Photography

Best of 2015

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It's that time of year again, time for a round up of the best of 2015!

Before I start though, I hope every one had a great New Year celebration! Here is my very first shot of 2016 with some beautiful 2016 light! It's not a great shot, but its the first click of my shutter this year! 

The first shot of 2016!

I don't know if I'm the only one who feels like this but the strange thing about 2015 is how it seemed to fly by - I've been extremely busy all year working, travelling and having fun. We’ve had a pretty good year here in Taiwan weather-wise (save for a couple super-typhoons) and that helped out a lot with a lot of what I do as a photographer.

It's been a successful year as far as work goes but what I'm most proud of is how I've kept busy and continued getting my name out there. One of the things I wrote last year during my  round up was that I hoped I could do a better job promoting myself. I've been more successful in that area and I've received quite a few contracts and a lot of attention thanks to this site and I hope that I’ll be able to continue that in 2016! 

When I did my roundup for 2014, my website was only a few months old and didn't have the following that it has now - I was new to the whole experience of blogging and promoting myself in this way. I’ve changed quite a bit about how I blog over the past year and have been refining things in an attempt to find the best way to present information to people.

One of the things I've been proud of this year is how I've been able to use my blog to not only show off new work, but also show off Taiwan to the world. When I look at website metrics I'm happy to see that while I have a regular following among people in Taiwan, I get just as many hits from Singapore, North America and European countries. The reason that I am proud of this is because I can see my website is being used by people who don't always have proper English language resources to learn about Taiwan. 

This year I'm going to do my round up a bit different than last year. I'm going to focus on website metrics for the entire year, social media interaction and end it with some of my personal favourites. I'm also going to provide links for everything so that you can see the blogs where the photos came from and see some of the activity on them.

Before I start, I should mention that I was interviewed a few weeks ago by Steven Crook, a popular Taiwan blogger and the author of the Taiwan Bradt Travel Guide, if you're interested check it out here: Part 1 / Part 2.  

1. Sakura at Tian Yuan Temple

The first shots I'm going to share are of cherry blossoms at Danshui’s Tian-Yuan Temple (天元宮.) I hadn't gone up to see the sakura at the temple for a year or two but I was really happy with the experience and the shots I came home with were really nice. One of the shots was quickly sold to a private buyer, another won a photo competition with the Taiwan Tourism Authority and another earned over 1000 likes on Google+ alone.

Blog | Flickr Set | Google+

2. People of the Night Market

Early in the year I planned a photo project that would have me shooting street photography shots of local vendors at night markets around the country. The idea was simple and some people thought that shooting this kind of thing at a night market was a mediocre idea but I used the photos to tell a story and explain things in detail which was very well received. I covered quite a few night markets while working on the project and even travelled to some places I hadn't been before. The project was successful and I had fun doing it but I eventually felt that there was a bit of overload and decided to take a break. I still haven't finished posting completed work and I will probably post a few more night markets in the new year.

Blog | Flickr Set

3. Qingshui Cliffs

I visited the beautiful Qingshui Cliffs (清水斷崖) early in the summer and the blog post that went with the shots was quite popular on social media. The cliffs are one of Taiwan's most iconic landscapes and any time someone posts a shot there is some awe involved. The cliffs are absolutely beautiful and the east coast as a whole is a place that I need to spend much more time exploring! (Plans for the New Year!)

Blog | Flickr Set

4. Tbsagan Mgmgi or Mugumuyu?

On my second trip to Hualien I made my way to Mugumuyu (慕谷慕魚) a place that I had wanted to visit for a long time. I lugged a bunch of camera gear up into the mountains and planned some long-exposure shots of the beautiful scenery. The post was relatively popular but I made a debatable mistake by honouring Taiwan's Indigenous people and naming my post “Tbsagan Mgmgi” (Atayal language) rather than the more recognizable “Mugumuyu.” The individual shots however were quite popular on social media and I fell in love with the place! 

Blog | Flickr Set

5. Tiger Lilies at Chi ke Mountain

The most surprising thing that happened all year was my post about the Tiger Lilies in southern Hualien county. I made a short (somewhat frustrated) post on my blog with a few shots of a mountain filled with tiger lilies. I expected my mom to love the shots and everybody else to ignore it. For the most part my prediction was spot on until the post exploded on Tumblr and was reblogged and re-shared over six hundred times. I'm still getting several notifications about the post today and it's months later.

