Called the New Frontier in China, Xinjiang, a large area spanning 1.6 million km2, the largest province of China, 1/6 of its land territory. My trip started from Bangkok on May 20, stop midway at Chengdu for a one-day vocation and to team up my other travel friends. We arrived at Urumqi, the capital city of Xinjiang on May 22, and started this 12 days trip, ending at Urumqi on June 2. Without doubt, this would be the start of a series of trips coming and many more images.
And we got an early wake up, remain half sleep in the car, 2 hours later we arrived the spot we came in the first day, cold, but we are ready to enter the field! Bayanbulak morning presents a different beauty. Serene, tranquil, somewhat cold, but it was the kind of cold before warmth. I took 2 Nikon with me, a D3X with 24-70 zoom and a D3 with 70-200 zoom, walked on the frost covered grassland, composing the scenery surrounded me. And by the way, a compact Canon G10 in my pocket. This image, taken with Nikon D3X + AF-S 24-70/2.8G ED. Quiet early morning allows the water in this small pond a total stillness.
Thin ice on the water, although this is in early summer, Bayanbulak can still get quite cold during the night. I snap this image using the Canon G10 inside my pocket, although a small camera, it is capable of capturing nice detail image. As I have repeat perhaps too many times, keep a pocket camera such as Canon G10 in your pocket when traveling, or whenever you go, is not a bad idea. My Canon G10 has proved its value over and over, at least it is to me. I have absolutely no problem shooting with it side by side with larger DSLR or even medium format digital cameras. And speaking of pocket size, without question, the Sigma Dp-1 that I also bring along, or the DP-2 I bought after this trip, is even a better option. A buffalo crossing the pond. Shot with Nikon D3X and AF-S VR 70-200/2.8G IF-ED.Also shot with Nikon D3X with the 70-200/2.8 zoom, capture this pair of duck cruising on the river.With the temperature getting warmer, the clear and bright view in front of us is a majestically display of high mountain ranges, Xinjiang, such beautiful, and in such grand scale, also shot with Nikon D3X and 70-200/2.8 zoom.Frosted grasses under the warm morning sun. Shot with Canon G10.A wild dog crossing the water, this image shot with Nikon D3X with AF-S VR 70-200/2.8G IF-ED.Thin ice remained on the surface of small stream. Canon G10.A lonely yak looking over the horizon. Capture with Canon G10.My lovely wife, Pook, climbed on the steep hill to try to get a better point of image making, with her G10.spring just on the road side, clear, I drank it, nice!
Finally reach our destination, one of the highlight of this trip - Bayanbulak 巴音布魯克. Our ultimate goal , the sunset shot over the winding rivers 九曲十八灣. After a few days of poor weather, we arrived Bayanbulak city last night, along the way witnessed greatly improved weather, beautiful sky, and of course lots of pictures. We left our hotel early afternoon, saw the clear sky, and the formation of clouds starts to worry us again. Debates begun as our location, where we projected the sun will set, the clouds, uncertainty develped in our mind if we will get the sunset shot we want, or more specifically, Wanbing 萬兵 wanted, this will be where he produce his master piece, as he planed. We won't know until we get there! And we won't know when sunset eventually happened! Wondering, our minds still struggle between doubts of the sunset Wanbing dreamed about, and we all wish it to come true; but the beautiful scenery appears in front our eye, one after another, still caught us and too often we stop and take pictures. While planning the shot with Huang Zhen, my lovely wife took this picture for us from the other spot, by the cliff, with a compact Canon G10. I am the one in the front, closer to the cliff, with Huang Zhen behind me. I was training the Nikon D3X with AF-S 24-70/2.8G ED, on my shoulder was the D3 + AF-S VR 70-200/2.8G. And this is the shot took one hour later, a little further away, using a Nikon D3X with AF-S VR 70-200/2.8G IF-ED, original file size is 10,975X2,775pixels, stitched of 4 captures, using Photoshop CS4 photomerge. During this Xinjiang trip I made use lots of CS4 photomerge for my panoramic works. In comparison to my medium format camera, P45+, although it produced larger and sharper image file, but still, a single shot of 39-million pixels image still cannot compare to the impact of multiple-shot stitch panoramic image using camera such as Nikon D3X. And shooting sunset picture in Xinjiang is a great pleasure for photographers, big challenge for the drivers, and tiring wait for those who travel with the photographers, in this case, my wife, but luckily, she does enjoy great view, and the process of creativity. Shooting in late May for sunset in Xinjiang, and in Banyanbulak where the spot we are shooting is away from the nearest city hotel we stayed about 2.5 hours. Considering we are waiting for the last light of day, we are well into 10pm of the day, and our dinner time well past 12. Nevertheless, a great image worth every second of getting it done. This one shot with D3X, with AF-S VR 70-200/2.8G IF-ED.
