Recently, I have been so busy making a new commercial website that I have been unable to post a lot on my personal blog. Nor have I had the time to go out and photograph events and hikes and take new wildlife shots. Hopefully I will be back on track soon and posting interesting articles on my recent adventures, hikes and what I call my "personal photography".

Re-Inauguration of President Ma Ying Jeou

The official re-inauguration of Taiwan's President Ma Ying Jeou for his second term was held on May 20th, much to the controversy of opposition parties. The DPP and other opposition parties joined together to hold massive anti-government protests throughout Taipei, expressing their hate and dissatisfaction with the government. The protests lasted two days at different locations in Taipei, including marches from 3 locations on Sunday to a central meeting point. Outside Taipei Main Train Station protesters blocked off the street and protested non stop for two days, going on through the night on Saturday. The national flag was taken down and the TAIUNA - The Taiwan United Nations Alliance flag was raised flapping in the wind. As well as protesting against Ma Ying Jeou, the opposition parties were campaigning for the release of the former president Chen Shui Bian who is currently serving a 19 year sentence for bribery and embezzlement of government funds.

To read more click below

The Lantern Festival in Taiwan, the full story

The famous Lantern Festival in Taiwan

        The Lantern Festival, also known as the Yuanxiao Festival is a festival celebrated on the fifteenth day of the first month in the lunisolar calendar, the last day of the Chinese New Year celebration. It is commonly regarded as one of the most important and romantic festivals in Taiwan. The festival is celebrated with lantern making and displays of lanterns along with big firework displays. The main event, hosted in a different town or city every year, was hosted in Lukang, a small town in Changhua county, Taiwan. Many other events were held all over Taiwan such as the Sky Lantern Festival in PingXi, It was estimated that over 5 million people from all over the country attended the festival in lukang which lasted a week. On the opening day, performers from Japan held a parade through the streets of Lukang along with a number of other festivities. The President Ma Ying Jeou camt to welcome the opening of the festival, light the huge dragon lantern and start the opening fireworks display.

The main Dragon Lantern

To read the full article, click on "read more below"

Make the most of your studio

Your studio is a really valuable space whether you photograph products, portraits, fashion, animals or any other subjects. If like me you only have a small studio, about 5m by 5m, you really need to maximise its potential and exploit every corner and bit of space. Because of this I decided to paint the walls different colours and I built sets which can be moved around and put together in different combinations. My friend Evan who is an artist painted one of the walls for me with lots of blended colours. This has a nice effect as depending on which colour I light it up with, it looks different. Hope you enjoy the sample pictures......

I will be posting portrait photos taken in my studio at a later date.



To see more click on "read more" below

A quick preview of the Lantern Festival in Taiwan: the year of the dragon

Recently I have been so busy I haven't had time to post much on my blog or website. Though I have attended a few events including the lantern festival which is held every year, in a different city in Taiwan.

This year is the year of the dragon in the Chinese zodiac. A quick preview of some of the sights, I will put a full post later this week.

It was so crowded, I ended up climbing up the side of a building to the roofless top to get some reasonable photos! I was asked to come down at one point by the police who were desperately trying to clear the street so the parade could get through. I played the dumb foreigner card and asked them to smile for the camera.

Perched on this wall 3 stories up, I finally manged to get some good shots.

To see more click below

City views

Taichung City at night.

Sunset over Angkor Wat

Images from Cambodia.......

Unfortunately my trip to Cambodia was a bit unprepared. I travelled with minimum gear (camera only), a small backpack with two sets of clothes that I hand washed every day and a sunhat. At the sunset, trying to keep as steady as I could, I sat there with my cheap travel lense on the camera and captured this image. Guess I'll just have to go back!



City views

Rainbow over Taichung, Taiwan after the storm.

Chinese New Year 2012

Chinese New Year 2012 - Year of the Dragon

Gong Xi Fa Ca! The traditional Chinese New Year greeting which means "wishing you prosperity" in Mandarin.

The New Year is the longest and most important of the Chinese holidays, celebrated by millions of ethnic Chinese people all over the world. For many it is the biggest family reunion for which people endure hours of cramped travel on public transportation to get home. The festival, which last 15 days, begins on the first day of the month with the Chinese calendar known as "Zhen yue" and culminates on the date of the full moon with the lantern festival. Each of the 15 days has a particular role, often the first day is set aside for people to honour the elders within their family. Ceremonies are held to pay homage to deities and ancestors in which people pray for good harvest and good fortune. It is also known as Spring Festival as it is the start of spring in the Chinese calendar and marks the end of the winter season .

At Songbolin Temple, one of the most popular around Changhua County, situated at the bottom of the Ba Gua Shan mountain range, thousands of people gather on New Year's Day to receive blessings, worship and pray for their ancestors and prosperity. Below is a full article on the festival along with a series of photographs.

