Here’s a scene from Beijing from back in 2013. Sometimes the temptation is to not go out in less than average weather but as this shot shows, it can add a lot more interest to a scene.
Each time I’ve visited China one of the highlights has been to head out and wander randomly. On this day I found myself in some sort of park where there were little bits of cool architecture dotted around. I particularly loved the green and red mix under the sun as I passed by this building.
When I wasn’t getting arrested in Beijing, I spent some time exploring some of the taller buildings looking for interesting views. Here is a little chunk of the city that I found one night… not sure where it was… maybe I should look for clues in the image…
The Temple of Heaven is one of the most famous pilgrimage destinations for Chinese people who come to Beijing to visit structures upon the central axis. It was originally built in the 1400’s. I was invited by the Chinese government to come take special photos of their most important structures, so I was lucky enough to have the military let me into these places early while no one else was around. On this same trip, I was also arrested by the military for flying my drone over the “Forbidden City,” but that is a longer story that ended up with a hilarious ending. Obviously, I made it out of Chinese prison… one of my greatest accomplishments.
From the Worship collection on Foundation.
Picking up the recent theme again, here is another image from the special animated creations for the recent drop on OpenSea.
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.
