jkspepper photography - Bohemian Cyberpunk City

I'm on a bit of a journey lately discovering endless China cities, each one different and unique but all amazing and eye opening with its own culture, vibe and modernity. Early 2026 we took time to visit Chengdu for the first time. The difference between night and day.. was night and day.

This is Chengdu, This is the Bohemian Cyberpunk City

Chengdu, China - Leica M10-P Reporter + Zeiss C Biogon 35mm F/2.8

Daci Temple

There's a particular kind of magic in finding a 1,600-year-old Buddhist sanctuary tucked behind the glass facades of Chengdu's most fashionable shopping district—a single red wall separating the hum of commerce from the gentle curl of incense smoke.

This is Daci Temple, where ancient gingko trees shade monks and modern city-dwellers alike, and where the scent of jasmine tea mingles with sandalwood in the temple's beloved courtyard teahouse. Photographing this space is an exercise in layering: the weathered patina of Tang dynasty stone against the distant silhouette of Taikoo Li's skyline, the quiet devotion of a bowed figure framed by the austere geometry of wooden lattice windows.

The Leica M10-P Reporter feels like the natural companion here; its understated kevlar and dark green finish blend into the shadows of the covered walkways, allowing me to document the candid, unposed rhythms of temple life without inserting myself into the scene. With the M11-P, I work quickly to capture the fleeting moments—the precise angle of light striking the golden Buddha, or the sudden flutter of a prayer flag catching the breeze. Then there's the Hasselblad X2D II. When the afternoon sun finally breaks through the ancient canopy to illuminate the red walls and the steam rising from a fresh cup of *gaiwan* tea, the medium format sensor renders the scene with an almost tangible depth, preserving every subtle gradient of colour and shadow with a fidelity that matches the timeless serenity of the temple itself.

It's a place where the sacred and the everyday exist in perfect, unhurried harmony, and the challenge isn't just to photograph the temple—it's to capture the feeling of standing in a place where time has learned to slow down.

Daci Temple, Chengdu - Leica M10-P Reporter + Zeiss C Biogon 35mm F/2.8

Chunxi Road, Chengdu - Leica M10-P Reporter + Leica APO-Summicron 50mm F/2

Pengzhen Teahouse

Stepping into the old Pengzhen Tea House feels less like entering a building and more like stepping onto a living, breathing film set frozen in the amber of Sichuan's past. With the Leica M10-P Reporter slung over one shoulder, the M11-P on the other, and the Hasselblad X2D II cradled in hand, the challenge becomes translating the thick, smoky atmosphere and the weight of a century's worth of conversations into a frame.

The M10-P Reporter feels right at home here; its understated green finish and kevlar cladding seem to mirror the tea house's own unvarnished, resilient patina . I found myself gravitating toward the M11-P to catch the quiet, candid moments of the old men in their traditional attire, relying on the rangefinder's silence to preserve the sanctity of their morning rituals . But when the early light cuts through the darkness to strike the steam rising from a coal-heated kettle, that's where the X2D II takes over—capturing the almost tactile texture of the ancient cobbled floor and the glow of the embers with a color depth that feels as rich as the ten-yuan jasmine tea they've been serving for generations .

Old Tea House - Leica M10-P Reporter + Leica Elmarit 28mm F/2.8

Pengzhen - Leica M10-P Reporter + Leica APO-Summicron 50mm F/2

Old Tea House - Leica M10-P Reporter + Leica APO-Summicron 50mm F/2

Old Tea House - Leica M10-P Reporter + Zeiss C Biogon 35mm F/2.8

Old Tea House - Leica M10-P Reporter + Leica APO-Summicron 50mm F/2

Old Tea House - Leica M10-P Reporter + Leica Elmarit 28mm F/2.8

Old Tea House - Leica M10-P Reporter + Zeiss C Biogon 35mm F/2.8

Pengzhen - Leica M10-P Reporter + Zeiss C Biogon 35mm F/2.8

Pengzhen - Leica M10-P Reporter + Leica APO-Summicron 50mm F/2

Pengzhen - Leica M10-P Reporter + Zeiss C Biogon 35mm F/2.8

Eastern Suburb Memory 东郊记忆

There's a particular thrill in photographing a place where history doesn't just whisper—it collides head-on with the present in a riot of color and sound. Eastern Suburb Memory is this glorious contradiction: the skeletal remains of the old Hongguang Electron Tube Factory, with its Soviet-era red brick chimneys and brutalist pipework, now serving as the raw, unpolished canvas for Chengdu's most audacious youth culture.

This is a landscape born of industrial grit, yet everywhere you look, nature and art are staging a quiet takeover—vines creeping up steel gantries, and bold graffiti murals breathing anarchic life into weathered concrete. The Leica M10-P Reporter, with its Kevlar armor and muted green finish, feels entirely at home among the oxidized metal and distressed textures, allowing me to dissolve into the shadows of an old walkway and document the candid flow of skaters and cosplayers without disturbing the scene's raw authenticity.