To read the full article click "read more" below

City views

Early morning sunrise in Taichung City. Cloudy skies but no haize gave an amazing light and view of the mountains around the city.

Indian Cabbage White Butterfly

Indian Cabbage Butterflies (Pieris Canidia) reproducing, spot the intruder! I was taking a break from photographing products in my studio, went outside and sat in the wild flowers to photograph these butterflies.

For bigger view click on the picture

To see more click "read more" below

Dogbane Leaf Beetle

Clouds of Hehuan Shan

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2012 elections Taiwan

So I was in Taipei last weekend photographing a wedding. As it so happened the elections were on at the same time, so I decided to go up a day earlier to catch some of the action. After a bit of persuasion with the relevant authorities, I got my press pass and was able to get in with the TV crews and reporters.  I was in a prime position for getting good shots of the politicians and the president as they came off the stage. I did eventually mange to get a pass for the press conference too but it had already started and they and had closed the doors. The KMT won the election with 51.6% of votes.

Is there a lack of security in this country? hmm.................

Click on the photo for bigger view and more photos

Morning mist on the lake reflections

Early morning mist on Sun Moon Lake reflections

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Gulmohar tree

A Gulmohar tree at Donghai University, Taichung, Taiwan.

A Golden Orb Spider's head

A Golden Orb Spider's head


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Sunset on Cochang Island, Thailand

Sunset on Cochang Island Thailand

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Small Pink Flowers

Tiny pink native flowers of Taiwan. These flowers heads are about 5mm to 8mm in size. I'm not sure what kind they are. If you know, please leave a comment, many thanks.


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For a close up, click "read more"

Golden Silk Spider

Golden Silk Spiders are very common here in Taiwan. Though not as common as the Golden Orb spider, they look very similar appart from the colour and can be as big (up to the size of my hand). They live in a similar habitat, spinning huge webs between trees to catch their prey.

Click picture for bigger view

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Home made photography table 2

Another great way to make your own photography table on the cheap. For this I used standard household things and a few bits and pieces bought in a hardware store. The beauty about this set up is that it can be folded and tucked away in the corner when not in use and can easily be taken anywhere. It cost next to nothing.
This is what I photographed (click on the picture for bigger view):

To see how I made the table, click "read more" below

Green Skimmer dragonfly

Some of these dragon flies have amazing colours, this stay perched on the branch just long enough for me to take a shot.

trees

Close of the bark of a tree, I was try to capture the ants running up and down but they were far too fast.


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Matzu Temple in Lukang at night.

The main courtyard of Matzu Temple at night.

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Trees

Unusual trees....


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Butterflies

One of the many species of butterflies in Tawian. This one is an Indian fritillary butterfly.

Indian fritillary butterfly

An Indian fritillary butterfly - Argyreus hyperbius photographed up in the mountains in Taiwan. It is one of the many species of butterflies found here in Taiwan.

Sunset over the clouds

Another photo from my collection of sunsets over a sea of clouds, taken in the high mountains of Taiwan.

for more photos click here

A beautiful butterfly

Click on the link below to view photographs of a collection of beautiful butterfly



CLICK HERE TO SEE BUTTERFLIES

Sunset in the clouds

 The cloud formation in the sunset was an amazing sight. The elevation where the photograph was taken is around 3000m, where the skies are a sight to see.

To see more click below

A cicada

A cicada perched on a tree making it's amazing sound. It stopped for a while and let me slowly approach to take this shot.

To view the shell click below

National Museum of Marine Biology & Aquarium

The National Museum of Marine Biology & Aquarium is situated in Pingtung County Taiwan. It is about a 40 minute drive north of Kenting, on the coast line just to the South-West of Checheng and well worth a visit. Although I do not like to see animals in captivity and in fish tanks, it serves a good purpose in educating the public of the natural beauty of the oceans and why we should preserve them.

Click below to see more

Easter Lily

A black and white photo of an Easter Lily

A snail sheltering under a mushroom

Fresh fruits of Taiwan.

One of my favourite things about living here in Taiwan is the fresh fruit! Though it is seasonal, all year round there is some sort of fruit which can be bought fresh on the morning markets. I live on a mountain called Hundred Fruit Mountain, where Lychees, Bananas, Pineapples and Mangoes grow around the back of my house.

To see more click below

Happy New Year

Hello everyone,

Happy New year to you all, hope 2012 brings happiness and good fortune.

Thanks to everyone for visiting my blog and looking at my photos.

Pascal

大家好

 新年快樂，希望你們在2012年都幸福。
謝謝你們喜歡我的網頁(blog)和看我的照片。

巴斯卡

Tiger Lily

Tiger Lilies are often seen growing  in random places in Taiwan, I came across this one on a hike. I'm not sure if it was planted or wild as it was in the middle of nowhere.