Tai Shan 2nd December 2008

After shooting a lot on Monday I intended to take it easy today and just shoot the wave defenses in Xinghai but the light was interesting and I felt like a hill so decided to stop putting off my Tai Shan visit.  Turns out I should have come here in the summer really when there may have been a chance of getting some light on the North side but oh well, the dim light adds to the eerie feeling on the North side where I found broken down walls and buildings that are perfect fodder for me at the moment.  If I get a chance with decent weather again (it is a few days later now and snowing heavily outside…) I’ll try and spend a day wandering through the woods both sides of the hill exploring whilst making new images.  Near the top you get a spectacular view North over the vast identical housing blocks with the new high rise buildings to the rear.  Had an interesting experience yet again when making images of this actually.  Heard a rumble and the screech of brakes behind me and turned to see 2 army jeeps with soldiers pouring out.  Obviously my heart sank a little and i was quickly working out what I had shot that may be  deemed inappropriate that day (nothing came or comes to mind!) so thought I was all good even though I knew I didn’t have all my papers on me.  Turns out they seemed to be escorting some officers who were going to watch the sunset at the top together… while the rest just stayed down with me at a lower level viewing spot.  Despite us not speaking the same language they seemed nice, with some old man pointing at me and shouting various things a lot while talking with them that included the words foreigner, England and stop, but they were absolutely pissing themselves at this slightly senile old guy which was a huge relief.  They even had a play with the camera while I was pointing out and trying to explain I was waiting for the tram to go through the frame…

Shahekou district, Dalian. China. 2nd December 2008.

The other interesting part of the day was on the way down the hill I found a small area set up presumably by an immigrant worker as a makeshift shelter.  The light was failing fast so shot a roll or so around the scene to add to a growing collection I have of these from around the parks so will see how they turn out.  Also should try to make time to go and hotograph the roads around the base of the hill because they are so very different than the more modern sanitised Dalian with overcrowding and power lines and pipes above the streets and generally looking more like most would assume China to look.

This entry was posted on Friday, December 5th, 2008 at 3:42 pm and is filed under Killing Time. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.