Photography Tutorial · 2021-11-21
Why Do I Photograph Landscapes from Trains? The Story and Motivation Behind It
Thomas Chu Photo
In several previous tutorials, I shared the capture techniques and post-processing methods behind my 'China by Train' landscape series.
But those were mainly technical explanations.
What I share today is a recent interview with me by China Radio International, which clearly presents the original intention, the stories behind this series, and its long-term vision.
Perhaps this interview video will inspire some of you even more, as it answers my thinking on questions like: why shoot these? Why shoot this way? Why express through photography? How to present China's landscapes?
Video Tutorial
▶ Watch the video tutorial on Bilibili
China by Train — selected works from the Qinghai-Tibet Railway
Train: Z6811 Xining-Lhasa
Location: Nagqu
Date: April 2021
Caption:
Scenery inside and outside the Qinghai-Tibet Railway windows. Since the Xining-Lhasa section spans day and night with over 20 hours of travel time, staff also nap in some unremarkable corners of the train. Outside the window, most sections are desolate plateau, but every so often you see track guardians like this, who salute the train as it passes.
Train: Lhasa-Nyingchi D8993
Location: Lhasa
Date: 2021-06-26
Caption: The opening of the Lhasa-Nyingchi railway was a historic achievement — the electrified Fuxing EMU ran onto the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau for the first time. The 2021 Fuxing business class also adopted a herringbone layout, more spacious and comfortable. A Tibetan family brought their elderly and children to experience Fuxing business class; outside the window was a traditional plateau market packed with vehicles.
Train: Nyingchi-Lhasa D8982
Location: Lhasa
Date: 2021-06-27
Caption: On the third day after the Lhasa-Nyingchi railway opened, a CRRC engineer naps between shifts; outside the window, Tibetan people work in the fields.
Train: Z6811 Xining-Lhasa
Location: Nagqu
Date: April 2021
Caption: The train journey from Golmud to Nagqu takes 10 hours, almost all through uninhabited land, and nearly everything seen along the way is wildlife. As the train approaches Nagqu, herders' huts and yaks on the grassland multiply — like an oil painting in a frame under blue sky and white clouds.
Train: Z6802 Lhasa-Xining
Location: Damxung
Date: April 2021
Caption: One of the most beautiful sections of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway is the Damxung grassland in northern Tibet. In good weather, blue sky, white clouds, snow mountains, grassland, yaks and sheep compose a gorgeous plateau scroll.
Train: Z6801 Xining-Lhasa
Location: Golmud
Date: August 2020
Caption: As the train approaches Golmud: signal towers beside the track, solar panels, and the twilight and moon in the distance. The Qinghai-Tibet line has almost full 4G coverage from Xining to Golmud and from Nagqu to Lhasa — thanks to the signal base stations along the way.
Train: Z6802 Lhasa-Xining
Location: Damxung
Date: April 2021
Caption: The most anticipated viewpoint on the Qinghai-Tibet line is Cona Lake near Nagqu. The railway comes within a few meters of the lake surface — one of the highest freshwater lakes in the world seems within reach. I shot continuously with my camera and happened to catch a bird flying over the lake.
Train: Z8804 Shigatse-Lhasa
Location: Shigatse
Date: August 2020
Caption: A bustling highland barley harvest scene beside the track in the setting sun. Tibet is a high-altitude, cold region where cold-resistant highland barley is one of the main crops — sown in March, harvested in August.
Train: Z8804 Shigatse-Lhasa
Location: Shigatse
Date: August 2020
Caption:
A corner I discovered while wandering the train, which I later found echoed a scene flashing by outside. The luggage ribbons inside echo the rainbow outside; the red flower on a hat inside echoes the five-starred red flag outside — a clever connection.
Train: Z8803 Lhasa-Shigatse
Location: Lhasa
Date: August 2020
Caption: The train passes a road worker on a self-balancing scooter — this is the construction site of the Lhasa section of the planned Ya'an-Yecheng expressway (from Ya'an, Sichuan to Yecheng, Xinjiang).
