Taipei - Mountaintop Trail Temple

The little temple by the side of the road in the last posting was typical.  Even in the remotest regions you'll see them - some large, some teeny tiny - either alongside or even across a trail, like this one, where a traveler literally has to walk through the property.  At times there will be someone watching over the place, but mostly not.

The photo below was behind me as I snapped the above image.  The stove-looking thing is a place to burn (fake) money for the use of those who have passed on...

Taipei - Mountaintop Trail Road

A few postings ago I mentioned Mountaintop Park, which was a short distance from our digs there in Taipei.  Hiking the trail going up there was a great way to get some quick exercise.  It took about 45 minutes to go all the way to the top, and the path had a lot of variety.  The photo here represents a fairly typical portion of the "trail".

Taipei 101 Street Performers

We ran into these guys as we were wondering around the neighborhood of Taipei 101.  Street performers do their thing in most every city, and it's interesting to see especially how the teams operate, sometimes with a sound engineer, hat passer, and others besides the performers themselves.

The guy on the left had a companion in a blue outfit nearby doing the same thing, which was stand on a pedestal and react when someone put money in a basket.  Probably the best I've ever seen of anything similar is posted here.  But the two colorful dudes in Taipei did a passable job.

The man on the right was a bit more unusual.  There was no cup or basket to collect money...he just played for the benefit of the passers-by.  Learned that he is a professor of mathematics in a nearby university and does this just for the joy of sharing.

Taipei Temple - Incense / The Day I Saw Concorde

As noted earlier, there is a fair-sized temple a short distance away from where we were staying in Taipei this past October.  Though I captured a number of postcard-style photos, which I find boring, this is a bit different, and the only one I will be posting from that site (apart from the three flowers just featured).  Applying the unsharp mask made the smoke curls really pop out against the red background in the upper left, similar to the look in another posting from an earlier trip.
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The Day I Saw Concorde

Listened to another episode of the Airline Pilot Guy today while walking on the treadmill in the gym.  From the earliest age I've always had a passion for aviation, and in fact took lessons in a Cessna 150 as a teenager (until the funds were re-prioritized).  Even today I'll look up almost every time I hear an engine overhead.

But nothing compares to what I saw when looking up one day in Mexico City.  I was visiting down there in 1980 (while living further up north, in the state of Coahuila), and heard a roar from the direction of the international airport.  What caught my attention was the sound of the roar - it was different from the usual airliner we were accustom to...louder, sharper.  My jaw dropped when I saw what it was - the real deal, the Concorde, still very low as it thundered in a climbing arc back toward Europe.  The sight struck me as if I'd seen the President walking down the street!  At the time, of course, flights overland in the U.S. were banned so it was never seen there other than in the news and magazine articles.  Very impressive.

Taiwan - Temple Flower #2

This would be a more traditional flower photo (compared to yesterday's posting).  There were a couple of repairs that needed to be made to the leaves, but otherwise pretty solid.

Taiwan - Plastic Rose

After initially preparing this pic for posting, there was something I just didn't like about it.  Too plain, too dark, not enough contrast...couldn't pin it down.  So for grins I started playing with the filter gallery in Photoshop and stumbled upon this effect, called "plastic wrap".

And only then did did I realize that the picture was simply too flat.  This accidentally-discovered filter effect in Photoshop gave it the three-dimensionality that I'd been looking for...

Taiwan - Temple Flower #1

I'm in a flower mood today so here we go.  This and the next two posts were all captured at a fair-sized temple a short walk from where we were staying there in Taipei.  After these I'll post some shots of the temple itself, though it was not one of my better shoots in that environment.

Taipei Zoo - Log Rat

This one is being posted not because I thought it was great but because others commented on how cute this little bugger is.  Must agree with them, but my eyes are drawn more to the leaves growing on the left side of the "log"...probably because of the color.

On the technical side, it's highly cropped in but passable.  I'm getting a little better at instinctively aiming for the eyes, focusing-wise, but still had to apply the unsharp mask (50% at 4.0px) to make them appear more clear.

Taipei Zoo - Brown Monkey

This fairly cropped-in shot is of one of Taipei Zoo's smaller monkey species.  My gosh, there are so many!  More than 360 types of monkeys the world over, all looking quite different from one another and possessing varying levels of intelligence.  Small as he is, this one has a contemplative if not sad visage.  What is he thinking about?  What does he make of all these larger primates walking around with the shiny objects pointing at him all the time?

