This is most of what the Great Wall of China looks like as nature reclaims itself. I took this with a drone while we slept in one of the old guard towers.
Hey awesome blog reader… you’ll probably be aware that I’ve been delving into the world of NFTs in the past few months. So far, it’s been both a success and an interesting adventure. That continues today with my 2nd drop on OpenSea. This set of NFTs is based around 50 of my favorite cities spanning all seven continents. There are a wide range of configurations (and prices) available and I’d love it if you’d check them out. If you thought an NFT mixed with physical art was odd last time then how about several NFTs, wrapped in an NFT… mixed with some Aave tokens which should appreciate over time??!
The first drop on OpenSea did better than expected and broke $100,000USD in the first three days. This second one already has a lot of interest as more and more collectors are getting into the NFT world. Jump on in! I’ll make a detailed video soon that talks more about what I’ve learned, mistakes I’ve made, some new ideas, and other interesting stuff from this wild wild west of cryptofun.
Also, if you’re an NFT curious artist, be sure to sign up for Passport where I’ve been sharing videos about my NFT experience so far. If you’re thinking about listing your own, you may find those helpful. Speaking of your own NFTs, I’m now starting to invest back into other projects so if you launch something cool tag me on Twitter and I’ll be sure to take a look. 🙂
Today’s photo has a little how-to if you are a Passport Sunday Member. If you are, then you’ll get this video in addition to hundreds of others.
In today’s video, you’ll see how I used HDR and LUTs to really make the wall stand out. Later, in Photoshop, I get rid of a lot of distractions… and as a bonus, you can hear about our harrowing night we spent inside one of those towers!
Here’s a pretty good perspective of the Great Wall in one of the more mountainous sections. How they built this, I have no idea. They say that there are tons of dead Chinese workers that are actually buried in the wall as they died from the harsh conditions. Somehow, knowing how China works (especially in the olden days), I would not be surprised by this at all.
If you’re one of our awesome Passport Members then you’ll get a fun, quick, and easy tutorial that shows how I made today’s photo.
Today I do a pretty extreme treatment with a little overexposure trick at the end to make all the people feel a little more surreal. (Also, we’ve made a few changes to the site this week and a couple of people reported issues playing the last Passport video. If you are affected by this email [email protected] and he’ll sort you out with a link until we fix the prob. 🙂 )
One thing is for sure about Asian megacities: They really know how to make some cool-looking shopping areas. The lights always call for some sweet sweet night photography. Also, I am pretty much usually the only one out there taking photos. People must be wondering what the hell I am doing. They would come up and ask, but they are too polite. Also, they don’t speak the same language.
I don’t know if that is the official name of this building in Beijing, but that’s what everyone calls it. The building is actually incredibly cool and there are no bad photos of it. I’ve never been inside, but I reckon it’s pretty amazing as well. It’s too bad this place is so far from the old city, so you’re basically stuck in a car in traffic for at least an hour each way just to visit it.
When I got to Beijing a day early, I decided just to get lost and walk around randomly. It’s incredibly safe there, so there was no danger except for a few crazy drivers and wild people on bicycles. It’s one of my favorite places to take street photos, so that’s what I got up to most of the time. Here’s one of the first ones I found… it was a great idea to get lost, but then I actually DID get lost and I could not find my back to the hotel… that made for quite a bit of confusion.
When I went on the “around the world” trip with my family a few years ago, our first stop was in Beijing. Besides the Great Wall, we also visited the Summer Palace. It’s a sprawling layout that is serene and beautiful, as opposed to the rest of a rather dreary Beijing. A lot of old people come here to walk around and get their exercise. This gal was not really doing a lot of that…
When I took the family to see the Summer Palace, we saw all sorts of characters. But this was my first time ever see some dude wearing a cowboy hat and a poncho. I don’t even know where you could buy these things in the city. I wish I spoke Mandarin to find out where he got this getup! 🙂
I thought I knew all Mitch’s work, but this new one just surfaced!
I found a place in the Forbidden City that had about 20 brides there, all competing with their photography team for the best spots. It was quite a funny scene. They were extremely aggressive. A lot of Chinese people are really only looking out for themselves and want to make sure they have the best shots. It’s all kinda weird. One thing that is cool, however, is the Chinese wedding dresses. They are all completely different and most are wildly colorful like this one.
I was randomly walking around when I saw this teacher walk out of the classroom with her students. They were having a big party day. You can tell, because the teacher is wearing her party hat.
