Chai Dongxin (柴东新) only takes photos of things that relate to rock. All the images hanging on the walls of Jiang Hu Liveshow Bar and Gulou 121 were captured by his camera. In June, when he held a solo exhibition at 798, nearly all the influential figures in the current rock scene showed up on opening night. It’s hard to imagine that Chai first picked up a camera only six years ago.

How did you get a solo exhibition?
A British magazine approached me. I was actually under a lot of pressure. Actually, we should not see it as a photo exhibition. It’s more like a document of a period of time. I think photos covering five to six years is enough to tell the story of an adolescent period.

Hey, you. Tired of using your mid-range smartphone as a camera? Wish that awesome shot of the chuan'r guy picking his teeth with an empty skewer was just a little less grainy? Or maybe you're an aspiring artiste who dreams of getting that perfect shot of your Beijing life, but you're held back by your utilitarian point-and-shoot's crappy aperture and slow sensor? Or are you prepping for that awesome trek through Xinjiang but afraid your bulky DSLR and five different lenses will break your back?

Well, whoever you are, this photo contest is for you. The Opposite House has teamed up with the supremo lens crafters at Leica to organize a photo competition that straddles Beijing and Hong Kong, with our city's theme being "Beijing Opposites." Prizes up for grabs include two different Leica cameras (the highest end of the compact camera market – and we hear their trademark "red dot" makes hipsters shake with envy) or one night's stay at The Opposite House (a little more fleeting, but still pretty sweet). Read on for more details.

A New York Times review of “Coal + Ice,” Three Shadows’ largest photo exhibit to date, points out its “focus on global warming.” While this might attract armchair environmentalists, viewing the show from this angle alone obscures the bigger picture. Sure, there are giant photos and projected installations of the melting glaciers and teeming waters resulting from climate change, but there are also the coal miners themselves – determination and exhaustion mingling with the dirt on their faces – and the almost glorious industrial refineries.

Ryszard Horowitz has led a surreal life. As a child, he survived Auschwitz; as a teen, he photographed and befriended music legend Dave Brubeck; later, he moved to New York and revolutionized photography. Perhaps it’s fitting that he was one of the first to create surreal photographic images, using self-developed darkroom and in-camera techniques to combine multiple elements and angles, all before computers entered the picture. So next time you see Justin Bieber’s face Photoshopped on a pickle, give a mental hat tip to Horowitz. In advance of his retrospective this month as part of the 798 Festival, the accomplished photographer shared some thoughts with us.

the Beijinger would like to congratulate longtime contributing photographer Nick Otto on his photo being National Geographic's Photo of the Day for September 7. We featured the Lake Superior photo in question, and many more of Nick's images, in our September Explore Feature (p56). If you'd like to see them all, find them in the September issue of the Beijinger below or on Issuu.com.

Liu Bolin gets a lot of attention for someone you can’t see. His photos of himself painted to blend into dozens of backgrounds all over the world have gone viral with the aid of the internet, yet there are always the haters who claim his work isn’t art. We checked out his latest exhibit at Galerie Paris-Beijing to tease out what’s hiding in his works.

ROOMbeijing and new art space +1 are teaming up to feature exciting new artists, with ROOM dedicating the back area of the restaurant to rotating exhibits of artwork presented by +1, starting with conceptual photography artist Tie Ying.

When an 8.9-magnitude earthquake sent a tsunami washing over Japan on March 11, several Beijing-based foreign correspondents headed off to cover the crisis and its aftermath, many of them ducking out of previously scheduled talks as part of the Bookworm International Literary Festival.

Now they’re back and ready to share their experiences – and footage – from their jaunts in Japan. Join freelance photographer Adam Dean and journalists Barbara Demick from the LA Times, Evan Osnos of The New Yorker and Jonathan Watts from The Guardian in a rare opportunity to hear about the situation on the ground this Thursday night, April 7 at 7.30pm at The Bookworm.

Looking for some visual stimulation this weekend? Luckily, Beijing’s currently being hit with a barrage of new exhibits, ranging from photography to paintings to installations. Check out the list below for shows to treat your peepers to.

Some choose to celebrate the New Year with dancing or with champagne, but some Beijingers broke the cliché and hiked the Great Wall to view 2011’s first sunrise. Check out the amazing pictures that are now up on thebeijinger.com gallery which may make some reconsider 2012 plans.