Technically this photo had to be finessed a bit.  The eyes are so dark they were brightened, with a touch of sharpening...

Taipei Zoo - Monkey Negotiation

Often, photographing monkeys is about capturing behavior more than aesthetics.  Monkey B, on the right, was in the process of taking a bite of something when Monkey A grabbed his wrist and literally used his rival's hand to stuff his own mouth.  It all happened before Monkey B even knew what was going on.

In the photo below it looks as though Monkey B is at least trying to negotiate before he loses out altogether on his next chance for food...

Taipei Zoo - Hanging Monkey

My favorite animals to photograph in a zoo are the monkeys.  My gosh, they are so human-like!  Especially the bonobos, which in my experience are only on view in the Cincinnati Zoo (a darn good zoo).  It's easy to see why a person would fall in love with these critters and even take one in for a pet...a huge mistake, of course.

When my daughter Allison was in Girl Scouts we met a lady - a friend of Allison's awesome troop leader - who kept monkeys in her house to share with the public as part of her job as a professional clown.  The desire was strong to find a way to go to her house just to see how they are kept and to interact with them, if we should be allowed.  Upon reflection, however, we decided it wasn't a good idea, as even the small ones are smart, strong and very unpredictable.  Just couldn't expose our precious daughter to anything like that.

Didn't get a good picture of any of them, but this past December I was sprayed by a wild howler monkey in the jungles of Belize.  At least they were purported to be wild - my opinion is that they were fed and cared for by the people in a nearby village so they'd stick around for the tourist trade.  In any event, we were hiking on a trail and kept hearing this very loud, continuous howling, even when we were quite a distance away.

Turns out that it was coming from the male in a family that hung out close to the village, and he would go nuts every time a tour group would approach his girlfriend and baby, who stayed low in the branches to get snacks and attention from humans.  When we got there I decided to stay apart from our group, and was rewarded with extra attention from this guy...guess he felt I was vulnerable since I didn't stick with the pack.

Taipei Zoo - Tiger

Now on to some animals at the zoo.  As noted before, the habitats at the Taipei Zoo are awesome, mostly free of gates, fences and wires.  This majestic beast was creeping slowly down a path when I was able to catch his eye in between the leaves of a bamboo stalk, thanks to the awesome pin-point capabilities of the Big Cahoona.  The focus still wasn't quite perfect, so had to apply the unsharp mask twice to make the eye crystal clear.  This was the shot that convinced me that focus fine-tuning may be necessary for my "walkabout" lens.  That conclusion in turn led me to believe that the new D500 would be ideal, as fine-tune focusing is an automatic feature in that body.  However, the lack of pop-up flash is a deal-killer for me.

The second exposure was captured after he'd settled into the classic pose of the big cats.  In my opinion these two shots made the whole trip worth that morning's excursion, and I ended up making a 16x20 gatorboard-backed print of each to give my brother for Christmas.

Taipei Zoo - Flowers

And while on the subject of flowers, here is one also captured at the zoo.  Had to do some autocolor correction, but otherwise pleased with the result.

It is fortunate that the crowd was light that day - it was in the middle of the week, early on a school day in October.  Interestingly, this was one of the few times in Taiwan that we've run into other Americans, who were in the same subway car with us.  Didn't pay much attention to each other, as is usually the case.  We did enjoy speaking to a couple from England, however, while wending our way through the long pathways...

Taipei Zoo - Flower

Taipei has a zoo that is decent - the habitats are awesome, and there is enough space for plenty of walking around.  Everywhere you go it is evident that the presentation of plant life is clearly just as important as the animals, this flower being a case in point.  We're already making plans to go back for the upcoming New Year festivities, so hope that another trip to the zoo will be possible then, when it's cooler.

Taiwan - Mountaintop Trail Flower

This was taken on one of my walks up to Mountaintop Park, about a 30-minute hike from our apartment near Ming Chi University of Technology.  Took that hike several times during our visit there, and was humbled by the presence of so many old folks doing better than me going up and down those trails.

Got this one printed in 16x20 size for a friend, mounted on thin gatorboard, and it turned out fairly well.

