Taking a tip from Jay Maisel

I recently watched a photo-walk with renowned photographer Jay Maisel and applied one of his tips on a recent mini photo-walk of mine: let the picture come to you / just stop walking (or something like that). Basically, it's find a nice background/composition and have the action come to you. In this case, I came across this interesting tiled wall and walked across the street to take some candids of people walking past. I guess the philosophy here is that if you are running around trying to take photos, you're missing lots of shots, so just stop and look around.

Here's my take:


And if you're interested, you can watch it his photo-walk at www.kelbytraining.com (for a price). It's called "A Day with Jay Maisel." Let me know what you think.

Here's Jay's take:

Fancy clock

One of the many crazy clocks on display at the Forbidden City. Look at the detail!

Temple inside a temple

Can you tell what this is?

Windows

Bonus picture: Sunset at Google

I've been getting into the habit of bringing my camera gear to work and boy did it pay off this time. I just finished dinner and was walking to my office when I saw this gorgeous sunset. I quickly drove over to the nearest park and started snapping away. Unfortunately, the mosquitoes were snapping away at me too but it was worth it.

I kinda wish I saw this post before though, since I would of definitely played around with this technique too. Her pictures are beautiful btw so you should def check it out.
http://blog.thecarmelgallery.com/elizabeth_carmels_photogr/2010/06/new-camera-paintings-of-lake-tahoe.html

Lion fire-pot handles

This lion is the handle of the large fire-pots scattered throughout the Forbidden City. The fire-pots were used to hold water, and during emergencies, could be used to put out fires.

12 mythical creatures

These are the 12 mythical creatures used in China to protect the buildings from evil spirits. These are not to be confused with the 12 animals of the zodiac though. In addition, the number of creatures on the roofs of each building signifies the building's importance. The more creatures, the more important the building. Some buildings which you'll see later have only 5 or 7.

Sundial at Forbidden City

Where I work

Reading under an airplane

For some reason, I just love this shot. Maybe because it's something unexpected or out of place. I especially like the heat thing going on at the top of the picture. It's like a little easter egg when you notice it.

I think these might be the Rockies ...

Taken on my flight from SF to Chicago. I just love how this looks so surreal and hand-drawn (w/ a blue bic pen I might add).