Taiwan 2025 - New Taipei Temple Shot #5

This is a VERY busy scene, but haven't seen the likes of it before at this temple so here we are.  Brightened the red dragon panel some, as not much light reached that far back.

My gosh, all these figures, carvings, sculptures, flowers and lights!  Buddhism must be a very complicated religion if you have to know what all this means...

Taiwan 2025 - New Taipei Temple Shot #4

Same subject, different viewpoint...

Taiwan 2025 - New Taipei Temple Shot #3

Used a little bokeh here in both directions to highlight the pagoda-looking thing in the near-foreground.  The possibilities are endless with all of the accoutrements of worship they use.  Almost every year the setup is completely different, depending on what religious observance is represented.

Taiwan 2025 - Folded Paper Things at Temple (New Taipei)

Don't know what these are, but found them interesting so here they are...

Taiwan 2025 - Incense with Smoke Tendrils

Anyone who follows this blog knows that, with all of the color and culture, I love taking pictures at temples.  Especially if smoke tendrils are involved.  And different things take place at different times of the year, which enables variety.

So here we are at the New Taipei temple, close to "our" apartment adjacent to the Ming Chi University of Technology.  Tomorrow will be posting a pic of those orange things in the background.

Taiwan 2025 - Something You Don't See Every Day (New Taipei Mountaintop Hike)

Now THIS is something you don't see every day, a tree growing from a different, separate tree.  The host tree developed a shallow soil bed over time and, well, wherever life can exist, it will.

Closer shot below (both captured on the iPhone):

Taiwan 2025 - Cityscape through Vines on Mountaintop Hike in New Taipei

Venture past the garden and, depending which path you take, it's either a longer or a shorter hike to the adjacent mountaintop.  Because we both love to hike and as therapy for my recently operated-on knee, we made it a point to do a mountain hike at least every other day, either here in New Taipei or in the little village where Chenjean's dad lives.  Caught this pic of something through something on the way up.

Taiwan 2025 - Strange Reddish Bloom in New Taipei Garden

The reason this is being posted a little smaller is because iPhone photos don't do so well with certain edges, which is quite evident when this one is blown up to a larger size.  Still, since it was new and something not posted before from the garden, decided to keep it in.

Taiwan 2025 - Red Hibiscus in New Taipei Garden

Another iPhone capture.

Taiwan 2025 - Yellow Hibiscus in New Taipei Garden

Hibiscus flowers are so incredible, with their size and variety of colors and shapes.  And they require very little maintenance there since droughts rarely happen in Taiwan.  Though this one was captured with the iPhone I managed to bring out the color a bit more and sharpen the focus as a contrast against the background.

Taiwan 2025 - Raindrops on Dark Leaves in New Taipei Garden

As usual during April in Taiwan, it rained some but not too much; the rainy season doesn't really get under way until June.  Thus, with a little luck we can venture out after a rain has cleared to capture droplets like these on leaves and flowers.

Taiwan 2025 - Flying Fish in New Taipei Garden

After cloning out a pole holding this guy up, decided there was an interesting subject here...

Taiwan 2025 - Pink Flower in New Taipei Garden

Though this flower has been posted a time or two before, am including this one due to the background and rich color offered by the Bigger Cahoona (aka Nikon D850).  Grabbed some interesting compositions with the iPhone, but they didn't measure up.

Taiwan 2025 - Rabbit-Eared Thistle in New Taipei Garden

A closer view of the rabbit-eared thistle, this time focused as the primary subject.

Taiwan 2025 - New Taipei Garden, Purple Spider Flower with Rabbit-Eared Thistle

I've visited and photographed the beautifully-manicured garden near "our" New Taipei apartment so much already that there's very little else to post.  Thus, while there aren't many, this time I tried to focus on new subjects.  In the pic above I noticed the thistle in the near-background, which was new to us since it has rabbit ears...

...and decided that since the background is a little busy, here's the purple flower isolated against a black background:

Taiwan 2025 - Bridge with Pagoda in Tainan

This was our "parting shot" as day's end drew near and we had to head back to the train station.

Next we'll head back to more familiar territory - New Taipei - where we managed a few heretofore uncaptured shots.

Taiwan 2025 - Facade with Branch Pattern in Tainan

This was taken with the Bigger Cahoona as well, since I had it out for the panorama captured just to its right.  The branch pattern above the facade catches the eye more than the facade itself...

Taiwan 2025 - Lake Pagoda in Tainan

After getting a haircut we took a walk through a park we passed along the way.  One thing we immediately noticed was the number of homeless in and around this park.  There were so many that they even blocked some of the  underground walkways with their sleeping bags, tents, and other possessions.  A little bit scary, as we're not used to this in Taiwan.  Where was law enforcement?  This was a very nice park, but not exactly inviting for a family in light of what we saw.

I lugged the Bigger Cahoona along on this trip, but it was hot, hot, hot, so wasn't in the mood to use it much.  Did capture this 3-shot panorama, however, which was too good to pass up...

