navy

bavarian glow

The Temple of Heaven, Beijing, China.

- N.

The temple complex was constructed from 1406 to 1420 during the reign of the Yongle Emperor. The complex was extended and renamed Temple of Heaven during the reign of the Jiajing Emperor in the 16th century. 

The UNESCO World Heritage Site described the temple as “a masterpiece of architecture and landscape design which simply and graphically illustrates a cosmogony of great importance for the evolution of one of the world’s great civilisations…”. And that the “symbolic layout and design of the Temple of Heaven had a profound influence on architecture and planning in the Far East over many centuries.”

In ancient China, the Emperor of China was regarded as the Son of Heaven, who administered earthly matters on behalf of and representing divine authority. The temple was built for these ceremonies, mostly comprising prayers for good harvests. It was used most in the Ming and Qing dynasties. 

The presence of the colour red on the outside and inside of the building symbolises bringing good luck.

Talking about the technical aspects of this picture, the weather conditions have affected the layout of this picture a lot. I took this picture right after it stopped raining and the fact that it was taken on a cold March day early in the morning, resulted in the sky being very clear and blank, almost giving me the perfect white background for a picture to pop. The photo is also angled to the side, causing the viewer’s eyes to travel panoramically from the left to the right where the main aspect of the picture is. Also, I also took the picture from a bottom-to-top angle,  making the temple look wider and thus making it command more attention from the viewer. The editing for this picture was very minimal, only adding slight contrast, increasing exposure and increasing the temperature to +0.7k. This contributes to the subtle etherealness I wanted to reflect in this picture.

Camera used: iPhone 7 plus (couldn't pack my DSLR!)  

Editing software used: Adobe Lightroom 

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