Pic(k) of the week 4: Keeping Beijing clean

In the second half of January I had two brief 30hr visits to Beijing. I always find it remarkable how the old Peking is a city of extremes... Temperatures often climb above 40C in the summer months, while they dropped to -20C the first night  I was there. 

In the afternoon I made my way to the" Beijing camera equipment city". A one hour metro ride from my hotel followed by a 20 min walk brought me to a large complex full of official camera stores. No fake stuff here! Everything comes with international warranty. 

Just before entering the center, I had a brief chat with a very friendly Beijing street cleaner... Well chat? He didn't speak any English and my Mandarin is limited to Niihau (Hello) and Xie Xie (Thank you). Using sign language, I asked him whether I could take his picture. He smiled and approved. Interesting enough he collects the garbage with two large chopsticks. Very Chinese if you ask me! I do like the shot but wished the blue car in the background was not there. Next time better!

Image details:

Nikon D700 with 24-70 2.8 Nikkor lens

50mm, f8, 1/400s, ISO 200

RAW file processed in Lightroom (LR) followed by a Tonal adjustment with Nik Color Efex Pro 3.0

By the way, I couldn't resist and left the place with a brand new Nikkor 70-200 2.8 VRII lens. Meanwhile I sold my "old" (18months) 70-200 2.8. VR lens in Dubai. More on this exciting lens shortly!

Happy shooting,

BJORN