Zhujiajiao - The Venice of Shanghai

This post will mainly be photographs as I wanted to show off a bit of my photography. I have been taking my camera out a lot more lately and I am loving some of the moments I capture. 

Zhujiajiao is known as one of the few famous water towns on the suburbs of Shanghai. I have been wanting to go here for a good month now and thought it was a good time to get out of the dorms and city after our mid-terms. 

With 2 people down, the 3 of us had an early start so we could try and find the bus station in time. Little did we know, it took a few wrong turns to eventually find it. It doesn't help that People's Square station has about 16 exits, makes it so confusing. A good hour later and 3 numb bums (the seats on the bus were not comfortable), we arrived to the beautiful town of Zhujiajiao. 

The plan was to get a ticket to all the hot spots in the town and a boat ride across the canal. The tickets were about £8 each for all of this, still can't get over how cheap places like these are. 

Immediately after buying the tickets, we started to browse all the cute little town shops and make our way towards the entrance. The architecture in this town was something else. You could definitely tell it was an old town, with the bridges being built during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. 

 Stairs leading up to the famous Fangsheng Bridge

Before making our way up to the bridge, we walked to the side of the bridge to get some photos and got approached by these woman who were selling fish which you would then release into the river. I thought this was a lovely gesture but also felt sorry for the little fish stuck in those plastic bags for that length of time before someone would buy them.

The beautiful olden boats which would take you from one side of the town to the other. These men would do this all day until 4pm.

A very picturesque garden situated in the centre of the town. I couldn't help but take many photos of this garden, and then get some idiotic ones of us of course.

After a long walk around the garden, we hopped on for our boat ride. We had the whole boat for just us 3 as they do not have more than 1 group on.
It was a peaceful journey with stunning perspectives of the town.

We arrived at this shop which sold jewellery but also he made shapes out of toffee which you would then eat. You could either pick one which was already made and displayed or choose your own animal, character or whatever you wanted which he was able to make. I wanted the character 西 Xi (pronounced as She) as that is my last name. I am glad I only got a small one because it was very sickly. Aneta got a dragon, and Tilly got the chinese characters of Zhujiajiao 朱家角.

We ended up back to where we started the day with a gorgeous, colourful sunset setting in the distance behind the town. After quite a few restaurant look-ins, we sat down to have a small dinner before getting the bus back. We had dinner in one of the restaurants right on the water front but sadly were not sat outside as it was very busy during that time.

 The journey back was nothing but uncomfortable. We did not get a seat and, as it was an hours journey back, ended up sitting on the floor. It was very disgusting but there was no way I was going to be standing for that whole journey. It was worth it though to have been able to see that beautiful town.

Are you following me on Twitter | Instagram | Bloglovin' | Pinterest ?

2 WEEKS TRAVELLING THROUGH CHINA

Soooo... during Easter my friend and I were privileged enough to travel around China for two weeks! This opportunity allowed us to visit some of the major cities and the most beautiful views in China. The trip started in Shanghai, then to Xi'An, Chengdu, Jiuzhai Gou and finished back in Shanghai. I can't put into words how incredible the whole trip was, and the photographs definitely don't justify how stunning the views we were surrounded by were.
Even though I feel the photographs don't give people the real insight to how beautiful China's urban and rural areas are, here are a few photographs from each city:

 Botanical Gardens, Shanghai                                                                                    Bell Tower, Xi'An                                                                                  Wenshu Temple, Chengdu                                                                           

Jiuzhai Gou had to be my favourite, without a doubt. The mountainous views and flowing rivers, the hundreds of yaks and the friendly locals; the place was unimaginable. Even though it took us ten hours to get there from Chengdu, it was 100% worth it. I would do it all over again just to see those views!

We stayed at a local traditional homestay owned by a Tibetan family. They were the most welcoming bunch of people I have ever met, I would definitely go back and stay again.
We were taken to visit Zhou Ma's brother's house where he also offers a homestay (slightly grander than Zhou Ma's, but more modern). He showed us around and guided us through the history of their family, with photographs of all the people who had previously visited (some who were famous journalists and writers).

The other highlight, for both of us, was visiting the Terracotta Warriors museum. This emotional experience will be unforgettable.

A few photographs I have been playing around with in photoshop.
   Leshan Giant Buddha

 Prayer flags which were all around the Jiuzhai Gou                         

 national park and town.                                                                                                                                         Dried fruits at a local market in the national park.

 

 Are you following me on Twitter | Instagram | Bloglovin' | Pinterest ?

GETTING TO KNOW A NEW PHOTOSHOP

So recently I signed up for Photoshop and Lightroom to be installed on my Macbook as it was originally on my families Mac so I didn't have access to it. It has been updated since then, it was a long time ago, so I am new to the layout but making my way around it fast enough. I pay for both applications monthly so if you're thinking about doing the same click here for the link. I think it is definitely worth it, especially considering you get Lightroom and Photoshop.

I have used Photoshop since day one of starting my photography and it has been so easy to get around. Youtube tutorials have been my saviour for the newly updated Photoshop as I haven't been able to figure out the most simplest of things, one being dragging one image onto another, just terrible! You're probably thinking, how can you sit there and just watch tutorials trying to figure out how it works... trust me, i don't enjoy it, I just want to be able to do it straight away but sometimes it just isn't that simple, it sucks but that is how it is.
Lightroom is completely new to me so it may take a few weeks to recognise the easiest parts of editing photographs. I'm one to be very impatient, so I will either delay learning how to use it for as long as possible or just try different ways to tackle it until I eventually achieve it.

The other night I was just doodling around and created the photographs shown below. I really enjoy combining multiple images and experimenting with different tools on Photoshop. These are just experiments so they aren't great, I must admit.

This image of the bird is not one of my best, but I thought it showed a clear way of how I layer the same image on top to emphasise the movement and speed of the object in the image. To allow it to flow a little smoother, I would have smoothened out the edges of the birds wings, possibly using the tool motion blur, so the movement would be more obvious. 

I have created a series of photographs similar to the above photograph, and the main tool used which helps create this effect is called replace colour. This allows you to change the colour of the background the same as the other image you are using so it blends in well using a blending mode effect. 

Since being back home I have been out plenty of times so I will be incorporating them into my next group of edits. Here is a sneaky peak at what the scenery is like around my home area, not great quality as it was taken on my iPhone. 

Click here to head over to my website, I will be adding a few more photographs on it in the next week or so hopefully. Right now it's time to go back to the real world and get sleep before work tomorrow at 6:30am, help me!

 

 Are you following me on Twitter | Instagram | Bloglovin' | Pinterest ?