Street Photographer

Tua-Tiu-Tiann Photography Exhibition (大稻埕攝影展)

October 04, 2017 in Street, Personal, Photo Post, Taipei

The Tua-Tiu-Tian Internationl Festival of Arts (大稻埕國際藝術節) officially opened on Sunday, October 1st with an action-packed month of events which aims to not only showcase and promote the historic Dadaocheng area of Taipei, but also display many of the artistic talents that both Taipei and Taiwan have to offer to the world.

The month of events kicked off with the opening of the Dadaocheng International Photography Exhibition (外籍攝影師鏡頭下的大稻埕) which featured the work of both local and expat photographers and will remain on display for the entirely of the festival.

As I mentioned in my previous post about the Dadaocheng Photowalks, the photo exhibition had a focus on documentarian street photography-style photos that would help tell the story of the residents of Dadaocheng, the history of the area and also its revitalization over recent years.

To that effect, the curator of the event TC Lin organized several photowalks in August and September which led both foreign and local photographers around Dadaocheng to get shots to contribute to the event, network with each other and learn about the area.

The photowalks that TC arranged led us around most popular and well-known areas of Dihua Street (迪化街) but also much further down the road into areas that are not as commonly visited by tourists as well as areas that are only just recently starting to receive a bit of attention in terms of revitalization.

The first photowalk was more of an introduction to the event and a bit of a tour around the area for people who were unfamiliar while the second walk was more of us just walking around, taking cover from torrential downpours, chatting and taking photos.

As I mentioned in my previous blog about the photowalks, I typically spend most of my time at these events chatting with friends I haven’t seen for a while, so in order to get enough photos to submit to the event, I did a solo photowalk around the area in conjunction with a visit to the famous Dadaocheng Wharf on a day that turned out to have one of the prettiest sunsets of the year.

The exhibition opened last Sunday and attracted quite a few visitors as well as most of the photographers who took part in the event. It was a wonderful afternoon spent enjoying the company of friends new and old and enjoying the different perspectives of Dadaocheng that were put on display by photographers from all over the world.

Split up into two different venues including URS127 Art Factory (URS127玩藝工場) and URS27W Film Range (URS27W城市影像實驗室), the exhibition which will run for the entire month is open to the public free of charge.

A few days earlier TC contacted me and requested that I say a few words to the crowd about the event - At first I was a bit apprehensive due to how much I embarrassed myself at my solo photo exhibition a month or so earlier but ultimately agreed and did my best not to embarrass myself too much. Fortunately I’ve spent quite a bit of time researching the Dadaocheng area for my blogs about the City God Temple, Bao-An Temple, and the last few years of visiting the annual Dihua Street Lunar New Year Market.

In the gallery below, I’m sharing some of my photos that were featured at the exhibition with the original and an iPhone shot of the photo on the wall. With all the talent involved in the event I was both surprised and honoured that so many of my photos were chosen to be featured in both venues of the exhibition.

I want to thank TC Lin, Chenbl Chen and all the organizers of the Tua-Tiu-Tiann International Festival of Arts who put together this event. I also want to thank the friends who came out to support us - especially those people who have followed my work for a while but haven’t had a chance to meet!

I'd also like to show my appreciation to some of the other photographers who took part in the event and contributed their work and vision to the event. Quite a few of those photographers are my friends, so if you'd like to know more about them, you may want to check out the following people: Darren Melrose, Brian Wiemer, Neil Wade, Dilip Bhoye, Filipe Rios, Tyson Skriver and Ken Dickson.

The exhibition will be on until the end of October, so if you are in Taipei and have any free time, you should definitely head over to check out the exhibition spaces as well as taking part in some of the great events planned over the next month!

Exhibition Period: 10/01 ~ 10/31 (展出日期:10/01 ~ 10/31)

Main Exhibition: URS127 Art Factory ( #127, Dihua Street. Section 1. Taipei)

主展場：URS127玩藝工場 - 台北市迪化街一段127號

Secondary Exhibition: URS 27W Film Range (#27, Yan-Ping Road. Section 2. Taipei)

展場二：URS 27W 城市影像實驗室 - 台北市延平北路二段27號

Tua-Tiu-Tiann International Festival of Arts: Website | Facebook | Event Schedule

Wanhua (萬華)

December 26, 2015 in Street, Photo Post, Taipei

The oldest district in the modern metropolis of Taipei goes by many names - To some it is “Bangka” (Báng-kah khu) or “Monga” (艋舺) and to others it is “Wanhua” (萬華區). Whatever you prefer to call the district, it is one of the most important districts in the city and is steeped in history, culture and religion.

Once one of the most prosperous districts in the city due to its proximity to the Xindian River (新店溪), the district served as a centre of commerce for over three hundred years. The area was originally settled by the Pinpu Kaitakela tribe, then Hokkien (閩南人) immigrants from Fujian Province and most recently by Chinese refugees of the civil war.

Today the district is in a period of decline and has an aging population that is regarded as the “fattest” in the city - It is well known for its historic sites which include Longshan Temple (龍山寺), Taipei’s most popular temple as well as the Qingshui Temple (艋舺清水巖), Bopiliao Historic Street (剝皮寮老街) Huaxi Night Market (華西街夜市) and Ximending (西門町), Taipei’s answer to the hip and modern Shibuya shopping district in Tokyo.

If you want to experience the historical side of Taipei, there is no better place to visit than Bangka. This area is unlike any other area of Taipei - Not only will you find history, but walking around gives you the distinct feeling that you travelled back in time to an older, livelier and somewhat seedier version of the city.

