Sunset last night.

As usual click for larger view.

A shot from yesterdays short ride to a countryside temple.

If your into Photoshop you gotta check out Deke's Video......total bad singing and awesomeness. 101 tips in 5 minutes.

Taoyuan Train pulling into the station.

Small dragon fiercely trying to scare off evil spirits.

Got this one today. From the roof of a small country temple.

A view from the Top Of Lion Head Temple

From a tomb

click to see the big view. I called it Offerings.

HAircut on the mountain...open air....makes clean up easy.

This one was also in the book as a 2 page spread. This is all I will post on here. Just giving a taste as to what Ive been working on.

tata

I have been working on a project for a friend to give to her significant one... here are a couple results I can release.

A nice 6 foot ship I caught on the weekend just idling around a pond.

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A Canon (one of two) protecting a temple from attack. This is on the small island of 金門 Kinmen (Jinmen), Taiwan, just off the coast of China. These canons have an open view of and are less than 2 km from the mainland. Now possibly misunderstood as being 'aimed at China', rather they were for the coastal defense of China.

Cement trucks a row.

From a Sunday morning walk.

From a Sunday morning walk.

Mountain Temple interior in Taoyuan Taiwan

Tiger Head Temple interior, near my house...for your pleasure.

From the hillside I caught this couple playfully kidding around.

A new pic of my Nico...

Another Thailand Picture. While I was there I made a deal with a local for a personal tour. So I got a personal driver and boat to take me any beach, island, or snorkeling place I wanted to go. I spent the better part of the day touring around.

Just a simple back street near downtown Taoyuan.

Walking along the beach on Koh Phi Phi, Thailand I jockeyed for position between the boats which were flowing back and forth with the tide. Trying not to get 'run over' and yet get a shot of the boats and their decoration.

A shot of us a couple years ago in the Philippines.

Ah....Those were the days.

The trio on the way out.

I came across a couple of older people that were spending the day nin the park. I thought Id try my hand at street portraits.

Enjoy

I got this picture of a monk doing a little exercise in a park. Here in Taiwan yesterday was Labour Day, so many people had the day off. Another guy meditating in the same park. He was there when i got there and was in the same position 45 minutes later. I suppose he may have fallen asleep.

A shot of a friend in Taiwan with some direct lighting.

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A shot of the Canadian Prairies near Saskatoon, in a random field, in the middle of nowhere . A very different place than where I am now.

This shot came about as I was watching the clouds here in Taiwan. I was in a park looking around and I noticed the clouds breaking apart. I saw the shape forming and scrambled to find 'a couple' .....found one.

The pic is altered a bit BUT mostly just the bottom half being black n white. and admittedly a tiny part of the cloud was moved on the upper left side...everything else including the red was there.

I got this couple in my sights near the fishing port near Juiwei. I could see the couple in the distance. She was dancing around him he was looking quite solemn indeed.

Looks like he lost a bet.This little monster was doing everything he could to get away from Mom n Dad. He was just learning to walk, and the parents were quite happy earlier when he walked on the beach and took 8 or 9 steps.
He just has this great look n his eye which I'm sure will stay with him for life. This sneaky sly look like he just found or did something he wasn't supposed to do.

It was funny to watch his face change between being with mom n dad and escaping.

Ah yes... the sleepy fisherman. Working hard to catch the monster off the pier. Eyes closed, making small snoring sounds so as to just trick the big fish into thinking he was sleeping.

It is all going to break loose any minute now.....any minute....any min.....any ....a...zzzzzzzzz.

I doubt that anyone knows this about me but my favorite writer/poet is Robert Frost.

#1 Poem
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth.

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same.

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference. Robert Frost (1874 - 1963)

Upon the great beast
the old warrior sat

waiting...waiting for the
perfect moment to make
the move that would change
the world for all eternity.

Another day in the smog, grog, and pollution. The pull to come home is never far, in fact it is a weekly feeling. The year is counting down.

5 years ago when we came to taiwan the feeling was one of fear, wonder, intrigue, and a general feeling of a new life. That was both a blessing and a hardship. It was never a curse.

Did I know what we were getting into...no ...there is no way to know unless you do it. As usual i did my homework on the industry, countries, etc, but you can never really prepare for a life abroad.

I think traveling is more important than most people realize. Of course its almost prohibitively expensive for most people, especially long term travel.

For most of you who have not had the opportunity to travel long term, or truly experience another culture that is vastly different than your own, I think you don't know what you have until you don't have it anymore.

There is good and bad in every society, and yes the grass is always greener on the other side. Its just human nature.

I suppose that's what Ive learned as well, you want what you cant have, and you need to work to appreciate the people, things, and life you have.

These may simply be ramblings, from a guy at Starbucks, but then again...they may be word of wisdom passed on to you from someone far away in a distant land. Anyway my coffee is getting cold.

Here is a couple of pics I've been working one lately. My model is a friend, who has been very gracious and been willing to try many different ideas. Thus Ive been learning both Photoshop and portraits.
A little up close n personal.

This last one was made with commercial photography in mind.


Tell me what you think.

One shot from Kinmen just for fun.

Canon 400D
18-55mm F3.5-5.6
1/200s @ F11
ISO 200
PP in CS3 Raw
Grunge look by reduced saturation, over sharpen adding a few layers with various blend modes, and of course my signature.

I found the tortoise brothers the other day.

Here they are.

A couple more to oogle at.

Altered State

I used up some creativity this weekend, and added some 'art' to my portfolio.
All made with an incense stick.


Enjoy!