Photography from Taiwan

1 07 2009

Here’s the latest of my occasional offering of Taiwan photography.  It’s just a few random photos that I took in the past few weeks.

But first, I have an announcement that I’m quite proud to make (so I’ll set aside the little dignity that I have and toot my own horn!):  This month, I was lucky enough to be selected to have a photo in a special edition of National Geographic!  I haven’t seen it in print yet, but here’s the online gallery (mine is the first one).

Enough about me, here’s my offering of random pictures from Taiwan:

An electrical storm lingers over Taipei, Taiwan.

An electrical storm lingers over Taipei, Taiwan.

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Litang, China (Tibet)

27 06 2009

Litang (ལི་ཐང།) is a small Tibetan town in western Sichuan Provence (四川), China.  Traditionally known as the Kham (ཁམས) Provence of the former Tibetan Kingdom, Litang is a dusty trade town in a high, grassy valley.

At an altitude of 4,014 meters (13,169 ft) it’s actually higher than Lhasa and one of the highest towns in the world.  Every summer, they hold one of Tibet’s biggest horse racing festivals, an event that draws Tibetans (and tourists) from all over.

Several famous Buddhists are from Litang including the 7th and the 10th Dalai Lama.  It has a beautiful, huge monastery (Litang Chöde) up on the mountain side overlooking the town.  This area has a long history of resistance to Chinese rule, from before the Chinese bombing of the monastery in 1956 to a recent riot at the horse racing festival in 2007.  During the PLA’s invasion of Tibet in 1950, Litang County was one of the strongest areas of resistance.

A Tibetan Cowboy waits for a friend on a remote mountain near Litang, Tibet (China).

A Tibetan Cowboy waits for a friend on a remote mountain near Litang, Tibet (China).

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Formosa Adventurers

20 06 2009

Things are really starting to roll for our team!   Thanks to My Several Worlds, we have some more publicity for our entry to Taiwan’s “Best Trip in the World – 世界最棒的旅遊”!

If you haven’t seen our video, have a look below, then go vote for us and leave some comments!

Thank you all so much!





Formosa Adventurers

19 06 2009

The Formosa Adventurers got a write-up in today’s China Times!  We haven’t been able to find an online version, but if you can read Chinese, pick one up and check out page A10!  Woo Hoo!

Also, if you want to follow the Formosa Adventurers on Twitter, click the link below:

If you really want to help us out, go to our contest blog, give us a vote, watch the video and leave a comment.

Update:

Here’s Phil’s translation of the China Times article:

”英美聯軍”來勢洶洶”

觀光局初步認為有特色及網友回響多的參賽組中,來自英國及美國的四個大男生組成英美聯軍“FormosaAdventurers” (美麗島探險家)擁有高人氣的影片點選,他們規劃運動探險記原住民文化體驗的旅遊主題,包括花蓮溯溪,泛舟,臺東高臺飛行傘,入住原住民部落,體驗臺東知本及金崙溫泉

臺灣冒險及原住民文化的結合比臺灣人更道地,四個英美聯軍大男生還在個人部落格中,分別以中,英文介紹臺灣自然美景與有趣的旅遊經驗。

UK and USA United Forces

Taiwan’s tourism bureau believe so far that the team with the most special qualities and a lot of interest online is the Formosa Adventurers. Comprising of four guys from the UK and the USA, the Formosa Adventurers have had a lot of people watch their introductory video. They are planning a adventure sports and aboriginal culture-themed trip including river tracing and white-water rafting in Hualian, paragliding and visiting an aboriginal tribe in Taidong as well as experience Zhiben and Jinlun’s hot springs.

A combination of Taiwanese adventure and aboriginal culture that is very authentic Taiwanese. The team also write about Taiwan’s natural beauty and their own interesting travel experiences in their blogs which are written in English and Chinese.

Thank you!!!
-neil




Formosa Adventurers

16 06 2009

Formosa Adventurers” is the name of my and my friends’ group for Taiwan’s “Best Trip in the World – 世界最棒的旅遊” contest.  It’s a contest set up by Taiwan’s Tourism Bureau to promote tourism in Taiwan.

