Afternoon Walk at the Summer Palace

“Afternoon Walk at the Summer Palace”
Beijing, April 2008



1st place at the 2008 Study Abroad Photo Contest from Lafayette College.

The misty background is not there by mistake. Beijing is very polluted, and most days would look like that. But think about when the Summer Palace actually was used by the emperor and people wearing clothes like the lady in the picture. I believe the landscape would have looked completely different, and you could see what was behind that bridge. Thus this picture shows two aspects of Beijing and the recent history of China: the old tradition, through the design of the bridge and the clothing style of the lady, and the changes that the evolving Chinese society has imposed on the environment. Of course I did not think about these ideas as I was shooting the photo, but life brings about a lot of happy coincidences, and this photo symbolizes for me that moment of revelation, of understanding, of momentary pleasure.