So far my series on Bangka has been split up into three sections. The next three sections will be some simple street photography and I plan on ending it all with a post on Longshan Temple. These posts will consist of street photos of the residents of Bangka around the park, in the temple and on the streets in the historic area of the district. This area is a great area for street photography and I hope to show a bit of what life is like in the district through the photos.

Qingshan Temple and King Festival (青山宮/青山靈安尊王)

Part 1 | Part Two | Temple

Street Photography posts

Bangka Park | The temple | Streets of Bangka

1. Afternoon Tea

I have mixed feelings about this photo. On the on hand it makes me feel a bit happy because the man seems so cute in what he's doing. On the other hand it makes me feel sad that at his age he is having his afternoon snack by himself. It leads me to think about other things less metaphorical about old age and death which are scary to someone who isn't really in his youth anymore.

2. Avoiding the Sun

I recently attended a photo critique session and I brought this photo with me. I think the consensus of all my friends and colleagues in attendance that it was only 2/5 and there were a lot of problems with the shot. Afterwards I explained why I took the shot and they all looked at it again and they all said “Ohhhhhhhh ok.” When I took this shot I only saw one thing and it interested me as somewhat of a commentary on Taiwanese people and their fear of the sun. Look again at how they're walking single file and how they're avoiding the sun shining between the pillars. It was a beautiful day and I really enjoyed the weather. It's not as common for a lot of Taiwanese people to enjoy the sun however as they prefer lighter toned skin.

3. Sugarcane Juice anyone?

There are few things as nasty to me as Sugarcane juice. I'm not a fan and I never have been. It is a popular drink though, especially among older Taiwanese people which means there is probably no better place to sell it than in Monga! When I took the shot the vendor was having a conversation with a customer and he noticed me taking the shot and looked straight into the camera. I like the deer in headlights look and the environment around the vendor as well.

4. Collecting Alms

There are quite a few people dressed up like monks and sitting around Monga. I hate to be skeptical but from what I've learned from other people is that they're not all real monks and a lot of them just sit there dressed up as one to collect alms from the pious people of Taiwan. I haven't really been able to tell the difference between what's real and what's not with monks but from what I've noticed, some of them have ID tags to prove their authenticity. The monk in this shot wasn't really being laid attention to as the people walked by oblivious to his existence – or maybe they've just learned better by now. It's sad that this kind of thing happens because alms are important for a lot of monks and temples to have food and basic amenities.

5. Deep Conversation

If there is one thing I'm not a big fan of its pictures of people from behind. As a photographer it's important to get in the thick of things and if you are posting editorial material of the back of people's heads it comes off a bit unprofessional. I'm not saying that photos from behind can't work, but it's generally better to get in front of people to see the full emotion of the scene. In this shot I was in a large crowd of people who were watching a Taiwanese puppet performance at a small temple near Bopiliao. I didn't want to make the subject of the photo the puppet show, nor did I want to get in front of these guys for the shot. What I wanted was to get a shot of the deep conversation these two were having and have them stand out from the rest of the crowd. I'm still not really a big fan of this kind of photo, but for me at least, I think in this situation it worked quite well with the expressions and seriousness of their faces as they discussed things.

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Monga (艋舺)

December 22, 2015 in Street, Photo Post, Taipei

Qingshan Temple and King Festival (青山宮/青山靈安尊王)

Part 1 | Part Two | Temple

Street Photography posts

Bangka Park | The temple | Streets of Bangka

1. A Gathering of the Minds.

Longshan temple is a really scared place in Taiwan and its constantly full of activity – That doesn't mean it can't be a place for people to hang out as well. In this shot you can see four Buddhist women sitting off to the side of the main temple having a chat and using their prayer beads. Buddhist practice can sometimes be a solitary thing so it's important for people to have a bit of fellowship from time to time.

2. Reciting Sutras

This photo caught my attention because the woman was sitting against the wall reciting sutras like a lot of the other people at the temple but she was also wearing one of the uniforms that the women who chant every night at the temple. I had missed the chanting time which is generally one of the most important and busiest times of the day at the temple, but she seemed to have stuck around for a little more work.

3. Prayer Beads

This guy was sitting in the middle of the thick of things where people are lighting their incense and doing the majority of their prayers facing the main shrine. He just sat himself down and was using his prayer beads at the same time. I was lucky to catch him looking directly at me at the same time I took the photo. Prayer beads generally wrap around your wrists but this guy the XL version and was busy reciting while looking at the weird-looking foreign guy!

4. Offering Incense.

Whenever I visit Longshan it is usually in the early evening or at night. When I visited this time I was there in the early afternoon. This kind of shot is quite common and isn't very special but the reason I include it here and not in the gallery below is because I like the light. It's not common to get this kind of light and I like the way it shines on the young woman and the incense urn in front of here.

5. Temple Security

This shot interested me because I noticed the monk was hanging out in the security office while the security guard was watching people outside the door. They both seemed to notice me at the same time and glanced over as I took the shot. It's interesting to see security at a temple in Taiwan but Longshan temple isn't your typical temple so it's probably not that strange.

6. Hands

I'm always interested when I'm at the temple to get shots of peoples hands. I'm including these two shots for different reasons. The first shot is of a woman reciting Buddhist sutras while another woman is walking by in high-heels at the main hall of the temple. The second shot is of a woman with prayer beads hidden in the corner of one of the rear hall shrines. She was hidden from plain sight, so I focused on her hands and what she was doing instead and I like the result.