* Wednesday C&C "No Theme" Thread #878 / Revived #098 on 2025 02 12*

CRUISING THE LI RIVER

Another image from our trip to China in early 2019.

In the second part of our trip (after Beijing, Datong and Xi'An, and before Pinyao, Ping An & Hong Kong), we were stationed for a few days in rural Yangshuo, which must be a bustling tourist town and a hub for outdoors activities in summer, but a bit less so in early spring.

We enjoyed a few days of quiet country life there, with walks and bikerides between fields and up mountains.

One of those days, we took a cab to a nearby town of which I really cannot recall the name, just like Yangshuo on the Li River, where various companies offer short cruises on the river, famed for its almost constant mist and fog between the carst rock formation that line its banks.

We took one of those cruises (of course) on a rainy, overcast day, and were rewarded with some very good views.

A bit like this:

Beautiful, brooding image. I like the swirling fog/mist and the interlocking masses of foliage and hulking rock dwarfing the bright evidence of human existence below them.

Rich

Deus ex machina.

That's a brave woman!

Quite a dramatic scene. I like that the cabling and machinery is visible in the shot, but subdued and secondary to the drama.

Rich

Woosh! indeed. The image could have been carried by the bright color and shapes, but the action lines really do the job! Very nice placement of the skier against the slanted hill and powder spray.

Rich

Dramatic stage lighting, smoke machines and a heroic-appearing lead guitarist. You caught the mood very well.

Rich

Now those Dam birds have been taking ballet lessons!

What else will they be doing?

Dramatic and beautiful as ever!

Rich

Thank you Fireplace, Mike and Chris.

Chris, at first I wasn't sure about your helicopter analogy until I realised for sure they have that ability to change the pitch of their wings same as a helicopter's blades...

Yes. I think a bit about my motivation. I admit they are a go to because they seem more available than anything else. But beyond the challenge I set myself to capture them in flight, as Mike mentioned elsewhere, they have such an array of colours and I keep finding variety and inherent beauty.

Thank you. I agree "elegant" is the best way to describe the great egrets. I never get tired of watching them.

This time of year I am never entirely sure whether they are fighting over perches, or whether they have transitioned into flirting with potential spouses. It could be either.

Thank you for your detailed response. It always helps me to hear from people who haven't seen pictures from my ongoing obsession before. It was the grace of the white birds against the ugliness of the industrial site itself that first drew me here, and now almost a decade later I can't stop going back for more. The birds are always fascinating, the water changes by the moment, and the ugly old dam has all that weird geometry, a ready made photographers set.

The birds never cease to entertain me. I miss more moments than I catch though. I kept hoping those beaks would touch.

Thanks Rich.