The way the contest works is that everyone who wants to give it a try uploads a travel plan, video and group introduction to the website.  From there, the contest organizers select 50 groups to complete their plans.  They give them 28,000 NTD (about $800USD) to do it.  After you finished with the 4 days, you upload a video and blog showing what you did.  Then, one group wins the grand prize of 1 million NTD (about $30,000USD) and gets to travel in Taiwan for a month, blogging on their experiences.

Not a bad deal.  And since this is what we do all the time anyway, it sounded perfect for us.

Our itinerary is (approximately) as follows:
(I’ll update this later, I don’t actually have the real one sitting in front of me now):

Day 1:
Train from Taipei to Hualien.  River tracing through one of the beautiful canyons down there.  Then that night, a visit to the night market.

Day 2:
White water rafting in The Rift Valley.  Followed by a train ride to Taidong and a visit to the night market and a few other sites in the city.

Day 3:
Paragliding just north of Taidong.  Then a visit to an aboriginal village for a cultural show and some Taiwanese Aboriginal Food.

Day 4:
Hiking through an ancient forest to a wild hot spring.  Then, the train ride back to Taipei.

So please watch the video below and go vote for us at Taiwan’s “Best Trip in the World” contest.

Thanks!!!!
-neil





Shangri-La (Zhongdian), China (Tibet)

10 06 2009
Zhongdian is a small Tibetan town in the northeast corner of Yunnan Province, China.  It was the southeastern-most area of Tibet before the Chinese invasion of 1950.  After China took control, they split it from the what is today considered Tibet (actually now called Xijang, or the Tibet Autonomous Region**)  In 2001, the Chinese government officially changed the name from “Zhongdian” to “Shangri-la“, but the local population still refer to it by its Tibetan name Gyalthang (རྒྱལ་ཐང་རྫོང).

Traditionally Tibetan, the town has had a large immigration of Han Chinese for decades and most of the new town has a real Chinese feel to it..   Still, the surrounding countryside and the old town has held on to its Tibetan feel and many locals can be seen going about their daily business in traditional clothing customary to their local Tibetan tribes.

I visited Zhongdian in 2005 and in 2007 and the amount that it changed in those two years surprised me, but it is an interesting study in the growth of modern China, and the part that tourism is playing.

Every evening, people meet in the old towns center to dance and sing.

Every evening, people meet in the old town's center to dance and sing.

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Hiking Taiwan – Jialou Hu 加羅湖

2 06 2009

JiaLou Hu 加羅湖 is a mountain lake tucked high in one of Taiwan’s beautiful clouded forests.  If you can get to the trail head, it’s a moderate three hour hike to the lake.  On the way, you pass through some spectacular forests scattered with luscious green ferns, mossy vines, and a few 1,000 year old trees.

Three friends and I went there during the four day “Dragon Boat” holiday in late May.  We did it in two days, but there is plenty more to explore in the area, and most of the people we met there were staying for the whole weekend.

I took this opportunity to give my first shot at a multi-media presentation.  I would really, really like to get some critiques and feedback on what you think of it, so please feel free to comment below.

The multi-media presentation is above, but there are some still photographs and more information after the jump…

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Inspirational Links and Hosekeeping Notes

26 05 2009

Photographers in Taiwan have it pretty good.  There are loads of clubs, groups and organizations that form a diverse community of creative people.

Today I have a few different things to talk about, but I’m going to start with the more interesting stuff, the Inspirational Photography Links.”

Specifically, I want to point out some of my favorite Flickr photographers.  Lately, I’ve been finding myself scrolling endlessly through the inspirational work by these diverse photographers.  I don’t think I’ve ever met any of these people, or even had correspondence with them, but I’d like to thank them for their inspiration by giving some link love:

First is my favorite abstract photographer, Happy715.  He has an eye for juxtaposition like no one I’ve ever come across.  I’ve often viewed his photostream in amazement, hoping to open my eyes to some of these beautiful everyday sights.

Next up are several that I’ll put in the “Lomographer” group.  I have no idea if all of them (or any of them) use Lomos, but they all have a beautiful artistic view of the world:  A-MI♥ Cherie ♥, Chia-Yi Lin, and 油姬 (particularly this one),  Thank you for your fine work.

Doing some great model photography is tyrandelf080.  And rounding out the the list are callbusybiz, alidarbac and Penelope’s Loom… each with their own style, and all three are members of flickr’s Taiwan Photo Club.

