Well, I have finally gotten around to posting the second part of my China trip.  After an excellent time in Hong Kong, our group flew to Beijing and had a once-in-a-lifetime shooting session on the Great Wall.  It was cold but experiencing firsthand one of the great wonders of the world was quite exhilarating!  Our original plan was to shoot for a couple hours but we easily went over that time.  What made this trip to the Great Wall special was that our group had this portion of the Wall all to ourselves.  There were no tourists or gimmicky shops.  Heck, there weren’t even any locals.  We had private access to a portion of the Wall that is unrestored.  How awesome is that?!?

I was amazed at this feat of engineering.  The Great Wall just seems to go on forever, its walls disappearing into the horizon.  The Wall was built by the vision of its engineers along with the right tools.  And I think this sums up what it’s like to attend one of Scott’s workshops.  He gives you a vision and the tools needed to prosper in the photography business.  Just as the Wall seems to go on and on, Scott mentors and challenges us to see the potential and limitless possibilities before us as we build a career in photography.  I am looking forward to some more mentoring in 2010!

And I must be out of my mind for not saying this earlier.  Big, big, big props go to Jeremy Chan and his wife Zabrina Deng for organizing everything.  They worked so hard to give us a wonderful experience.  Thanks, Jeremy and Zabrina!  We are so thankful for you!  Check out their work on flickr.  I also want to thank the models (Yu-Cheng and Mei-Qian).  They braved the cold weather and worked hard to give us fantastic images.

Here’s Anwar helping me with my set up.  I learned a lot from him.

Enjoying a nice, relaxing dinner.

Tauran took this shot of me.  Thanks for the profile pic, T!  I appreciated Tauran sharing his insights.

And Chantal was very generous.  She gave me plenty of advice/coaching on setting up my images.

Chantal wondering if we will ever get to our destination.  It was a long trip from Badaling to central Beijing.

Paramilitary officers on duty inside the Forbidden City.

The walls just outside the Forbidden City.

Local Beijing resident.  I was happy to capture this image.  I realize that China is changing with the times but this image seems, to me, to symbolize China.