The Great Pyramids of China! Photo

Photographer’s Note

This photo was taken at the "Window of the World" theme park in Shenzhen, China.

It is one of the country's largest and most popular theme parks - covering an area of 480,000 sq. metres.

The map of the park lists 64 different attractions from around the world, which are divided into 8 scenic areas - the World Square, Asia, Oceania, Europe, Africa, America, the Sculpture Park and the International Street.

The setting in my photo is called "The Pyramids of Giza, Egypt" and many visitors have their photo taken in front of this scene, while sitting on a real camel.

Tourist books suggest a minimum of 2 hours to see the park, but really you can spend all day there - especially if you take the kids!

I took many photos on the day, but I decided to post this one first, because I finally have a photo to post on TE with a blue sky!

Tech: Resized for TE. Sharpened. Added black border.

jhm, Kenny10pin, Jeppe, avigur_11, henrye, summer89, nwoehnl, scalerman, allotfy, pamastro, adam, papagolf21, ninfa_urania, Clochette, ChrisJ, nbournas, rabani, Albrecht, marieaude, atilgone, journeywood, laurak83 has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

WoodPigeon (457) 2004-04-16 4:40

I know this place! I rode a camel there!
This picture is very nice and very clear... totally different to the day I visited it!

Nice shot!

amrinolastname (220) 2004-04-16 4:44

Very sharp. Would like to see version with bluer sky.

clodreno (0) 2004-04-16 4:49

Incredible.. I was really falling for it but couldn't understand the title..The chinese are always becoming more American in their tastes it seems..

roconnell (327) 2004-04-16 5:26

They got the texture right and the angle adds to the illusion very nicely. Great exposure and composition.

taivo (1840) 2004-04-16 5:47

What a coincidence! I just came back from China. On my way from Xian to the site of the Terracotta Warriors, I came across a theme park which contained the eight wonders of the world, including a large pyramid. The photo is very sharp and good framing.

dominique (11403) 2004-04-16 6:22

like the framing which shows us this superb architecture well, the colors are perfect like the details, really interesting. well considering.

jhm (82679) 2004-04-16 6:52

Instructive picture Andrew, excellent note and beautiful sharpness, nice clouds and the sky, good job.

Kenny10pin (19301) 2004-04-16 7:14

great work, I have never been there before, but I have heard alot about it. Well captured and it looks like the real thing

Great colours

ianmcall (1213) 2004-04-16 7:47

Ha! A funny China shot. How in the h$%& did you get a blue sky? In a Chinese city!!!

Lovely sharp focus, and great DoF for showing plenty of detail. I think I'd try this witha crop of the sky and some of the foreground and have more of a panarama style shot.

avigur_11 (21301) 2004-04-16 10:28

Hey, you fooled me, Andrew!
I didn;t read the country name above the thumnail, I was so sure it's from Egypt.
This looks like an amazing place, you will probably post more photos, I'll look forward for them.
Wonderful capture with excellent light and texture, well done, Andrew.

Darren (6819) 2004-04-16 10:38

Strangely enough, here in Taiwan they have a Window on China park with similar type displays I believe (I have never been, but am told they have a very detailed reproduction of Angkor Wat for example). I wonder if the two are related?

Your exposure and sharpness are really good here, I just find the wall in the foreground a little too imposing but the shot is very good quality overall.

henrye (3498) 2004-04-16 10:56

Great photo, and VERY interesting. I like your composition, the colors, and details and textures in this shot. Well done!

summer89 (5414) 2004-04-16 11:46

Great postcard from The Great Pyramids of China ????? The frist time I look I imagine in Egitpho.

It's great, well done Orme.

nwoehnl (120) 2004-04-16 12:25

Very interesting shot, Andrew - definitely learning something new about the world here ... Good colors and sharpness you got on this one, and indeed a fine blue sky as well. Looks like the Chinese version of what I saw at Epcot Center's "World Showcase" in Florida this spring. Great shot.

scalerman (25747) 2004-04-16 12:50

Would have been a great April 1 photo. Anyway, fooled me at first. Nicely done.

strangiato (76) 2004-04-16 14:20

Two points for the blue sky! Is it just me or is the sky around Hong Kong getting worse every day? I love to have some blue sky, so HK is definitely the wrong place to be.
Anyway, funny to see this in China. Well done.

retlash (740) 2004-04-16 19:26

Bravo! I've been to the pyramids three times and never saw so few tourists! Nice composition, too. But tell me...did you "photoshop" out the tourists or what?

allotfy (1525) 2004-04-16 19:40

I Read your note very carefully because i want to understand where is this clear copy of our Pyramids ... it is great and you made me wonder that china can copy and made a any thing not only the electronics and the other things and they can copy the Culture ,,, very Cleaver People thanks for posting this shot, ahhh.... the quality and the colors is perfect.

pamastro (7213) 2004-04-17 0:10

Very nice colors. The sky is great. And very sharp. Great detail. It looks so clean and smooth. The textures so vivid. Too much so to be the real pyramids. But still it captures the place in a very theme park, Disney-like, fashion. I look forward to seeing what else is re-created in this park.

Jeppe (18623) 2004-04-17 5:13

Oh you got me there ;-) I was sure this was Egypt - but never mind - a very fine capture - I like the texture and colours a lot - Thanks for sharing this nice image - surely a place to trek the world in an hour or two :-))

Clochette (8076) 2004-04-26 15:21

I can't believe it ! At first I thought you had made a mistake with the country when publishing... ;-)
Very interesting, a good copy of the original !
Congratulations for the framing, and for having succeeded in taking this shot without any tourist around !

ChrisJ (70299) 2004-05-03 5:30

Great texture, compo, sharpness & lighting. I'd either darken the sky, or crop some away.

joergen115 (2244) 2004-05-12 13:43 [Comment]