Plains, trains and uncommon zeal: China’s varied landscapes photographed via railways that traverse them
- Shanghai-based Wang Lu devotes himself full time to taking spectacular drone photographs of trains traversing China’s plains, deserts, valleys and mountains
“I am currently in Dayi county, Sichuan province,” says Wang Lu over the phone, some 2,000km (1,240 miles) inland from his home in the coastal metropolis of Shanghai.
“It’s a historic place and there are some notable museums,” he explains, “and, of course, there’s a railway I’m interested in photographing.”
Travelling to distant locales such as Dayi in search of obscure stretches of railway track is not unusual for the 38-year-old Shanghainese shutterbug.
Since leaving full-time employment in 2015 – a seven-year, post-university stint as an accountant for professional services network Deloitte – Wang’s interest in railways, and photographing them, has morphed from a hobby into his raison d’être.
“I spend about three to five months on the road each year,” he says. “I’ve visited every province in mainland China, countless times. I’m even writing a travelogue of my experiences to go along with my images.
“I’m inspired by foreign books about China, books like Peter Hessler’s River Town [2001] and Michael Meyer’s In Manchuria [2015], which contain strong observations about China.”