Taiwan - Zhuqi River Bridge

Sensing our boredom one day, the wife's dad and stepmom decided to take us to a nearby town (called Zhuqi Riverside Park on Google Maps) to enjoy a riverwalk with various attractions.  There were a couple of bridges like this, but this one was the most photogenic.  Some Photoshop work was done to straighten out the lady's shirt.
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Well, came very close the other day in Austin.  Actually held a D810 in my hands, and liked it very much!  In an earlier blog post I remember stating that I'd be willing to wait until a full-frame, 48 MP sensor came along before upgrading, and that time is just about here, isn't it?

Many say the behemoth file sizes have kept them away from the 810, but that's no issue with me, as I had my son build a computer with a behemoth graphics card to handle just such an eventuality.  But after all was said and done - when it came right down to it - it was the price that kept me from plunging into the deep end.  Even though I've set aside the funds for it, getting set up with a full-frame body and the first of the requisite trifecta of lenses would cost around five grand.  Man, that's a lot of money.  Just couldn't do it.

So, I've been studying the D750, which in some respects is a better fit for what I do anyway.  We'll see...

Taiwan - Betel Nut Tree

This was a little later in the morning, after the sun had come up some.  Though the betel nut trees are an introduced species, they are beautiful in their own way and often stand alone for these kind of pictures, which I like.

I got curious one day about these betel nuts that are so popular over there, and came upon this link describing what it's like to try chewing them for the first time.  Like chewing tobacco (which I tried once - just once!), it's pretty nasty stuff but very addictive.

The photo below is another of a betel tree, this time as clouds were drifting down from the mountaintop one rainy afternoon.

 

Taiwan - Chenjean's Village

This is the little village where my wife grew up...a town of 200-300.  Her house is just to the right of the betel tree, directly across from the temple.  I jokingly refer to the cluster of houses to the left of the frame as the suburbs.  The town in the background, flanked by low clouds, is where she attended elementary school.  She and her twin sister would walk the distance both ways each day, rain (which it did a lot) or shine (not as much).

My father-in-law raised his brood of six here from the time Chenjean was in about the second grade.  As a doctor he made house calls, walking up and down the roads and trails of this mountain until he retired.  For that reason he's a remarkably healthy individual, even today at age 86.  Did a hundred pushups a day up until he was 80.  I'll never forget the time we were in Taipei (back in '01), and, after having gone somewhere, he decided to walk back to my brother-in-law's house.  Trouble was, there was a group of us with him and it was a long way.

After walking about two miles we were all exhausted, but he kept plodding along, waiting at intersections until we caught up.  Finally I had to carry my daughter Allison, who was about five at the time.  An hour or two later we made it, Chenjean's dad being none the worse for wear...

Taiwan - Algae Roof

This pic is similar to one posted from an earlier trip.  Really love these roofs, in a climate so damp and humid that they actually turn green from algae growth.  The betel nut trees make for an interesting backdrop, but it's sad that so much of the original vegetation has been cleared to make way for this addictive plant.  My wife Chenjean says that none of these were there during her upbringing, when the only entertainment was to spend a day in the jungle playing with insects and sticks.

Taiwan - Blooming Bramble

...on the same walk, back to the house, after it had lightened up a bit.

Taiwan - Mountain Sunrise

Early in the morning I would get up and walk the back roads of the mountain, camera in hand.  I felt this was a pretty good shot, but never had the patience to select out the background treeline all the way across in order to improve the sky.  Maybe another day...

Taiwan - Jungle Dwelling

Back to Posting.  A few months ago the wife and I took another trip to Taiwan, this time with a 5-day side excursion to Japan.  The Big Cahoona was my faithful companion, and behaved beautifully.

My wife grew up in a small village halfway up a mountainside, where her father was the only doctor for miles around.  What a setting, to grow up in the jungles of Formosa!

This shot was taken just about a hundred feet from the front door of her childhood home, where her dad still lives.  Almost identical to another posting a few years ago, I took this picture for comparison purposes - this one with the Nikon D300s and the previous one captured with the Fujifilm s7000.  There is magic in both, with the contrast of the man-made house and the lush vegetation of the jungle beyond, survivors of antiquity (that is, except for the betel nut trees, introduced within the past few decades).