China, the third largest nation in the world and the largest in population, offers a virtually limitless range of photographic opportunities. I made my first visit to China in June and July of 2004 experiencing many of its greatest cities and most historic sights. I have organized nearly 200 of my China images into four separate galleries. This is the first of them, concentrating on Beijing and Xian, the two great imperial cities of China's North. Xian, now a city of nearly eight million, was once the largest city in the world. Over a thousand years of Chinese history, it was the seat of the fabled Tang and eleven other Dynasties. Beijing eventually came to rule China in the 13th Century, and today it is a booming capital city with over twelve million inhabitants.

If you've viewed previous galleries I've posted on this site, you'll note that my photographic intentions are focused on interpretation, rather than description. I've continued to do this in these galleries on my Chinese adventures. I want my pictures to express how I feel about what I see, rather than just recording what I've seen or where I've been. Aside from sharing these pictures with you on this website, I also am using many of them to teach the principles of expressive travel photography on my pbase website http://www.pbase.com/pnd1) as well as in the tutorial workshops I give in Phoenix for those desiring instruction in photojournalism, expressive travel photography and digital imaging. These impressions of Beijing and Xian were gleaned from the more than 2,000 digital images I shot during our entire trip. I used three digital cameras, primarily a Leica Digilux 2 and a Canon G5 -- both five megapixel fixed lens cameras. Most of the Canon photographs were taken with a Canon .7x wideangle converter placed over my zoom lens, which provided me with the equivalent of a 24mm wideangle lens, a focal length that I feel is essential for effective travel photography. Others were made with a Canon 1.75x telephoto converter, which is the equivalent of a 245mm telephoto lens. (Only a few of these photographs were made using just the G5's 35mm-140mm zoom lens.) The Lieca Digilux 2 offers an incredibly sharp 28mm-90mm zoom lens, and an oversized sensor, which creates images with extra fine detail. It also functions without noticeable shutter lag, allowing me to stop action as desired. I also used a tiny four megapixel Canon S-400 Digital Elph for some of these images, allowing me to keep my camera virtually out of sight at times and even out of mind. I've edited all of these images with Photoshop to correct and refine the hue, color, contrast and sharpness levels, hopefully making my pictures more vibrant and meaningful. Although all of these photographs were digitally enhanced to some degree, none of the content has been digitally manipulated. The facts are all here, exactly as I captured them.

To view my images at their best, just click the "slideshow" button in the top right hand corner. To end the slide show at any time, press your "escape" key. I hope you will enjoy my photographic impressions. Phil Douglis Director, The Douglis Visual Workshops, Phoenix, Arizona, pnd1@cox.net