Train: Z8803 Lhasa-Shigatse
Location: Shigatse
Date: August 2020
Caption: The train from Lhasa to Shigatse was almost full of passengers, with much luggage piled at the carriage junctions. Outside the window, a country road crosses the railway embankment toward the distance.
Train: Z6801 Xining-Lhasa
Location: Golmud
Date: August 2020
Caption: On the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, the train passes a wind farm at dusk. The utility pole in the frame is distinctive — overhead wires transition to buried cables here to cross the railway.
Train: Z165 Golmud-Lhasa
Location: Hoh Xil
Date: August 2020
Caption: A train delayed nearly 9 hours let me pass through the Hoh Xil wilderness exactly at the golden sunset hour. Beneath blue sky, white clouds and snow mountains, the Qinghai-Tibet line is a 'sky road' not only for rail, but also for highways, oil pipelines, fiber-optic lines and power grids.
Train: Z165 Golmud-Lhasa
Location: Hoh Xil
Date: August 2020
Caption: The 6,178-meter Yuzhu Peak has stood here for at least tens of thousands of years; long geological movement has given its glaciers and rivers stunning forms. But when I saw Yuzhu Peak through the train window, and the Qinghai-Tibet Highway packed with trucks beneath the snow mountains, an equally powerful sense of strength stirred me even more.
Train: Z165 Golmud-Lhasa
Location: Golmud
Date: August 2020
Caption: Viewing the Qinghai-Tibet Highway from the railway — what's striking is not only the dense, winding rivers, but also the bridges crossing them one after another.
Train: Z165 Golmud-Lhasa
Location: Golmud
Date: August 2020
Caption: The Qinghai-Tibet Railway crosses all kinds of terrain, passing many especially sandy Gobi sections. Pictured are sand-blocking dams and fences just out of Golmud — lines of defense protecting the railway that have become a unique sight in the desert.
Train: Z6802 Lhasa-Xining
Location: Tuotuohe Station
Date: April 2021
Caption: At Tuotuohe Station on the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, dense sand-blocking fences and rails form a unique sense of order on the plateau.
Train: Z6801 Xining-Lhasa
Location: Qinghai Lake
Date: August 2020
Caption: Shortly after departing Xining, a vast blue lake appears in the distance — this is the Qinghai Lake section of the railway. Qinghai Lake is China's largest inland lake with a circumference of over 360 km; the railway runs along its shore for nearly 150 km between Haiyan and Bird Island stations.
Train: Lhasa-Nyingchi Z8901
Location: Shannan
Date: 2021-06-29
Caption: After stopping at Shannan, the regular train passes a vibrant field; passengers all look out the windows or take out their phones to record the beauty.
Train: Lhasa-Nyingchi D8993
Location: Barqude Temple
Date: 2021-06-26
Caption: On the second day of the Lhasa-Nyingchi railway, I grabbed a business-class ticket from Lhasa to Nyingchi. The scenery along the way was full of plateau character — snow mountains, prayer flags, barley fields, Tibetan villages. Pictured is the spectacular temple complex of Barqude Temple, built into the hillside by the Yarlung Tsangpo River, captured as the train passed.
Train: Z918 Lhasa-Golmud
Location: Cona Lake
Date: 2021-06-23
Caption: I ordered the 80-yuan braised beef brisket set meal in the dining car on the Qinghai-Tibet line, eating while watching cattle and sheep graze happily on the grassland outside.
#China by Train# is a large open-source crowdsourced photography project on the internet. After learning the related ideas and techniques, you're welcome to try shooting on your own journeys and submit under the #China by Train# tag!
Main submission platforms:
Weibo #China by Train#
Kuaishou #China by Train#
Bilibili #China by Train#
Tuchong #China by Train#
Submission requirements: the view outside the window must be actually shot on a train within China (high-speed rail, EMU, regular train, light rail, subway, etc.). If the final image includes the train interior, the depicted train type should match the actual operation of the line where the exterior was shot.