Taiwan 2025 - Tainan for a Haircut

My wife Chenjean did a lot of online research about things we could do once on the island.  One was a special place to get a haircut in Tainan.  While we were already in Chiayi, why not pop down there and satisfy her curiosity about this place, plus explore a new area for both of us?  So we took a train down there and got her a haircut.

Taiwan 2025 - NE Coast Fishing Village, Temple Shot with iPhone Portrait Mode

This is another example of something that can be done about a very busy background.  Since I was doing everything with an iPhone, all that was needed was to switch over to the portrait mode; the camera did the rest:

Taiwan 2025 - NE Coast, Fishing Village, Glass Flower Sculpture

I knew there was potential for this glass sculpture, seen in the previous post.  But the background of anything shot in the temple was very busy, so it was extracted and made into a layer over a black background.  Original pic below:

Taiwan 2025 - NE Coast, Fishing Village, Temple Shot #1

As stated earlier, the temple in town is just as important touristically as the fishing industry.  And this temple is massive for a town with a population of only about ten thousand.  Lots of color, lots of photo opportunities...

Taiwan 2025 - NE Coast, Fishing Village, Buddhist Offering

Now THIS is the kind of picture I like to take at a temple, more easily captured with the phone camera as opposed to the big, clacky D850...

Taiwan 2025 - NE Coast, Fishing Village, Orchid Patch

Another sight caught on the way into the temple.  Orchids are very, very popular in all parts of Taiwan, and the variety is incredible.

Taiwan 2025 - NE Coast, Fishing Village, Temple Scrolls

I learned in Wikipedia that the big temple in this town is just as much of an attraction as the fishing side of things.  On the way inside we passed this space holding hundreds of whatever these are.  The unusual pattern they created naturally had to be captured.

Taiwan 2025 - NE Coast, Fishing Village, Bread Slices (?)

Naturally one of the biggest draws attracting tourists to this village is the seafood.  90% of the mackerel consumed on the island is harvested here, as well as lots of other species caught in the waters offshore.

This plate looks like some freshly-baked bread slices, but in fact is roe (fish eggs).  Tasted pretty good either by itself or with the mayonnaise as a topping.  I enjoyed the sensation of those tiny little eggs popping between my teeth...

Taiwan 2025 - NE Coast, Fishing Village, Workaday World #2

These long nets must be a nightmare to maintain.  Suppose they do this daily after a night's work at sea...

Taiwan 2025 - NE Coast, Fishing Village, Workaday World #1

Eager to catch scenes of the workaday world of the men and women who make their living here, was fortunate to capture this guy as he progressively makes his way past a boat lugging one of those long nets...

Are those socks he's wearing, without shoes?

Taiwan 2025 - NE Coast, Fishing Village, Boats with Bulbs #2

A better pic of those bulbs with Found Edges below:

Taiwan 2025 - NE Coast, Fishing Village, Boats with Bulbs #1

The first little village we visited while on this excursion to the NE coast was called Nanfangao, southeast of Luodong.  There were eight of us in the car, so to save space and hassle I packed the Bigger Cahoona deep in the back cargo space.  Unfortunately, when we arrived it was so crowded with cars waiting to park, our nephew let us out on the move and I couldn't easily get to it.  Thus, all pics of this little jewel of a place were taken with the iPhone.  Got some good captures, but technically they're not the best.

I'd never seen this on boats in the US, so was intrigued with the big light bulbs rigged atop many of the vessels in the harbor.  Suppose they are used to attract fish during night catches.

Cropped-in Found Edges rendition below:

Taiwan 2025 - NE Coast, Green Expo, Upside-down Planters

One of the strangest flower displays ever...

Taiwan 2025 - NE Coast, Green Expo, Me & My Mushrooms

They had a place where these wood mushrooms were growing out of an old rotting tree.  The striking color contrast is what drew my eye...

Taiwan 2025 - NE Coast, Green Expo, Peach Orchid

This was a keeper (captured with the iPhone) from the Orchid Gallery because peach was our wedding color back in 1988...

Taiwan 2025 - NE Coast, Green Expo, Miniature Scene in Orchid Gallery

With all the flowers and plants around, the background was a bit busy behind this piece.  Spent some time making a layer of it and ended up liking the 50% gray background best.  Gradient background and original below:

Taiwan 2025 - NE Coast, Green Expo, Orchid Gallery Sign

Took this pic but only liked the sign, so removed the background and tidied it up a bit.

Taiwan 2025 - NE Coast, Green Expo, Using Bokeh

 ...using the sharp angles of the leaves to play a little with bokeh:

Taiwan 2025 - NE Coast, Green Expo, Shrubbery Maze with Chenjean

Encouraging Chenjean to go first, I hung back to take some pics of her progress...

You just started, Sweetheart - don't give up yet!

Ah yes - victory at last!