Intrepid Express stories
Our online edition of articles from our weekly Intrepid Express newsletter
a travel photographer's view of china
Intrepid Travel was thrilled to be one of the sponsors of the 2007 Travel Photographer of the Year competition. The 2007 'One Planet Many Lives' category winner Timothy Allen travelled to China with Intrepid as part of his prize. He gives a photographer's view of this fascinating country....
Q: Your prize trip began in Shanghai. What were the best and worst things about this city - and, as a photographer, what did you find the most intriguing/photogenic?
A: Shanghai, like much of China cant fail to astound you simply by its enormity. In every sense of the word, especially at this time in history, China presents you with so many of the worlds superlatives, and its cities are no exception. It's hard to say that there was a worst thing about that city because I was a fleeting visitor, and as such I only saw the shiny surface of this metropolis from a privileged position as most foreign tourists do. From a purely photographic perspective, Pudongs skyline is an astounding vision to behold, a little changed from the last time I was in Shanghai 5 years ago, by some new skyscrapers and a nationwide shortage of electricity which has meant that it is no longer lit up at night. Visiting in the winter time also provided the added advantage of thick mist and fog, which I find extremely photogenic.
Q: You were on a train on the eve of the Chinese New Year - how was that?
A: That journey was very eventful because we were invited to dinner in the buffet car by some very friendly officials from the National Rail Company. The resulting meal was an extremely boozy high speed feast of Chinese cuisine interlaced with bouts of frantic hand shaking and posing for photos with every member of the trains staff.
Q: Xi'an is famous for the Terracotta Warriors - what else does this city have to offer?
A: Xi'an was a charming city, and for me was the first place we visited on this trip that had a more traditional feel to it. Of course, like all Chinese cities it was a place of stark contrasts, but Xi'an appears to have maintained its strong connection to the past through both its architecture and diverse cultural communities. I found the Muslim quarter the most intriguing and spent most of my time there, eating in the street markets and visiting the Mosques. Photographically, Friday prayers at the central mosque produced the most interesting pictures from Xi'an. In contrast, I found the situation of the nearby Terracotta warriors a little too contrived for my liking. Shooting pictures there is absolutely allowed. Middle-class China has adopted the digital camera like no other place Ive visited in the world. Intriguingly, for a country with Chinas notoriety for censorship, the onus on photography does not yet appear to have been acknowledged culturally to the degree it has in the West.
Q: Sadly, your trip down the Yangzi River couldn't happen because of poor weather. What did you find to do/photograph in this region instead?
A: We went to the walled city of Pingyao and then to The Hanging Monastery, near Datong. Pingyao is architecturally stunning and if you get up before the crowds of Chinese tourists arrive in their electric tour buggies, you could be forgiven for believing youd slipped a timeline and arrived back in the Ming Dynasty. It's a great city for poking your head through backstreet doorways and seeing what you can discover.
Q: The Great Wall - one could fill a book with photographs of this alone. Is this somewhere that you've been before? If not, how did you feel when seeing it - and how can one get anything other than the standard images of it?
A: I recall imagining the same scene 500 years ago and all the feelings that go along with that. Fortunately for me, in the winter there are few tourists on the wall and consequently my experience there was peaceful and invigorating. We walked about 5km through the hills taking in the atmosphere. Getting a good image of the wall is all about getting up early before sunrise.
Q: Beijing is a city of great contrasts. As the Olympics approach, how is this opening up opportunities for photographers?
A: My favourite experience in Beijing was just hanging around outside the Forbidden City in Tiananmen Square. The gates to the Forbidden City had even more impact on me than my Great Wall experience. For me, that scene with Mao Zedong's portrait is poignant and memorable for so many reasons. Today it seems to hang there uncomfortably amidst China's changing times. Whilst I was there, a Chinese sportswear company did a promotional shoot right underneath it. That was very symbolic for me and gifted me my favourite image of the trip. Obviously, Beijing will be hosting an unusually high number of visitors during the Olympic Games this summer. Consequently, publications all around the world are using this as their hook for endless China-related features in the run up to the games. I would also expect the Chinese governments human rights record to become increasingly under scrutiny by the many journalists and photographers who are relocating there for the Olympics.
Q: What other opportunities does China present to a photographer? One imagines market scenes, landscapes, city and rural scenes...
A: Chinese people are very comfortable being photographed. Consequently, they have no problems photographing you too... stopping and posing for pictures was a common occurrence for me on this trip. I very much enjoy that experience because, apart from anything else it is always a fantastic ice-breaker. In fact, on quite a few occasions people actually came up to me and asked me to take their picture. Right now, the photographic opportunities in China are endless because it is in the process of emerging as the most powerful nation in the world. Everyone seems to have an opinion on China these days, and as far as I'm concerned that's a great reason to go there and discover your own, first hand.
Q: If you could only return to China for a weekend, where would you choose to go as a photographer, and why?
Funnily enough, next week Im going back to China. Inspired by this trip I have decided to go back there and shoot some of the many stories I discovered but didnt have time to investigate whilst on this trip. My first port of call will be Mt Huashan in Shaanxi Province in order to shoot Taoist pilgrims making the perilous journey up the mountain to a number of sacred temples. Huashan is a phenomenally beautiful place and the path up is quite treacherous in the winter. One of the things I most want to see there is the infamous Floating-in-Air Road which is basically a section of planks attached to the side of a 1000 ft near-vertical rock face that you must traverse in order to reach a certain part of the mountain.
Timothy Allen took part in Intrepid's Best of China in early February 2008.
Muslim Quarter, Xi'an - by Timothy Allen
Compare these trips
