Self-taught Chinese street photographer captures all the right moments on camera

Tao Liu has a knack for capturing split-second moments that reveal funny configurations or striking parallels, and embody the essence of the hectic and haphazard Chinese streets where he and countless others live and work.

His work has gone viral in China, and is now spreading across the world thanks to people sharing his images across the net. Street photography is about capturing poignant and fleeting points in time, which say something about the human condition, even if that something cannot be put into words, and Tao Liu’s photographs speak across languages and cultures.

For his day job, the 32-year-old works as a water meter reader in Hefei City, Anhui Province, which means he spends a lot of time out and about on the streets where he has been refining his photography skills for the past three years. He’s entirely self-taught, relying on books and videos from other photographer to help improve his technique. It just goes to show that when it comes to street photography, having an eye for a scene is far more important than any amount of fancy equipment or high-priced lessons. The photographs below show off Tao Liu’s talent along with the bright, bustling, dirty, and sometimes depressing China he sees every day.