so i'll be first again :P

Im amazed im number 2. Never would I have thought.
Well anyway, cool shot, i love aeroplanes, just thought I'd let you know.

ps and Ross: I suspect that the viewing figures have dropped off over the last couple of days as a) the server's in a terrible state, and b) I've not posted for three days. I did try to put something up before I went away but after failing to connect to my ftp server for 12 straight hours I gave up :-/

Oh, and I take it that neither of you wanted to hazzard a guess about where I might be? ;-)

I had my camera stolen out of my car yesterday, along with some favorite pics on the memory card which I had not had time to load onto the computer yet, so I come to your site for the motivation and inspiration to go spend the money to replace it. No, insurance doesn't cover it in this situation. Anyway, thanks for the great pictures. As for where you are, you're in a window seat of an airplane! Over what city? I truly have no idea, but hazard a guess at Tokyo, Japan.

Japan?

.. is Carmen Sandiego? Sorry, couldn't help.

It's always nice to do a chronologic photograph, it's a different aspect to the photo other than how it looks. At least that's what I think.

I'm guessing Osaka?

I really like this shot. Love the subject. I've always wanted to take one like it, but the plane windows are usually really dirty when I think of it.

The asian writing is interesting, too. I will hazard a guess of Taiwan. I would have said Japan, but Notnad already guessed that.

My wife and I went back and forth on where it might be. We know that the writing is kanji or Chinese characters, so it is probably either Japan or China. The view out the window doesn't look like Tokyo at all. So our guess is Osaka, Japan. We thought maybe it is China because of the star, but the coast looks a little familiar.

Out of curiousity, what airline is that? My wife tried to read the wing, but she only knew two characters.

Hey .. nice shot .. looks like Hong Kong to me ;) ... yeah a wild-wild guess !!

You're on an Airbus. SCNR

I'd have to say this one IS a particularly great photograph ... it's stunning. The colors work great on it and the depth of the black is gorgeous. This shot really appeals to me. Great one!

Don't know the city, but it looks like a China Southern aircraft...

Rest asure that this photo already looks great. I imagine how it will be when you re-process it.

About the place, I was thinking more of South Korea (Seoul maybe), Macau, Hong-Kong or maybe in Japan. So many guesses. : )

Simply stunning in my opinion -

Yes, it is China Southern aircraft And I guess the city is Da Lian, with the huge square near the beach. Am I right?

BTW I am Chinese. I love this picture blog so much that I always use the picture as my display picture on MSN. :-)

I haven't a clue where this is.

Now you see, I love this shot. Beautiful framing and choice of tone. This is why I visit most days. It is also extremely crisp. I like the blackness of the sea also. Just perfect.

definitly dalian, inbound to ZHOUSHUIZI airport

ll=38.879809,121.585350

http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=38.880343,121.585007&spn=0.129743,0.246901&t=k&hl=en

hAHa... ludi!!! you even got the map down!? I was stunned at the photo, the timing, the composition, the tones you've used in postprocessing... I've never regretted in choosing your style as my preferred direction. An inspiration as always! Your viewership wont decrease! perhaps sometime the "comment-ship" or participation will drop alittle but the counter hits are still rolling!!!

wow, very nice shot here. It has a somewhat sad feel to it for some reason. I like it.

i am impressed by ludi's resourcefulness - how did you manage to pinpoint the location so exactly?

Very nice, great work as usual.

Great shot! The colours are giving this picture a little bit of a historic look. Looks really great.

Have you seen this "Aperture" program (by Apple) yet?

Seems really nice but i wont have the chance to use it so soon. So I was wondering, if you get the chance to use it could you tell us what you think about it?

Thanks! I come here everyday and i really enjoy your shots! Great work!!

Can you tell us WHY you consider this to be nothing special? It's ridiculously crisp and sharp (so I guess must have been a really high f-stop value?) and the toning is great. The water reminds me of the colour you get from an infrared filter.

How DID you get the city detail so sharp?

I love it, its hardly a worthless photo.