One other note from Flickr, Craig Fergusion has set up a very interesting “Photo Walk” for Taipei.  It’s an interesting social gathering for photographers started by Scott Kelby.  If you’re in Taipei, come out and join us; if you’re in just about any other city in the world, you can join here.

Housekeeping Notes:

You might have noticed that my URL has changed.  “Neil Wade’s Photography Blog” is now located at http://taiwan-photography-blog.com/.  All my old “neilwade.wordpress.com” links should still work, but I’ve lost a little google mojo and might have lost some RSS subscribers…  Sorry, just hit the “Suscribe in a reader” and resubscribe.

I haven’t changed the name to “Taiwan Photography Blog” because, frankly, I just don’t think I can handle all that responsibility.  I’ll keep the name and the content the same…  again, “sorry” for any confusion.

One last thing is that I’ll be back in The US in September!  WHOO HOO!!!  I’ll be in Philly chillin’ with the parents for a few weeks, then I have an assignment in Colorado.  I’m really looking forward to seeing all the old “peeps” then!!!

(OK, Ill give you one photo - This one is from the last years Dragon Boat Festival in Xindian (Taipei), Taiwan.

(OK, I'll give you one photo - This one is from the last year's Dragon Boat Festival in Xindian (Taipei), Taiwan.

Cheers,
-neil





Hiking the Four Beasts Mountains (四獸山) – Elephant Mountain (象山)

15 05 2009

Elephant Mountain (象山) is the most famous of the “Four Beasts Mountains (四獸山)” of Taipei, Taiwan and the most easily accessible.  It’s the third and last article in my series about hiking the Four Beasts MountainsPart one is on 9-5 Peak (Jiuwufeng – 九五峯), and part two is on Tiger Mountain (虎山).

Elephant Mountain is the most popular of the mountains for a good reason.  Being the closest to the city not only means easy access, but it means stunning views of Taipei, especially Taipei 101.

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Hiking the Four Beasts Mountains (四獸山) – Tiger Mountain (虎山)

11 05 2009

Tiger Mountain(虎山) is the second subject of three in this series of articles on hiking Taipei, Taiwan’s Four Beasts Mountains (四獸山).

Tiger Mountain is the most northern of the Four Beasts Mountains and the easiest to get to.  It’s not the easiest to find (that would be Elephant Mountain) but if you have transportation, it’s an easy walk along a well kept, level trail.

All along the trail are stunning views of Taipei 101, Taipei City, and Nangang.

Taiwans Tower of Babel   Viewed from Tiger Mountain.

"Taiwan's Tower of Babel" Viewed from Tiger Mountain.

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Hiking the Four Beasts Mountains (四獸山) – 9-5 Peak (九五峯)

7 05 2009

One of my all time favorite hikes/photography locations in Taiwan is The Four Beasts Mountains (四獸山) area.  Located within Taipei City limits, these trails are an easy escape from busy city life and have amazing panoramic views of Taipei City and Taipei 101.

The trail system includes Tiger (虎山), Elephant (象山), Leopard (豹山) and Lion (獅山) Mountains and is very easily reached from the Taipei MRT system.  In fact, the base of Taipei 101 is only a 15 minute walk from the Elephant Mountain trail head.

If that’s not enough, many of the trails are lighted, 24 hours a day!

The view of Taipei from 9-5 Peak is unrivaled.

The view of Taipei from 9-5 Peak is unrivaled.

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Photography from Taiwan

25 04 2009

Being a photographer in Taiwan, I have my fair share of random pictures from my daily experiences.  Here I present you with a few that I came across in the past few weeks:

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Techniques – DIY Soft Box

21 04 2009

DIY photography gear being all the rage,  and me being a bit of a Mr Fix-it, I decided to see if I could build my own soft box.

I feel that I should start this blog by telling you that you can buy a mini-soft box for fairly cheap, but if you’re like me and like building stuff (or are incredibly skint), read on…

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Inspirational Photography Links #7

15 04 2009

Just one for you today.

I saw this video and it reminded me of what sets great photographers apart from good ones.  Besides the fact that it was shot with still images, both artists (the photographer and the painter) reminded me of some simple advice that I once heard.

I’d like to open it up to discussion and hear what you guys think.  (Please comment below!)