And this one a 7-shot stitch by Nikon D3X + PC-E Macro 45/2.8. From the other side of vintage point, with D3X + AF-S VR 70-200/2.8G IF-ED. Observing the mounting snow storm, Nikon D3X + AF-S VR 70-200/2.8G IF-ED. And the sunset shot, D3X with PC-E Nikkor 45/2.8ED And this one, took by my wife while I was training the camera, my beloved Contax 645 and Phase One P45+, mounted with the beautiful Carl Zeiss Super-APO TPP 300/2.8. One of my rare picture. And this one, the image I was taking while the image above was taken. With the Carl Zeiss Super-APO TPP 300/2.8, with Contax 645 using MAM-1 adapter, Phase One P45+. Perhaps not the best sunset view today, but we cannot say we were unlucky. We had great time watching the beautiful sunset over the beautiful winding river, may be not picture perfect, but it really does not matter, at least it is to me. We are the last group left the hill, Neo still have 2 hours ride to take us back to the hotel, it is already 10pm, another late dinner. We did not realize how hungry we were, the joyfulness still keep our focus around the show the great nature just presented to us a moment ago. Huangzhen reminded us the Xinjiang bread kept in the car, a small highlight in the journey back to hotel, through darkness. It was almost 1am when we arrived at our hotel, settled ourselves on the dinner table to realize it is Dragon Boat Festival 端午節, we all enjoy some Zongzi 粽子, a tradition for all Chinese dated back to 278 BC, in memory of Qu Yuan, a poet and stateman of the Chu Kingdom during the Warring States period - tens of years before China became an empire, the Qin Dynasty. Enough of history, and we have ourselves a nice feast. By what we all agreed during the ride back, we are going to have an early wake up, go back to the location we stopped the first evening in, for possible sunrise pictures, and we better rest soon!
After a good night rest, we have a rare late wake up in the morning. After a good breakfast, we have some time to retire back to our room to prepare our gears, memory cards, and took some time working on the computer to organize those images took earlier in the trip, and to back up them to a removable hard drive. I have never been to Bayanbulak, but from the varies pictures, I gathered what it is like. And from where we stay, it is around 2.5 hours away from the viewpoint. We have decided to leave around 3pm, and may be we should have a late lunch, because by the time pf sunset and to drive all the way back to hotel, the dinner will be midnight again, and so we all took a little nap, wake up to lunch, 3pm, it is time to go. The weather looks good, but we are expecting to also have some clouds to reflect the last light of the sun to capture more dramatic reflection on the winding river. We hope! Moving toward Bayanbulak, we started to comprehend how beautiful it is, we drove thru this area last night in total darkness, so the view along the highway to view point is a pleasure ride, and long ride, because we stop so often. An image took by using tiny but mighty Canon G10.These two, with Nikon D3X and AF-S VR 70-200/2.8G IF-ED. A shephard on horse tends his sheep.Continue to move on the highway cut thru the beautiful grassland, we took more picture along the way, while a little worry brew in our mind as we can see the clouds reappear again after 2 days clear sky, but on the other hand, the sky might as well reflect the color from the setting sun to bring more vibrancy to our sunset shot. Leave such worry for now, with Nikon D3, few more images here.Nikon D3 and AF-S VR 70-200/2.8G IF-ED, clouds.Snow starts to fall in nearby mountain, Nikon D3.Vista, Nikon D3 again with AF-S VR 70-200/2.8G IF-ED.Imminent snow storm?
Nobody in the car as happy as Wanbing 萬兵, after all, Bayanbulak is for him the highlight of the entire trip, and against all odds, we finally made it here and just finished a short session of shoot. Driving in almost total darkness heading to hotel, the plan for tomorrow is finally set - we will have a good ight rest, easy morning so that Neo can get a maintenance for his car, we charge up ourselves, cameras and computers or whatever, then we will go to Bayanbulak for sunset shot. It is a clear night, discussion moved to what we wish tomorrow weather will be, and hope for the best. And I suggested to Wanbing may be to do some shooting for star, to test the Nikon D3 for long time exposure, as well as Wanbing's Canon 5D2. We arrived at the hotel at midnight, while Huang Zheng, Neo and Pook went to restaurant to order our dinner, Wanbing and I gather our gear and ran to the roof of the 4 storey hotel building to set up our cameras for the stars. We will leave the camera expose and run to restaurant for dinner, I use the shutter released cable to lock shutter B, take a look at my watch, and go to dinner. On our dinner table, I found the lavish dishes, and a bottle of white wine contributed fromWanbing, finally here in Bayanbulak, we congratulate ourselves, cheer to each other. Pook told me while waiting for the dish and Wanbing and myself to return to table, Neo gave her a tutorial of what we have journey so far and what we will be going to, and using the Canon G10 to record our route.
Between dinner and removing bags to hotel room, and preparing the gear for tomorrow shoot, I made a ew exposures of the night sky, uisng variest set up to try to get the best night image. It was cold, battery drains quickly. I made a succession of captures using Nikon D3 and AF-S 24-70/2.8G ED and AF-S 14-24/2.8G ED, between around 15-30 minutes. Some pictures here for reference, strong wind and the cooking smoke or turbine steam from the hotel we stay and probably the other restaurant clound the sky, not as clear as I hope it will be, but it is late and I ran thru 2 batteies, it was almost 2am and I told myself, time to go to bed!
