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| Neighbourhood firework seller, Harbin, Heilongjiang Province |
Can you capture the spirit of your travel experiences in just five colours? That's the challenge posed by Travel Supermarket's
Capture the Colour travel photography competition, now running for its second year after the massive success of last year's competition.
Heather from
Ferreting the Fun nudged me to participate this year (her photos, with great mini stories attached, are wonderful), but entry is open to any travel blogger. I had so much fun with
last year's entry, so here are my five for this year: China in five colours.
RED red RED red RED red RED red RED red RED red RED red
Pingyao, in Shanxi Province, is a beautifully preserved walled Ming Dynasty town and one of China's most intense immersive tourism experiences. I highly recommend it for those who love full-frontal crowds, tour groups wearing matching novelty outfits, getting your photo taken in a velcro-attached Ming Dynasty costume, and paying three times the real value of everything. Despite this, there are moments of quiet beauty amongst the madness and souvenir spruikers, like this traditional paper cut seller hanging out her wares across a tiny alleyway.
BLUE blue BLUE blue BLUE blue BLUE blue BLUE blue BLUE
A hard day's ride on the back of a camel through the Singing Sand Dunes of Gansu Province and this was our reward - the pale orb of the full moon rising over indigo coloured dunes. The sand was cool and soft under our bare feet as I leaned on Matt's shoulder to get the long exposure without a tripod.
YELLOW yellow YELLOW yellow YELLOW yellow YELLOW
The Nanchang Temple in
Wuxi, close to Shanghai, has lovely views from its pagoda (after you have climbed thousands of stairs, that is) and is right next to a street food precinct. Effort = Reward
GREEN green GREEN green GREEN green GREEN green GREEN
Qinghai. It's utterly magnificent. This fairytale road leads down through green fields full of tiny wildflowers to
Shizang Monastery, a rarely visited holy village hidden from view by a broad red cliff deep in the valley.
(And just to show you don't need a fancy camera to get great travel shots, this was taken with my iPhone.)
WHITE white WHITE white WHITE white WHITE white WHITE
I couldn't complete this series without at least one food photo! This dumpling cook works in the Nanxiang Xiaolongbao kitchen at Yu Gardens in Shanghai, filling steamer baskets with xiaolongbao - plump little soup-filled dumplings.
And in the spirit of passing the baton, I nominate these five wonderful travel bloggers and photographers to show us their five colours!
Robyn from
Oolong to Earl Grey (a photography buddy and fellow Shanghai tragic now blogging from an English village)
Chi-chi Zhang and Zachary Wang from
China Nomads (extraordinary photos of China's wildest places)
Barbara from
The Dropout Diaries (who, in a bizarrely strange twist of fate turns out to be a cousin I had never met...she lives in Asia and writes a blog about travel and street food....go figure!)
Sally from
Unbrave Girl (who first showed me the delights of Wuxi)
Labels: China, photography, travel
