February 6, 2012

Bombing the Dragon in Miaoli

Every year at the end of Chinese New Year, festivals throughout Taiwan seek to bring prosperity for the new year. One, near Tainan, is the famous Yanshui Beehive Fireworks Festival. People actually volunteer to have fireworks shot at them as they believe it will show their strength and health. Unfortunately, I missed it again due to unpredictable train schedules the night before I had to be at work.

Instead, I went to another festival that did not involve fireworks being shot at me, but instead at and around a dancing dragon. This Miaoli Hakka festival is called “Bombing the Dragon” and it’s easy to see why. After a few days of dancing dragons visiting storefronts and asking for red envelopes in exchange for good fortune, they are brought to an area where they dance around firecrackers. The dancers must wear protective eyewear, hoods, and masks, though a respirator is something I’d personally rather have. Even though I was further back (though still quite close), I was happy to have a mask and I will say that old clothing, earplugs, and a mask are all essentials when visiting.

  

  

Above: top, a dragon much like what was in the festival sits as the crowd arrives; bottom, festival-goers practiced their own dragon dance as a dragon team prepared for the night.

Above: a hanging dragon made of fireworks lights up as festival goers watch.

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January 30, 2012

Miaoli County’s Nanzhuang Xiang (南庄鄉)

Nanzhuang, a township in Miaoli that simply translates its full name of 南庄鄉 to “south township,” is a tourist hot-spot on the weekends. Towns like these are common throughout Taiwan as the locale mixes an aboriginal heritage with traditional and modern Chinese-Taiwanese influence. David on Formosa also has a great guide to this place as other favorites of mine, Beipu and Lion’s Head Mountain.

Starting off is a temple situated on the “old street” at the top of a hill in the town. This was one of the few places with some “breathing room” right off the crowded street full of markets and shops.

Further into the mountains is an aboriginal village of Xiang Tian Hu (向天湖), which is an important ceremonial and cultural center for the Saisiat tribe.

Back down in the main town is a large old-fashioned movie theater, now converted to a restaurant. I was pretty interested in the mid-20th century style it possesses and the character it brings to the neighborhood.

 

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January 27, 2012

Out and About on New Year’s Day

These were taken on January 23, the day which Chinese New Year began on this year’s lunar calendar. It was a bit early for this year, but I didn’t mind having a week off to relax and take a photo or two. Most of these take place in temples and markets as both are full.

Temples are full, as Jhubei Mazu Temple above shows, as people make prayers and concessions on the first day of the new year. Certain things are considered auspicious depending on the year – many couples will get married and have kids for example, in the Year of the Dragon.

…and another at the incense holder in front of the temple. The area was crowded an the 18mm end of my lens came in handy.

A fire burns away ghost money, used as a form of currency for spirits in the afterlife.

Deals, deals, deals are everywhere on the first day of Chinese New Year. Competitions and contests offer free trips around Taiwan and heavily discounted travel deals to those who ask. This guy was getting his audience stirred up for trips around the island.

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January 18, 2012

Revisiting Danshui

Danshui, or 淡水, is a district located north of Taipei on the main MRT train line. It is known for its unique culture and a few famous foods like iron eggs and ah gei, a deep-fried tofu stuffed with noodles and fish paste.

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January 17, 2012

Life at 18mm (Single Shot)

I know I haven’t posted ANYTHING yet this year. The reason for this is because of a few personal changes that made me pretty busy mixed with some absolutely nasty weather here in northern Taiwan. Nasty weather makes it hard to get yourself to go out and shoot, and I hope to alleviate that with today’s beautiful Spring-like day.

This single shot today is taken at 18mm, or a crop-sensor equivalent of about 28mm, was taken as I try to explore other focal points than the regular 35mm/50mm.

It’s actually not the most exciting picture, but the subject itself is pretty cool. This is a Hakka cultural park in Jhubei. Rather than demolish these old farmhouses in the midst of a huge real-estate boom, the developers of this park created a place for locals to preserve and learn about their culture. I’m a huge fan of it and it sticks out in contrast to the modern city surroundings.

I used Lightroom’s rather amazing distortion/lens profile features to fix the image and have been enjoying using Lightroom since the death of the MacBook a few months ago.

With Chinese New Year, a relaxed schedule, and HOPEFULLY, some decent weather, I plan on getting many more images up in the next few weeks.

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December 30, 2011

Ten Shots from 2011

I decided to put together ten shots from 2011, mostly based on popularity of posts, but also including shots that I really grew with as a photographer and just plain old like.

Let me know what you think. I’ve linked each image to the Flickr page and each description to the original post.

This guy was taking part in the annual Dragon Boat Festival (龍船節), a major Chinese holiday celebrated as a bank holiday in Taiwan. Cities all over the island hold races between dragon boats – large, colorful regatta boats powered by rowing teams. This particular race was in Hsinchu. 

These dancing San Tai Zi (三太子) gods were in Taichung during the annual Mazu Festival. The festival involves a large pilgrimage which takes days to complete and the size of which can only be explained as “massive.” See this for the original post.

Hsinchu’s East Gate is seen here at the “roundabout” in the city’s center. This photo was taken with my iPhone and the app Instagram. More shots can be seen here. 

