Bai Woman #1 Off camera flash with mini soft box

Bai Woman #2 Off camera flash with mini soft box

Bai Woman #3 Off camera flash with mini soft box

Bai Women

Bai Woman #4 Off camera flash with mini soft box

Bai Women in the Courtyard

Bai Woman #5 Natural light

Bai Women

Miao Trader #2

This textile trader from Guizhou Province stopped in Xizhou to sell her products. After buying some textiles, I shot her portrait.

Kids, Xizhou, Yunnan These kids loved having their photo taken. They were also keen to see what I had in my camera bag and couldn't understand how my Mandarin was so poor. Natural light

Li Gui Sun #1 After taking some wide angle shots to help them get used to the camera, I switched to the zoom for some close ups. Natural lights, high contrast black and white

Yang Guang Ye After taking some wide angle shots to help them get used to the camera, I switched to the zoom for these close ups. First up, 82 year old, Yang Guang Ye. Natural light

Zhao Pen Su I love this portrait of 82 year old Zhao Pen Su as did her friends. Natural light

Li Gui Sun #2 The reflection of the sunlight of the wood panelling illuminates 83 year old Li Gui Sun's face in a golden glow. No amount of fancy flash work could have given better light. Natural light

Yang Qing Kang 72 year old Yang Qing Kang was in constant discussion with her companions as I went about taking the group's portraits as she sewed the butterflies together. Natural light

Yang Yu Lan, Xizhou, 2010

The oldest of the group, 88 year old waited patiently and quietly for her turn. This is my favourite shot of the group. Natural light

Grandmother and Daughter Further exploring the courtyards, I came across another family making preparations for the wedding. 82 year old Yu Ying posed for this shot with her 20 year old granddaughter Yang Hai Yan . Natural light

Brian Linden Brian dons a traditional Tibetan overcoat and clutches some Tibetan prayer beads in this impromptu portrait taken in the courtyard of the Linden Centre. Natural light

Courtyard Entrance

Ancestral Shrine, Xizhou

Courtyard Entrance This was one of the few entrance doorways in the village which had been fully restored

Paradise Lost, Paradise Found This upstairs gallery gives an insight into the incredible level of decoration which the houses exhibited before their destruction and defacement in the Cultural Revolution.

Upstairs Gallery

Courtyard Handcart, Xizhou

Headscarves The blue and pink headscarves of the Bai women bring colour to the streets of Xizhou.

Dawn over Changshan, Yunnan HDR from 3 exposures at -1, 0, +1 Processed in Photoshop, tone mapping in Photomatix with remasking of the foreground in Photoshop

Xizhou Pizza Vendor

Duan Zi Fang, 35, sells the local speciality snack from her stall in the village square. With a choice of rose petal jam or ground pork, the snack is placed in a lidded pan before being cooked by a blast of hot air from a heater.