View allAll Photos Tagged perspective
The students and teachers of Perspectives Middle Academy (located in Auburn Gresham) are making tremendous academic and social emotional learning growth. Just this past year SY 2013-2014, they made almost two (2) grade levels of growth in both math and reading.
Photos by David Terry
Last week’s photo shoots were of Tianfu Square (at night) and a day trip to Huanglongxi Ancient Town southeast of Chengdu. This week, I changed it up a little and went to a museum that I’d been wanting to visit for quite some time (but, honestly, was just too lazy to go to until now).
Sanxingdui (literally, “three star mound(s)”) is an archaeological site/museum. To give you perspective, I’ll make a few comparisons. The easiest (and less impressive) comparison is to the Jinsha Archaeological Site within the Chengdu city limits.
Jinsha is a very nice site in its own right, and has a lot of source material that dates from around 2,500-3,000 years ago. The Jinsha site was more recently discovered (2001) than the Sanxingdui site (early 20th century; excavations began in earnest in 1986). At Jinsha, things just feel like “leftovers.” I mean to say…there doesn’t feel like anything that the world at large necessarily needed to know about – though some of the art there, the skeletal remains, etc. are incredibly interesting if you have an interest in human history. However, I digress. The main point I should make regarding Jinsha and Sanxingdui is that it’s believed that the sites are from a related culture, though the timing is off by about 500 years (if I remember right from the signage at Jinsha).
The other comparison I will make is to China’s most famous archaeological site: the Terracotta Warriors in Xi’an. Those are more important from a nationalistic point of view, I suppose, in that they were made (or ordered to be made, to be more precise) by China’s first emperor circa 200 BC. Aside from that, the terracotta army is quite impressive.
I feel Sanxingdui is much more important to human history, though, and I say this for a few reasons. First, it predates China (as a “nation-state”) by about 1,000 years. Almost everything that has been unearthed here is from roughly the 12th or 13th century BC (per carbon dating). Finding this site was (rightfully so) a huge shock in the archaeological record. It wasn’t known that people were in this area, if I’m not mistaken, and that they were as advanced as they were.
As you can see from the collection, this is a people who were highly advanced, had a monetary system (based on the knowledge of cowry shells, etc.), religious practices, and a high technical skill with bronze and other alloys. The masks from Sanxingdui are the most famous part of this collection and are still in such good shape 3,000 years later that they could honestly be placed in any museum in the world. They’re truly quite impressive.
Another reason I say so little is known of the people who lived here is that, while this museum is of exceptional quality – architecturally, in presentation, in every aspect – there is so little background information provided about the people’s origins. We can see how they lived, what was important to them, and other things, but the one thing that is missing is…where they came from. I continually found myself saying, “Wow,” over and again throughout the afternoon here.
Getting here is relatively easy now. A bus goes from Xinnanmen long distance bus station in downtown Chengdu (leaving at 9:30 a.m.) and takes you directly to the Sanxingdui parking lot, about 50 km (at most) towards the northeast on the Mianyang freeway. The closest town is Guanghan, and the cost of the ticket, for a round trip ride, is 50 RMB. (The bus returns at 2:40 p.m., which gives about 4 hours to see the entire museum and grounds.)
Upon getting to the visitor center, you have to pass through security scanners (in each of the three other buildings, too, for that matter). After paying the very reasonable 80 RMB admission, you pass through security yet again and are finally in the museum/site proper. I don’t recall much information available at the visitor center, but I may have just missed it. In retrospect, it would be very nice to have some informational videos – even if they were just to say much isn’t known about the history of the people. It could have given suppositions of life in video format, or even focused on the discovery of the site. (Again, maybe they’re already there, and I missed them…but, I don’t think so.)
Upon leaving the video center, the first of the three buildings you arrive at is the Comprehensive Gallery. This gallery is wonderful in that it has actually been built into one of the three mounds. (I’m not 100% sure that this is one of the three original mounds; perhaps it’s a replica of the mound. Either way, it was a good use of the land.) The comprehensive gallery consists of five areas that, for the most part, focus on earthenware and stone ware artefacts that were unearthed in the pits. The relics are well-presented, well-labeled, and well-maintained. Besides earthenware and stoneware, there are also plenty of artefacts made of jade, some of bronze, some of gold foil, and so on. The comprehensive gallery ends with a display of bronze money trees that were (are?) important in Chinese culture.