I’ll tell you what it reminded me of in a few days!





Keelung, Taiwan 台灣基隆市

14 04 2009

Keelung, Taiwan 台灣基隆 is an interesting port city about 30 km east of Taipei.  I had the chance to visit it while on assignment for a magazine and though I’d share some of the highlights.

Even though it’s nicknamed the rainy port (雨港) and I’ve heard that it’s the second rainiest city in the world, I had an absolutely beautiful day there.

The very crowded Miaokou Night Market (廟口夜市) is full of local favorites.

The very crowded Miaokou Night Market (廟口夜市) is full of local favorites.

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Techniques #7 – Handy Corporate Portrait

2 04 2009

Corporate portraits are something you almost have to do as a professional photographer.

I recently shot a portrait for a client that wanted a very specific looking style.  They’ve been running a series of ads for a long time that have a consistent look to them.  Basically, one of their art directors must have come up with this brilliant, easy way to get consistently-styled photographs from different photographers.

The brilliance of this portrait is that it has style and is easy to reproduce…

Here’s how you can do it:

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Inspirational Photography Links #6

31 03 2009

The first set of links is a bit like watching a video in high school…  I swear it even has the same commentator!  Someone posted three videos that Canon made to show people how their long glass is made.  Here’s the first, second and third in the series.  They might be a bit boring if you’re not a bit of a science or photo nerd.

Next to the blog of David Tejada.  I’m not sure exactly what to call it:  either “The F-Stops here” or “Annual Report Photographer”…  whatever, he has some good narratives and videos on small strobe lighting.

Number three is called PixSylated.  It’s another blog about small flash/strobe lighting and has LOADS of information.

And the last one is your cool, artsy link of the day.  I’ve linked to Simon Hogsberg before.  Remember “We’re All Gonna Die“?  This one is a project he did where he stopped random people on the street and asked them what they were thinking about at that very moment.  It’s called “The Thought Project.”  Cool.

Cheers,
-neil





Siling Hot Springs 四稜温泉

26 03 2009

Taiwan is covered in hot springs.  There are famous ones like Beitou, Jinshan and Wulai, but there are also many “wild” ones.  Generally the wild ones are a bit more off the beaten track, and are almost always quite difficult to get to.  The biggest problem getting to them isn’t the drive or the hike, it’s finding good directions (in English or Chinese).  But then again, I guess if they were easy to get to or had good directions, there would be more people there and they wouldn’t be as interesting.

I recently went on a ride down the Northern Cross Island Highway 北橫  with some friends.  The main goal of this particular trip was to find a remote, wild hot spring called the Siling Hot Springs 四稜温泉.

Crystal clear water under a hot spring waterfall...  What could be better?

Crystal clear water under a hot spring waterfall... What could be better?

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Hiking Taiwan #3 – Huang Di Dian 皇帝殿

17 03 2009

Hiking Huang Di Dian 皇帝殿 this past weekend was one of the best day trips I’ve been on in Taiwan.  Just about 20 minutes from Taipei, this hike is one that shouldn’t be missed.

A perfect 360 view awaited us at the end.

A perfect 360 view awaited us at the end.

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Tibet Rally and March

15 03 2009

There was a rally and march for Tibet this past Saturday on Zhongxiao Road in Taipei, Taiwan.

Thousands of people marched to show their support for Tibet and to show their fears that Taiwan might be next.

It was the 50th anniversary of the 1959 Tibetan Uprising, a rebellion to Chinese rule that led to the death of thousands of Tibetans and exile of the Dalai Lama.

Edit: For some much better writing on the march, have a look at David on Formosa.  Also have a look at Craig Ferguson’s photographs.

An exiled Tibetan monk joins in the protest in Taipei, Taiwan.

An exiled Tibetan monk joins in the protest in Taipei, Taiwan.

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Inspirational Photography Links #5

13 03 2009

I just have two quick links for today.

The first I found over at Chase Jarvis’s Blog.  It’s definitely cool.  It seems that GE (of all people) is on the cutting edge of holograms.  If you have a computer with a web cam, you can watch and control a neat-o hologram right on your computer.  You should follow the directions over at Chase’s site because the ones on the GE’s site aren’t as good.  I was pretty amazed.  It’s one of those things that makes you think, “What’s next?”

