Bloody tourists

[Kaitain]

I had 5 minutes to spare to upload my memory sticks to the machine. I now have just shy of half a gig of photos, but I won't inflict them all on you

Here are a couple just to make people envious:-
#1 is inspired by dod's, and danrock's, amazing photos of the leading edges of the wings of the planes on which they were travelling. Unfortunately I was seated just behind the trailing edge.

#2 is a bunch of hills

#3 is a brick wall on the top of some hills

#4 is another brick wall, at night, at the south edge of Tiananmen Square (I know it has an apostrophe somewhere, I can't remember where). Sorry about the camera shake, but I had to knock the EV up a bit and don't have a tripod.

In all cases I've tweaked the histogram to bring out the colours - the picture on the plane was somewhat distorted by my choice of filter. Apart from that, I haven't bothered with cropping and framing: I'm feeling more hungry than artistic right now.

[chrisbard]

WOW, just WOW! What is written on the wing of the plane? Tx for sharing.

[Kaitain]

Originally Posted by chrisbard

What is written on the wing of the plane?

My translator tells me that the text is, "Zhong Guo Dong Fan Hang Kong" - "China Eastern Airlines". I should've been able to guess from what was written on the boarding pass... I'm a little distracted though.

[Gizmo]

Originally Posted by Kaitain

#3 is a brick wall on the top of some hills

Sheesh! Talk about British reserve and understatement!

One of the seven wonders of the ancient world is 'a brick wall on the top of some hills'.

[~* InSoM *~]

well that is all it is though, wall on a hill that is falling down!!!

Look at the pyramids, i Pile of old discarded bricks... cant get any more precise than that

[Gizmo]

I'm sure the people who died building both of them would disagree.

[chrisbard]

Muahahahaaha, the only human building that can be seen from the Mars, or was it Moon? Anyway nobody went there so it's just bull$#@%. But maybe from orbiting earth you can have a great view of this wonder.

[Kaitain]

Originally Posted by ~* InSoM *~

well that is all it is though, wall on a hill that is falling down!!!

From what I could see, looking through someone else's long-lensed camera, the wall is actually holding up rather well, considering its age. I rather doubt my house will last that long; it was, after all, built by Balfour Beatty instead of a bunch of motivated Ming types.

The part of the wall I was on was unfortunately one of the parts earmarked for tourism, so had been "restored". In China this is shorthand for "replaced, using original methods" so the bits I was standing on are probably somewhat younger than 50 years old. The bits I could see through the other person's camera were much the same only with weeds growing along the path and some battlements fallen in. It was pretty amazing being where I was even so...

[hoinar]

Originally Posted by ~* InSoM *~

well that is all it is though, wall on a hill that is falling down!!!

Look at the pyramids, i Pile of old discarded bricks... cant get any more precise than that

british..

[Daniel ~]

The Great wall is the only man made object visible from Moon.

insom, you need to build a brick fireplace or a house or a wall.

The great wall is an accomplishment Neither of our nations has yet to match. It required a unification of effort and national will played out over hundreds of years we have yet to dream of.

They spent longer to build that one aspect of China than Amercia has been in existence.

The sear difficulty of the task and it's cost would, even with modern equipment, BREAK any modern nation that tried to undertake it.

They archived all of this from an agrarian base and a largely illiterate population.

You need to build something to get a feel for what you have yet to appreciate properly. Easy to dismiss, very difficult to emulate...yes?

BTW the Great wall is almost entirely intact, given the terrain upon which it was build, an incredible accomplishment.

Ask Kaitain how long it would take him just to walk, not build, just to walk it's length.

[~* InSoM *~]

I was only joking about that, seems i rubbed a few nerves the wrong way, which i appologise...

I actually love old architechture such as the wall, and other accomplishments, and find it absolutely amazing how they could actually build something in that day of age, for which we might actually struggle with today with modern equipment.

I would sell my all my limbs to actually get the chance to see even one of these, Kaitain, you have my envy, and probably alot of people here )

Hope you enjoy(ed) the trip...

[Daniel ~]

I was hoping that might be the case":O}

[Kaitain]

Quick question for the photographic experts here -- how do these compare vs. my first efforts of random snapping in Wiesbaden the other month?

[dod]

Lot better

The wing shot is down to luck, where you're sitting and whether or not a kids smeared ice cream down your window.You've been fairly lucky

second is fine, well enough composed but there seems to be a bluish colour cast? Is that natural or did it appear when you tweaked the levels?

Third is well composed but I'd probably have cropped off the bit with the people

Fourth suffers shake as you say but will always remind you of the moment

A nice little collection I'd say

[Daniel ~]

Well I'm no expert, but the difference in scenery seems quite apparent, surprised nobodies pointed that out.

[Gizmo]

Originally Posted by dod

Lot better
second is fine, well enough composed but there seems to be a bluish colour cast? Is that natural or did it appear when you tweaked the levels?

Looks like distance haze on a humid day to me? Notice that the nearest foreground items don't have the cast, and it gets worse the further out you go?

[dod]