The clouds set in at HeHuan Mt

Hehuan mountain is in central Taiwan along the central cross highway. As well as being an amazingly beautiful drive, the cross central highway gives access to some great hikes, Hehuan Shan being one of them. I will post an article about hiking up the mountain later, meanwhile this is one of the beautiful views.

Another view from Hehuan Shan

Leaf hanging off a cobweb

The sun shinning on the leaf and cobweb brought out its beautiful colours and highlighted the strand of cobweb. This was taken on a trail in some woods on the small mountain where I live.

Fallen Maple leaves

Most of the vegetation in Taiwan doesn't change throughout the year. Flowers are seasonal but diffrent flowers bloom at different times and some of the trees bloom at various times such as the Cherry trees. Most trees are evergreens but there are a few which aren't. Here are some pictures of the beautiful deep red colour of the Maple Tree leaves taken in higher altitudes in the mountain Da Shue Mt.

To see more pictures click below

Flies inside a flower

Two flies taking shade inside a flower. A macro lense was used for this shot with close up rings, because of the lack of light I couldn't get the depth of field needed for deeper focus.

For focused flies click below

A Paper Wasp

Taiwan has great diversity of wasps, bees and hornets. These Paper Wasps are very common, they let you come right up close to them when the are on flowers. Not sure just how bad their stings are, luckily I haven't been stung by one yet.

Click below for more pictures

A Palid Monkey Moth feeding on a Sunflower

A Pallid Monkey moth feeding of a sunflower photographed when out hinking in the Mountains of central Taiwan, just after a rain shower.

Grasshopper (Hanenaga Inago sp.)

A Grasshopper (Hanenaga Inago sp.) photographed when out hinking in the Mountains of central Taiwan

To view more click below

Rainbow in a waterfall

Pagoda in the sunset

This Pagoda is half way up Bai Guo Mt (Hundred Fruit Mt) and is part of a big temple overlooking Yuanlin, in central Taiwan. The sunsets are often beautiful with red light clouds.

A bumble bee in a flower.

A Golden Orb Spider weaving its web.

This Golden Orb Spider was weaving its web between two trees at just about head hight. That and with the sun shinning on the web gave me the shot I wanted.

The beauty of the sun through plants.

This beautiful plant, Japanese Silver Grass, was highlighted by the sun shining through it's leaves, bringing out the colour and giving the background a nice dark tone. Click on the pic to see big version.

A Beautiful Rose

The lost ant

This little ant was lost in the flower, later his friend joined him. Shooting ants with a macro lens and close up rings inside the flower was a challenge! They wouldn't smile for the camera, kept running round and there was a lack of light. I almost had the lens in the flower to get close enough and as many of you will know, that close up the ant only has to move a little and it's out of focus.

Open plan housing

This puts a whole new meaning to an open plan house! People actually live in this house. I can across this place when out in a small hot-water spring town called Lushan in the moutains on the way to HerHuan Mt. It was damaged by one of the typhoons a couple of years ago and never repaired.

The snake

Well, I was out cycling one night at 11pm when I came across this snake. So I jumped off my bike, got the camera out and snapped away, holding the snake by the tail. Not great pics but was more concerned about not getting bitten than about the flash etc....
After I got home I went on the internet and researched the snake, this is what i found out:
It's one of the most poisonous snakes in Taiwan.
It's called a Krait.
24% of bites are fatal
Handling recomendations: DO NOT HANDLE

hmmm maybe I should find a different one to play with!

To see more pics click on "read more"

Jumping Spider

There are a number of spider species in Taiwan, some of which are as big as my hand, others as small as my little finger nail. This is a jumping spider I photographed just after it caught a fly.

I will be posting a series of spider shots shortly, including a close up photograph of a golden web spider.

A bee collecting pollen

Another photographe from my collection of insect photographs taken around Taiwan. I shot this photo with a macro lens, sitting in a flower bed, waiting patiently for the right bee to land on the right flower. Click on the photograph to see more insects.

Another busy bee!

 After a lot of patience and sitting in a flower bed, I finally got the shot I wanted. There were a few of these bees collecting pollen from the flowers.

Preying Mantis

This Preying Mantis was photographed out in the mountains when out hiking. Photographs this reward carrying 8kg of camera gear in a backpack while scrambling up a dirt path!

A busy bee

DIY studio

Photography is an expensive business to get into, especially if you start getting into studio work. Anything which was made specifically for photography costs a lot. Often ordinary househouseld things can be used which are as effective. Many things such as diffuser panels can be made at home from cheap materials or things bought at an art shop. After extensive searching on the internet, I found several articles on how to make things yourself and put them together in a document. The credit for the contents of this document must be given to other people as all I have done is download it from various places and put it into a single word document.

I often go to the local art shop where I buy 3ft by 6ft foamcore board to use as reflector panels or 2mm thich sheets which i use as diffuser panels. Some I have painted black and taped together so they are free standing and can be used to absord light. From a clothes hanger with wheels, I stuck velcro to the frame and turned it into a 4ft by 8ft diffuser panel on wheels. The velcro allows me to stick different kinds of cloth on it according to what use i need.

Here is a link to the document:

https://skydrive.live.com/redir.aspx?cid=c7fc649e48c8d851&resid=C7FC649E48C8D851!1660&parid=C7FC649E48C8D851!131&authkey=!AGmfOP5Fw6F8V1M

Home made product photography table

An easy and cheap way to make a great product photography table.

I found this a very convenient solution to photographing products at home or out on site. This table is made from normal shelving brackets and sections bought from a hardware store, round head bolts and wing nuts for easy assembly, and a 3mm thick sheet of translucent PA board (it is called PA in Taiwan, maybe PP in other countries). The shelving sections slot together and the PA board fixed down with the bolts and wing nuts, it takes about 10 minutes to assemble. It is pretty much the same as pre-made product photography tables, except the back doesn't swivel and it cost a fraction of the price, 2000 NTD (Taiwanese dollars, about 40 US). The table is 75cm high, 75cm wide and 90cm deep. The back stretches up to 150cm which I have found to be more than enough to photograph small to medium size products. The shelving sections can be bought at different sizes, therefore the table can pretty much be made to any size required. The table can be used as it is or paper of any colour can be put over the PA board. I also use a 2mm sheet of PA board which I clamp to the sides of the table to form a dome to photograph metal or glass products.

photography table



example product

Pazza-studio blog: The lantern Festival in PingXi Taiwan

Pazza-studio blog: The lantern Festival in PingXi Taiwan

The lantern Festival in PingXi Taiwan

The lantern festival is held very year in Taiwan in several places. The small village of PinXi, near Taipei is one of the annual places to hold the event. Hundreds of people go there to set off a traditiona​l flying lantern after writing their wish on the outside. 200 are set off every 20 minutes, if you get there early you can get a free lantern to light. The event was well organized with free buses going back and forth taking people from Taipei to Pingxi as the roads are blocked off. There is also an old coal mine open to visitors. Ping Xi is surrounded with trails to hike up and a beautiful waterfall. Well worth a visit any time. There is a train that goes there from Taipei main station.

The full set of pictures is on my website PAZZA-STUDIO

The wooden house

Woodworking and crafts are becoming more and more popular in Taiwan. There are many workshops opening up offering wood working courses and craft workshops around Taiwan. This series of photographs were shot for a couple, KK and Yaway in HsinZhu on their opening day. They built the house and the furniture themselves all from reclaimed wood. To view the full series, visit PAZZA-STUDIO

Taipei 101

台北市遇到颱風前的101夜景~
This is another great scenic spot for photographing Taipei 101.

View spot for photographing Taipei 101

This is a great spot for photographing Taipei 101. This building has not been trademarked. There are several good spots to photograph it in the mountains surrounding Taipei.

The Taichung International Food and Music Festival 2011

The Compass Taichung International Food and Music Festival is a yearly event held in the summer in Taichung City. This year was the 8^th year the event has been run and was yet again a great success. Promoting the aims and achievement of the Compass magazine and Taichung City the event was packed with non-stop live music and over 50 food/drink vendors. The Festival appeals to residents from all backgrounds, nationalities and ages, as well as attracting residents from other parts of Taiwan. Organized by the Compass magazine and sponsored by Taiwan Beer and Costco, it hosted 16 of Taiwan's top bands and musicians such as 2 acres Plowed, The Hand Knife Club, Zion Express and The Ever So Friendlies amongst many others. Many of the finest restaurants, pubs, hotels and retailers held a booth selling some of their specialties.  Included in these were The Londoner, Fubar, PJ's, Mr India, Oldies Frank's Hotdogs and numerous others. The event has a great turn out every year as it is one of the few enjoyable festivals in Taiwan and this year was no exception with big crowds attending on both days.

To view more photos visit Pazza-studio

A big crowd of spectators relaxed on the grass enjoying the festival

Aboriginal Folk Village acrobat show

The Aboriginal Folk Village on Bagua Shan Changhua has an acrobatic show every Saturday and Sunday. Though the performers are not always from Taiwan, the show is outstanding. This group was from China, performing at various venues on a tour. The Folk Village itself does not offer a great insight into traditional Taiwanese culture and is to say the least a bit run down. It re-opened after closing down for a couple of years and is more of a spot for a day for Taiwanese people. There are however, a few intersting old houses and building which portray the old lifestyle of Taiwanese people.

Mazu's Birthday and pilgrimage

Mazu's birthday is one of the biggest and most important folk festivals in Taiwan which occurs every year around March. Mazu, Goddess of the Sea, is one of Taiwan's popular folk deity. Mazu deities are returned to their mother temples to be blessed and increase their spiritual powers. Preceding Mazu's birthday is the eight day pilgrimage, one of the world’s biggest festivals where worshippers parade a caravan or shrine containing one of the revered Mazu deities around a circuit before returning it to its mother temple in Dajia. As the deity is paraded through numerous towns and cities, other temples such as the Sen An Gong temple join in forming a long parade.