Category Archives: skyline

Giant Pandas, a giant lunch, and a giant Buddha

My next-to-last day in the Sichuan province of China was a big one. Giant, even. It started with a trip to Chengdu’s Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding where I got to see everyone’s favorite living plush dolls. The babies were especially cuddly, but were unfortunately kept behind glass and visitors were ushered past fairly quickly as they were being fed their breakfasts:

The bigger fellas were all busy eating or hanging out and napping in trees:

There were also Red Pandas in attendance:

Hard to watch all those critters eat without getting a little famished yourself so, after a decent drive to Leshan, lunch was our first stop. We’d had a lot of buffet meals on this trip so it was nice to have a more traditional meal (although we still didn’t order for ourselves — come to think of it — I don’t think we ever did). Several items were brought out, including:

some kind of a hot bun filled with a melty, brown-sugary filling that was simply amazing,

barbecued beef,

Kung Pao chicken (I was surprised to find out this was an actual thing in China and not an American invention akin to the fortune cookie),

and a sweet and sour chicken that was much more complex than anything I’ve ever encountered in a Chinese restaurant in the States. I think this may have been my favorite meal of the trip and I stuffed myself accordingly.

That’s Leshan, above. The restaurant where we ate was just about on the right edge of the frame in this photo, overlooking the river.

We were in Leshan to see the 233-foot-tall Giant Buddha which, according to Wikipedia, “is the largest stone Buddha in the world and it is by far the tallest pre-modern statue in the world.” The Buddha is carved from a cliff overlooking the river on the far side from the city of Leshan. To view it, we would take a tourist boat out. The boats make a quick pass down-river, then come back up where they take a position just across from the Buddha so that tourists can have their photos taken with the Buddha in the background.

If I ever get back to Leshan, I want to take the time to visit the Giant Buddha from land and explore the trails and stairs that encircle him. This time the river view would have to do, though, and I think it was a good way to take in the scale for a first visit.

Boating back to Leshan:

From here we would be heading for Mount Emei, the highest of the Four Sacred Buddhist Mountains of China. We’d be staying in a hotel at the base, but spending the better part of our last day in China making our way to the top. Before leaving Leshan, we visited the markets to lay in a supply of snacks for our hike:

I love markets like this and especially enjoyed seeing this man with his bicycle modified to haul an oven for roasting sweet potatoes on the back:

One more day in China, and it would be another big one.

Lizhuang, China

After the crazy distillery tour I wrote about in my last post, we seemingly went back in time by visiting the historic village of Lizhuang, China. The riverfront has apparently had quite a bit of recent investment put into it and the buildings have either been restored or rebuilt in an old style to house a variety of shops and restaurants. Here and there along the streets are bronze, life-sized statues depicting daily life.

There was an interesting WWII museum in Lizhuang as well. In 1937, when the Japanese invaded China, many academic institutions relocated to towns like Lizhuang to be a safe distance away from the frontline. The museum tells that story through dioramas, artifacts and artwork:

After the museum, we made our way back to the buses through the less-restored sections of the old town which were, in my opinion, more interesting than the more touristic sites along the river:

The sun just barely broke through the clouds as we neared Yibin, where two rivers join to create the Yangtze River:

Time to check in to the hotel for the night. As it turned out, a group of us would be among the first guests to ever stay in the Crowne Plaza Yibin, which was having a soft opening (possibly just for this tourism event). I would be quite comfortable, if not spoiled, during my stay:

Almuñécar, Spain, on the Tropical Coast

Almunecar, Spain, sits on the Mediteranean Sea, fringed with palm trees. At first glance, it seemed the kind of place I could have spent a lot of time. Happily. We’d had a busy day along the Tropical Coast, however, and we were running a bit late. Sunset was not far off when we arrived in town. I had mapped out a couple of promising looking spots on the beach to photograph the last light and I was rushing to get checked in to the Hotel Suite Albayzin del Mar. The hotel is a spectacularly mirrored palace with sprawling gardens. When I was given my room key, it came with an elevator number, a floor number and the room number. It seems that each elevator only served about four rooms per floor and there weren’t connecting hallways beyond that. When I arrived at my room, I realized the elevator was not the only thing special about this hotel.

The rooms — no, suites — were enormous. This is just the living room half of my main room with a full dining area to the right, out of frame. I opened one door, expecting to find the bathroom and realized it was a full kitchen, with an extension that served as a laundry room. Another door led to a hallway opening onto a bath and two bedrooms. All along the sea-side of the room was a balcony. I dropped by bags and rushed out to assess the situation regarding the remaining light.

Out on the balcony, the view to the old town was stunning, as were the pools, fountains and gardens of the hotel property.

