Film Killers Taj Mahal and Sossusvlei

Have you ever been to a place that its beauty is more than a “wow” for the first sight? As soon as you see it, you drop your jaw and start to wow. Every single step, you wow again. And you move forward for one more stride. Still you find yourself wow again. You feel like a fool that can't utter something meaningful.

I have.

Years later, when I was reorganizing the slides I took in 1995, India trip, and in 1997, Africa trip. I still felt the pulsations I had at that time. These two astounding sites were Taj Mahal in India, and Sossusvlei in Namibia. I took approximately 50 photos for each of them.





Have you never been there, you would just think it was me being undisciplined. Who would take so many pictures of the same thing? However, the truth is, once you get there, you cannot help raising your camera and starting to shoot. It is wonderful. So you take one or two. Well, maybe more, because you are afraid that the ones you just take aren’t prefect enough. Then you walk forward. Now you begin to wonder if the sunlight is brighter than a second ago. So you think you'd better shoot more. And when you just finish some, you suspect that the sun shines in a different direction now, therefore you don't want to miss better shots. There you go! You come home with over 50 photos of it, only to find that none of them shows the sensation you have at the scene.

(Taj Mahal)


(Sossusvlei in Namibia)

As for Taj Mahal, its gorgeousness attracts your attention, no matter where in the city’s corner you are. Its elegance and sophistication, be it dawn or dusk, bright or dark, are just like highly generated magnet, constantly emitting its glory to catch your eyes. Back that time when people were still using traditional negative films. I asserted that film companies, such as Konica and Fuji, should have sponsored the preservation of these two places for they have been attracting thousands of billions of tourists and killing countless films, which has been of great help to their profit.

Now even afterwards I have traveled to a lot more countries, I still think there are not many places like them. Therefore, Taj Mahal and Sossusvlei are both highly recommended. As for the control of shooting photos, since now people have digital cameras, the cost of the negative films is not an issue any more.