A touch of colour Photo

Photographer’s Note

This shot is taken from the balcony of the "new" temple on the hilltop overlooking Old Town. The roofs, being so densely packed, have been th esubject of many a tourist photo, including a few on this site. I thought the one little modern item, the turquoise awning, added not only a single touch of colour, but a reminder that this city really is a part of today's world.

Lijiang, in the NW corner of Yunnan, is a great tourist city. The old town has cobbled lanes, no roads wide enough for cars, is criss crossed by canals and still has its original style of wooden houses. Now add;
- scenery that puts it just into the mountains that reach up into Tibet,
- a variety of ethnic minorities that still maintain their dress, cuisine and other customs,
- excellent roads and an airport,
- tons of guest houses, restaurants and hawkers.

Further up the road you'll find Tiger Leaping Gorge on the upper reaches of the Yangtze, and Zhongdian, a Tibetan community. Three hours by bus closer to Kunming is the other main tourist stop in the area, Dali.

Sharpened and minor cropping to remove a few branches.

Galeota, etiennejr, ChrisJ, ninadev, Kenny10pin, mimi, jhonny_blue, omritoppol, rabani, taivo, Elise_d, lennarts has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

Galeota (10329) 2004-05-06 3:39

Very original composition or at least unusual in the western architecture. The turquoise awning is a must in the middle of the roofs.

maciekda (19587) 2004-05-06 3:40

hi Ian, very nice shot, I just love this view, Lijiang is so beautiful... very nice picture, this green spot is a great little addition, good stuff

piozac (2058) 2004-05-06 3:46

Great shot. I like this chaotic structure of grey roofs broken by one green spot.
Well done and well seen Ian.
Congrats!

clodreno (0) 2004-05-06 3:52

I have the exact same picture with the green balcony there.. I was even thinking of mailing it.. No, actually mine is a bit closer..
Nice catch!! Can i say it?

olli (2091) 2004-05-06 3:53

Great mix of brown roofs. I like the position of the turquoise awning. I would crop a bit from the top. Very-very well seen and captured shot.

gringofil (0) 2004-05-06 4:05

Classic Lijiang shot. I've got one myself, just taken after sunset. I really like the repetitive lines of roofs. I would be tempted to crop out the newish looking building at the top right hand corner just to keep the harmony going. Anyway, excellent shot.

etiennejr (1014) 2004-05-06 4:25

Hi Ian, This is THE Lijiang shot that everyone has. But still, a nice shot and brings back the memories.

RGatward (19737) 2004-05-06 5:21

A traditional shot made different by the patch of colour, very well spotted. Interesting how chinese the rooves look, yet so simple.

ChrisJ (69618) 2004-05-06 6:14

I loved Lijiang, even though it was -7c the morning I left, & the rice paddies were covered in frost. Well seen. This was the type of housing I could see in parts of Gejiu from the hilltop lookout there. I made a beeline for the 'old' district, as it looked far more interesting than the new part of town (it was). I tried to explain it in words elsewhere, but this is so much better.

manny (21378) 2004-05-06 6:46

Very good repetition. The harsh light is a bit distracting but I like the many different atterns and such a wide perspective. A sea of roofs...

spence (1679) 2004-05-06 7:02

A fascinating shot Ian - the density of housing is amazing and the pattern of the rooves is very interesting. That one splash of colour lifts the whole shot - I hope they don't all head in that direction though! :))

ninadev (5225) 2004-05-06 7:20

Amazing. It's difficult to see where are the streets or narrow lanes as you wrote (good note too). My first two thoughts when opening the thumbnail were : it must be hard to find our way in such a maze, and, if a fire starts there, the whole town will burn down, they are so close and how could the fire trucks reach the fire ? thanks for sharing this view with us.

Gatis (899) 2004-05-06 8:30

Very unusual and at the same time traditional aspect of China! Well seen

Kenny10pin (19301) 2004-05-06 9:35

nice roof shot here, I like the repition, I remember taking a shot like this in China, well done here, I like the amount of houses you have captured

Well done

smello (69) 2004-05-06 10:35 [Comment]

Show Comment

Darren (6815) 2004-05-06 10:47

Good shot Ian, very interesting colors and textures of the roofs, with the one green piece standing out. Overall though, this suffers from not super pleasing light and I do find it a little oversharpened, which for me emphasizes the already harsh light. Good shot and good note as well.

mimi (2321) 2004-05-06 13:01

Very nice shot, Ian. It's incredible how densely packed those houses are. I agree with Fil about cropping out that white building at the back right. Plus I think a bit of a tighter crop might give even more impact.

jhonny_blue (4938) 2004-05-07 5:32

My God Ian ! Thousands od roofs in a perfet shot !
Great composition !
Very well done !

Heigou (9) 2004-05-07 14:57

I remember taking a similar type of shot in Shanghai near the old city, and my Chinese companion's mother being upset because this was 'old Shanghai', not new. I guess she felt it was somehow shameful for me to take the picture of what I thought was just a charming scene (don't know if those roofs are still there-that was in the late 80's). Yunnan in general was one of my favorite places visited, and I remember with fondness the distinctive wooden architecture and narrow streets.
Nice image, well seen.

omritoppol (826) 2004-05-08 2:53

Hi Ian, what a great view. I really like the repetitions in this shot; it seems this roof as SO close to each other. The turquoise is a nice surprise. Well done.
Points later

cmartos (6086) 2004-05-08 4:35

Great composition Ian. All those roofs patterns with a single touch of very well positionned colour. Very good stuff.

claudiaf (4404) 2004-05-09 6:37 [Comment]

Show Comment

elena (1054) 2004-05-09 20:35

well seen! i like the endless view of beautiful roofs, and the general neutral color with the special tiny touch of turquoise

rabani (9421) 2004-05-10 1:04

This is one fashion statement for rooftops. All of them has the same colors and textures, pretty much the same design all the way through. I guessed this is what it means by TE quality. It shows where the picture was taken and teach as well.

taivo (1840) 2004-05-10 9:40

Incredible shot. Also, incredible scene! So many different types of roofs, and yet also so similar! Great, original photo!

Elise_d (1943) 2005-05-07 20:51

Very very nice catch. You pov is excellent. Once again, congradulations.

lennarts (547) 2005-06-03 2:22

I've never been to China yet, so I don't know maybe it's a very common view but for me now your photo seems very original. For me, it is not a pretty sight, but it is interesting. Very well seen. Thanks for a good note as well. I agree with some earlier comments in that it might have been good to crop out the white bilding in the top of your photo.