VISUAL THOUGHTS 视觉观点

On Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th June, we headed out on our first “Desert Workshop”, focusing on introducing our students to Tianmo desert which is located just 80km north-west of Beijing. We spent two days exploring the local dune systems and experiencing local life amongst the people of the area. You may think that I might be a little tired of deserts by now, but it really was a lot of fun to introduce people to this little visited area, so close to Beijing.

We had a jam packed 2-days full of shooting in the desert, visiting people’s homes, lots of editing sessions and trying traditional food from the area. Highlights including getting up for the sunrise over the desert and having a run-in with the local army plus multiple wedding parties! An odd mix but a lot of fun and it provided plenty of photo opportunities for everyone!

Please take a moment to play the slideshow and see some of the images from our trip. We hope to run this workshop again sometime soon, so please stay tuned and sign-up for our newsletter to be the first to know about new classes and trips!

Tianmo Desert Workshop

We are delighted to announce our upcoming workshops for May 2010! We have two workshops planned, “Shoot-Edit-Photoshop” and “Beijing Desert Workshop”. We hope each one will cater to whatever you current goals in photography may be. Please find the initial outlines below. For more details and detailed itineraries, please head to our Workshop page (via the tab at the top-right of the blog) .  We look forward to seeing you on one of our upcoming classes!

This new workshop titled ‘Shoot-Edit-Photoshop’ is aimed at beginner/intermediate photographers who are looking to improve their digital workflow from the shooting stage, through to editing and finishing images in Photoshop. We all know how it is easy to lose control of all those images you take, so you will learn effective ways in which to edit and categorize your images to improve you skills at managing your photos straight after a shoot. After categorizing our images, we will take them into Photoshop to learn how to get the best out of them through simple alterations such as cropping, changing colour balance, levels, contrast and saturation. Photoshop can be very daunting but we will break it down and show you the few essential functions you can use to get the very best out of your images.

Editing Session: Weekend Workshops

“Beijing Desert Workshop” - Dates: Saturday 5th June and Sunday 6th June 2010 (Please note these dates have changed)

During this workshop you will explore and photograph the little-visited desert of Tianmo. Located just 80km from central Beijing, next to the Longbao Mountain Range, it is the closest desert to the capital and offers visitors a glimpse at the spectacular desert regions that now dominate 20% of northern China. Sean Gallagher, whose images of China’s deserts have appeared in National Geographic China, will guide you during this workshop helping you capture this unique environment. You will have a chance to shoot side-by-side with Sean and learn how to capture landscapes, natural scenery and photograph daily life in this dry but fascinating area.

http://www.vimeo.com/10718110

Earlier this week I released a video titled ‘Earth Hour: In One Minute’, a time-lapse video that captured last month’s Earth Hour at the Bird’s Nest Stadium in Beijing. I thought it would be fun to use this video as the basis for the first competition that I have run through the blog. Up for grabs is a half-day (3hours) one-on-one workshop with me here in Beijing. Maybe you’d like to brush up on your editing, your night photography, your photoshop skills, your street photography? No problem. We’ll have 3 hours to target anything you want, FREE.

Okay, so how to win? In my time-lapse video I actually appear twice within the video by walking into the foreground. (I was waiting alone in the cold for an hour doing the video, so I had to entertain myself somehow!) The challenge is to tell me the correct second count at which I appear, both times. To clarify, it’s the second count on the YouTube/Vimeo counter NOT the clock in the bottom-right of the screen you see counting down the Earth Hour. You can watch the clip on either YouTube or Vimeo. They are exactly the same. read more »

Chinese New Year Workshop | White Cloud Temple

February welcomed a very unique time of the Chinese calendar; Chinese New Year. To mark the most important holiday of the year, we decided to run a special workshop to coincide with the celebrations in Beijing.

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Tibet (c) Charlotte Duch Lynggaard

As many of you know, I began running workshops in Beijing in late 2009 as a response to what I perceived to be the demand for a setting where photographers could get together, share ideas, enjoy photography and explore China in a guided and relaxed setting. So far, we have had many students attend, all bringing their own approaches to photography. Not every student has the same aim. Some are aspiring professionals, some keen amateurs with advanced kit and some who just want to take better holiday pictures to act as memories for their time in China. Everyone is welcome and our primary aim is to try and pass on some of the passion we have for photography and China to our students.

