Although my primary purpose in going was to hone my language skills, I also used the last three weeks overseas as an ideal opportunity to hone my photography skills. Having never actually owned an SLR camera, much less a passport, I found the trip eye-opening. Pun not intended, I have been awake for quite a long while as I write this post recounting the trip in vague detail.
From a Philadelphia suburb, I and the 29 others on the trip departed by bus for NYC's JFK airport at 2015 hours and arrived at 2345; our flight for Shanghai Pudong International Airport departed on schedule at 0100 and touched down in Shanghai at 0513 local time. That's where keeping track of things gets a little confusing. According to our bodies, it was actually 1713 but naturally, we'd slept on the plane - in prep for getting on another one, which we did, at 0830, en route to Beijing. I think we landed at about 1030 hours. We spent the following hours on a bus, on foot touring the campus of 北京大學 (Peking University), and getting settled at 中館圜(Zhongguanyuan Global Village at PKU), our temporary home for about a week.
Rather than reiterate the time spent in Beijing, I think I'll instead talk about the pictures I took on the trip as a whole.
I returned with about 1,300 pictures between my D60 and Powershot. It'll take me weeks to go through them all and sort them into Facebook albums and DeviantArt-worthy shots and whatnot. This one that I've posted on dA is the last of the trip, as we were all waiting for our delayed return flight home.
I plan on making maybe ten albums on Facebook and uploading many more to dA and this blog.--
While I'm in an informative mood, I think I'll post an update on what exactly happened to everyone else here.
Nate is on vacation in California until July 8th; though he can use the internet he hasn't been, really. Tom is in Australia visiting family, and Scott is off dealing with some issues he hopes will be resolved soon.
My personal schedule for the rest of the summer involves hopping around the US East Coast and photographing the places I go with an approach I would ambitiously label "passive photojournalism," in which little unique details, frequently overlooked, serve to describe the "bigger picture." In areas such as rural Vermont, the Pocono Mountains, and beachfront South Carolina, the possibilities are fascinating and barely limited.
A postless month merits at least some attempt at an explanation, so there you have it.
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By popular request, the itinerary of my visit to China:
Beijing
Tunxi (Hongcun Village)
Huangshan
Shanghai
Hangzhou
Taipei
--
-JB
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