About

My name is John Salvino and I live and work in Beijing. I moved here from Toronto in January of 2018 to start a new job, it’s been such a great experience, I’m really enjoying my time here!

As part of my first job here, I was lucky to be able to travel around China and do photography! So far I’ve been to 21 cities in mainland China: Beijing, Shenyang, Qingdao, Chongqing, Hohhot, Nanjing, Hefei, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Tianjin, Shijiazhuang, Xi’an, Yangshuo, Guilin, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Dongguan, Nanning, Wuhu, and Chengdu, with many more to come. I’ve also managed to visit Hong Kong, Macau, and Taipei.

During Spring Festival a few years ago, I spent two weeks traveling through Vietnam, and then visited Thailand later in the year.

And more recently, last summer (2023), I visited Tokyo and Amsterdam. I'm excited to share some of my photos from those trips!

Last summer, in 2024, I visited Norway and Austria.

And earlier this year I went to Iceland!

For many years I worked in corporate IT, but eventually I wanted to do something more creative, so in 2015 I left my corporate job and started doing freelance web development, with the intention of travelling more often. I had wanted to see China for years, for longer than just a couple of weeks, so in 2017 I decided that working here would be the best way to spend a long time here and really immerse myself in the language and culture.

It was the best decision I could have made!

So what do I write about here?

I know this isn't the best way to entice you to read my blog, but I guess I should start by saying that I am pretty bad at writing! I often have so many things in my head that I want to say but I don't know how to make them into interesting words. But I'm trying to improve, which is why I want to share more often here!

Photography

Well, I mainly started this blog to help share my love of photography.

If you look through my photos, you’ll see that I mainly like shooting cities and architecture, with a little bit of landscape mixed in. Living in Asia is amazing for all three types!

But no matter what type of photo I take, I always try to show the world in a different way, from a different perspective.

Back in 2016 I visited Iceland, it was such a different experience from shooting in a big city. There were so many incredible landscape photography opportunities there, here are some photos I took while I was there. It really helped fuel my desire to do more travel photography.

Here you can read my articles about photography.

I also like sharing my photos on Glass and Instagram.

Oh, and if you are curious about what camera brand I use...well, I use Olympus!

Last year, I upgraded to the Olympus OM-D EM-5 Mark III. You can see and read about the rest of my gear here.

2024 Update: I switched to Fuji! I am now using a Fuji X-T5 that I bought last summer. Soon I will write a new post about my updated gear.

Olympus Experience In Iceland - Olympus Passion

Last summer I spent 11 days in Iceland, which definitely seems to be one of, if not the most popular tourist place right now. Every day I see articles and pictures and videos, all talking about how amazing Iceland is, and I can now say, yes, it is. Part of my excitement prior to … Continue reading…

Olympus PassionJohn Salvino

Olympus experience in Yangshuo, China - Olympus Passion

Hello, my name is John Salvino, I’m originally from Toronto, Canada, but I’ve spent the last two and a half years living in China. I recently spent three months in Yangshuo, China, a county of Guilin city, in southern China’s Guangxi Autonomous Region. My job in Beijing finished in February, so with…

Olympus PassionJohn Salvino

John Salvino on Glass

Canadian living and working in Beijing | Photographer 📷 | Lover of music, movies, and the Raptors 🏀