Temple of Heaven

The Temple of Heaven is a complex of religious buildings in southeastern Beijing. They were used for annual ceremonies in order to pray to Heaven for a good harvest. At first sight it seems somewhat simple, but upon further inspection, like most ancient Chinese architecture, there is an immense amount of detail. Upon my visit to the temple, there was a large herd of traffic going to the right after entering the main grounds around it. Going to the left I was able to discover a spot where there were virtually no people in sight. I was able to get a nice shot of the temple and only a couple people in the picture. While people are usually good for sense of scale, hundreds of people can end up ruining certain shots. We sat on the wall of a building close to the temple and while people were sketching I took several different sketches. I realize now I should have been sketching...