The Daily Post photo challenge for this week is Urban:
This week’s photo challenge is guest hosted by Terence S. Jones of A Guy With a Camera. Read on for more about this week’s theme and his photography tips!
Urban. The idea behind urban photography is to photograph your city and the streets where you grew up as they are. Unlike the photoshopped pictures to which we are accustomed nowadays, urban photography presents a more direct, unaltered view of life. It is about documenting urban living space and how people adapt their environment to certain needs and vice versa. Urban photography shots provide cultural, social, economical, and ecological context all at once, and can capture social tension.
Hmmm. “photograph . . . where you grew up” – well, I grew up in too many places to determine which was really home, and I have no pictures from way back then. After considering whether to enter this challenge, I finally did decide I would -with photos taken on a trip to Beijing a couple of years ago. These represent my concept of “urban” the best.
We were momentary celebrities in Beijing, with many of the residents wanting pictures of their family with the “white folk”. Interesting feeling for us.
Bicyclists were very common in Beijing, many of them piled much higher with things to be transported than this one.
Street cats, also profuse.
From our hotel window, a Beijing hutong – a typical urban neighborhood.
Starbucks is everywhere!
Approaching the artistic center.
A neighborhood hutong being replaced by newer construction.
Wanderings of an Elusive Mind 
HI Carol,
This is really interesting! The photos paint a picture of another (very urban) world, from the laundry lines to the Starbucks coffee. I love that you and your daughter got to travel together.
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Naomi, we went to Seoul, South Korea to visit my son, who was teaching there. During his spring break we went to Beijing. It was a great trip – the three of us travel well together.
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nice shots! starbucks is everywhere. the pic of typical urban reminds me of the movie memoirs of a Geisha, where the little nitta tried to escape and jumped on those ‘same looking’ roofs. 🙂
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Thank you for visiting – and for commenting,
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Interesting photos. Perfect for the Urban challenge.
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Thank you. Beijing is nothing if not urban.
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Ohhhhhhhhhhh, how COOL is this?!!!
Given a choice, however, I’d always find my way back to the beauty and serenity of your back yard 🙂
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Me too, Laurie, but sometimes it is appreciated all the more when I’ve been away from it for awhile.
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Like the shot from the hotel window of the rooftops best…must have been a great trip!
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It was wonderful, Dawn!
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Great photos. I like the bicyclists, what a challenge that must be to load their bikes and be able to travel down the road with that load.
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This photo doesn’t show how heavy the traffic can be either. I think they take their lives in their hands every time they get out there.
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Stunning images!
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Thank you.
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Love your pictures of Beijing! Fabulous city to show the mixture of urban and renewal, especially with the razing of all the hutongs! I loved Beijing!
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I would have liked to stay longer – there was so much to do, see and eat.
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Pingback: Weekly Photo Challenge: Urban « Ruth E Hendricks Photography
Thanks for your view into urban scapes such as these. I love visits to cities. Also love returning to the quiet woods. Kinda like going to Oz and then saying, “There’s no place like home, no place like home.” Thanks for showing Oz.
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Kathy, you have it exactly! Each visit away makes home in the quiet even more precious.
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Wonderful photos Carol. We hope to travel in China one day and explore our daughter-in-law’s ( and granddaughter’s) roots. I so enjoy reading about your travels:)
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We spent about a week in Beijing but I’d like to see more of the country someday.
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Beijing is certainly a good choice for “urban”! You captured the prompt very well.
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Interesting shots, Carol – Beijing must have been fascinating to visit.
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It really was a great experience, Lynne.
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cats are everywhere …
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