Photographer sees value in 1,000 words

Each of Hei Ming's projects take the documentary photographer years to finish. They are time consuming not only because of the number of people photographed - usually more than 100 - but also because Hei spends time getting to know his subjects and writing detailed mini-essays on the background of each picture.

Hei will spend days chatting or even living with a person before taking a shot.

"You won't get a good portrait unless you know the person well," says Hei, who lived in Shaolin Temple and made friends with the monks when he worked on the photo essay Shaolin Monks in 2003.