NEW YORK, NEW YORK – This daily blog project is starting to reveal the cyclicality of my life. Here we are at the 2011 Pen gala. Compare this with the link for “on this day last year” in tomorrow’s post. Here’s a link to the Pen American Center website. Maria is a board member and treasurer; she’s one of the moving forces behind the “World Voices” festival.
Nan Graham, Editor in Chief of Scribner captured with my Panasonic GH2 and a 20mm Pancake lens.
WARREN CONNECTICUT – We’re having a vey late spring. My photo from April 24, 2010 shows our pear trees and a bunch of flowering shrubs in bloom. See yesterday’s post. This year we only have forsythia – the earliest of the large flowering shrubs. Here’s a forsythia captured on a rainy Monday morning before I drove back to New York with my Leica M9 and a 24mm Summilux lens.
Forsythia
GREAT WALL and BEIJING – We got an early start to drive out to the Great Wall. We joined the Wall at Mutianyu, about an hour and a half’s drive from central Beijing. A few things to note about the Great Wall. It’s crowded with Chinese tourists so go early. It’s really up and down, and in some places high and steep. Come prepared for a vigorous walk. I suffer from vertigo so there was one very steep and narrow segment that I skipped (rather than risk freezing and creating a problem for myself and others. Maria did it all and considered it a good training day for her planned trip to climb Kilimanjaro later this year. The approaches to the Wall are crowded with hawkers and vendors.
With my Leica M9 and a 24mm Summilux lens, shot at f1.4 with the aid of a neutral density filter.
Great Wall
In the afternoon we spent a few hours at the Summer Palace, an extensive network of parks and buildings around a lake on the outskirts of Beijing.
BEIJING – We spent the morning in the 798 Art District. It started out ten years ago in a gallery in disused factory that had previously been used by the military to manufacture electronic components – 798 was the number on the building. It has expanded to 300 or so exhibition spaces, all privately owned, in an eclectic jumble. The streets were packed with artists, patrons, tourists, wannabes and so on. Wedding frequently take place there. The vibe is similar to New York’s SoHo and the prices are the same – there is apparently a truly global art market. There are major spaces operated by major players. Pace is there, for example, in a monumental space that featured works by and about Diane Von Furstenberg
The following two images were taken with my Leica M9 and a 35mm Summilux lens.
798 art district, Beijing798 art district Beijing
Two images with my 24mm Summilux lens.
Kendall Geers at Galeria Continua in 798 Art DistrictMarie
Finally, back in central Beijing taken with my Leica M9 and a 50mm Summilux lens – this is two frames stitched.
BEIJING – We visited the Forbidden City this morning in heavy rain. This monumental collection of parks and buildings was built in the early 15th Century as the “home” of the Emperors. It is remarkably crowded with Chinese tourists there to soak up their national heritage. Go early. We started at the North Gate at opening time (most people start at the South Gate on Tiananmen Square) and moved South through the complex, giving us a few hours of relative peace until we ran into the the throngs that started at the same time that we did, but at the South gate. This is a standard view of the North Gate from Jingshan Park which abuts the Forbidden City to the North. Taken with my Leica M9 and a 90mm lens, two frames stitched.
It rains on the Forbidden City
Here we are at the South Gate five hours later. The South Gate faces Tiananmen Square, the giant square that is the heart of official China. Tianamen Square is accessible only through subterranean passages with security checks; there are security cameras everywhere; sentries march prescribed routes through the square.
South gate of the Forbidden City
South of Tiananmen Square is the new Qianmen Walking Street. This had been a vibrant shopping street in the 1950s. The street and the area to the East of it were recently demolished – the walking street consists of new storefronts built in traditional style. The impression is that some Disney virus infected the urban planners who put this here. To the West of it is still a dynamic area old side streets and alleys. Here’s Maria trying to get unlost. Taken with my Leica M9 and a 50mm Summicron.
SHANGHAI and BEIJING – Another travel day. The trip from Shanghai to Beijing is only two hours flying time but the disruption in the day, and the time spent in taxis and airports, is the enemy of my photo a day project. I managed a few captures in Hongqiao Airport and some images from a walk after dinner in Beijing.
This was taken with my Leica M9 and a 50mm Summilux lens:
Hongqiao Airport
Leica and 35mm Summilux lens. This is an apparently wealthy young Beijinger photographing his girlfriend – and assistant (who is out of sight) is holding a reflector to soften her shadows.