Not long after the Mazu Festival was Spring Scream, a multi-day music festival held annually in Kenting, located on the southern tip of the island. This was a Japanese punk band called Samurai Attack, or SA.

In the days and weeks following the Fukushima incident, the international controversy surrounding nuclear power reached Taiwan. I took a look at a protest taking part in Taipei.

This was taken during my trip to Thailand last summer. Wat Arun is the tallest temple in the city of Bangkok and one of the most amazing places I’ve visited.

Another “touristy” shot from Southeast Asia, but one which I had in mind as soon as I got on the plane to Asia. Angkor Wat is a spot that everyone needs to see and its location in Cambodia is changing the face of the local town, Siem Reap.

This bear was at the Taipei Zoo, an extremely affordable and large zoo located in the country’s capital.

Also in the capital is the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial, home to one of many ceremonies showing the changing of the guard. Precision and solemnity highlight this ceremony.

And the last is a shot of a sushi joint called Sushi Express from a newer camera, the Nikon P7000. I wrote about my initial reactions and posted some shots around the time of Dragon Boat Festival weekend. It’s a nice camera, but the lack of a mechanical shutter kind of irritates me.

For anyone who follows my blog: thanks! To be honest, I mostly blog because it forces me to take pictures. The fact that I have a bit of an “audience” helps me get out the door with my camera in hand. Doing this has helped me develop my photography and force me to make the photos “good enough” for public consumption. In the future, I hope to add a little more as I delve into film photography and continue to explore “Ilha Formosa.”

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December 29, 2011

Underground NYC

While I didn’t get much of a chance to delve into street photography as much as I would’ve liked, New York seems to be the de-facto capital in the US for photography. Unfortunately, I was on a pretty tight schedule and didn’t wander around aimlessly with my camera as much as I wanted.

These shots are all at least a little cliched, but were fun to take in the subways. While the Manhattan subway system has “character” (e.g. it smells a lot more than Taipei, Bangkok, Hong Kong, or any other Asian system) I have to forgive it somewhat for being so old and so large.

These are shots taken from Canal Street and Grand Central.

Even though this is a bit too out of focus, I liked it. I think I was trying to focus on the Grand Central sign, but that was a pretty futile/silly attempt.

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December 28, 2011

Nanfang’ao Mazu Temple, Yilan County

Nanfang’ao (南方澳) is a small but important fishing port in Yilan County, located on Taiwan’s eastern coast. I visited 南方澳 a few weeks ago with my wife’s family on a somewhat dreary overcast day.

One of the main draws to the town is the city’s Mazu temple. A temple for Mazu (媽祖) would be fitting here, as she is the goddess of the sea and heavily respected and loved in Taiwan.

I’m not extremely happy with this shot, but it was hard to take. I could obviously not fire a flash and the only light was the dim overcast coming in through the opening. I opened the aperture up, but this created issues with focusing everything.

Partway through the visit, a large group brought Mazu statues to have blessed at the temple.

  

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December 27, 2011

NYC: Landmarks

These are some semi-touristy shots of landmarks around New York, mostly Lower Manhattan, which is full of history. In addition to Ground Zero and Wall Street, visitors regularly see Battery Park, Trinity Wall Street (not pictured), South Street Seaport, Federal Hall National Memorial, “The Bull,” and a host of other sites centered around New York’s oldest and most historic district.

Federal Hall (above) is the former home of the United States Supreme Court, Congress, and Executive Branch. George Washington was sworn in here and his statue is a focal point for many tourists. I think it’s quite symbolic/fascinating that it faces the Stock Exchange just across the street.

The Helen McAllister at South Street Seaport (above) is a turn of the century tugboat. South Street Seaport was undergoing a huge renovation, something that I didn’t expect from my former lunch spot while interning in New York.

  

Above left: the Peking, a tall ship from the last days of the age of sail and on the right, the famous Charging Bull.

  

Above left: the Battery Park memorial to soldiers, sailors, and airmen who lost their lives crossing the Atlantic during World War II and on the right, a statue that needs no introduction.

  

Above right: the beginnings of the Freedom Tower have sprung out of the ground in recent months. I was quite amazed to see how much progress has been made.

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December 26, 2011

Single Shot: Throwing the Fan

Chinese weddings consist of a ceremony and reception much like their Western counterparts, but most people do not visit the earlier ceremonies. Instead, most guests show up at the reception for a lunchtime meal, give an envelope to a main table, and eat food for a few hours. The couple can expect to “get rid” of their guests by 3:00pm and the entire process is very straight-forward.

Last weekend, I had a chance to photograph a more traditional style Chinese wedding from beginning to end. The couple is related to my wife and while I was not an official “wedding photographer” by any means, I used the experience to realize how exhausting the whole process is – and I gained much respect for real professionals. I saw the day as a chance to document another culture’s traditions – something I do in Taiwan regularly anyway.

This shot involves the throwing of a fan out of the car carrying the couple away from the bride’s parents’ house. The bride, in Chinese culture, drops a Chinese fan out the window to symbolize that she will leave her bad temper and faults behind. Simultaneously, her family dropped a bucket of water into the street to symbolize that she, like the water, will not come back.

I would post more photos from this event, but will hold back from now until I get permission from the couple. It was a full day that left my still jet-lagged self pretty exhausted.

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