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From Left to Right: Jessica, Sean, Pip, Ross, Rita, Fredrik, Eva, Andrea, Alexia

Last Sunday saw the 4th in our series of Hutong Photography Workshops. We had nearly a full class with nine students attending; Jim, Pip, Ross, Andrea, Daphne, Eva, Rita, Alexia and Fredrik.

Andrea, Eva and Rita

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White Cloud Temple | Baiyun Guan

On Saturday night, the skies lit up with fireworks above most Chinese cities, signifying the start of China’s most special holiday of the year: Chinese New Year.

For the next week Chinese families will spent most of the time eating, drinking, visiting family members, catching up with old friends and heading to many of the temple fairs that are taking place. This week’s ‘Photo(s) of the Week’ come from the White Cloud Temple in Beijing. This Taoist temple is over a thousand years old and is one of the locations for Beijing’s most interesting celebrations during this special week.

The photo at the top is of people rubbing chinese characters, in order to gain luck, fortune, prosperity etc. from the character of corresponding meaning.

White Cloud Temple | Baiyun Guan

The second image is taken within the grounds of the temple and is of two young girls, dressed up in their finest new year clothes.

We’re very excited to be returning to this temple tomorrow for our special Chinese New Year Photography Workshop where students will have the chance to capture the unique celebrations at this special temple. I wish all readers of my blog a happy and prosperous new year of the Tiger! 虎年快乐！

If you’re new here and you have stumbled upon my blog, you may wonder, so what is discussed here? What are some of the main topics? What are the majority of the posts about? Well, using a very handy tool at Wordle I have generated a word cloud of the 100 most frequently used words, to help give you an idea. Have a look below…

Word Cloud

As you can see, the top 4 are China, photography, desertification and workshop. These four really sum up a lot of what I have talked about over the past 7+ months in which I have been blogging. Read more about each below…

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City Weekend

We were delighted to find out last week that Chelin Miller, who is a former student from one of out hutong workshops, was featured in Beijing City Weekend and interviewed about her experiences taking on of our classes. You can read a snippet of the interview here online and read it reproduced below. Well done Chelin! To see images from the workshop Chelin attended, please go here.

Snap Happy: Hutong Photography

*Amateur photographer Chelin Miller tells us why she hones her skills in Sean Gallagher’s photo workshops

What is it about photography that draws you?

Photos tell a story, preserve memories and can be a fantastic creative outlet.

Have you ever studied photography before?

I have never studied photography seriously, but I’ve had a passion for it since I was a teenager.

(c) City Weekend

How did you find the hands-on photography workshop?

There was a feeling of camaraderie from the beginning. We were eight in our group. Armed with our cameras, we went out around the hutong and although we were all together, we all perceived different aspects of the area, the people and the architecture. It was fascinating to come back to the hostel and review everybody’s photos; I think we all learned a lot from each other.

Is the workshop accessible to the camera challenged?

Yes, the workshop was very clear and concise. It covered enough basic technical and composition steps to be able to take good photos even if you were a total beginner, without slowing down the pace for those with a little bit more experience.

Will you be taking the workshop again?

Yes, definitely. I can’t wait to go to Harbin for the ice festival with Sean and Jessica’s group. Being with others who share my passion, making jokes, feeding ideas off each other and learning from each other is what makes the workshops so enjoyable.

Chinese New Year Special Workshop: White Cloud Temple Fair

February welcomes a very unique time of the Chinese calendar; Chinese New Year! To mark the most important holiday of the year, we are running a special workshop to coincide with the celebrations here in the nation’s capital. We continue in the vein of trying to introduce our workshop participants to less-visited and authentic locations, therefore will be holding this workshop at the White Cloud Temple, in XiCheng District on Tuesday 16th February from 11:00 a.m. to 16:00 p.m. This spectacular Taoist temple is over 1000 years old and is one of the city’s hidden cultural gems. It will be the perfect place for photographing the true, authentic and traditional new year celebrations. To find out more details about how to join us on this special workshop, please head to our workshop page here.

For those of you leaving Beijing for the holidays and won’t have a chance to attend the Chinese New Year workshop, do not worry! The increasingly popular Hutong Photography Workshop is back again on Sunday 28th February from 10:00 a.m. to 18:00 p.m. and will again offer participating students the chance to explore the maze-like hutongs whilst improving their photography. We were delighted to learn that this month a former student from this workshop was featured in Beijing City Weekend Magazine talking about her experiences taking this class. Read a snippet of her interview here and then find out how to book your place here through our workshop page.

We look forward to seeing you!