Looking west, I could see that the sun was already dipping behind a hill, so my time with any remaining sunlight was very limited. I decided to ditch my plans to head for the beach, and I made an executive decision to make what photos I could from the balcony and other parts of the hotel property.

As it turned out, I didn’t feel overly limited in subject matter. I loved this view through the trees of the old church catching the last rays of the sun. That was made from a raised area above and behind the pool seen below.

The pools themselves were amazing. This one had a sunken bar in the middle and a grotto filled with twinkling lights.

I dashed around the property taking time-exposures on the tripod until the light failed and my battery was dead. It wasn’t the evening that I had expected, but it was a productive one and I had enjoyed myself immensely.

The next morning I was up before sunrise and caught some more beautiful views of the old city to the east of the hotel. Not long after, I was back in the van and headed to the next town.

Kansas State Capitol

For five years I had an office just around the corner from the State Capitol in Topeka, Kansas. At the time we signed the lease on the place in 2003, I thought it would make for a great opportunity for me to build my library of Capitol photos. After all, I’d walk to work every day so I’d pass the building several times a week in all sorts of weather. What I didn’t realize was that the Capitol was about to undergo a long, long renovation. A renovation that would have it covered in scaffolding for the bulk of the time I officed downtown. When we moved to Lawrence six years ago, it was still impossible to get a clean shot of the most iconic building in Kansas. Only a few weeks ago did the work finish and the scaffolding and cranes came down. In the end, the copper on the dome had been replaced so the green patina is no more and the dome now has the dull sheen of a new-ish penny.

I photographed the interior a couple of weeks ago but with Spring finally arriving, I decided it was time to get back to updating my exterior photo files. Any photos of this building made prior to 2014 are now dated due to the new dome, so I’ll be continuing to revisit the Capitol many times in the coming year(s). Last night I got started by setting up shop on 9th Street — probably the best view of the Capitol if you want to see it in context to downtown. Until about 10 years ago, this was the one downtown intersection that still had historic buildings on all four corners. The northwest corner (in the distant right in this view) has since been redeveloped with a retail/parking structure, but this angle still remains one of the most “historic” views.

Here are a few more images made while waiting for the sun to set last night and experimenting with some different post-processing effects. All are from more or less the same position but shot with lenses of different focal lengths, each giving more or less prominence to the Capitol in relation to the other downtown buildings.

Tulsa, Oklahoma

Last week I was in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and I spent a good deal of my time there marveling at the incredible art deco architecture. Here are a few shots from my five days there, in no particular order…

Cáceres, Spain

We spent two nights in Caceres, Spain – the only time on the trip that we would have more than one night in one place. Even so, having a full day in this city was not enough. The old, walled portion of the city alone (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) is worthy of several days of exploration.

We arrived after dark so a pre-breakfast walk on my own was my first real chance to see this ancient city. I took a map with me, but enjoyed just wandering and getting lost a little, too.

A quick tour of the Atrio Hotel and Restaurant revealed the dual roof-top pools (above left). And the peacock that seemed to live next door (below).

Some things, I have no explanation for (above).

In the afternoon, we had a cooking demonstration at the Restaurante El Corregidor. Next time you fix wild boar at home, it should look something like this (above). Then, a few free moments to find a spot to try and catch the last light on the towers of Caceres:

The Parador in Caceres was another stunner. This one built inside a Renaissance Palace. Here are a couple of quick shots from my room, so that you know I wasn’t suffering too much:

I could have stayed much longer in this city, but there was more of Extremadura to see…

Wichita’s Keeper of the Plains

I had a free evening in Wichita last week in between two assignments and decided to update some of my stock photography of that city. I’ve had twilight skyline shots that have done well over the years, especially one where the lights were reflected in the Arkansas River as it cuts through downtown. My initial thought was to update this shot in particular, but the great drought of 2012 caused me to change those plans slightly.

Wichita’s downtown has changed in recent years so I knew I’d need to change my angle of view from my old shooting location to a new one that would include more of the recent landmarks. Using Google Maps, I located downtown and the Exploration Place — which is built out into the river and has a very identifiable shape — and tracked back along a line that would allow me to get both in a shot with the river as a nice foreground. As it happened, it looked like another landmark would make an ideal foreground: The Keeper of the Plains by by Kiowa-Comanche artist Blackbear Bosin. First erected in 1974, it was raised onto a new stone outcropping at the confluence of the Arkansas and Little Arkansas Rivers in 2006. A pair of footbridges echo the sculpture’s shape and provide access to pedestrians and bikes.

Upon my arrival, it was clear that there was not enough water in the Arkansas to make my initially envisioned shot happen. Here’s the best I could do:

Tough to see at this size, but the river is so low that only about a quarter of the skyline is reflected as compared to what normally would be. Luckily there is a bit of a dam on the Little Arkansas at this point so I was able to salvage a shot by crossing on over to the north bank and shooting back at the sculpture and foot bridges as seen in the shot at the top of this post. I got several variations from this point with varying degrees of sunset and twilight and am happy with what I came away with. I’ll just need to keep this spot on my to-do list for next year when the water will hopefully be higher again.