Thanks everyone, and Lynn and Ludi are exactly right – I'm impressed! – this is a China Southern flight from Beijing to Dalian. We flew out from Manchester on Saturday lunchtime: one and a half hours to Paris, 50 minutes to transfer, nine hours to Beijing, two hours to transfer, then around a one hours flight to Dalian. I've never been to China before, and wish I was going to be here for more than just a couple of days – not least because the jet-lag is a pain – but I'll try and make the most of it today.

As for why I wasn't sure about this one: I'm not used to processing shots on this laptop and wasn't sure about i) the contrast of this image (is it too dark?), and ii) the sharpness; i.e. the writing on the wing of the aircraft seems a bit pixilated to me. Anyway, I'll have a look at it when I get back home.

owen b: I'll check, but think this was shot at either f/5.6 or f/8.0. The reason the buildings appear to be so sharp is that I spent quite a bit of time adjusting a Curve for this shot to make sure they stood out. As you can see, there was quite a bit of ground haze – the image was adjusted accordingly.

Anyway, it's 7.40am here (12.40am UK time), so I'm going to have a shower and get some breakfast – more later.

Have a great time over there Dave - I am incredibly jealous I might add ;)

looks like on a different planet to me. i just love it.

Is that Vancouver, B.C., Canada under the wing; a refuelling stop, perhaps?

I agree with Georg - this shot has a great vintage feel to it. Don't change it, we like it. Safe trip home.

If it's not Vancouver, would some anonymous place on Canada's west coast be close enough?

Not a "particularly great" photograph? Dude, you're high... It's brilliant as always....

Awesome shot.

OK, you've settled the where? Now, why?

I've seen several airplane wing shot but this one is good, with the clouds, the colour you've chosen and the view of the cityscape, it gives it more depth.

I do not have nor idea of what city you flew over when you took the photo. I believe that the photo is not a simple souvenir of the trip. It has a value by itself. I have liked particularly the depth of the sea and the sky in his upper part, and also the fog on the city. Good depth of field, that it allows to focus the totality of the wing of the airplane. Once again, congratulations!

Da Lian it is then. And a great shot as well. I'll send this to my friend Bing Bing who is from Da Lian.

Great shot, i love it. The tones, detail and composition are spot on for me. Enjoy China, another place still on my "must visit" list!

:-) I like this too. The vintage tones get rid of those funny colours you get when taking pictures through mucky aircraft windows. A great momento from your trip.

just for the record, heres some trivia. dalian has the best football team in china.

david, you chose an interesting photo off my site to get a print of. it's one from about 3 years ago, shot on film. i am searching through my archives to find the neg as the shot on my site is from a low res cd that i had done at the time. will let you know when the print is done.

cheers

ben

Can't see why you don't think much of this image, i love it. It's an excellent travel shot, captured at just the right moment and with so much detail. It does not qualify as a mere "out-of-the-window" snapshot by any means. I could gush on about the image but i've already said i like this.

Hope you have a good trip, looking forward to the new images. - [Chuks]

Thanks everyone. As for this image being better than I claimed ... good ;-) I guess my main worry is that I'm working on a setup that I'm not familiar with and really wasn't sure about how it would appear on chromasia. I'm reassured that it looks ok, so thanks.

JL: I'm here as part of a validation panel from my university to validate an MA in photography at one of Dalian's universities.

I also love this shot. The colour and sharpness is amazing. Im shocked that you managed to get such a clean window. And the detail of the city below is unbelieveable!

Inspiration as always!

Thank you. I hope all goes well for the validation and that you continue to take interesting photos for those of us who are unlikely ever to get there...

Totally cool shot and well accomplished. So many "airplane photos" just don't come out. This one however, I find it wonderful. Great composition!

amazing view!!

Ditto to Phil's sentiment on the clean window -- I've yet to see one, but I've not flown that much.

It is an amazing shot, my favorite of the China bunch.

Ciao.

I love your photos! You´re a great artist! Keep on going!
Claudia from Argentina