as I was quite often ask to pose for a photo together with chinese people (i guess a european man with a ponytail is regarded as even more interesting than a “normal” foreigner) i pretty soon lost my shyness and asked people to allow me make a picture of them. this way the group portrait…
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two bridges
the last day in beijing pampered us with blue sky and warm sunshine, ideal for a visit to the summer residence of the emperors. the place was busy with locals, and their exercising with the ribbons made up for a wonderful double arc with one of the most harmonious bridges i have ever seen. so…
window over beijing
40 taxi minutes away from the center of beijing, my hotel offered a great view over the suburb houses – 21st floor is a kind of vantage point. plus, i had a better impression of beijings smog – not that i did care too much for this. looking down was quite spectacular, photographing was more…
night transport, beijing
you remember the good ol’ film days? when we had tri-x and pushed it to 1600 to get verrrry grainy b&w results? and were proud of the available light photography we were able to do then? at that days i would never have thought of snapping with a standard zoom lens late at night in…
unbroken reverence
found on the wall of a kiosk in the more touristic areas. well, that’s probably capitalism: to sell whatever is requested. and here in my county at home, militaria and obscene relics of 1939-1945 also are requested and sell only too well. but the combination of heroic posters of the cultural revolution and the iuxtaposing…
rikshas are coming
the lonely planet guide told: “you don’t have to search for the rikshas to drive you through the hutongs, they will find you”, and so it was. outside the north end of the forbidden city, you could merely walk for 5m without being asked for a riksha tour. As it was off season, there were…
hutong courtyard
the cold grey weather we had, just above freezing, perfectly matches the blue-grey colors here, with the chillies a perfect complementary in color as well as characteristic. the chinese society undergoes a fast transition. this is strongly visible also inside the cities, where those who do not manage to be on the rising side live…
from imperial splendor into the poorer quarters
the exit gate of the forbidden city shone in such a fresh and strong red that it was almost painful in the eyes – and to the sensor, as the histogram showed. a friend later on told me that the preliminaries of the olympic games 2008 had included a real orgy in paint, even in…
imperial tea table
no words, in my eyes there is nothing to add to this harmonious arrangement
on photographers
the forbidden city of course was full of people photographing, themselves like the lady in the lead picture (which i found amazing in the iuxtaposition of a single figure against those incountable roofs), each other, the architecture, also me. a european man with a ponytail is so extraordinary that especially gals wanted me to pose…
roof details in the forbidden city
in the maze of the forbidden city, you always get carried on by the masses of tourists (local tourists in my case), but when you manage to reach a corner you can stay for a while and watch the delicate beauty for example of the roof tiles. in yesterday’s blog entry i already mentioned b.…
freezing in the forbidden city
it seems that the history of the chinese emperor’s regime is in an adapted way now repeating: legions from the working class are doing low paid jobs whilst a small number of highest class are enjoying boundless wealth. The abundant treasures of the forbidden city reminded me immediately of b. brecht’s poem “who built thebes…
stuck in the crowd or: the chairman is watching
leaving the hotel at 6:15 was not enough: there was already quite a crowd – 99% chinese – at tiananmen square, chatting in the cold morning air and all waiting for the flag to be brought by clockwork-like moving soldiers to the flag pole. and i was in the midst, all i could see were…
another visitor on the wall
having only 2.5 days for beijing on the way back from the world urban forum in nanjing, my colleague and i decided to go to the great wall immediately after arriving in beijing airport. a wise decision it was, because the next day not only the sky was grey but also the temperatures around freezing…
gloss and paint
beijing airport was impressive, to say the least. dimension-wise as well as in puncto tidiness, and at least from the latter those pictures should give an impression. in europe it is common wisdom that societies with a socialist background usually have an enormous amount of hidden unemployment by entertaining low paid support jobs that would…
wet reflections
no narrative text today, this image i value just because of its graphical values in terms of colors, distribution of areas and lines. hope you enjoy it, too.
dec. 1st: world aids day
since 20 years december 1st is celebrated as world aids day. it’s only too easy to perceive this as a problem of “the others”, subconsciously letting your prejudice block the thoughtful observation. It’s a task for all of us to show solidarity and support, it is this what makes us human. fighting this terrible disease…
no words, just patterns
everything else I do know precisely thanks to the exif data, even the place: This is the result on clicking on this link and switching to satellite map. technical background? a cheap gps logger, the transystem bt 747 and (because i am a dedicated linux user and programmer) some perl code to find the correct…
late customers and nightbirds
late night wandering through nanjing. having experienced all the noise during the day, it’s astonishing that street life pretty much closes down at 8 pm. only in the biggest shopping malls you might find open shops now, and it’s better to find a place in a restaurant soon. not only the people have transferred a…
no way out (if you can’t read chinese)
any questions in which direction to go? where you are? there is one major challenge when wandering alone through a chinese city: how to come back. the namecard of the hotel is a lifesaver, so i always had two in my pocket. but not every taxidriver has good eyesight and/or knows the way. to make…
construction site at night
strolling at night, in the rain and without tripod usually is not a standard situation for good shots, but having only 8 days in china i wanted to get out the maximum of it. and this construction site offered some dramatic light effects, especially when the welding startet. street photography in the true sense of…
bike sea
backyards in nanjing are not meant for foreigners. just 150m away from the main road i found this parking lot, chinese style. trying to work out the best way of visualising the sheer abundance of bicycles, after 5 minutes i heard somebody speaking in my back. lucky enough i did not turn around immediately but…
bamboo carving hands
taking a break from the roster-determined duty hours in our booth, i used my time to closely watch some artist in an exhibition hall creating their pieces. light was low and of mixed quality, so again high iso had to come to the rescue. checking again bibblepro for linux, i found its built-in noise ninja…
le dejeuner sur l’herbe, china style
the world urban forum of the united nations in nanjing was also used by the chinese government as a platform for showcasing achievements in tourism and real estate development. one of the booths sported this forest of tree silhouettes which was consequentially used as a picnic arena for the local visitors. the middle of the…
expo moon
participating in a trade fair late in the year, the scenery above is what you usally get at the end of the day. no daylight, little photography – not only because of the light but the feet and the eyes are sore and the nee for a shower and some food is just overwhelming. chinese…