There are currently three typhoons out in the Western Pacific. Two of them are forecasted to hit Taiwan next week. This has most people scared, but it has me excited. During the last typhoon, I went out with my buddy Ed to do some “Urban Skimboarding” and I’m hoping conditions will be good this week for some more photos and fun.
If you know me personally, or follow my blog, you probably know that some friends and I entered a contest called “The Best Trip in the World” put on by the Taiwan Tourism Bureau.
It’s a contest that gave the opportunity for selected groups of bloggers to travel Taiwan for 4 days and blog about it. We were one of the lucky groups selected and we completed our 4 day itinerary back in June. The final stage of the contest has arrived and we put our adventurers into a finale video, complete with a goofy music video at the end.
Remember that this was the first time any of us ever tried to put a video together and we had a blast! We highly recommend that everyone get their friends together, plan a trip (to Taiwan, of course!), and make a fun video!
Also have a look at my friends’ websites about Taiwan:
Stu’s Taiwan Hiking Blog
and
Phil’s 老外的臺灣旅遊日記 (in Chinese)
Thanks again for all the support!
-neil
Photographing models is probably a lot of men’s dream. What most people don’t realize, is all the work that goes into those pretty pictures.
I recently had a shoot in with a model in Daan Park 大安公圓 in Taipei, Taiwan and would love to share them with you. Usually for big shoots like this, I like to try to tell you how we did the photos and all the technical information. But… I’m on vacation right now and just can’t wrap my head around it!
Like my last post, I’ll just tell you the basic-basics, and let you have a look at a pretty model from a fun afternoon of shooting.
Portraiture of all types can be the cornerstone of many photographers’ business. Sooner or later, in one way or another, someone will want you to take a portrait.
The difference between a good portrait and and a great portrait is in the details. Below I offer you the details to what might look like a simple location portrait, but was actually quite complicated to shoot. Lucky for me, the most unpredictable factor in many portrait sessions, the subject, was incredibly natural and easy to work with. Unfortunately, another important factor in a portrait, the light, wasn’t as cooperative.
Read all about this photo after the jump.
It’s time for another edition of “Random Photographs from Taiwan.”
Whenever I have a handful of photos and no ideas for a specific post about them, they go into this category.
I guess it’s sort-of a weekly or bi-weekly gallery…
anywho…
This first one was taken on my recent four day trip to promote tourism in Taiwan. Most of the trip I was worried about getting video footage and not photos, but when whenever we had a few minutes to take some goofy pictures, we did.
Here, Phil from 老外的臺灣旅遊日記 (A travel blog in Chinese) jumps over me and my camera. It’s definitely a quick and dirty shot, and I hope to take more with more proper lighting in the future… On camera SB-800 shot TTL… 1/250 sec at f/22. 14-24mm at 14mm… And the lens was real dirty from the previous four-wheeling shoot.
This past weekend I joined the Taipei chapter of Scott Kelby’s Photo Walk.
It’s a annual social gathering of photographers in cities all over the world. Basically, photographers get together, go for a walk, then all meet up for dinner. Afterwards, you can upload your two best pictures for a chance to win some great prizes, but I think the main idea was just to go out and have some fun.
Craig Ferguson set it all up for us and I think it’s safe to say that we all had a great time.
Here’s a link to a Flickr page with some of the photos from the day and a handful of the photos that I shot:
Taipei Photo Walk 2009
Formosa Adventurers just got back from our 4 day trip to promote Taiwan.
We had an absolutely fantastic time and it will be one of those events in my life that I’ll always look back at and smile about.
In four days we went river tracing, white water rafting, 4-wheeling, paragliding, hot springing, local food eating, and we also learned a lot about the aboriginal culture here in Taiwan.
There’s nothing like a fun trip with your friends… you should plan one now and make some videos like we did… seriously!
These are the things we do on many weekends, but the fact that we were doing it to try to win a contest gave us a bit of extra “umpf” and made it really special.
You can learn a lot more by reading our official contest blog and watching the videos below. (If you’re short on time, day 1 and 3 are my favorites!)
Photographing lightning is a misunderstood technique that’s actually quite easy to do… once you learn the basics.
Most people seem to think that you have to have a quick trigger finger. They think that you wait to see the flash of lightning, then quickly press the shutter button. Truth is, this technique might actually work… I’ve never tried it but some forms of lightning seem to linger in the sky for 1/4 sec or more… so if you have a fast enough finger and camera you might be able to catch the tail end of the flash.
But, if you want to learn the proper way to shoot lightning and get the whole flash!-boom!-bang!… read on!
This is a 30 second exposure at f/13 and ISO 200. I set the shutter at 30 sec, then adjusted the aperture until the temple was properly exposed. Louang Prabang, Laos.
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.
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!
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:
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.
“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
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…
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, I'll give you one photo - This one is from the last year's Dragon Boat Festival in Xindian (Taipei), Taiwan.
Cheers,
-neil
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 Mountains. Part 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.
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.
"Taiwan's Tower of Babel" Viewed from Tiger Mountain.
One of my all time favorite hikes/photography locations in Taiwan is The Four Beast 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.
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:
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…
Keelung, Taiwan 台灣基隆市 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.
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:
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?
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.
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.
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)
