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a photographic record · 2023 — 2026

WPHOT A TRAVELOGUE By William

Salt lakes · snow mountains · Tianshan light · quiet shrines —
move the pointer, the lake remembers.drag a finger across the water — it remembers.

35.06°N 135.80°E — Rurikoin, Kyoto scroll 京都 · 琉璃光院

Between the salt lakes of Qinghai and the light-struck ranges of the Tianshan, between Fuji’s quiet slope and the painted halls of Datong — this is a record of light, kept while walking. Six albums; the road between them is yours.

A highland cow in pine shadow
Painted gate of Kumbum monastery
A lantern over shrine steps at dusk
album 01 青海高原

The Highland
Light

Qinghai — 3,000 metres up, the sky is a mirror and the grass runs to every horizon.

Panorama of a mountain road across Qilian meadows
祁连山中 — the road over the passkeep scrolling, the valley turns
A farm gate opening to Qinghai Lake
№01a gate left open to Qinghai Lake
A handful of salt crystals from the lake
№02the lake, held in one hand
盐湖之上,天空照见自己。
Above the salt, the sky studies its own face.
Burning sunset over Qinghai Lake
№03the lake takes the fire calmly — Qinghai Lake, dusk
Open the QINGHAI album 11 photographs
album 02 玉龙雪山

Where the Snow
Mountain Watches

Lijiang — the Jade Dragon keeps thirteen peaks, and every street ends in one of them.

Blue Moon Valley beneath Jade Dragon Snow Mountain
蓝月谷

Blue Moon Valley — glacier water, the colour of weather

Golden meadow before the snow peaks
№04the dry meadow at 3,200 m
Snow peaks of the Jade Dragon range
№05thirteen peaks, counted twice
A woven wreath framing the sunset peaks
№06the mountain, framed by someone’s wish
Open the LIJIANG album 7 photographs
album 03 · flagship 天山南北

Where the Light
Comes Down

Xinjiang — a sixth of a country, where the mountains make their own weather and the light arrives in columns.

Sunset light falling in columns over the Tianshan range and a reservoir
天山日暮

the sun files its report through the cloud

43.9°N 81.3°E — 伊犁 · Ili keep scrolling — the range runs west
A turquoise reservoir in a canyon under alpenglow peaks
№07the reservoir keeps a turquoise nobody mixed
山高,云低,光自有征途。
High mountains, low cloud — the light finds its own way down.
Glaciated peaks above spruce forest and a braided river bed
№08雪岭 — the snow line, drawn once and never revised
Bay horses walking across a desaturated valley below dark forest
№09马群 — the only colour left in the valley, walking
Open the XINJIANG album 11 photographs
album 04 日本紀行

Ten Thousand
Gates

Japan — a country that files its miracles neatly: one volcano, ten thousand torii, trains on time.

Mount Fuji beyond a wooden jetty and a white boat
富士山

Mt Fuji and Lake Kawaguchi

A red torii before the distant Fuji
№10the gate and the mountain agree on red
Kyoto framed by the dark beams of Kiyomizu
№11清水寺 — the city kept in a wooden frame
A narrow Osaka alley at night
№12an alley with its own opinion of light
Open the JAPAN album 14 photographs
album 05 颐和园

The Garden of
Clear Ripples

Beijing — the Summer Palace at closing hour, when the lake gets the light to itself.

The Tower of Buddhist Incense above the trees
№13佛香阁 — the tower above the green
A painted paifang framing the tower
№14Sunset along with Willow
Autumn garden reflected in dark lacquer windows
№15星拱瑶枢 — autumn, reflected in lacquer and glass
Open the BEIJING album 8 photographs
album 06 大同

Within
the Walls

Datong — an old northern capital, where the temples keep their shadow and a thousand years of gilding waits in the dark.

Painted clay figures gilded in a darkened temple hall in Datong
Temple roofs stacked against a hard sky in Datong
城内 · 殿中

past the roofs, the gold keeps its own dark

Temple eaves stacked against the sky at Huayan Temple, Datong
№16华严寺 — eaves folded against a hard sky
Three gilded Buddha statues in a darkened temple hall
№17薄伽教藏殿 — three Buddhas keep the gold in the dark
The great hall of a Datong temple under heavy weather
№18the great hall holds its breath under weather
Open the DATONG album 12 photographs
William, in front of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain
afterword · 后记

I press the shutter, the light
does the rest.

I build this gallery as a personal archive for travel photography, field notes, and visual experiments.

青海 · 丽江 · 重庆 · 京都 · 東京 · 大阪 · 北京 · 大同

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