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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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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New York’s Grand Central Station

While I was visiting often-photographed places in New York, I couldn’t have missed Grand Central Terminal. The size of the building is awe-inspiring and it presents a great spot to practice longer exposures as huge amounts of people pass through.

These were a bit challenging for me to post process, as the yellow glow of the room is easy to overdo in the camera. In addition, exposing things evenly is tough as the ceiling has such little light compared to the windows, clocks, or ticket counters.

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New York’s Times Square

Traveling back to the US for my “second” wedding last week was great, if not a bit of a culture shock for me. Whether it was driving in a Chevy Suburban (compare that to my 125-cc or 50-cc scooters), experiencing Wal-Mart again (need I say more?), or eating actual “American” cuisine, it was a bit of a change for Yuling and I. We went on a side-trip to New York City about halfway through the trip, where I took the most photos by far. These are from the super-tourist site of Times Square. Even though I had been familiar with the city having been an intern for the city government a few years ago, the “touristy” things were a bit new to me, and I hate to admit, kind of fun.

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Japanese Drum Group, Jhubei

Note: I will not be posting much in the next few weeks as I’m heading back to the US to see my family and to get “married again.” You see, my wife and I were married in Taiwan. My family was unable to make the wedding and my mom would probably kill me if she couldn’t see me get married, so we’re having a second, smaller ceremony in the US. I’ll probably be posting some images from the US – including Ohio and NYC at some point.

Today’s images are from the weekend of 10/10, when a number of drum groups visited Jhubei for an annual drum competition and concert. These shots were taken during the day – others  can be seen from a large concert the night before.

  

I know very little about this group, other than that they’re from Japan and full of energy. One of my favorite groups to see by far.

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Priests at Mazu Temple

This was taken at a recent celebration at Mazu Temple, Jhubei. These men were part of a group of about seven who participated in a small “side ceremony” as festivities and fireworks filled the rest of the area. My 35mm f/1.8 was pushing it, though I was able to get decent shots without blinding them with flash at ISO 1600.

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Black and White: The Docks

These shots were taken near the docks in a small city near Yilan a few weeks ago. The weather kind of stunk, which makes it easier to “see” in black and white. I don’t see black and white as gloomy as overcast/rainy weather, but I find it easier to visualize when there’s no sun peeking through the clouds.

The area included a large dock that was sheltered from the eastern coast as well as a fish market. In addition, a small town drew in tourists from all over the area. This was near Yilan and is on the east coast but is NOT Yilan City – I forgot the name of this particular town.

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Experimenting in Lightroom

As I mentioned a few days ago, my MacBook went kaput. Thankfully, everything’s backed up and the hard drive is still alive. This did leave me, however, without a photo processing tool. I’ve always used Aperture 3 just because it was the first thing I  tried. While I’d played around with Lightroom, I hadn’t had a chance to use it for my own shots.

I think I might stick with it. It’s much more responsive to Aperture 3, for one thing. Even though it always deals with the huge amount of data in a RAW file, it’s a million times faster on a PC comparable in hardware to my  MacBook. I was also able to experiment with the different settings – which do the same basic stuff – and have some more features.

A few things I was looking for include contrast, color, and sharpness. All went extremely well. Here are three results:

The above was a bit over-saturated for my taste. I’ll keep experimenting with what to do with saturation in the future.

With how poorly Aperture 3 acts on my more-than-decent MacBook, I might just have become a convert…

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Single Shot: Opera at Jhubei Mazu Temple

This opera performance was taking part during a temple re-dedication last weekend. Due to some computer problems, you might expect fewer pictures. While this doesn’t affect my posting, it affects my post-processing – hopefully this doesn’t last long!

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Single Shot: Jhubei Egret

This egret was spotted in the farmland just east of the Jhubei High Speed Rail station. After going under the bridge for the station, you suddenly go from an urban/suburban landscape to countryside, and being in a river valley, it’s quite a beautiful ride.

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