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| TNT’s 6th Anniversary Concert Turns Into a Sea of Telephoto Lenses (Photo: Weibo) |
The 6th anniversary concert of Chinese boy group Teens in Times (TNT) in Guiyang didn’t just pull in thousands of fans — it also gathered what looked like half the country’s camera stock. The Guiyang Olympic Sports Center turned into something close to a telephoto lens exhibition, with rows and rows of long, high-end lenses gleaming under the stadium lights.
Instead of the usual lightsticks dominating the crowd, what stood out most were the Canon and Sony lenses jutting above heads like a forest of metal and glass.
Many fans showed up with professional equipment, while others were spotted renting top-tier gear purely for this one night.
Some even paid extra for strategic front-row spots to secure the cleanest angle possible, turning the concert into a full-blown photography battlefield.
It didn’t take long for social media to start joking that “even a Canon expo wouldn’t gather this many models”, with photos of the camera-packed audience going viral.
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Media outlets jumped in too, calling the spectacle a sign of the rising “everyone’s a fansite” era — a cultural shift where fans no longer attend concerts simply to enjoy the show, but to compete in producing the most flawless “god-tier photos”.
And it’s not just for fun.
In many fandoms, high-quality pictures are practically social currency.
A clean shot can boost an idol’s profile, and at the same time build the photographer’s reputation within the fan community.
Owning exclusive visuals means owning influence — and at a big event like TNT’s anniversary, that competition was on full display.
This growing “stazhan” culture — the trend of semi-professional fansites operating almost like unofficial PR teams — is becoming a major part of modern idol promotion.
But with that rise comes plenty of debate.
Some people love the dedication; others say the constant filming creates pressure, blurs boundaries, and turns every event into a content race instead of a celebration.
In the end, TNT’s 6th anniversary didn’t just mark another milestone for the group.
It became a snapshot of the changing fandom landscape — where music, media, and camera culture blend into one very intense, very modern phenomenon.