quarry

February 4, 2022March 8, 2023

The quarry is located in Jiangning District, Nanjing City, adjacent to She Village, surrounded by mountains and rivers, making it a good tourist attraction. A quarry is a gravel pile of ruins formed after years of mining. They show amazing power over the years. After years of weathering, the gravel gradually forms a hard shell. The uplifted part forms a hill-like shape with a narrow top and a broad bottom, where it shows ravines of varying depths, probably formed by years of rain. Such “hills” can be described as “unique”. If the sun sets in the evening, the side of the hill seems to be covered with a layer of golden brilliance, the protruding part is dazzling and bright, and the sunken part is dark and hidden, forming a rich layer of tones. This time will attract tourists and photographers in twos and threes to come and take pictures. Although it is not a scenic spot, they seem to regard it as a tourist attraction.

The cavity is located between the two hills, and the space inside is narrow, but people can burrow into it. After all, it is a hill formed by piles of gravel, and it may collapse if you are not careful, so people should always be cautious enough during climbing and walking. Those who are keen to explore are good at imitating this place as an adventure place, trying to show their extraordinary courage and survival skills.

When the tourists dispersed one after another, I took a few more pictures. They better reflect what I see as a quarry, with a mysterious, primitive, desolate flavor.

January 2, 2021March 8, 2023

A mountain village at dusk

The story in the photo takes place in an unknown mountain village in Jiangning, Nanjing. Here surrounded by mountains, rolling, the mountain is not high, there are immortals are famous. Nearby there is an abandoned quarry and some scattered pear orchards. They gave the pear garden a very beautiful name: pear valley.

Quarry abandoned barren mountain is the above-mentioned “bald mountain”. So these scenes together constitute the entire landscape of this mountain village.

When I photographed these scenes, the afterglow of the slanting sun was gently sprinkling on this large area, thus forming the effect of shadows of varying intensity and density. Although it is still far from the oil painting-like texture, it expresses the tranquility and serenity of the mountain village to a certain extent.

People who are tired of urban life have always longed for an idyllic life, where they can spend the rest of their lives in peace and settle their hearts. Some of them have spared no expense to buy properties in the remote countryside, and they have made a lot of extravagant construction. For those peasants who were born and raised in the mountain villages, perhaps they are tired of the comfortable life in the mountains, and escaping from the ravine to work in the city is their biggest dream. Just like what Qian Zhongshu described in his novel “The Siege”: people inside the walls want to go out, and people outside the walls want to come in.

A young man from Maanshan talked to me about his hometown. He said his hometown is full of mountains, more mountains than here and higher. But he didn’t want to stay there for the rest of his life. He said that life is too comfortable. From his words, we can detect that he seems to be very satisfied with the current life of the city to fight.

I only silently said: comfort may not be bad.

January 2, 2021March 8, 2023

Bald Mountain at sunset

The place shown in this picture is a bald mountain somewhere in Jiangning, Nanjing, a unique landscape formed after years of quarry mining. The mountain is full of rocks and slag, naturally there is no grass, and it has the feeling of desolation in the desert.

When I arrived at Bald Mountain, it was dusk, and the setting sun in the west put a touch of afterglow on the craggy rocks. The mountain is uneven and undulating, so it creates a mixture of light and dark light on it. The bright parts show a charming warm tone, while the shadow parts deepen the sense of visual depth and appear very mysterious.

Although the entrance gate is posted with a notice to remind visitors that the mountain is soft and prone to landslides. But still, it could not stop the visitors from coming to the neighborhood to take photos and sightseeing. I saw that the beautiful young female photographer was already returning with a few people who were ready to call it a day. I thought am I too late?

Bald Mountain is not very tall, so the visitors came to go up and down easily. In order to achieve my desired effect, I was going to let the sunlight act as a side light source in order to create a three-dimensional effect, so I had to stand at a suitable vantage point for shooting. However, because of the narrow space and the dense woods that obscured the light, I had limited options. But thankfully, after a few tosses and turns (changing lenses and camera positions), I was able to take a few pictures while the sun was still setting.