A Photo Walkthrough Chongqing: In Search of Nature Amidst Skyscrapers!

[manojodungat]

I am not a ‘Photopro’. I loved my drawings during my school/college days, the habit eventually faded away, thanks to the pressure of work-related stress. I still love art, I don’t claim myself to be an artist though. 12 years later, I realize photography is what hits my soul spot the most and hence my medium of expression and ‘Nature’ my subject. A session of walking through woods and ‘clicking’ helps me take away all the daily stresses, eventually achieving the ultimate “flow”.

I had my blinders on for most part of my life but it is only recently that I started stopping and looking around mother nature. Yes, I am amazed as to what the nature has on offer. Birds are my most favorite targets. In our daily life we don’t quite get close to them to appreciate how graceful they are. It’s only when I started zooming in to capture them, I started to fall in love with them and their behavior.

After seeing some of the bird shots, friends of mine often don’t believe that they were shot at places they pass by all the time. It is only that we just don't take the time to look around and enjoy them. Or is it that a person behind the lens sees things differently than others ?

Firstly, a bit of what Chongqing is like.



I live in Chongqing, most part of the year. Chongqing is one of China's directly controlled four municipalities, the other three being Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin. During Sino-Japanese war, Chongqing used to be the wartime Capital of China back in 1973-1945.

Geographycally, Chongqing isn’t plain but mountainous, spreading across a number of low hills. The surrounding mountains seem to trap the heat, hence quite humid and hot during summer. Winter on the other hand gets very cold, very close to 0 C . Due to this summer heat, Chongqing is known as one of China's "Three Furnaces", the other two being Wuhan and Nanjing.

It isn’t yet hot enough though, this year. But what I dislike is the fact that this city is covered with a thick layer of fog most of the days due to which it is also known as"Fog City" in addition to "the Furnace.

The main features of the downtown area are the hilly slopes. I happened to climb up onto one of those hills recently to capture this shot.


My photo walk will continue… ! ​

 

[manojodungat]

Re: A Photo Walk through Chongqing, in search of Nature amidst Skyscrapers!

Great Hall of the People (Chongqing)

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Also called as Chongqing People's Auditorium, this architectural symbol is a large hall for political meetings and cultural events. It’s a huge auditorium about 55 meters high. I was told that the hall can hold over 4,200 people.​

Opposite to this hall is the Three Gorges Museum. A five minute walk from the Hall takes you to the Museum. Took some long shots of the Hall as I walked towards the Museum. Visibility was poor thanks to the thick fog = ‘Fog city”.​

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[Fyzy09]

Re: A Photo Walk through Chongqing, in search of Nature amidst Skyscrapers!

Very nice start.. Keep more of those aerial shots coming..
Your visits are on leisure or business??

 

[manojodungat]

Re: A Photo Walk through Chongqing, in search of Nature amidst Skyscrapers!

Your visits are on leisure or business??

The latter best suited

Three Gorges Museum [Chongqing]:

The museum showcases the history of settlement in the Chongqing region. It actually exhibits artifacts that were rescued from land to be covered by the waters of the reservoir created behind the Three Gorges Dam. The main focus of the museum is on the culture and geography of the Three Gorges region and construction of the dam. Huge area ad well maintained but put off by the fact that everything was described and labeled in Chinese, hence didn’t bother to take many pictures.

Display about the 3 Gorges Dam at the Museum depicting hardships men underwent at the construction site.



By the time I came out after having spent a couple of hours inside the Museum it already started getting darker.


After dinner, had a spin along the Jialing River that evening before getting back home.

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Chongqing Hua Yan Tourist Spot:
My most favourite spot and my weekend getaway.
It’s a green spot, surprisingly in the middle of an urban built up area of Chongqing City. It has a Buddhist monastery . I usually make a visit there during every weekends. The green valley on a small lake is very much inviting and a 3-4 hour walk around listening to birds singing is definitely worth it, at least for me.



My photo walk will continue… !​

 

[manojodungat]

Nanshan Botanical Garden


Visited Nanshan Botanical Garden a couple of weeks back. A wonderful setting, up the Nanshan Mountain, both indoor and outdoor. A very well maintained green park. Had a couple of hours of walk around. Won’t be visiting again thanks to the huge and suffocating crowd and the unnatural feel all around.

Back to my favorite location = Hua Yan.

There is no better fun than getting frame-filling images of these small and fast avian friends.







Keep seeing, keep exploring, never stop learning.



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[manojodungat]

Hua Yan Exploration continues !

The water body out here, welcomes you with lovely flowers like these by July-August, but now it looks a bit dry.


Some spring shots.




Meditation ?

 

[manojodungat]

This time some shots to get a picture of what road/ traffic is like here. It’s not a highway but a small street way away from the city centre. Clicked these as I walked towards Hua Yan.




The "Enjoy" in its original Avatar !




Back to Hua Yan !

Though it was dark, this Redstart was very cooperative that day. Some high ISO shots and cropping didn’t help either. Some of the useable one from the series.

 

[arunprasad]

Fantastic shots , especially the birds. What gear you use ?

 

[manojodungat]

Fantastic shots , especially the birds. What gear you use ?

Used my Nikon d610 + D7000 + Sigma 150-500 + Sigma 105/2.8 + Samyang 14/2.8 + Nikon 50/1.8

You seem to be an enthusiast as well. Welcome on board and have a pleasant stay here.

 

[arunprasad]

Used my Nikon d610 + D7000 + Sigma 150-500 + Sigma 105/2.8 + Samyang 14/2.8 + Nikon 50/1.8

You seem to be an enthusiast as well. Welcome on board and have a pleasant stay here.

Thanks. That's a great collections of lenses.

 

[manojodungat]

Thanks. That's a great collections of lenses.

Pictures below were shot using the 105/2.8.

The days when our avian friends stay away, I quickly change my gear and enter the amazing world of ‘smaller’ friends. Close-ups / Macros offer great potential as you don’t have to search for your subjects.

All these were shot handheld without any additional lighting/flash.

 

[arunprasad]

Excellent macro shots. That 2.8 does wonders. All your shots (wide angle, macro, birds) are outstanding.

 

[manojodungat]

Excellent macro shots. That 2.8 does wonders. All your shots (wide angle, macro, birds) are outstanding.

Thanks Arun.
BTW, Are you a nikonian or a canon user ?

Lot of white-browed laughingthrush around here.


This baby white-browed laughingthrush ! Found this beautiful baby bird resting at an isolated place, very well protected by small little branches all around. I silently took a picture and left. Can't take my eyes off this picture of this beautiful little bird.


As I was about to returning that day after the sun down. But then this little fellow landed right in front of me with its prey = ISO 6400 shot.



In no time he finished his supper.




The other day, this fellow too was spotted at a similar time of the day. Looks like a Red Billed Leothrix.

 

[arunprasad]

Thanks Arun.
BTW, Are you a nikonian or a canon user ?

I use Canon. Started as one and sticking with it. But Nikon's DR is tempting at times. Excellent series . Keep posting !!

 

[manojodungat]

I use Canon. Started as one and sticking with it. But Nikon's DR is tempting at times. Excellent series . Keep posting !!

Thanks again Arun.

Whether it's Nikon or Canon or any other brand, the eyes and imagination [ or lack of it ] behind the lens is what matters the most. My approach has always been to get closer to the soul of my subject/s rather than concentrating meagerly on just following 'rule of thirds' and sharpness [read over-sharpness].

Getting closer to the subject has always been the key, for me. It's definitely a challenge to capture fast moving tiny birds at proximity, but that is exactly what drives me out with my camera whenever there is some free time available.