China's Winter Tigers
& Giant Pandas

Winter is a fantastic time to visit China. Tourists are few and the air is usually crisp and clear. This exciting trip focuses on two iconic and critically endangered animals—giant pandas and Siberian tigers. As a bonus, we spend time shooting the world’s largest ice carving festival at Harbin—and also visit the Great Wall when it can be virtually free of tourists!

Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province, is our gateway to the Bifengxia Giant Panda Breeding Center. Here in this vital panda breeding facility we shoot the iconic pandas in a variety of camera-pleasing situations. The Bifengxia center is the location to which the majority of the pandas housed at the Wolong Giant Panda Breeding Center were translocated after the devastating Sichuan earthquake of May 2008. We have scheduled several orchestrated photo sessions where the pandas will be transported from the breeding center and placed in nature amidst a photogenic meadow. We’ve also arranged to have them positioned in particularly photogenic landscaped locations within the 144-acre breeding compound. At other times we are free to explore the breeding center and photograph at our leisure.

We have three full days of photo opportunities to shoot pandas—climbing trees in their compounds, rolling and tumbling, eating and relaxing—and, weather permitting, groups of year-old cubs in the outdoor panda nursery.

Siberian tigers are the largest subspecies of tigers in the world—and one of the world’s most endangered big cats. In the snowy environs of the extreme northeast corner of China we photograph scores of these huge predators at an unbelievable zoo/breeding center virtually on the edge of Siberia—the eastern fringe of the Siberian tiger’s shrinking habitat.

Photographing from retired chartered city busses with openable windows, our group drives into the large compound (approximately 30 acres) containing many of these immense cats. Often we are surprisingly close to them as they walk past our vehicles. During the early morning, when temperatures are well below freezing, these frosty-faced tigers in their snowy habitat present exceptional opportunities for portraiture as well as photographs of them as pairs and small groups. As the tigers walk by, their steamy breath is backlit in the chilly morning air, making for great images. Then feeding starts! Now, the tigers living in an exceptionally high density come alive as food is brought into the compound. This is the time when we photograph intense snarling interactions; the friction that takes place should produce exceptional imagery as they clash over food. Our visit also coincides with the tiger mating season.

We visit the amazing Harbin Ice Festival, one of the most spectacular displays of ice sculpture in the world and the highlight of the year for the local Harbin populace. Teams of workers transport large chunks of crystal clear ice cut from the frozen Songhua River and carve it into soaring sculptures and huge full-sized buildings. At night, like a frozen Disneyland, these colossal multi-story ice carvings—often depicting world-famous buildings and landmarks—sizzle with thousands of colorful internal lights that can occupy a group of photographers for hours!

Join us to photograph these two fantastic iconic animals of Asia, plus the Great Wall at Mutianyu and the Harbin Ice Festival, for a fantastic introduction to this amazing country in winter!