The second is about a guy who made a cargo truck into a camera.  Yes, a cargo truck… into a camera, as in, the WHOLE truck.  He has a video on youtube too.

Cheers





Techniques #6.1 – Off Camera Non-TTL

7 03 2009

That last post explaining the basics about how to use remote flashes and strobes had a picture in the end that I never fully explained.  Shot with two strobes, this is a good one to help visualize how to set up a simple, two flash set up.

Two flashes were used for this quick skateboarding shot.

Two flashes were used for this quick skateboarding shot.

More remote strobe set-up after the jump…

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Techniques #6 – Off-Camera Non-TTL Flash

3 03 2009

Once you’ve mastered the on-camera flash techniques you might want to start thinking about how to take that flash off and get really creative.  This is the good stuff.  This is the “Strobist” stuff that you’ve heard so much about.  There’s lots of information out there about choosing the right umbrella, the right softbox, making you’re own DIY grip gear, snoots, grids…bla, bla, bla, bla.

None of that is going to do you any good if you don’t know the basics.  This article is dedicated to helping you figure out those first few steps.

First Thing: Make Those Flashes go POP!

i-TTL and E-TTL:
One way is to use the relatively new i-TTL (Nikon) or E-TTL (Canon) systems.  These are pretty good systems but have their limitations.  To use them, you need an on-camera flash, even if you don’t want it to fire.  You also need all new, expensive flashes, and they have to be in the “line of sight” of your camera.   Old flashes aren’t going to work, and forget about hiding a flash behind a rock or wall.  The truth is, I don’t know a lot about these two systems because I don’t use them, I do it the old fashioned way.  But they are very interesting and may be the future of flash photography.  If you want more information look in your camera’s user’s manual or do some googles.  Maybe I’ll cover Nikon’s i-TTL in the future, but it’s really not on my radar.

Words, words and more words about multiple remote flashes after the jump…

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Techniques #5 – On-Camera TTL Flash

26 02 2009

Using an on-camera TTL flash (aka “strobe”) properly is one of the easiest ways to take your photography to the next level.  Once you have a DSLR and a lens or two (or three), probably the next piece of photographic equipment you’re going to want to buy is a flash.

Many DSLRs come with a built-in “pop-up” flash right on the top of the view finder.  This flash can work OK in certain situations, but it can be limiting due to its low power and inflexibility.  Buying a larger hot shoe mounted strobe will drastically increase the creativity you can get out of flash photography.

Much, much, more on on-camera lighting techniques after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »





Lighting Lecture at the Taiwan Photo Club

18 02 2009

The Taiwan Photo Club will be having its monthly meeting this Sunday, Feb 22 at noon at Yuma Southwestern Grill in Taipei.

These meetings are a lot of fun and if you live in Taiwan and would like to meet some other photographers stop-on-by!

The presentation this month will be on portrait lighting and given by yours truly.

Here’s a quick run-down of what I’m going to talk about:

The basic concept is how to get good lighting for portraits but I’ll also show you a few other ways that this stuff can be used for non-portraits. I want to be sure that everyone has the opportunity to learn something, whether you just have a point-and-shoot camera or a DSLR.

We’ll start talking about how to get good, natural lighting for portraits. I blogged about this a few weeks ago, and I’ll basically just review and elaborate on that.

Then we can start to talk about flashes and some good techniques that you can use to make your flash pictures look better. We’ll briefly talk about pop-up flashes and move to bigger on-camera flashes. Then we can get a bit more advanced and play around with off-camera lighting.

The cool thing about doing all this flash lighting is that we’ll be able to do it in real time. I’ll shoot all the flash pictures tethered to my laptop and we’ll be able to see the results instantly on the big screen at the restaurant. We can’t really use the natural lighting techniques because we’ll be in a basement, but I think all of that is easy enough to understand by just looking at some pictures and diagrams.

There’s a lot that we could talk about with these subjects, but I’ll try to move fast. At any point, I welcome questions and comments and other opinions, so let’s try to make this more of a discussion rather than a lecture!

I’ll write on my blog about it after we’re finished and I’ll include all the pictures and stuff. In the mean time, have a look at the blog on natural lighting for portraits to get a preview of the first part.

I hope to see you all there, and please don’t heckle me!  ;O)