Travel photography and film, Silk Road, China
During late spring of 2018, I spent 3 weeks in China, exploring the ancient Silk Road from Xi'an to Kashgar. I traveled over 3500 km by bus, airplane, car and foot, taking photographs and filming. My focus was on people and cultures, which the Silk Road has an abundance of.
I went through all the array of emotions during this time. The trip was both demanding and eye-opening. Much of my journey went through the autonomous region of China known as Xinjiang, which is home to a number of ethnic groups, including Uyghur, Kazakhs, Han, Hui, Tajiks, Kyrgyz, Mongols and Russians. The region has seen several clashes between separatist and government forces due to many political, economic and religious reasons. Regardless, I didn't feel unsafe at any point on my stay in Xinjiang. One of the reasons why I love traveling so much is that you broaden your perspective of the world. You realize how enormous our planet is and how much richness and variation there is, if you just have the courage to cross your own doorstep.
I recorded the people and cultures into over 200 gigabytes of video footage and compiled everything into an energetic, fast-paced short film. When I wasn't filming, I took photographs. My cameras of choice for both purposes were the Sony A7Riii and Mavic Pro drone (note that drone laws in China are very different to most European countries and you need to apply for a permit via a website that is completely in Chinese). As for lenses, I took the compact and light approach, bringing only the 18-105 F4 zoom lens for general purpose use and the Sony Zeiss 35mm F2.8 for low light and street photography use. I also brought a Zhiyun crane 2, but ended up leaving it in my bag because I didn't want to carry too much extra weight. In hindsight, I would have left the crane at home.
Here are some selected images and of course the actual short film:
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: JUKKA ALASAARI
Commercial photographer, videographer, retoucher and adventurer from the Nordic country of Finland.