Working with just this one quiet rangefinder, I found myself slowing down, drawn to the subtle interplay of decaying infrastructure and youthful energy—a beam of sunlight cutting through rusted pipework, the quiet contemplation of someone reading beneath the iconic "Chengdu" graffiti wall, the way evening neon transforms brutalist concrete into something almost tender. It's not just about documenting a revitalized factory; it's about framing the spirit of a city that knows how to build its future without ever demolishing its soul.

Three Coffee - Leica M10-P Reporter + Zeiss C Biogon 35mm F/2.8

Eastern Suburb Memory - Leica M10-P Reporter + Zeiss C Biogon 35mm F/2.8

SKP Park

There's a disorienting magic to standing atop Chengdu SKP and realizing that almost everything beneath your feet—the luxury boutiques, the art installations, the humming corridors of commerce—exists entirely underground.

From the surface, it's simply a sprawling 260,000-square-metre park, a "botanical patchwork quilt" of 33 crafted landscapes where families stroll and the city breathes . The only hints of the parallel world below are the architectural beacons that pierce the greenery: brushed brass canopies and the six soaring "Tower of Life" water columns that rise up to 39 metres, cascading water downward in a hypnotic reversal of nature's logic . Shooting here with the Leica M10-P Reporter feels like documenting a quiet conspiracy between urban planning and science fiction. The muted Kevlar finish of the camera disappears against the brushed metal and shadowed walkways, letting me work unnoticed as I chase the interplay of engineered nature and futuristic architecture.

By night the "Tower of Life" erupts in shifting LED colour, casting long, cinematic reflections across wet stone, transforming the park into something that feels borrowed from a film set . It's a place where Chengdu's famous leisurely soul meets a bold, almost utopian vision of tomorrow, and the challenge is to capture not just the striking geometry of it all, but the quiet awe of people moving through a space that feels a century ahead of its time.

SKP Vitality Tower of Life - Leica M10-P Reporter + Leica APO-Summicron 50mm F/2

SKP Mall - Leica M11-P + Leica Elmarit 28mm F/2.8

SKP Vitality Tower of Life - Leica M11-P + Leica Elmarit 28mm F/2.8

SKP Vitality Tower of Life - Leica M10-P Reporter + Leica APO-Summicron 50mm F/2

SKP Mall - Leica M11-P + Leica Elmarit 28mm F/2.8

Chengdu streets by night: Cyberpunk City

Chengdu streets - Leica M10-P Reporter + Leica APO-Summicron 50mm F2

Chengdu streets - Leica M11-P + Leica Elmarit 28mm F/2.8

Chengdu streets - Hasselblad X2Dii + XCD 55V

Tianfu Art Museum

There's a quiet audacity to Tianfu Art Museum—a white hibiscus blooming from the surface of Yinggui Lake, its sweeping titanium zinc petals caught between architecture and mirage. With the Leica M10-P Reporter slung low, I work the exterior first: the shifting light against soft grey curves, visitors descending stepped ramps toward the water's edge. The muted Kevlar finish lets me disappear into the scene, just another shadow chasing reflections.

Inside, the Hasselblad X2D II becomes essential. That impossible spiral staircase winding upward into skylit void—bamboo walls curving, light pooling and fading—demands the kind of resolution that holds every nuance. The X2D II's 100-megapixel sensor renders the grain of Sichuan bamboo with tactile clarity, its color depth preserving the exact warmth of natural light against pure white surfaces. By late afternoon, when the sun drops low and the lake doubles the building in perfect symmetry, I slow down entirely—waiting for that singular frame where architecture, water, and sky collapse into something closer to meditation than photograph. The Reporter captures the candid humanity; the Hasselblad preserves the weight of the space itself.

Tianfu Art Museum - Hasselblad X2Dii + XCD 28P

Jiuzhaigou by high-speed train

There's something surreal about boarding a train in the hum of Chengdu's urban sprawl and stepping off barely two hours later into the thin, pine-scented air of the Tibetan Plateau. The high-speed line to Huanglong Jiuzhaigou Station doesn't just cover distance—it collapses entirely different worlds into a single morning, trading skyscrapers for snow-dusted peaks and the quiet tyranny of alpine light . From the train window, the transition unfolds like a slow cinematic pull-back: the Sichuan basin giving way to dramatic folds of mountains, tunnels plunging you into darkness only to spit you out into vistas that feel borrowed from an ink-wash scroll.

With the Leica M10-P Reporter riding quietly against my chest, I work the journey itself—the candid geometry of a carriage in motion, a fellow traveler's reflection caught in window glass layered with passing pines, the particular way high-altitude light falls across a fold-down tray table. The muted Kevlar finish disappears into the rhythm of transit, letting me capture the in-between moments most overlook.

But when the train doors open and that first breath of plateau air hits, the Hasselblad X2D II takes over. The emerald waters of Five-Flower Lake, the impossible mirror-stillness of Mirror Lake before the wind wakes, the terraced turquoise of Five-Color Pool—these demand the kind of resolution that holds every ripple and refraction . The X2D II's 100-megapixel sensor renders the mineral-rich gradients of travertine pools with a depth that matches their ancient geology, while its color science preserves the precise, almost unreal blues that make these waters feel like a lucid dream. The Reporter captures the journey; the Hasselblad preserves the arrival—a landscape that makes you question whether your eyes, or your sensor, are truly capable of holding it all.

The Journey