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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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These shots were from a Mazu procession a week ago. The local Mazu temple was celebrating a 15th anniversary (of what, I’m not sure, as the temple has been around for much longer than that) and spared no expense in its celebration. This celebration only ended last night as the entire town could hear fireworks coming from the older section of Jhubei all evening.
I followed the parade through the full route and had a great time shooting with my friend Matt as we were welcomed by the participants. They offered us binlang, beer, and cigarettes (the last of which we politely declined) and let us take part in more ways than simply photographing the event.
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This show comes from last weekend, which gave me a great opportunity to take plenty of pictures. Unfortunately, I haven’t gotten around to processing them all yet.
This shot is part of what I believe is a Hakka group. It is along the lines of a group of clowns or street performers who dress up in outrageous costumes. It includes some male-female cross dressing, ridiculous outfits, and a lot of noise. I’m still searching all over for what it is, where it comes from, and why it happens. I’ve taken photos of these people at a drum festival before – they participate in a lot of cultural events in the area.
EDIT: Yes, this is a Hakka performance troupe. They are involved in drumming, dance, and some theatre. You can find more out about them here (English) or here (original link) – thanks to my wife, Yuling for finding this!
