China, December 2003–January 2004
I took a five-week trip to
China in December 2003 and January 2004, my longest since June and July of 1999.
It was wonderful! I traveled to five cities in this order: Beijing, Xiamen, Hong
Kong, Guangzhou, and Guiyang (with a extra day in Beijing on the way out). I
took digital pictures with my Canon EOS 10D with its 16–35-mm zoom lens
(effective focal lengths of 25–50 mm), and it worked like a charm. The
sections below offer an impression of what I saw and did.
As usual, most of my time was spent with students and staff
at various institutes and universities. In the middle was the Third Asian
Aerosol Conference, in Hong Kong, which had been postponed from July 2003.
Enjoy the pictures!
Viewers should feel free to use the pictures for any purpose.
I ask only that you let me know that you are copying them, mostly to satisfy my
curiosity as to who is interested and why.
One final note for the technically inclined. I used available
light throughout—no flash—because the external flash was too bulky and
disruptive to carry around. I couldn't use the built-in flash because it casts a
shadow on the bottom of pictures shot at wide angles. I could still shoot just
about anywhere, because the Canon can routinely be adjusted up to ISO 1600. I
discovered just how well it could function in night light while in Beijing, and used
this capability liberally throughout the rest of the trip.
How best to view these photos
It is extremely important to view these photos properly in
order to get the most from them. They are 1024x682 pixels, which means that they
need to be viewed on a monitor that is set to at least 1024 pixels wide. The
standard setting of 1024x768 will be fine, as will the next-higher setting,
1152x870. In either case, I strongly recommend viewing them in the Web browser's
full-screen mode. For Internet Explorer, this requires three short steps:
(1) Go to one of the introductory pages or a page of photos.
(2) Remove any frames on the left, such as Favorites.
(3) Go to full-screen mode, either by View/Full Screen or by
hitting F11.
After taking these steps, turn down the lights in your viewing room and sit
close to the screen. The goal is to try to match the angle subtended by your
screen with the angle of view in the original picture, which in most cases here
was very wide. So sit as close to the screen as you can focus your eyes. After
you take these steps, the pictures should suddenly become three-dimensional and
extremely lifelike. You will be "in" the scenes.
Beijing, 24–31 December 2003
Xiamen, 31 December 2003–6 January 2004
Hong Kong,
6–9 January 2004
Guangzhou, 10–15 January 2004
Guiyang, 15–24 January 2004
Beijing 25 January 2004