Temple of Heaven

Last week I hosted some visitors from the USA for 8 days.  One of them is a semi-professional photographer, so one of the added benefits of being their tour guide was learning some photography tips, both in shooting and editing (something I didn't know anything about before).  On a single day last week we climbed the Great Wall in the morning, and walked around the Temple of Heaven in the afternoon.  The morning was clear and gorgeous, but by the time we got to the Temple of Heaven in the afternoon, showers were rolling in.  Since this was my umpteenth time to the Temple, and since I was very tired, I was tempted to just put my camera away.  How many different shots can I have of this temple, I wondered.  But I was inspired by my photographer friend who kept challenging me to look for shots I'd never seen before. By the time we got to the Hall for Prayer of Good Harvest (the famous round one), a heavy rain shower was upon us.  We sought shelter on the porch of a side temple to wait it out.  And it was here that I got a shot of the Temple that I had never gotten before, with the sky getting lighter from bottom to top as the shower moved by, and was thus reminded of the importance of always having my camera with me.