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Tim May | all galleries >> :Asian Journeys:: A Collection of Galleries :: >> A COLLECTION OF GALLERIES::China -September 2007 >> GALLERY:: Impressions of Beijing, China - September, 2007 > From the Forbidden City
Beijing, China September 2007
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16-SEP-2007

From the Forbidden City
Beijing, China September 2007


The Forbidden City was an image maker's delight. It did though present problems. One of which was to take fresh images and the other was to not have your pictures full of tourists.

Olympus Evolt E-510
1/320s f/8.0 at 114.0mm iso200 full exif

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Carol E Sandgren13-Mar-2008 18:19
I think taking shots OF the tourists IS somewhat of a fresh approach. Throngs of them in fact, contrasted with only one very small guard. The arch seems to magnify the importance of the guard however. I like seeing "how it really is" there.
Phil Douglis09-Mar-2008 23:13
That is an excellent point about the soldier representing the power of the state, while the masses represent that state itself. And yes, it is an apt coincidence that he stands in Tiananmen Square. You probably did not set out to make that point, Tim -- you were thinking instead of how to deal with those mobs of tourists that were cluttering your visions of the Forbidden City. You managed to take that liability and make it an asset. And on later reflection, the image becomes something else as well. A social commentary on the nature of China itself, past and present.
Tim May09-Mar-2008 21:20
And to me expresses the question of how such large masses are controlled effectively by the lone soldier on guard. Yet, he functions more as a symbol of the power of the state waiting in the wings. Apt in Tiananmen Square
Phil Douglis09-Mar-2008 19:31
This image not only gives us a feeling of what it like to fight the crowds surging in and out of the Forbidden City, but it also gives us an astounding scale incongruity, contrasting the sea of heads to the lonely guard standing above them in the distance. Your telephoto lens also compresses distance here, bringing the fountain in the center of Tiananmen Square to the doorstep of the Forbidden City.