Beijing!

I recently visited Beijing on assignment covering China's preparations for the upcoming Beijing Olympics. It was a short trip and I only had one day off to visit the Forbidden City. This is one of the few shots of Beijing I have which is not of the Forbidden City -- captured while traveling on a bus. Nikon D200, AF-S Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR

Self-portrait

A reflection of me in one of the modern barriers in the Forbidden City. Nikon D200, AF-S Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR

Ross in the jungle

This is the editor of a tech magazine in Singapore, shot against the interesting mural at our hotel in Beijing, China. I just thought it looked pretty cool. Nikon D200, AF-S Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR

Seeing red

Apt title, don't you think? I'm always on the lookout for shots with contrasting colours when I walk around anywhere -- this was near the entrance to the Forbidden City. Nikon D200, AF-S Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR

All along the watchtower

Apparently, this hill with the three pagodas was where Kublai Khan's palace once stood. The palace was demolished on orders from the Emperor after the Mongols were finally driven out of the Kingdom. These pagodas were built on top and overlooks the Forbidden City from the South. Nikon D200, AF-S Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR

Wall detail

Nothing much to say about this shot, except that I was incredibly anal about getting it properly centred in the shot. Nikon D200, AF-S Nikkor 18-200mm f/3,5-5.6 VR

Roof guardians

A closeup of the ornamentation the roof of one of the many buildings in the Forbidden City in China. Apparently, the more guardians there are on the roof, the more important the building is. Nikon D200, AF-S Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR

Forbidden City Gates

This photo turned out very well, I thought -- I could have joined these shots together without the major distortion, but I think it looks more balanced this way -- architectural accuracy be damned! The major challenge with this shot is taking the series as fast as possible to avoid having duplicate humans here and there as they move from shot to shot. Amazingly, the new Adobe Photoshop CS3 photomerge is incredible at avoiding cutting humans up even in a complicated scene like this. Nikon D200, AF-S Nikkor 18-200mm f3.5-5.6 VR

Red doors

Not the best shot ever taken by me, but again, this was an attempt to shoot the famous main doors of the Forbidden City in a different way from the conventional shots you see. Nikon D200, AF-S Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR

Forbidden City Panorama

Yes, what series of shots from me would be complete without a few panorama shots. This is the main courtyard for the Forbidden City and covers about a 180-degree field of view made up of about 4 shots. Like all my panoramas these days, the shots are just simply shot handheld -- the only thing to remember when shooting photos for panoramas is to meter the scene and then lock down the shutter and aperture to the same settings for each shot. Failing to do this will cause one or two shots to be brighter or darker than the others. Nikon D200, AF-S Nikkor 18-200mm VR

Pair of knockers

Yes, haha I am aware of the naughty connotations to the title. Most of the shots I have of the Forbidden City are closeup shots because there were just too many people in the way to take a nice wide shot, and again, I was consciously trying to shoot something a little different. Nikon D200, AF-S Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR

Stealing a yawn

Sometimes being able to recognise photographic potential in a situation is everything -- while this might seem like a grab shot, it actually wasn't -- I saw this lady standing framed like this and decided to wait for her to do something interesting and then take a shot. The trick is not to bring the camera up to your eye to shoot until you anticipate that something interesting is going to happen, otherwise the spontaneity of the shot is lost if the subject notices you. I actually waited and took 3-4 shots surreptitiously for quite a few minutes until I got this one. :) Nikon D200, AF-S Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR

Chained lions

The challenge in a place like the Forbidden City in Beijing is always to shoot something different from the usual tourist snapshots. These lionheads are actually brass handles that adorn huge urns that are within the City's grounds. Nikon D200, AF-S Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR

Peering in

Another shot of the giant brass urns in the Forbidden City. I thought it was pretty interesting that this guy was absorbed in his telephone conversation yet found the time to satisfy his curiosity to peer into the mouth of the urn! :) Nikon D200, AF-S Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR