Happy New Year!

Taipei puts on a spectacular fireworks display every year for the New Year celebration rivalling much larger cities like London and Sydney. 

The fireworks are usually always put on in the Hsinyi district (信義區) of the city and Taipei 101, one of the tallest buildings in the world and the pride of the city has the pleasure of taking the main stage for the event. 

More than a million people usually show up to watch the show which can make getting there a bit difficult and getting home even more frustrating - but the show is well worth it for anyone who hasn't seen it in person. 

I didn't think I'd be able to get a good spot for the show, so I only brought my camera and left my tripod at home. That will be my last regret of 2014 as I got an excellent spot to see the show and the shots would have been so much nicer with a tripod, remote and filters. 

Oh well. 

Happy New Year everyone! 新年快樂～

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Best of 2014

The year 2014 turned out to be an extremely busy year for me. Apart from an increasing load of commercial work, I completed a lot of personal projects - most notably actually getting around to opening this site. 

Truthfully, this site was a long time in the making, but I sat on my butt for a long time saying that I'd get the site online eventually and ultimately found that I procrastinated for far too long.

Suffice to say, a long-weekend and an 18 year old bottle of Glenfiddich gave me a push in the right direction and the design of the site and most of its content was more or less designed and ready in two days.

There is still a lot to do to improve and I will keep doing my best to stay on top of things and redesigning things so that the user experience is much more enjoyable. 

Other than the website, I set a goal of finishing a certain amount of hikes before the year was up and I’m happy to say that I completed all of them and more. One of my favourite hobbies apart from photography is mountain-climbing. I love getting outdoors and Taiwan has a multitude of great hikes that are easily accessible from where I live. 

I’ve done so many hikes this year though that there is a major backlog of photos to process and it may seem like the majority of my blog posts since this site has gone online have been from hikes.

Rest assured that I plan on moving on from that soon enough - although there are a few more blogs coming up which should be mixed in with some cultural events. 

Speaking of which, there are a lot of cultural events coming up here in Taiwan just as the new year gets underway which includes the Asian Lunar New Year, Lantern Festival, the Sky Lantern Festival and many other religious events in Taiwan that I plan on covering for both commercial work and for this site which should add a lot more content  

Admittedly, I’m extremely terrible at selling myself. I’m especially terrible at talking about personal accomplishments or things that would just add to my ego. I’m not the kind of photographer who shares tear sheets or talks about clients that I've worked for. I can understand how its good for perspective clients to see your resume, references and a list of your accomplishments but I've tried to stay away from that often times to my own detriment.

One of my resolutions for the New Year is that I improve the way I market myself - and I think that this site was a good step in improving that although there is a lot more to do. 

For my “Best Of 2014” post I thought for a while about how I would go about making this post and how the post would reflect my busy year in photography.

If I went about choosing all the shots that I thought were the best, you might think I was crazy because what I see in a photo is a lot different than other people - So I thought the best way to go about it was to do it scientifically. The heart is good at lying to you when you are proud of something. Numbers on the other hand don't lie. 

I took a few hours and went through my all my photo posts throughout all my social-networks and chose the 10 most popular shots based on a formula including variables such as views, likes, shares and comments.

Most of the shots wouldn’t have been on my personal list of favourites, but you are all more important than I am and your opinions do matter. 

1. Occupy Central Solidarity Protest in Taipei 

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I shot this one while on assignment covering a solidarity protest at Liberty Square (自由廣場) in Taipei.  The #OccupyCentral protests happened at a time when the Sunflower Protests had finished and sparked a movement in Taiwan to show people in Hong Kong that they weren't alone in their struggle for democracy. The shot resonated well with people in Hong Kong who shared it and commented with their thanks to the people of Taiwan for their support and well wishes. 

2. Honour Guard Duty at Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall

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I took this shot during the changing of the guard on Taiwan's National Holiday on October 10th. It was a sweltering day and these honour guards had to stand at attention in front of the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial for an hour. A close up view of the shot showed the amount of sweat on his skin. The shot was really popular on Google+ and 500px where people shared it as a symbol of national pride.  

3. Chinese Garden in the Mountains

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While on assignment at a traditional Chinese garden nestled in the mountains of Hsinchu county. I took this shot of the sun going down over the mountains surrounding the garden. This one was particularly popular on Facebook, 500px and Google+ and generated a lot of interest about the garden which is relatively unknown. 

4. Sunset at the National Palace Theatre

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This one is actually one of my favourite shots of the year. There are some technical details of the shot that I didn't like and tried to fix in photoshop, but I ended up posting it the way it was. This shot was taken during the preparations for Taiwan's National Holiday and found me in the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall area. The National Theatre and Concert Hall are beautiful buildings and are extremely photogenic. The park surrounding them as well as the Chiang Kai-Shek is a great place for photography and tourists to visit. 

5. Pingxi Mountain Range

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Landscape photography seems to always get a lot of activity on social media. This one was pretty popular even though I thought it wasn't particularly very special. This was taken from atop the Pingxi Crag Jiaozi Mountain (孝子山) looking at the village below with the mountain range behind it. It was a beautiful day and the light seemed to be just right at the time I arrived which caused this shot to become popular on Facebook, Google+ and 500px. 

6. The Pain of Defeat

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I tend not to like this style of photoshopping where you take out the colours of certain areas leaving only a specific area in colour. I made an exception with this shot though for technical reasons and for the setting of the mood. This was taken while on assignment during this year's Dragon Boat Festivities in Longtan. I liked this shot a lot because of the framing and the athletes look of absolute dejection after just losing the championship race. 

7. A City All to Yourself

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Elephant Mountain is a pretty popular hike in Taipei, especially with photographers. Shots from the mountain have ultimately become a bit cliche by this point, but when you share a shot like this on social media you get a lot of attention. When I arrived on top of the mountain, it was almost time for sunset and all the places to set up my tripod were taken up. So, being who I am, I climbed up on top of a rock and got a shot above everyone else. I liked the result of the shot and it was popular on social media - I'm still not that fond of the shot though as there are a million shots from the mountain. 

8. Sunset at the Harbour Below

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The sky opened up for me on this shot and it was actually kind of scary because I was on top of a mountain and about to get soaked. The rays of light you see peeking through the clouds were actually from rain and the clouds were quickly moving my way. This was taken near sunset though so the sky had some nice colour and the reflection of the sun on the harbour looked nice. 

9. Warp Speed

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I randomly took this shot on the Taipei MRT near Songshan Airport and it turned out to be one of my favourite shots of the year and was pretty popular on social media. To me, it looks a bit like something you'd see in one of the new J.J Abrams Star Trek movies where everything is shiny and overexposed with a beautiful colour palette. 

10. Wish Factory

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This shot was taken in Pingxi, an area of New Taipei City where sky lanterns tend to be the biggest attraction for tourists. The shot features a Taiwanese woman writing her wishes in calligraphy on a lantern that will eventually fly away in the sky. I really liked this shot and it turned out to be one of my favourite street shots of the year. The colours and the lighting worked out really well and I probably only spent about two minutes processing this photo in photoshop. Street Photography doesn't usually get a lot of attention on Facebook but this one did quite well there and even better on Google+ and 500px. 

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With that, 2014 is close to finishing here in Taiwan and it was a pretty good year for me. All of these shots were chosen by the people who follow me and I appreciate all of your continued support. I hope that 2014 was a great year for each and every one of you and I hope that the new year is just as great. 

Happy New Year 新年快樂～

Jilong Mountain (雞籠山)

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View of the north coast of Taiwan from the top of Jilong Mountain (雞籠山)

I've always been a much bigger fan of the outdoors than I am of small crowded places. I was involved with the Boy Scouts of Canada when I was young and spent a lot of time learning a lot about life, camping and appreciating the natural environment. Now that I'm all grown up, you're still more likely to run into me while hiking on a mountain than in a nightclub or a mall.

When it comes to the major differences between Canada and Taiwan, population density is always the one aspect that stands out to me above all else. It's something that caused a bit of culture shock when I first arrived in Asia. 

Taiwan is a lot like Canada when it comes to having a beautiful natural environment - but in Canada you tend to enjoy a lot of the environment in small groups as you'd have to drive pretty far to find someone who you didn't recognize and its the opposite in Taiwan. 

When you're standing on the peak of a mountain with a panoramic view of the earth around you, you tend to realize how insignificant you are in the scheme of things and can be a great feeling. I feel the exact opposite insignificance though when I'm in a place where I'm completely surrounded by thousands of people going about their business. 

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A hiker on his way to the peak of Jilong Mountain (雞籠山) with Jiufen in the background

One of the most popular tourist destinations for visitors coming to Taiwan is Jiufen (九份), a quiet village nestled in the mountains on the north east coast of the country.

This village is a prime example of a place where you'd see me at my highest level of discomfort.

The village is especially popular with tourists hailing from Japan as it was apparently the inspiration for the popular Japanese anime "Spirited Away" (千と千尋の神隠し) and more recently with Korean tourists as the village was featured on a popular television show there. 

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The well maintained hiking path to the peak of Jilong Mountain (雞籠山)

On any given day, if you are to arrive at Jiufen, you will encounter throngs of tourists exploring the old gold mining village and its popular "old street" which is popular for it's traditional setting, the mountains surrounding it and the many delicacies that can only be sampled there.

I've been to Jiufen several times with friends who have come to visit. It really is a nice place to visit and I highly recommend anyone coming to Taiwan to visit at least once, however due to the amount of people visiting, it is not one of my choice destinations. 

Each and every time I've visited Jiufen, I've noticed and stared off into the distance at the towering Jilong mountain (雞籠山) which literally translates as "Chicken Cage Mountain" that is just a little bit up the road from the village. You can see the mountain for the entire bus ride up the highway to Jiufen and it almost seemed as if each time I was going that it was calling for me. 

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Jiufen from the hiking path on Jilong Mountain (雞籠山)

I've said to myself each time I've been to Jiufen that I have to climb it. 

The problem though is that it constantly rains in the area.

Hiking in the rain is something you always have to be prepared for in Taiwan, especially in the north. So it wouldn't be that bad to do the hike in the rain - but I always want to get as many pictures as possible and don't want my camera to get drenched. 

So, for a successful hiking trip, you essentially have to ask some locals which is the best temple to visit so you can pray to one of the gods to give you good weather for your hike. 

I doubt it would work, but anything is worth a try right? 

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A hiker walking up the trail

I put this mountain high up on my bucket list of activities to do over the summer months, so I paid close attention to the weather forecasts for a few weeks and finally found a free day where it seemed like the weather was going to be great, so I made a plan to climb the mountain.

When I left home the forecast looked quite promising and there were bright sunny skies on the train ride to Rueifang (瑞芳) and then on the bus on my way to the mountain.

It wasn't surprising however that just as I got off the bus in Jiufen, the skies turned dark grey and the sun quickly disappeared only to be replaced by a downpour.

It seemed however that it was just a normal afternoon shower that wouldn't last too long, so I decided to walk into the old street and grab a quick snack and wait out the rain.

Fortunately it didn't last long and the sun came out even brighter than before.

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The mountain road that takes you from Jiufen to the North East coast. 

The trailhead for the mountain is a short walk up hill from the old street and can be easy to miss if you don't know what you're looking for. 

Jilong mountain (雞籠山) isn't considered a high mountain at a modest 588 meters above sea level, but it is a great hike for people that prefer day-hikes to tackling some of Taiwan's 100 mountains that are over 3000 meters above sea level. 

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The hiking path on Jilong Mountain (雞籠山)

The mountain trail is well maintained and is more of a brisk walk uphill than an actual hike. On a hot day, there isn't much to separate you from the sun, so you need to be sure to take a lot of water with you. It's not very difficult though and takes about an hour depending on your pace and includes time for taking several breaks to get to the top.  

While walking up the path there are several rest stops with pavilions where you can take a break and enjoy the scenery. On my hike I saw various species of butterflies, very cool neon blue looking iguanas and a couple of wild chickens who took off running really quickly when they saw me. 

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Back down to Jiufen for a cup of tea and then back home. 

Some of the best views you'll have while hiking this mountain are when you stop for a break and look behind you. The view of Jiufen and the mountains surrounding the village are spectacular.  

At the peak, there is a weather station and a clearing with benches and some shelter incase of rain. Here you will have excellent views of not old Jiufen, but the North East coast and if it is a clear day, all the way to Keelung city. 

If you are planning a trip to Jiufen anytime soon, I highly recommend upon arrival that you take an hour or two to climb this mountain, enjoy the scenery and when you're done head back down to Jiufen for a relaxing sunset in one of the many teahouses overlooking the harbour below. 

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Map / Location

 

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Gallery / Flickr (High Res Shots)