Winter Beijing

[vincent9999]

After 4 days stay @ Bashang, took a bus to Beijing and dropped off @ JinShanLing 金山岭. It's -20 on the greatwall but I felt much better than Bashang.....

#1 JinShanLing Greatwall, evening

#2

#3 JinShanLing Greatwall, morning

 

[vincent9999]

#4 The Temple of Heaven

#5 The Forbidden City

#6

#7

 

[vincent9999]

#8 Hutong

#9

#10 Prince Gong's Palace 恭王府

Thanks for viewing

 

[kenkht]

Fantastic, my fav is #2 :thumbsup:

 

[muzikbug]

so far Jinshanling is my favourite stretch of Great Wall. did it during autumn though... the winter atmosphere is fantastic!
did you trek all the way to Simatai?

 

[lkkang]

#4 The Temple of Heaven

This is good :thumbsup:

 

[vincent9999]

Fantastic, my fav is #2 :thumbsup:

#2 was a coincidence: I took it while waiting for an elderly photog (whom we met @ greatwall) climbing down from a watchtower (敌&#27004

so far Jinshanling is my favourite stretch of Great Wall. did it during autumn though... the winter atmosphere is fantastic!
did you trek all the way to Simatai?

No we're not interested in Simatai. We're eyeing on (1) JinShanLing (2) 蟠龙山 (in between JinShanLing and GuBeiKou古北&#21475 (3) JianKou箭扣. At the end we picked JinShanLing

This is good :thumbsup:

Thanks. Visited there twice and eventually managed to get a good lighting condition

 

[nyxx88]

First time I saw the Forbidden City totally empty! It was SOOOOO packed with people when I was there

 

[Lokomotiv]

Very good photos. We should have 4 seasons in Singapore, shouldn't we.

 

[Six-GHz]

First time I saw the Forbidden City totally empty! It was SOOOOO packed with people when I was there

Agreed! How did you manage to take these attractions WITHOUT the tourists? Is it due to the weather? This is one skill I need to learn!

 

[vincent9999]

First time I saw the Forbidden City totally empty! It was SOOOOO packed with people when I was there

Yes it's very packed even during winter. But still you can make some effort to avoid the crowd.

Very good photos. We should have 4 seasons in Singapore, shouldn't we.

You can fly to countries nearby to enjoy different seasons yet no need to suffer inconveniences (eg: road closure) caused by extreme weather in your day-to-day life

Agreed! How did you manage to take these attractions WITHOUT the tourists? Is it due to the weather? This is one skill I need to learn!

The skill is : wake up earlier, be the first visitor (#6) :bsmilie:
or stay until its closure (#5)

 

[lokeyh]

Very nice pics.

 

[7mac1]

This is good :thumbsup:

You took thia at the riht time, right sun light.. :thumbsup:

 

[biggulp]

Nice pictures. I have to agree the places look better without distracting tourists littering the foreground!

 

[vincent9999]

Very nice pics.

Thanks!

You took thia at the riht time, right sun light.. :thumbsup:

I was blessed with good weather during my Beijing stay.

Nice pictures. I have to agree the places look better without distracting tourists littering the foreground!

try to go there during winter, then the chance of shooting Forbidden City and Temple of Heaven without tourist (or less tourist) is higher.

Reason:
During winter, Sunrise @ Beijing is around 7:30, Sunset is around 17:00-17:30
(Summer Beijing sunrise is around 5:00, sunset is around 19:30)

During winter, Forbidden City open @ 8:30, close @ 16:30
(summer 8:30-17:00)

During winter, Temple of Heaven open @ 8:00, close @ 17:00
(summer 8:00-18:00)

Since you want to shoot these places without tourist, you got to go there very early or stay very late. And winter's sunrise/sunset timing is the best.

There're 2 things you have to sacrifice:
(1) you can't shoot watch tower (角&#27004 of Forbidden City with water reflection (frozen!)
(2) the lighting of Forbidden City viewed from JingShan (景&#23665 is not as good as summer.

Website to check sunrise/sunset for certain date (in Chinese):
(http://www.time.ac.cn/serve/sunrise...%B1%BE%A9%CA%D0&city=%CE%DA%C2%B3%C4%BE%C6%EB)