The Great Wall sprawls across Northern China, spanning 2,400 miles from the sea into Gansu Province. Most of the wall was built during the 16th century to keep Nomads and Mongols out of China. Its fortified towers, signal beacon towers, and garrisons, along with its roadway wide enough for five or six horsemen, proved to be only as good as those defending it. Today it survives in ruin and reconstruction. We visited this semi-restored section at Jin Shanling, about 70 miles north of Beijing. Because of its remoteness, this part draws relatively few tourists My objective was not merely to once again describe the wall – it is one of the most photographed structures on earth. Instead I wanted to say something about its size, and about the reactions of those who come from all over the world to view it. I found a high position that gave me a good vantage point over the wall, and using the 28mm wideangle end of the Leica's zoom lens, I was able to stretch the shot to embrace six watchtowers as the wall snaked its way across the landscape. I brought these towers up to just under the top edge of the picture – this picture is no about the hazy sky, so why include it? I noticed four visitors plodding along the wall’s walkway below me. Two of them kept on going, but two others stopped right in front of me. One buried her head in the slot in the wall once used for a defensive position. While she dreamed of ancient archers, her patient friend crossed her legs, placed a limp arm on the wall, and hid behind her purple umbrella. Through this physical interplay, which dominates the lower half of the image, I tell the story of how at least two visitors came to grips with up and down history of the Great Wall of China.

The Three Gorges Dam project at Sandouping has produced the world’s largest dam, four times larger than the Hoover Dam in Colorado. Work began on the project in 1994 and still continues. When complete, the dam will be over 7,000 feet long, 600 feet high, have 26 hydro turbine power generators, and will contain a 400-mile long reservoir stretching upriver to Chongqing. Once again, my story line is based on sheer scale and great energy, because that is what this dam is all about. The 24mm wideangle lens is essential for this task – without it, the vastness of the huge dam is negated. The slight curve that wideangle distortion adds to the perspective is more than acceptable -- it intensifies the thrust of the huge structure as it slashes across the frame. The energy aspect of my story comes from the surging waters of the Yangtze River just below me, and the billowing spray at the base of the dam. The spray in the air glazed my lens and softened detail just enough to add a touch of abstraction. I virtually fill the frame with the maelstrom below, lifting the dam, its towers and the cranes still being used to build it, as high as I can in the picture to allow as much room as possible for the roiling waters to express the point.

The Dragon is an ancient Chinese symbol. Its emperors ruled China from the Dragon Throne. The dragon often appears on ceilings and on rooftops to ward off evil spirits and the dangers of lightening. I even found the dragon engraved on the ends of the ceramic tiles on the roofs of Beijing’s Temple of Heaven complex. Once again, less can be more – instead of showing the whole structure, I move in on just the end of the tiles and use a macro approach. This allows me to stress the detail that few will notice, but to me it symbolizes the time and the beliefs of a particular era in Chinese history – in this case, the Ming Dynasty. I was told that these tiles were made at the time of Emperor Yongle, between 1406 and 1429.

(I revisited these same tiles three years after I made this image. I backed up a bit and re-photographed them, this time adding expressive context that repeats the theme of the dragon again and again. You can see my new version of it by clicking on the thumbnail.)

Shanghai sits on the sea at the mouth of the Yangtze. Its land space is limited, and its eight million people make the population density of Shanghai one of the highest in the world. Its skyscrapers reach towards the heavens, as does this monument in the People's Park. In this image, I photograph two structures – the monument and the skyscraper, and give them both meaning by rooting my image on the body language of the three exercisers in the foreground. The people’s legs and arms echo the shape of the lower part of the monument, while the upper thrust of the monument repeats the upward path of the skyscraper. The flow of motion begins at the lower left hand corner with the angle of the woman’s foot, and ends in the upper right hand corner, with the point of the skyscraper reaching into the hazy Shanghai sky.

In striking contrast to my early morning shot of Shanghai, in this image the skyscrapers of Hong Kong Island's Central District vividly stand out against a backdrop of fog-shrouded Victoria Peak as they catch the dawn's first light. From these buildings come Hong Kong's power as one of the world's major trading and financial centers, and this image speaks of that power with a detailed display of sleekly burnished architecture, new buildings under construction, and contemporary pastel colors that imply modernity, wealth, and elegance. A small boat churns across the river in the foreground, giving the scene both scale and depth.