Blog | Flickr Set | Tumblr

6. Pigs of God

I covered a few temple festivals this year and was quite busy running back and forth during ghost month – Living in a predominantly Hakka area of the country I was lucky to be able to easily attend the controversial “Pigs of God” ritual. The ritual put on during Ghost Month is a bit different in scale than the annual one that happened at the Qingshui Zushi Temple in Sanxia but the basic premise of having giant pigs slaughtered and put on display remains the same. The post was popular and the shots were a bit of an eye-opener for people who didn’t know much about this cultural tradition apart from the controversy. 

Blog | Flickr Set

7. Papa's Secret Lover

One of my most popular blog posts of the year was a one about a local Hakka restaurant that has been the favourite of the expat community in the area for decades. I planned the post simply as an ode to those people who I've known during my decade of living in this country and to offer a bit of nostalgia for their days in Taiwan. I could never have imagined that the post would become so popular nor did I realize just how special that restaurant has been to the people who have come and gone. I was happy to give a little back to the people who made my Taiwan experience more interesting and I'm glad it was so well received.

Blog | Flickr Set

8. Some of my favourites

2016 is going to be a big year for Taiwan - On January 16th the country will hold both its Presidential and Legislative elections in what polling is looking to be a complete and utter defeat for the ruling Kuomintang Nationalist Party, which has ruled the country for the past eight years. Things are looking like they are going to change pretty drastically over the next few months and hopefully they will be changing for the better. Taiwan looks like it will elect its first female president and it looks like legislation to change the definition of marriage is on the books! Things are looking up, but it is important to remember the political polarization that is always on display in this county and that is the reason I took this photo as politics in Taiwan is either blue or green. 

Above are a few photos from the year that I was personally quite fond of. I think this post is running a bit long, so I won't go in detail about why I like them so much. I'll just leave them there and hope you appreciate them as well! 

Happy New Year and I hope 2016 will be a good one for everyone! 

Photowalking

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A photowalk is a networking event for photographers and people who enjoy photography to get out with their camera, meet some new people, learn some new techniques and take some cool photos at the same time. Photowalks are usually held by camera clubs and the people who show up tend to be a mixture of both professional and amateur (not that there much difference) alike which means that you get a nice mix of experience and skill sets during these events.  

Photowalks can be a educational tool for photographers to learn more about different areas of photography and are also a great way for people who spend way too much of their time in front of their computer messing around in photoshop to get out shooting.

Some people think that when you go on one of these walks, that you need to have a huge SLR camera with several lenses, but it isn't really important what kind of camera you have as long as you have something that is capable of taking photos. 

For myself, going on a photowalk tends to be more of a relaxing day with my camera where I worry less about the results and focus more on having fun and meeting new friends.   

We used to have an active and tight-knit expat photography community here in Taiwan and we held photowalks several times throughout the year, but due to the practicalities of being an expat (people coming and going) conflicting schedules and personality conflicts, the community more or less fell apart and people moved on and went about their own business. Since that happened, I've been quite busy working and setting up this website, so it has been quite a while since I actually attended a photoshop with other foreigners.

The good thing about the expat community is that it is in a constant state of flux and while the old community that I was a part of disappeared - a new one has emerged and has taken the reigns in organizing photowalks and events for not only the expat community but one that involves anyone in Taiwan who has a love of photography.

Photowalker Nadia

A few months ago I noticed a few friends had joined a group on Facebook called "Photowalkers" which looked quite interesting, so I joined up as well. 

I took part in my first event with the group last weekend. Billy, one of the group's leaders organized the event which would be part photoshoot and part photowalk in an eco-park in Taipei city. 

I loaded up my camera bag and another small bag with light stands and some light modifiers and made my way to Taipei to first have coffee with my friend Darren before meeting up with the group. 

I really didn't plan on shooting much during the photoshoot portion of the day and I guess that is quite evident with the photos I'm posting as I don't have any of the model. Instead, I spent most of my time chatting with the other photographers and trying to solve a sticky situation with my camera that resulted in a couple of blisters on my thumbs. 

Photowalker Grace

After the photoshoot portion of the day was over, we made our way up a small mountain which surprisingly had an amazing view of Taipei city. If it weren't for the view of the city, I probably wouldn't have shot anything that I was really happy with whole day, so I'm quite happy that we had the opportunity to shoot such a nice cityscape, which is more up my alley than shooting models. 

