Blog #1. Start here!

This introduction was written the day after I returned. The blog postings were written in China, and cleaned-up at home. I had no intention of writing a blog during this trip. At the end of each day, I would sit on my bed with my laptop, and summarize the day’s events in an email to my wife and daughter. I have found that writing, (when I have the time) allows me to process my thoughts and think more coherently about my experiences. Most importantly it allowed me to reflect on the photographs I was making. It was like a form of meditation, and when working the next day ––I felt better prepared to make images. It’s almost as important as sleep. (But not quite) During the trip, I experienced a major shift in how I “see” the landscape, how I compose and organize my images. There was so much to absorb and process. Kathi began posting my emails and pictures to Google Blogger, and we feel that this is a great way to share my experiences with others! For those curious about the photographs from this trip––well you will have to wait for me to process, edit and assemble my images. I have a website: http//www.richardlohmann.com. In the coming months, I will update it with the new, and I hope spectacular, photographs!

Richard



Tuesday Dec. 26th: Left SFO on Tuesday morning at 11:15. Flew 12 hours and arrived in Beijing at 3:30 Pm on Wednesday afternoon. The moment the plane crossed the international dateline, Tuesday became Wednesday.

Wednesday Dec. 27th: Leping picked me up at the airport and we took a taxi to a hotel in the heart of Beijing. The darting taxi driver, and the turbulence above Beijing made me airsick. Sadly I had to pass on an evening of Peking Duck, with George Dewolfe, his friend Lydia, Leping and his friend Brian Dou.

Thursday Dec. 28th: Today Leping and I grabbed a cab and we rode to a photographic processing lab. Enroute we saw Tiananmen Square, The Forbidden City, Chairman Mao's Mausoleum, and I witnessed the flow of life in Beijing: cars, busses, scooters and people in this huge City.

Many of the dirty and polluting factories have been moved from Beijing in an effort to clean the air for the 2008 Olympics. Today it’s clear and cold. Leping said the clear air was very unusual. We left for the airport at 11:30. We took a connecting flight to Hefei. It is the provincial capital of the Anhui province. This province is the home of the Yellow Mountains, which in Mandarin is Huangshan. Hefei literally means "Junction (of the) Fertility (River)." With a three-hour layover we ate salted watermelon seeds in an area with prodigious smokers. Smoking in public is common everywhere in China.

From Hefei we caught a 30-minute flight to Tunxi. (pronounced twin-sheee). Tunxi is the old city, within a newer more modern city called Huanhshan City––the closest city to the Yellow mountains. At the airport Leping hired a cab driver to take us closer to the mountains, to a small gateway town called Tangkou. Because it was late, and no food was available near the hotel, we offered to pay for his dinner here in Tunxi. He joined us at the most interesting restaurant I have ever seen. Located in a small district that seemed unchanged by time, it was filled with narrow alleys and small shops, it was like going back in time.

I began my adjustment to the cuisine of the Anhui province. Leping ordered whole fish, called stinky fish, Donkey stew served in a bowl of boiling broth that cooks at your table, and a dazzling array of chopped cold things I has never seen before (I later learned that pickled bamboo shoots and chopped jellyfish are quite normal). The cab ride was crazy. We stayed in rooms (for free) in Tangkuo, Ms. Hong Chen's Haizhou Hotel.

These rooms were provided by Mr. Guan who is our on- location host. He is a local photographer, and leads the Huangshan Photographer's Society. He is quite famous in China; is a local police officer––and Leping's best friend from the Yellow Mountains.

My first impression was that the hotel was cold and smelled odd. I later learned that they burn some very smelly oil for their cooking stoves and boilers.

Friday Dec. 29th: Today Mr. Guan provided a free police car to shuttle us from the hotel to the bottom of the Huangshan Mountains, where we would take a long tram ride up into the mountains. Privately owned cars are not allowed to drive on the road that goes up the mountains––only tour busses and police cars.

Our gear was carried from the upper cable car station to the Beihai hotel, by Mr. Guan's friends, including Mr. Liu (Xiao Liu where "xiao" means "little fellow" in Chinese), the police station's cook who helped us many times.


The path was made of cut granite stones, with flat sections and steps every 20 feet. Some sections of the path had steps that allowed for elevation changes of 20 – 100 vertical feet. As we walked we saw that porters carried supplies that were shouldered on a thick piece of bamboo that had items at each end. My porter had one suitcase that was 47 pounds on one end of the bamboo, and a 38-pound bag at the other end. This bamboo was carried on his shoulder. He and the other porters walked faster than the rest of the population, and would carefully run down the steep vertical descending stairs. There were pine needles and small patches of ice on the path and steps.

Once situated in the hotel, we carried our camera gear to the tram exit and made a few photographs of the mountains and air in the distance. Mr. Guan treated us to a lunch of 30 courses. I tried everything at least once. My only dislike was the mushroom soup. It was too pungent for my taste. At 3:30 PM. Leping and I hiked to an area that was a good sunset location. No fog, but very interesting light for high key images. We hiked back in the dark, negotiating
the stairs and arrived back at the hotel by 7:00.

Saturday Dec. 30th : "We awoke at 4:40 and hiked to" Shi-Xing Peak, the "Beginning to Believe Peak", courtesy of the local photographer's network, since the place is closed to
the public and is only accessible to VIP photographers through the network.

Again, no fog, but interesting rocks and light of extraordinary contrast. It will be difficult to hold all the detail in the light and dark portions of my images, but the experience of climbing that peak was exciting! The evening shoot was great, clouds have arrived and I was able work in light that I love. The arrival of fog is predicted.


Important note:
The fog of Huangshan is the reason I came here. Since 2002, I have been photographing the atmospheric conditions of the landscape––not as the background to the mountains rocks and trees, but as the main subject of my photographs. If you don’t know my work, you can visit www.richardlohmann.com.