China has a funny way of chasing our emotions around. One minute we’re completely annoyed by crowds, spitting, tour guides using megaphones as they lead their clients around natural sight, and just noise in general. The next, we’re blown away by the sites. I’d say, though, I’ve been more blown away than stressed. And when I’ve been blown away, I’ve done nothing but wonder why people spend so much time in dull Southeast Asia when they could be in China. My visit to the Songzanlin Monastery just outside of the city of Shangri-la was one of those “why aren’t there more people here?!” moments. It was then followed by a “I’m glad there aren’t others here” evening of shooting. In the video below, you’ll see how I photographed the Songzanlin Monastery, which is about 5 kilometers outside of Shangri-la, China near the border of Tibet in Yunnan Province. As is obvious by the video, I was both blessed with amazing light, and punished by flat light while taking my photos of Songzanlin. The sky was so amazing during the day. The clouds were perfect and the afternoon light was perfectly soft. It brought out the colours of everything so perfectly. And as amazing as it was to shoot, the monastery as equally challenging. The building is just so big, that it was tough to get it all into my frame. Then, as the evening light came, the clouds disappeared which made taking photos of the monastery really difficult. In the end, I’m quite happy with the images I got from Songzanlin, and Shangri-la in general. Check out the rest of my pictures from Shangrila below.