After finishing in the Comprehensive Gallery, my second stop was to go to the Cultural Relics & Restoration Gallery. This is the smallest of the three, and most comprehensive (in terms of presenting artwork from all of Chinese history) of the three galleries. There are plenty of pieces here from the Song, Tang, Ming, and Qing Dynasties. I went through here in a bit of a hurry, so am not certain whether or not the relics in this hall are local to the Chengdu plain or not. I think they are.
Hurrying along, I found my way outside and passed the Echo Altar (sacrificial stage) and quickly wandered around the Bronze Hall before going in. I was enjoying the landscape at the site as it’s spring and magnolias are in bloom all around the grounds, along with rapeseed (a little), and a lot of landscaped flowers along the way.
The Bronze Hall is the highlight of the Sanxingdui site. It almost exclusively contains nothing but masks. You would think it gets a little redundant after a while, as most of the masks are similar (exaggerated pupils, though two or three have protruding pupils), mostly of bronze, and all with the sparse signage that they were excavated from either pit #1, #2, or #3 in the 13th-12th century BC. However, like the Comprehensive Gallery, the Bronze Hall is an architecturally pleasing building that presents the masks in six different sections, also ending with a large (3.5 times the original size) replica of a bronze money tree.
Feeling completely satisfied with Sanxingdui, and fresh out of galleries to visit, I left the Bronze Hall and walked the grounds towards the main exit. There is a restaurant and shopping area on the way out (though I didn’t stop to eat or buy anything). I did take a very quick glance into the gift shop, but wasn’t really excited by anything I saw offhand.
After a little more photographing, I made it back to the bus with about 45 minutes to spare. All in all, it was a perfect day out of town at a museum, and I was also thrilled that there weren’t too many people out here. I couldn’t have asked for much more from this experience.
I finished the day off at Tai Koo Li, eating Thai food at Lian (in a very early preparation for an upcoming holiday in May). Before the May holiday, though, the goal of getting out to shoot every weekend continues. Monday (today), March 14th was spent in Pingle, another ancient town, which was completely underwhelming…especially after last week’s shoot at Huanglongxi and yesterday’s shoot at Sanxingdui. Fortunately, there is plenty more to photograph between now and May.
If I were a camera.... what would I see on the other side if Caity was using it?
I would see this or all kinds of unique faces from her!
5-15-08
A few years ago I really got into my Facebook account. I had tons of friends and was a part of all sorts of “truther” and conspiracy groups. Whenever there was some kind of event happening, a big thread would blow up on my Facebook wall. Likewise, when I had important news to share I would simp...
www.hopegirlblog.com/my-issues-with-facebook-from-a-marke...
It's always difficult to judge someones size from a photo so I thought I should post a straight on shot of Ash.
The shapes of the simple rectangles in this photograph illustrate one-point perspective. The diagonals lead the eye inward from the outer edges of the composition, toward the focal point (that tall thin rectangle of yellow sunlight to the right of the window). This picture was shot at the Noguere Museum one afternoon during its reconstruction, when the whole place was quiet and empty and the sunlight coming in through the north-facing glass block windows was golden and liquid-looking.
I like the perspective in this shot, with the tower in the background and the head in the foreground, but only the plane in focus.
I guess the second sign, about half way down the track, is their final attempt to convice you to turn back.
Accelerating the End of Hunger and Malnutrition; A Global Event
28 –30 NOVEMBER 2018
BANGKOK, THAILAND
Parallel Session D: Conflicts and Emergencies: Strengthening Resilience to Accelerate Progress
Persistent conflicts worldwide, exacerbated by climate change, are threatening progress in the fight against hunger and malnutrition, pushing millions of refugees into food insecure environments and creating challenges for host communities. Researchers and representatives from the humanitarian sector will present perspectives on how new approaches, technologies, and financial tools can improve the food security of refugees and local populations, and how refugees themselves can play a pivotal role in accelerating reductions in hunger and malnutrition. Additional focus will be given to local displacement of populations (internally displaced people – IDPs) and conflict-afflicted populations who are not displaced.
Photo credit: Patrick de Noirmont for FAO and IFPRI