Dave Hodgkinson Photography » taiwan

Retro

davehodg — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 16:37:12 +0000

This was the future once.

Taiwanese food

davehodg — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 16:33:08 +0000

I may rag on Taiwan for many reasons but food isn’t one of them. Just look at this little spread and click through to flickr for the annotations. So good.

Houtong – Cat Village

davehodg — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 14:04:49 +0000

At its peak, Houtong was a thriving and often fatal mining town, at its height under Japanese rule. Now, it’s silent and decrepit. BUT! It’s now a super duper tourist attraction because it has, wait for it, CATS! Yes, there’s a bunch of semi-feral cats and people now tour out to pet them. Oh the high life. On the upside, aside from on Canon 5D MkII and some weird Olympus people, it was solid Nikons. Are we cat people?

Enjoyed shooting in B/W with the D300 again today. The colour pic was with the Canon S90.

Taiwanese food

davehodg — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 15:09:28 +0000

Taiwan has its ups and downs: trade huge cockroaches, typhoons and earthquakes for epic scenery, hot springs and great food. Taiwanese food draws from all regions of China, Japanese food it inherited from the occupation and many others besides. Here’s a good selection we had at a restaurant at the Sogo department store. To me, the menu kinda chose itself. From left to right: Hakka-style squid, fried tofu in black bean sauce, three cup chicken, stir-fried greens and braised pork belly. It was good!

Easily pleased – Demotix Front Page

davehodg — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 14:51:31 +0000

It seems that when I’m in Taiwan I end up involved in newsworthy stuff giving me the opportunity to post to Demotix. The folks I know here are politically active, concerned that Taiwan maintain its independence and countering the propaganda from China regarding Taiwan’s status. This activism extends to maintaining strong links to others who are struggling against tyrannical Chinese rule such as Xinjiang and Tibet. I’ve filed stories regarging Tibet and the internal struggles in Taiwan. Last night I got to add another one: Xinjiang and the Uyghur struggle.

Let’s get this straight, and if you know me you know I have little truck for religion in any form: the Uyghur people may be Muslim but they are not and never have been involved in terrorism.

Anyhow, check out the story and follow the links there. If I get a copy of the DVD, I’ll inflict it on you when I’m back in London. It’s a very moving story and a worthwhile read.

Taipei Sky – Colour or B/W?

davehodg — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 09:37:27 +0000

So we had the torrential rain again. If you look at the satellite picture, Taiwan is surrounded by cloudless ocean and there’s a blob of cloud parked over the island. Ho hum. Still, it just cleared and we got a lovely bit of golden hour sun. I dashed up on the the roof and shot some sky. BUT! The camera was still in B/W mode and I got this:

I rather like it. I’ve another frame that’s exposed brighter but I prefer this. Click on the pic for a larger version.

Luckily, I was in RAW+JPG and got the colour version too.

I prefer the black and white.

What do you think?

Stunning golden waterfall, Jinguashi

davehodg — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 06:36:35 +0000

Taiwan isn’t short of natural wonders: from hot springs, to alien coastline to soaring mountains. This one is a little special. This is a little down the hill from the Jinguashi disused gold mine and shows what happens when copper leeches into the water. Rather purty, no?

I have more pictures of the mine, but for now, know that it was a notorious POW camp that housed over 1100 British soldiers during the war. And yes, the Japanese were as brutal to the British as they were tolerant to the locals.

Shi-Da purveyors of deep-fried goodness

davehodg — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 14:26:13 +0000

This is a paradoxical country: everyone eats hugely and widely, yet on the whole, people remain resolutely skinny. Which I think says much about the Western diet.

This stall in Sh-Da night market is our occasional stop-off for cauliflower, mushroom, tofu and chewy fishy thing, lighty battered, deep fried then powdered with salty pepper and dotted with fresh garlic. Accompanied by a bucket of iced tea. Nom.

Yeliou volcanic rock, Taiwan

davehodg — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 09:52:29 +0000

On a geographic note, Yeliou is volcanic rock carved by the waves into interesting shapes. There’s a famous “queens head” formation but we didn’t make it out that far as it was too hot!

Gov’t info here: www.gio.gov.tw/ct.asp?xItem=32397&ctNode=4056

On a photographic note, this is B/W from the D300 with the 50mm f/1.8 lens. Rather good for a tourist snap I think.

Taipei 101

davehodg — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 09:00:31 +0000

Yesterday we ticked off one of our last TODO items in Taipei: Taipei LOL. No, really, look at the sign. It’s an actual LOL-building.

Anyhow. It was briefly the tallest building in the world and is still impressive considering it’s in a pretty active earthquake zone. The view? Meh. What’s to look at? The swampy river in the distance and a load of Taipei “architecture” through the afternoon heat haze. Oh, and the mountains rising round the lip of the bowl containing the city. BFD.

Tick. Job done.

Dave Hodgkinson Photography » taiwan

Retro

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