I spent the last week holidaying up in Beijing, and in my four and a half days up there, I took almost 500 photos, which is a lot by my standards! I spent the first afternoon/evening wandering around Tiananmen square, and here are a few of the photos from that shoot, plus a photo of the 2008 Beijing Olympics Stadium thrown in at the end. As always C&C welcome.

#1 Great Hall of the People


#2 Chairman Mao Memorial Hall


#3 Tiananmen Square at Night


#4 Monument to the People's Heroes and Portrait of Sun Yat-Sen


#5 Gate of Heavenly Peace (Tiananmen)


#6 Marble Lion at the Gate of Heavenly Peace (Tiananmen)


#7 Beijing National Stadium (the Bird's Nest), the 2008 Beijing Olympics Stadium

[k100d]

nice photos! i was there last year, but didn't get a chance to go out there at night. which lens did you use?
during the day, it always seems so hazy so hard to get a good clear shot. imagine the buzz there once the olympics start!

might want to put a bit of perspective correction on your first photo

[pop4]

These were shot using the Sigma 10-20mm F4-5.6. I found that I was using it for probably 70% of my photos from the trip, with a large proportion of that at around 10mm. I've actually grown to like the distortion effect from this lens.

And you're right about the haze and pollution. I did not even see a single patch of blue sky during my time there; just mostly shades of gray. Quite sad really.

The following photo was taken just across the road, a bit over 150 meters away from the gate itself, and you can already see the effect of the haze:

[distorted_vision]

these shots are fantastic... awesome captures thats for sure.. i can see there are plenty of opportunities to take photos around that city.. i would love to go there someday......

[pop4]

Thanks mate. I was only shooting around the touristy areas, and even then I found there was already heaps of photo ops
Imagine what a street shooter like you could do....

Here's a few more, with some taken from on top of the Gate of Heavenly Peace (Tiananmen) itself:

#8 Gate of Heavenly Peace during the daytime. The big red flags and red lanterns were set up for May Day/Labour day


#9 Tiananmen Square


#10 Upright Gate. Looking in the opposite direction to the square, and towards the Forbidden City


#11 Tiananmen Square


#12 Rifle Drill