Or the Pure Water Temple is one off the many temples of Kyoto. It is best known for its 13-meter high wooden platform. It is fully built without use of any nails and this 1250 years ago. The surrounding around this temple complex is made out of maple and cherry blossom trees. From inside the temples main platform, you have a nice view on the city of Kyoto. And if you have a nice sunset sky like we had, the visit is very rewarded.
I spend 2 hours at the same spot in front of the Colosseum, to take multiple photos. So I could erase most of all the people out off the picture. Only Yujie didn’t like the time spend at the moment. She would rather be exploring the city in the evening. Probably to find a good restaurant to eat. She is like a little monster when she gets hungry. But in a moment like this, I never feel hungry. I only think about the result that I can get out of it.
In this smaller, but very beautiful museum, you find the private art collection of François Pinault. And he is open minded, because small dogs are allowed if you can carry them. That is a nice change of thinking.
In the building you find this staircase, that is converted in a piece of art. This by simply putting 3 long lights trough it, from top to bottom. Black and white conversion of the photo, makes it very artistic.
The Arakurayama Sengen Park is a globally known as a scenic spot for Mt. Fuji. The park has a lot of cherry blossom trees, but we visit not in the good season for that. Nevertheless the view on a good day makes everything fine. We where their in October. Mt Fuji was already closed for climbers, but there was no snow on its peak yet.
Hashima Island or battleship island was used in the James Bond movie Skyfall. It is located close to the city of Nagasaki in Japan. This tiny island is located 15 km from the city shore.
The island today is fully abandoned, but it was previous known for its undersea coal mines. They were established in 1887 and are a symbol for the industrialization of Japan. There are only a few companies that are allowed to bring people to the island and your not allowed to walk around freely. But still I can recommend the short visit.
Would you take a sandy bath in a bathroom? Paint comes falling from the walls like tree leafs before winter. It is located in a house at Kolmanskop in Namibia. A old ghost village build by German settlers, they where on a search for diamonds. It is nice to walk around and explore in this small town, that slowly is overtaken by sand.
You will find a hospital, ballroom, power station, school, bowling hall, theater and sport-hall, casino, ice factory and the first x ray station in the southern hemisphere.
And if you are extremely lucky, you can spot a brown hyena that is also wondering around the village.
Located in Barcelona and designed by Antoni Gaudi. It was expected to be fully finished in 2026. That’s 144 years after the first foundation stone was laid in the year 1882. But the corona epidemic will probably push the date further away till 2030. Inside however you already can admire the beauty of the interior. Wait till the afternoon, when the sun comes trough the windows to start your visit.
On the cliffs in North Italy you find Manarola. It is one of the 5 small villages called “Cinque Terre”. It is the oldest of the five and the second smallest. You can reach it easily by train and walk around the area to other villages. In the evening you have a nice warm atmosphere in this small village.
Being one of the first to enter the side, gives you a good opportunity to get the reflection photo without a ton of people in it.
In older dynasties of ancient China, the ceremonies of offering sacrifices to ancestors or gods were usually held in the suburbs of the capitol. So they build this place, because it was a good way for the emperors to demonstrate their supreme status and dignity every year to the common people. Today it is not located in the suburbs anymore, but in the southeast centre of Beijing. This happens when a small city gets oversized.
Hongcun is small village in China and was the film set of the first Chinese movie that went internationally famous. It’s nice to walk around in this ancient village. If you wake up in the early morning, you can shoot a nice reflection photo. In the daytime it’s too busy around the pool. People feeding the fish, wind, etc… makes that you can’t get this photo.
Or also known as the golden Buddha of Mandalay in former Burma. Only man can pay to at more gold leaves on this bronze statue. They put so much of this stuff on it, that it has created a 15 centimetres gold armour around it. For me it is always strange that people can give so much money to practice religion. But it also makes some places special to visit.
Here is one of these guys putting more gold on Maha Muni. Making the already enormous amount of gold skin even thicker.
Or today better known as Kinkaku-ji temple, what literally means temple of the golden pavilion. Its very relaxing to visit this zen temple even it is one of the most touristic locations in Kyoto. Its history go fully back to the year 1397. And as always in history, building get burned down. This happened in 1950 by a 22 year old monk. And for the people wondering if it is real gold! The answer is, yes. The 2 top levels are fully covered in gold leaf’s.
When families start to build an apartment block for living and defense you get these beautiful looking round structures called Hakka House. You find them in different size and shapes.
The fortified outer structures are formed by compacting earth, mixed with stone, bamboo, wood and are almost 2 metres thick. The result is well-ventilated, wind and earthquake-proof building. They have all one main gate.
Inside all rooms are build the same qua size and materials. And one family owns a vertical set off rooms, from ground floor to top floor. Everybody is equal and it doesn’t show social hierarchy. The inner square looks different from tulou to tulou. From a working, play yard, till a market place.
This is Chengqi Lou the second biggest tulou of all. I had to find a family that allowed me to go to the top level to take this photo.
The red pillars shrine in Kyoto, was a nice trail up the mountain. On the way you have many smaller shrines to visit. But the highlight is the row of Tori gates, known as Senbon Tori.
It was very busy a the path up, so we spend a lot of time waiting to get the path free of people. When that happened I didn’t wait a second and made the shot.
I love the sun light that comes through the different gates, but I wonder how it looks when full moon light comes through it. Maybe it will give a creepy feeling, next time I will visit it later on the day.
It felt a little bit weird to me, when I saw it for the first time. And I didn’t really understand it. Why would they build this glass pyramid on Cour Napoleon ? It didn’t match for me. But now after many years, I really appreciate the design of it. We really love to walk around it in the evening when we visit Paris.
Yujie is very proud of the architect Ieoh Ming Pei, because his origins is from her hometown Suzhou. Where he spent summers and designed the Suzhou museum.
It’s a sad story about an emperor, his death wife and third son… but this mausoleum is an absolute marvelous reminder of it. I woke up in the middle of the night, to be one of the very first entries on that day. I smuggled some chocolate bars in and stayed inside till closing time. Watching this monument and all its visitors from every angle.
It’s an incredible place to make photos, I love the symmetry of the lines in this one.
Nobody likes to be on second place, but it’s nothing to shame of. Especially when your name is “Shanghai Tower”. I have seen this skyscraper building up over the years, when I was visiting Shanghai.
I have a habit of putting my feet on the highest point in a city, if I have the chance. So we visited the top floor together in 2017. Shame that I didn’t bring any gear to shoot a photo through a window. So I can capture it without any reflection. There are some good lens covers on the market for it. Well it gives me a purpose to visit it again.
Anyway, the view on top is spectacular, and I was still able to get a couple of nice photos.
We love to visit museums. When we visited London, we hopped in the British museum, which has this great court. You have a good view on the second floor.
Tripods are not allowed in here, so I took a couple series of 60 photos. Handheld on the small balcony, hoping that I didn’t shake to hard. Behind my back was an impatient person called Yujie. Who wanted to leave the spot directly to see the Chinese section in the museum.
I’m so glad that I let her wait for an hour. Because at home I spend 5 hours processing all the photos together into one. Removing the massive amount of people that were standing on the court . Creating a covid-19 proof masterpiece… don’t you think?
In the “Palais de Justice” in Paris you can visit this awesome Chapelle. This gothic construction has a down and upper level. Both levels are from a photographic point of view very interesting places. We spend a lot of time here and because of the big crowd I couldn’t capture this place well.
But during the midday break, everyone rushes out to have some food and drinks. In that brief moment I took this photo.
