near Turpan... Photo

Photographer’s Note

Maybe not the first landscape one might imagine when thinking of China: a tiny Muslim shrine near the city of Turpan in Chinese Turkestan, Xinjiang... the hottest place in China and the lowest place in Asia.

ISO at 250 ASA and focal length at 35.0mm.

lilimih33, leo61, Dpbours, Wanda1, dareco, amino, ewasting has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

lilimih33 (9870) 2008-03-05 9:46

Hello Caleb!
Wow! What a beautiful place and great gold colours in your composition!
The sky is really blue!
Nice point of view!
Excellent done!
Best regards!
Lili

jiridracek (1592) 2008-03-05 9:50

Oh, such interesting place. Nice composition and colours, realy unbelievable that such scenery is China origin. TFS.

jiridracek

BennyV (4466) 2008-03-05 10:12

Hi Caleb,

I'm becoming really jealous of the China trip you made. This is another great place you've been to.
The picture here is, for a change, not one of your trademark portrait but a great landscape shot and more than good enough to make me look forward to your Flaming Mountains pictures...

Cheers.

Benny

delic (6735) 2008-03-05 10:24

Exceptional color and composition, Caleb. Wonder how you kept 5D dust-free in the desert. Maybe you didn't. Lots of fall-off at f/14. Regards,
Hakan

Sandkum (34) 2008-03-05 11:07 [Comment]

Show Comment

leo61 (42774) 2008-03-05 12:16

Hi Caleb!
I´m surprised,after so many wonderful portaits and daylifescenes,this great landscapeshot.A very good exdposure as used from you and a good composition with the small amount of very well contrasting polarized sky.
As you mentioned ,not a typical chinese landscape,I was more thinking about Pakistan,Afghanistan or maybe India....
Regards,leo

mossphoto (604) 2008-03-05 12:43

Caleb-

The colors and the composition caught my eye in the gallery. I'm glad I took the time to check out this shot.

Nice captured, and very sharp.

The shot makes it even seem like it was hot.

~Vic~

dilane (10172) 2008-03-05 14:16

Hi Caleb,
D'abord, il y a ce site époustouflant que je ne connaissais pas,puis des couleurs chaudes à souhait, une belle composition, une bonne technique, bref tout pour faire une excellente photo -
best regards
Daniel

crhieatt (5143) 2008-03-05 14:44

Caleb,
Effectively composed with good detail - essential where the landscape is all one colour! ;)
Regards
Colin

Dpbours (210) 2008-03-05 15:19

Hello Caleb,

Oh, that line of the wall in the composition is just wonderful. Just the combination with the line of the mountain ridge. The little shrine was not even needed to make it a beautiful photograph, but it just gives that little extra, that cherry on the cake. Wonderful!!!

Greetings,
Dennis

ricochet (4670) 2008-03-05 16:29

Bonjour Caleb
wow! A stunning composition and lovely colors!
Great work i love it!
Bravo
Eric

Wanda1 (10878) 2008-03-05 21:01

Hi Caleb,
The colours of the building blend so well with the surrounding landscape, yet we can still see all the fine details. Textures are great and the strip of deep blue is a nice contrast to the brown. A beautiful and different landcsape.
Regards
Wanda

dareco (17024) 2008-03-05 21:13

When I first looked at this I would never have guessed that this was in China. Very interesting! And the colors are so pretty!!! I love this very unique picture. TFS

molla (6873) 2008-03-06 5:43

hej caleb ,
- 170 meters something.
Such a fascinating landscape, when i was a kid a read books of the swedish explorer Sven Hedin who went around in those deserts some 100 years ago and knew I was going there
and know I'm going back...
The asked this Sven Hedin at age 90 why he never got married and he answered
-Dont Needed, Asia was my cold bride.
A

SteveH (3853) 2008-03-06 23:05

Hi Caleb, as you say, not a scene one typically thinks of in China. I like the three horizonal bands of colour/texture which provide a captivating back drop to the exotic looking shrine. Cheers, Steve

Mistral (13628) 2008-03-09 15:38

Ciao Caleb
I remember well the flaming mountains around Turpan. Nice image well composed.
A smile
Luca

Felip (3905) 2008-03-11 8:05

Hi Caleb
What a good composition you have done here! The blue sky, the reddish mountains, and the quiet loneliness of the temple below. You can breath the peace and feel the silence
Good job Caleb!

Felip

romanaa (2551) 2008-03-15 11:49

Hi caleb,
great contrast of blue and deep orange shades, fine patterns and textures.
Well done
Regards
Romana

kogawa (4092) 2008-04-11 4:38

The Flaming Mountain is very popular thanks to a classical novel, The Journey to the West by the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) writer, Wu Cheng'en and its charming hero-- The Monkey King.

In the Han account of the legend, it is said the Monkey King stirred up trouble in Heaven and kicked off the oven for making immortal pills. Charcoals fell from the sky to where the Flaming Mountain now lies-- in the middle of Turpan Basin.

According to the Uigur version, a vicious dragon lived in deep Tianshan Mountain and ate little children. A Uigur hero fought gallantly against the dragon for three days and three nights and cut the dragon into eight parts. The remains of the dragon turned to a scarlet mountain colored by its blood. The eight scars turned into the eight valleys in the Flaming Mountain, including the famous Grape Valley.

The building is not a Muslim shrine but a visitor center of the flaming mountain HuoYan-Shan in Chinese and Keziletage (Red Mt.) in Uigur