zhou Zhou, 28, were snapped after a bodybuilding competition for Xuhui District firefighters.
“I’m at my best when photographing firefighters as I am a firefighter myself,” said Zhou, who has been working to save people’s lives for 10 years.
Zhou, who is with the Dong’an squad, was born to parents who both worked in firefighting.
He uses photography to boost morale among coworkers.
“Firefighters need to keep identifying with the job, and it’s also necessary for the whole society to be more aware of it,” he said.
Zhou’s philosophy for photographing firefighters, besides a tireless pursuit of aesthetics, lies in the representation of their professionalism.
“The boys usually asked for nothing beyond ‘looking cool’ though,” Zhou said.
“In shooting, I sometimes had to pose for them to imitate what I wanted and asked them to show their emotions by shouting out loud, for example.”
Zhou is proud that some of the pictures he took for his colleagues were used by them to set up dates.
It’s the same year in a row that Zhou took publicity pictures for participants of the bodybuilding competition.
This year, the pictures will be hung on the walls of the squad's gym, and also used for next year’s calendar.
Zhou also takes pictures when the firefighters stand by on duty and when they fight fires. In emergency situations he uses a mobile rather than professional camera.
