Disappointed Photographers Collection (Sunrise in Shanghai)

[MR92]

Was in Shanghai a few weeks ago and decided to get up early one morning for some shameless postcard shots of the skyline at sunrise.

The number of other people willing to be down at the Bund at 5am was astonishing, but unfortunately we were all in for a disappointing overcast morning despite a promising forecast.

Many pushed on with long exposures and timelapses, but I decided to shoot them instead!


#1. Lots of serious gear in one place

#2. Everyone had a DSLR in their hands, even the the background subjects...

#3. The guy on the scooter had packed up and left from elsewhere, but stopped on the way past to see how others were getting on.

#4. Cycling home empty-handed.

#4. Blue shirt guy one minute...

#5. ...and the next...

#6. An hour after sunrise was meant to happen and the sun finally makes an appearance

#7. And the one skyline shot I took for prosperity

 

[paulr5604]

Don't you just hate it when the conditions don't play ball. I really like your skyline shot though

 

[gramps]

Great storyline and the last two are fantastic ... see we're all the same really, wherever we are

 

[Graham]

Great shots and the last 2 are the best and worth shooting.
Maybe Mr blue shirt guy should have turned around and take shots of the people on the ground, looks like they had better fun

 

[Pookeyhead]

Many pushed on with long exposures and timelapses, but I decided to shoot them instead!

Quite rightly so. If you hadn't, you'd have got exactly the same photographs they got... what's the point?

That's a brilliant shot (1st one), and says so much about photography as a hobby. All that gear, all that time, all to take identical photographs of the same thing for no real reason. 16 more images of the same skyline added to the millions of others that already exist. This image is far more valuable, meaningful and interesting than the city skyline. I know what the Shanghai city skyline looks like from the millions of other shots already taken.

 

[Stu Meech]

How was the spread between Nikon and Canon? Haha.

You got some nice unique shots and still had time for a cliche tourist shot, so you got a good mix, well done!

 

[dinners]

Good stuff

I like the first and your final skyline shot is very good.

 

[MR92]

Don't you just hate it when the conditions don't play ball. I really like your skyline shot though

Thanks! Yea, especially when you've dragged yourself out of a warm bed and stumped up a night-rate taxi fare expecting glorious sunshine!

Great storyline and the last two are fantastic ... see we're all the same really, wherever we are

Yup, we all are. Only thing that I found different is that I've always experienced photography as a fairly a solitary pastime, whereas there seemed to be many couples and groups of friends who had come out to set up next to each other and work together.

Great shots and the last 2 are the best and worth shooting.
Maybe Mr blue shirt guy should have turned around and take shots of the people on the ground, looks like they had better fun

Ha, honestly hadn't really spotted that before, only the deserted tripod in the background. I'll dig through the rest of the files and see if I can see what was going on

Quite rightly so. If you hadn't, you'd have got exactly the same photographs they got... what's the point?

That's a brilliant shot (1st one), and says so much about photography as a hobby. All that gear, all that time, all to take identical photographs of the same thing for no real reason. 16 more images of the same skyline added to the millions of others that already exist. This image is far more valuable, meaningful and interesting than the city skyline. I know what the Shanghai city skyline looks like from the millions of other shots already taken.

Thanks for the feedback, and totally agree. Found it a much more rewarding use of time and came back feeling like I'd achieved something a bit different, rather than being disappointed when comparing my skyline to everyone else's.

Having said that, I do still get some pleasure from doing the 'postcard pics' and it can be good practice (seeing as there will be a lot of other examples to judge against). I'll often try to challenge myself with big panoramic stitches or slap an ND1000 on and do some long exposures - again, nothing that won't have been done lots before but adds a bit more skill and interest to the exercise.

Take landscapes... I'd argue that its fairly impossible to come up with a truly original landscape unless you're some crazy explorer, and even then you'll find that many of the most remote places have already been stunningly captured. You're therefore left to come up with your own interpretations and attempts at what's come before.

Thinking of a scenario more at the level of most of us on here: you arrive at a scenic viewpoint in some national park somewhere with an absolutely stunning view, but your inner anti-cliché alarm tells you to not just take the obvious photo. So you try to go off the beaten track... and find the view is nowhere near as good (they probably put the viewpoint there for a reason!). You decide to come back at golden hour... already been done. You decide to do some astrophotography over the landscape... already been done. Are you really not going to take the photo?

This is why I'm starting to favour people as subjects now. People are fun, always different and create unique situations.

Could probably have an entire thread on the topic.

How was the spread between Nikon and Canon? Haha.

You got some nice unique shots and still had time for a cliche tourist shot, so you got a good mix, well done!

Must've been very close, couldn't detect a favourite. At the camera markets there's pretty much a 50/50 Canon/Nikon split.

Thanks for all the feedback, really useful to get a feel for which ones worked better than others

 

[LonerMatt]

Love the photos of the photographer in blue: great mood, tone and composition!