The no longer quite so Forbidden City

[tbob]

A few people having a quiet stroll into the Forbidden City in Beijing. Being from a town of 11,000 and an area with a low population density the crowds in China were a bit of a novelty for me.

Our tour guide informed us we were lucky this day because attendance was unusually light.

[Shadowman]

Nice shot.

[rpcrowe]

Trevor, I like this shot quite a bit. The crowd gives a base to the image and the series of two arches really provide depth. The plain, unadorned red walls also make a great contrasting area with the very busy appearing crowd.

I remember my trip to the Forbidden City in late March, several years ago. I was just wearing a photo vest and a light shirt which seemed appropriate as I left my hotel room in the morning. However, by the afternoon, the wind started to whip in from Manchuria and the temperature dropped accordingly. I still feel the cold anytime I look at Forbidden City images...

One nice thing (IMO) about China is that, although the various sights are milling with tourists, the tourists are all Chinese and quite interesting to photograph. I had a ball photographing a group of Muslim Chinese tourists photographing each other in Shanghai.
http://rpcrowe.smugmug.com/Other/Chi...ghai/i-WqHzGWX

[tbob]

The crowds were light this day because it was suffocatingly hot. And the pollution index was insane.
But it was our only opportunity to go. I think I would prefer the heat to the cold though.

A beautiful sunny day in Beijing.
I have always believed if you can see it you probably shouldn't be breathing it. Not much choice this particular day

[rpcrowe]

Trevor...

The evening we arrived in Beijing, the atmosphere was very much like your image. I thought, oh boy! this is going to be bad for my respiratory system; not to mention my photos. Over night, the winds came in from Manchuria and cleared the atmosphere. I was quite lucky to be able to photograph the city without the prevailing smog...



I especially appreciated the clear atmosphere in when photographing the Great Wall...



I will agree that the cold winds were more pleasant than the smog...

[Kyle]

Those are light crowds? Wow. I really like the shot. The perspective through the two gates is really interesting.

[chauncey]

You guys brought up a point with the smog thing...I have a friend that is scheduled for China for a temporary contract engineering job. Does anyone know how widespread the problem with smog?

[paldon]

Smaller cities are much better, especially in the south. Beijing and Shanghai are definitely the worst.

[tbob]

I especially appreciated the clear atmosphere in when photographing the Great Wall...

I think your shot is slightly more colourful.





Funnily enough at the time I was quite cheesed off at the conditions; now I find they tell more of the story of my China trip.

[bnnrcn]

Hi Trevor,I like #1 very much.The photo is very nice with red walls and colourful people.If you want to get another picture out of #1,you might as well crop the whole wall and leave the crowd,it gives you another nice scene

[rpcrowe]

I think your shot is slightly more colourful.



Here is a shot of the Great Wall on a clearer day...

Quite a difference



Funnily enough at the time I was quite cheesed off at the conditions; now I find they tell more of the story of my China trip.

[Donald]

A scene made for a colour picture.

I also very much like the picture in post #9 of this thread.

[NorthernFocus]

Really a nice shot in the OP. As others have said, nicely composed. It gives the impression of the crowd going on to infinity.