After the photowalk, one of the walkers, Jaysun - a popular food blogger who runs the site Jaysun Eats Taipei recommended an Indian place in the city and we all made our way over to the restaurant which specialized in Punjabi cuisine. I have to give props to Jaysun, because he knows his stuff and this Indian restaurant was probably the best I've had in all my years of living in Taiwan! 

Overall the experience was nice and it was great to get out again and network with other photographers. I'm going to try my best to become a regular walker with the group and get to know them all a bit better! 

If you're interested in an event like this, check out the group on Facebook and come out to an event if you have time! 

Photos from the Walk

Old Doors

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I've recently come to the odd realization that over the past few years I've subconsciously become strangely attracted to taking shots of the entrances of people's homes. It came to my attention while I was sorting though my catalogue of photos on my computer and moving files over to one of my external hard drives.  

It is just me or does it seem strange for a photographer to randomly take pictures of the entrance to someone else's home? I thought about it for a while and decided to do a Google search to try to find out if other people had a similar interest or if there were some sort of deep rooted psychological problem behind it. Unfortunately, just like all my Google searches, I eventually just started watching YouTube and wasted a few hours of my day on something completely unrelated. 

Have a seat, we'll be right with you. 

A door with parking. 

However, after thinking about it for the past few weeks I've come to the conclusion that there are a few things that interest me about these doors. The first is more of a cultural difference - homes in Taiwan are much different than what I am used to back in Canada and older homes here tend to be much simpler than the more modern versions. Homes in Taiwan tend to be built on top of each other and there is no space in between them and of course no room for a yard. 

The other reason I suppose is a bit more philosophical in that doors can offer a glimpse of the life of a family while also offering a bit of mystery. Doors provide both protection and privacy and when you see someone outside of their home, you often wonder if they are the same person behind closed doors. 

In this way doors may seem like the close us off from the rest of humanity, but they also provide a sense of safety from persecution and allow people to be who they want to be in the privacy of their own homes. 

Epic Door Bell

Old sliding panel doors

To make this all seem a little less strange, I think I should clarify what I actually mean by "doors." What I'm actually referring to are Taiwanese homes with old-style doors. When I say "old-style" doors, I'm referring to the type that aren't the reinforced steel garage doors that are controlled by a remote control which bar up a home as if it were a jail. 

I'm taking shots of older homes with wooden doors or Japanese sliding doors. What attracts me to them is that while the house is usually falling apart, the doors are usually brightly coloured and they look really cool aesthetically in contract to the home and even the neighbourhood around them. If you have a chance to walk through an older neighbourhood in Taiwan you should pay attention to these doors as they usually stand out. 

Anyway, now that I've noticed this recent interest, I'll try to share a bit more from time to time. I have a library full of shots that I took but haven't bothered working on however all of the shots I'm sharing today are relatively new and were all taken in Daxi (大溪), Hukou (湖口), Beipu (北埔), Taipei (台北) and on Keelung's Peace Island (和平島) 

I found this old home in the old residential section behind Beipu Old Street (北埔老街) and really liked the colours of the house, the fading Chinese characters that were beside the door and the sun that was setting at the time that I took the shot. 

This door was probably once really pretty, but for security reasons the owner of the house put up bars around the windows to make it hard for anyone to break in. I'm pretty sure the door would be easy enough to kick down, but its the thought that counts. This one was on Peace Island in Keelung where a lot of the buildings are quite old. 

好

春

These two doors were in a military village in Taipei. In the shot on the left, the blue door has the word 「好」on it which means good. The door on the right has an upside down 「春」which refers to "spring" or new beginnings. It is common to place wishes on doors during the Spring Festival in China and Taiwan and most houses will have some sort of greeting on them. Military villages across the country are disappearing and this one has been preserved. I question a bit of its authenticity, but I do like the faded concrete with the bright painted doors.   

Taiwanese Political Divide? 

The last shot I'm going to share is one that I took before realizing I had this strange obsession. I don't think I took this shot because of that though. What I noticed while walking by was the colours. To me it was almost a harmonious reflection of Taiwan's less-than-harmonious political spectrum. The green door on the left represents the Pan-Green coalition of political parties which work towards dejure independence and nationhood (which I find strange since Taiwan is already a country) and the blue door represents the Pan-Blue coalition led by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) which favours better ties and ultimate reunification with China. The fact that both of these can live together in harmony though is a reflection of Taiwanese society. 

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