Roaming the rooftops

If there’s one thing I love, it’s getting access to a new vantage point and finding a new angle on a familiar photo subject. Having lived in Topeka, Kansas, for a much of my life, there are a lot of familiar subjects around but not that many new angles. So when my friend Doug Stremel mentioned that he and fellow Gizmo guy, Jeff Carson, were heading up to the top of the old Jayhawk Tower Hotel building the other night, I made sure I got myself invited along.

I grew up seeing those neon Jayhawks glowing over downtown Topeka. Next to the Capitol building itself, the twin birds might be most recognizable elements of the Topeka skyline. I’ve been in the building many times — way back when it was a hotel and more recently after its conversion to offices — but I’d never been on the roof before.

All-in-all, it was a great night. It’s always fun to hang around with Doug and Jeff but this was a particularly special evening. Thanks to them for letting me tag along and I hope to shoot with you both again soon. Or just drink beer. I’m pretty flexible. Thanks, too, to the folks at the Jayhawk Tower for letting us on their roof.

Here are a few behind-the-scenes shots — some are mine, others are courtesy of Jeff and Doug, the Gizmo guys:

Year in Review: 2011

Travel started earlier than usual for me in 2011 with a short trip to San Diego in January. The warm weather was welcome as we were having one of our snowiest years on record back home:

In early April, I escaped the cold once more for a couple of weeks in Fiji. I was there for a Society of American Travel Writers Freelance Council meeting. It was my last year as Chair of the Freelance Council and Fiji would be the last Council meeting under my term. It was a great meeting and a wonderful destination. One of my favorite memories was an evening on the beach with a bunch of fire dancers. There’s not much that’s more fun to shoot than people spinning burning torches on a beach at sunset. If you haven’t tried it, take my word for it.

It was very warm in Fiji — even without the fire. A jet boat trip up the Sigatoka River was the only time I remember actually feeling chilly:

If those cliffs look familiar, I was told that some of the scenery for Avatar was shot in that area.

I wasn’t back in the states for more than a week before driving to Ohio for a couple of stories. I made sure to schedule in another trip to Hocking Hills to try and get some waterfall shots. The last time I’d tried, it was an unusually dry season and it was like the tap had been turned off. Much better results this year.

Back home in June, I managed to photograph a few Kansas events that had eluded me for years. One was the Symphony in the Flint Hills (which is just as amazing as it sounds — an orchestra playing out in the middle of acres and acres of tallgrass prairie and rolling hills) and the reenactment of the Battle of Black Jack. Here’s a shot of “John Brown” from that day:

A trip to Colorado and over the Continental Divide followed. Here’s a lake that sits nearly on the Divide at Milner’s Pass, elevation 10,759 feet:

Quite a few regional shoots followed which I’ll share later after the stories have run. In September, we were on the road again making a big loop through southeastern Iowa:

and down the Mississippi to Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Here’s a shot of the Louisiana State Capitol:

Rounding out the year in November was one more trip over the Pacific, across the equator and the International Dateline to New Zealand. This was SATW’s Annual Convention and I officially ended my term as Chair of the Freelance Council and became the much less encumbered Immediate Past Chair. I truly enjoyed my two years in office and serving on the Society’s Board of Directors but it will also be good to step away for a bit and re-focus on my photography business. The New Zealand Convention was great and I especially loved the four days I spent afterward exploring the Southland from Dunedin down to Stewart Island. Here’s one from the Otago Peninsula near Dunedin:

And I’ll leave you with flowers that were blooming in Queens Park in Invercargill, NZ. It’s not bad to end a year with a second season of Spring:

Back from New Zealand

Two weeks in New Zealand just flew by. I was there to attend the Annual Convention of the Society of American Travel Writers (SATW) held this year in Wellington. Prior to the Convention, I was in Auckland for the Society’s Board meeting. I’ve served as the Chair of the Freelance Council for the last two years — my term ended on the final night of the Wellington Convention. I’ve enjoyed my time on the Board immensely but also look forward to taking some time off to return more focus to my own freelance business. I have lots of thoughts floating around for tweaking my business model and will now have the time to start implementing some of those ideas. 2012 promises to be an exciting year. More on that as it happens.

Since I didn’t have time to post while in New Zealand, I’ll share images now as I go through post-processing. First up is a shot I took on Day One in Auckland. I had just landed that morning and took advantage of some rare free time to walk the city and get my bearings. This is a kinetic sculpture on the waterfront with Auckland’s iconic Sky Tower in the background.

Michael C. Snell photography blog

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