If the definition of "photo-graphy" is painting or draw by light, then the photographer is the one who chases light, and it is exact what we do. However in Xinjiang, chasing light means you drive to the location and find your own spot, and in this early summer, and with Chinese time, the sunset is very well around 10pm, and still that base on how long we want to stay over afer sunset to try to get the last glimpse light over the horizon. But, often you have to deal with yet another long ride back to the resting point, and sometimes it means hours, and it is exactly like that in Bayanbuak. So the best advise: go to Xinjiang, you need a good guide and better to be a good guy, and a good car, he will take you to where you want to go, but most important, take you back safely, no matter how late, or how early, because for us the photographer, waiting for sunset is one kep subject, waiting for sunrise is yet another key subject.....and Neo, succeeded and went beyond the scope of what you would expect from a good guide and driver. Hours of driving across the grand mountain faces, we finally on the highway moving toward Bayanbulak, and just about sun about to set, we came to this spot, and make some of last pictures we will take for today, and what a beautiful end of of day - at least to us. For Neo, it is yet another 2-3 hours drive to our hotel, in total darkness. This one taken with a Nikon D3X with AF-S 24-70/2.8G ED, Wanbing is in this picture making his mater piece.This one, by my beautiful wife, Pook, with a Canon G10. A good example of how much a small camera can do. Tip: Don't leave home without one.This one also with Canon G10, a panoramic image stitched of 4 captures, original size 10,119X2,871 pixelsThis one, with Nikon D3X and AF-S 24-70/2.8G ED.D3 with AF-S VR 70-200/2.8G IF-ED.It was freezing cold and time to go, Neo still have more than 2 hours driving to reach our hotel, besides, everyone started to feel a little hungry, and it was 10pm already!
Happy as we are, the road to Bayanbulak 巴音布魯克草原 is not with obstacles. We have to climb and cross this section of great Tien Shan 天山, on winding road over faces of mountain (local calls 大阪), we are still hours away and Huang Zheng continue to warn that we will very possible miss the sunset if we stop photography too often! Warning is a matter, incapable of stopping is another. While continue to ascent, we were again move above snow line, approx. 3,000 meters above sea level and the road becomes slippery. But what a beautiful ride! Took quite a few pictures using Nikon D3X with AF-S VR 70-200/2.8G IF-ED.The shepherd and the herds of sheep on the grassland.Sheep on the snow-melting hillBeautiful winding roads and views, also with Nikon D3X.Pook and Neo牛哥Some shots with Nikon D3 with AF-S 24-70/2.8G ED, the strong wind ripple the surface of the snow.This one a closer shot, using Canon G10.But soon we arrived at a section where the entire road was blocked for paving, totally stop the traffic from both direction of highway. Coming this far, we are certainly not willing to accept to have to wait for hours before the heavy road paving machine to clear itself, while waiting, Neo went on to survey alternative route, and it did not take long to find out, and we ended up have a short section of exciting off-road - watch the video. And finally, the road becomes smooth again, and we are heading to Bayanbulak! Everybody is happy!
Professional industrial designer and run my own design and engineering studio in Shanghai & Thailand. Also work as a professional photographer with my own production studios in Bangkok.
This image, taken with Nikon D3X + AF-S 24-70/2.8G ED. Quiet early morning allows the water in this small pond a total stillness.
Thin ice on the water, although this is in early summer, Bayanbulak can still get quite cold during the night. I snap this image using the Canon G10 inside my pocket, although a small camera, it is capable of capturing nice detail image. As I have repeat perhaps too many times, keep a pocket camera such as Canon G10 in your pocket when traveling, or whenever you go, is not a bad idea. My Canon G10 has proved its value over and over, at least it is to me. I have absolutely no problem shooting with it side by side with larger DSLR or even medium format digital cameras. And speaking of pocket size, without question, the Sigma Dp-1 that I also bring along, or the DP-2 I bought after this trip, is even a better option.
Also shot with Nikon D3X with the 70-200/2.8 zoom, capture this pair of duck cruising on the river.
With the temperature getting warmer, the clear and bright view in front of us is a majestically display of high mountain ranges, Xinjiang, such beautiful, and in such grand scale, also shot with Nikon D3X and 70-200/2.8 zoom.
Frosted grasses under the warm morning sun. Shot with Canon G10.
A wild dog crossing the water, this image shot with Nikon D3X with AF-S VR 70-200/2.8G IF-ED.
Thin ice remained on the surface of small stream. Canon G10.
A lonely yak looking over the horizon. Capture with Canon G10.
My lovely wife, Pook, climbed on the steep hill to try to get a better point of image making, with her G10.
spring just on the road side, clear, I drank it, nice!
