John

26 posts

Procession

John — — Street Photography
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Firecrackers exploding in the street got my attention. A colorful procession was forming. I was, of course, curious, and had no plans for the night beyond wandering Taipei.

This is the first of ten posts from my November 2023 trip to Taiwan.

At the front were these special cars, playing a song on repeat. I have questions about the cars. Are they specifically for playing in processions? Can you rent them for your own?

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After the singing cars came the cylindrical standard, then the palanquin, and finally a gaggle of spectators. I joined in with them at the back, and off we went through the evening bustle of Taipei. We hurried across intersections and squeezed along sidewalks, the hypnotic music accompanied by traffic whistles, firecrackers, and scooter engines.

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We arrived outside a temple and a queue formed to get blessings from a priest. When the queue depleted and the crowd thinned, other spectators started trying to talk to me, but my Mandarin was limited to "hello" and "thank you". Word for a translator went out, and after a few minutes a kind woman who studied in the US invited me to join in and be blessed.

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Most people received one blessing on the front, across their chest. However, the sturdy man in front of me got blessed on both the front and back; my translator explained he was a soldier and needed extra blessing. To my surprise, I was motioned to turn around for a double blessing too. And I'll always wonder: did the priest read that off of me?

Taipei Tunnels

John — — Street Photography

I imagine the buildings enveloping the sidewalks is nice during the summer sun.

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Hualien

John — — Nature Photography

Fitting for an area with marble quarries, Hualien's beach had top notch rocks.

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Underbelly

John — — Street Photography
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Taroko Gorge

John — — Nature Photography

It had gotten into my head that a bike was the best way to see Taroko Gorge—a car too cumbersome, a scooter too dangerous, and too far to hike. I couldn't find anyone to take me to the top, so I prepared to do it the hard way. I started before dawn in Hualien, took the train to the gorge mouth at Xincheng, and started out. The early morning was cool with a heavy overcast, perfect for bicyling uphill.

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The human presence–in typical Taiwanese fashion–sometimes blended with the scenery, and sometimes didn't. I made good progress as the other visitors cheered me on from their cars.

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The clouds and jungle made big views rare, but there was one pedestrian bridge across with a good vantage point.

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So I focused on the details; marbled rock and torquoise water.

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PS: Biking back down wasn't particularly fun. It was getting dark, I didn't have complete confidence in the rental bike's brakes, and it required total concentration and disregard for the beauty around.

City Life

John — — Street Photography

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No-context Sightseeing

John — — Travel Photography

A series of (very touristy) landmarks at the Lotus Pond on the outskirts of Kaohsiung. I had little context here, so, to match my experience, I won't provide any.

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My guidebook explained that entering through the dragon pagoda and exiting through the tiger pagoda would be good luck. I felt like I was on a carnival ride, which made me laugh.

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Partly Cloudy

John — — Nature Photography

Sometimes enveloping the high ground, sometimes receeding into the valleys: clouds ebb and flow over the Hehuan Mountain highlands.

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Aurora

John — — Nature Photography

Solar forecasts indicated the aurora might be visible as far south as California. I was skeptical. Despite growing up in Alaska, I'd only seen the aurora once, and that was an half-hearted showing: just a patch of dim red sky pulsing slowly.

But it was worth a try, so I arrived on Limantour Beach at sunset and set out to the west. For two hours I walked, the ocean quiet, the crescent moon setting. Maybe the sky to the north was brighter than normal? I wasn't sure. More walking, past the pine silhouettes, almost at the exit. And there it was! Dancing slowly upwards, into the stars. The aurora was too faint for color vision, so this is a faithful depiction of my view.

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My camera had no limitations on seeing color. These are too good to keep unpublished, even if they are outside my normal editing standard (memory of perception).

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Swimming Snake

John — — Wildlife Photography

Snakes can swim! With the same slither as on soil.

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Back Online

John —

Welcome to version 3 of my website! Websites have finally, finally gotten the layout tools I've desired for years.† I wrote a custom theme for a new Ghost backend to use them here. I'm also able to present my photographs in high quality, with scaling resolution (up to 8k!) and P3 color gamut. Click any photo to see it alone in a lightbox.

I ported most of the blog posts from version 2. The exhibitions and slideshow-style posts will require even more custom code, so they are postponed for now.

†A technical overview of web layout history, and why CSS grid is so welcome for two dimensional layout: Floats, Flexbox, Grid? The progression of CSS layouts

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On the Watchtower

John — — Street Photography

What better place for me to watch the many admirers from?

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Lundy Aspen

John — — Nature Photography
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Chisos Mountains, Winter

John — — Nature Photography

“‘O where are you going?’ said reader to rider,
‘That valley is fatal when furnaces burn.
Yonder’s the midden whose odors will madden,
That gap is the grave where the tall return.’

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‘O do you imagine,’ said fearer to farer,
‘That dusk will delay on your path to the pass?
Your diligent looking discover the lacking,
Your footsteps feel from granite to grass?’

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‘O what was that bird?’ said horror to hearer,
‘Did you see that shape in the twisted trees?
Behind you swiftly the figure comes softly,
The spot on your skin is a shocking disease.’

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‘Out of this house,’ said rider to reader,
‘Yours never will,’ said farer to fearer,
‘They’re looking for you,’ said hearer to horror,
As he left them there, as he left them there.”
—W. H. Auden

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Rainbow Lorikeets

John — — Wildlife Photography

I’d always thought the colorful plumage was purely ornamental, but in these blackbean trees it doubles as camouflage.

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Kotor Noir

John — — Street Photography

The old city of Kotor, Montenegro, on a November night. After hours, and after tourist season. There was nobody else walking the streets, and no businesses open. Like exploring a movie set after the shooting has been completed–there were scripts, stories, characters here. What? Who? Why?

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November in Muir Woods

John — — Nature Photography

Winter’s brush only crimps the color palette in the redwood grove.

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Blue, White, Black: Surrealism on Mauna Loa

John — — Nature Photography

Camping overnight at the trailhead did not sufficiently acclimate me for this hike’s altitude, so my progress is slow and patient. Much of the trail follows the hardened pahoehoe lava flows gently upwards, its surface as smooth as a paved nature walk. The lava is everywhere, and everywhere is lava. Only snow and the gasping thin sky overhead break its flows.

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Four kilometers up and the remaining winter snow, which started as occasional patches, is forming large drifts. I haven’t seen a plant or animal all day.

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At the summit crater, the mountain expands away, level in all directions. The dried surface is only as old as I am. It resembles an abandoned parking lot in a forsaken city: roughly textured, glimmering black, carelessly crumpled and folded. Underfoot it crunches like crusted snow.

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No other hikers are staying at the summit cabin. I am alone in this wasteland palace in the clouds.

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