Best Chongqing Night Views: An Evening Photo Walk with Thomas

As a photographer based in Chongqing, Thomas shares three of his favorite night-view shooting spots in the city today.

This vlog was shot entirely on the Insta360 Ace Pro. I'm amazed by how capable an action camera can be at night — I'll use it for more location-sharing and tutorial videos going forward.

Video

▶ Watch the video tutorial on Bilibili

This is the illustrated companion to the video above. Back in his hometown of Chongqing, Thomas takes an Insta360 Ace Pro action camera on a night walk through three of his favourite photo spots — Hong'en Pavilion, Jiangbeizui and Hongya Cave, and the cyberpunk-filmset-like Deyi World. The route, the camera positions and the actual footage are laid out below, with timestamps so you can jump back to any segment.

01 Warm-up: Hong'en Pavilion and an Action Camera

Night scenes have always been the weak spot of action cameras, yet Thomas trusted one for the entire vlog thanks to the Ace Pro's 1/1.3-inch sensor, a 5nm AI chip and a new generation of algorithms — clean night footage with unclipped highlights and almost invisible noise (at 0:53 in the video). Before setting off he magnetically mounted the camera on the car roof to record the drive through interchange flyovers and bridges (at 0:44 in the video).

The opening destination is Hong'en Pavilion in Chongqing's Hong'en Temple Forest Park (Jiangbei District) — seven storeys tall, and from its viewing platform you take in both the illuminated tower itself and the distant sea of lights across Yuzhong District, exactly where the walk is headed next (at 1:33 in the video). Once the lights come on at dusk, the upturned eaves and red walls mirror perfectly in the water — an instant classical-Chinese-style shot.

The greeting that opens the video was shot exactly this way: camera on a tripod, gesture self-timer on — a self-confessed shy photographer just waves at the lens and recording starts, no helper needed (at 1:24 in the video). At the end of the film he even takes the same camera to a volcano in Indonesia, capturing rotating star trails in timelapse mode — a glimpse of its dynamic range in extreme light (at 5:57 in the video).

02 Spot One: the Grand Theatre and Riverbank at Jiangbeizui

The first spot is Jiangbeizui. Take the metro to Grand Theatre station and start with the Chongqing Grand Theatre itself: after dark its facade cycles through shifting colours, full of atmosphere. Thomas puts his subject in front of the glowing wall for silhouettes — the palette changes every few seconds, so one position yields a whole set of differently toned frames (at 2:15-2:31 in the video).

Then follow the walkway beside the theatre down to the river: the Qiansimen Bridge, the towers of Yuzhong District across the water and the stacked stilt-houses of Hongya Cave can all enter the frame at once — wonderful layering (at 2:36 in the video). Crowds gather here too, so Thomas offers two cleaner alternatives: a telephoto to catch people on the bridge while compressing Hongya Cave into the background, or a tidal pool by the river for a reflection shot (at 2:53-3:08 in the video).

03 Spot Two: Walking the Qiansimen Bridge to Hongya Cave

The second spot is Chongqing's icon — Hongya Cave. The recommended route is to walk across the Qiansimen Bridge, where the bridge and the distant buildings keep changing orientation as you go; it is a classic urban hike in itself (at 3:15 in the video). One caution: the entrance sits on the 11th floor — Chongqing's magic topography — and you must keep walking down from there to reach the truly best angle (at 3:33 in the video).

The best vantage is on the riverside road at the bottom. It is packed at night, but the moment the golden stilt-house complex lights up is worth the wait; the film even cuts in a panorama of cruise ships gliding past Hongya Cave — the three-dimensional mountain city at its best (at 3:20 in the video). Even without a camera, bracing a phone against the railing gets you Hongya Cave and the Qiansimen Bridge in one frame (at 4:04-4:11 in the video).

04 Spot Three: the Cyberpunk Neon of Deyi World

The third spot is Deyi World, one of Chongqing's oldest nightlife districts, where billboards and neon pack so densely that you step straight onto a cyberpunk film set (at 4:23 in the video). Many frames in the vlog were graded with the Cyberpunk style from the Insta360 app's AI creative library — a filter and a scene made for each other (at 4:35 in the video). The only drawback: this is also one of the city's most congested stretches.

For photographing people here, Thomas has two crowd-dodging tricks. First, place the camera very low and flip out the screen to compose — a low position naturally clears away the ground clutter and lines up the neon signs into a tidier backdrop (at 4:56 in the video).

Second, simply cross to the bus stop opposite Deyi World: no jostling crowds, and a much cleaner frame. Wait for a yellow taxi to pass and catch its lights against the sea of illuminated buildings — the street life and the glamour of Chongqing's night, all in a single image (at 5:12 in the video).

1. Start at Hong'en Pavilion — the highest night-view platform in central Chongqing, with a lit tower, red walls and the Yuzhong lights all frameable; 2. At Jiangbeizui, shoot silhouettes against the Grand Theatre's shifting lights, compress the Qiansimen Bridge and Hongya Cave layers with a telephoto, or find a pool for reflections; 3. Hongya Cave's entrance is on the 11th floor — walk all the way down to the riverside road for the best angle, phone-on-the-railing works too; 4. Deyi World's neon is pure cyberpunk — shoot low to dodge crowds, or wait at the opposite bus stop for a taxi to cross the sea of lights.