Perfecting Travel Photography Skills in Yunnan China

I went to Yunnan, China with William Yu who hosts travel photography workshops. I mostly photograph weddings and events so I like traveling with other photographers to learn something new.

It was nice going back to China as an adult because my parents would bring me here growing up and as a kid I HATED it. Long flight, long bus rides, the bathrooms, crowds, people, food… I didn’t like any of it.

30 years later I’m on a 10 hour bus ride winding through Yunnan, eating a bag of Longan (my favorite fruit!), and it feels like home.

The rice terraces were the main thing we photographed while in Yunnan.

We went in January because the fog makes for better photography. It’s also low tourist season right before Chinese New Year. Cold, but worth it!

One of my biggest takeaways during William’s Workshop is PATIENCE. I already consider myself a pretty patient person when it comes to photography, but during this trip I saw the patience he has to get THE shot. Sometimes we’d travel back to the same location multiple times to see if weather conditions were better. It makes the difference between a good shot, and a WOW shot.

He snorted like a pig. 🙂

The Habo Long Table Feast. It happens once per year and the date it falls on is decided on by village elders. Habo is a small village near the border of Vietnam. It’s so remote that as of right now it’s not on Google Maps!

Each family in the village prepares a basket of food to be blessed by the elders. They also each gift them cigarettes and a bottle of liquor. Smoking and drinking is a big thing here.

A time to get together with family.

They encouraged us to eat with them. I tried almost everything. The worms were just the shell of the worm, not the actual worm, so tasted like chips. I wouldn’t be able to do juicy bugs!

My husband had a good time, lol. I have some great video of him getting down with the locals.

Street dentist.

I like them solid like a meatball.

And the best part is she’s a twin!

Azheke Village.

On our way over we had a stopover in Shanghai. Pete asked if I wanted to go to Shanghai Disney. I said, “Duh.”

This was the first part of our trip. The second half we went to Myanmar, and you can see those photos here.

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