Notes

Date CapturedAugust 31st, 2016 at 10:46 UTCCameraSM-G9208Apertureƒ / 1.9Shutter Speed1/17 secFocal Length4.3 mmISO1000Exposure Value5.9 EVOriginal Size1200 × 675

Last week I went out for a day of exploration with Josh Ellis who brought me to the excellent Lǎotóubǎi Hakka Restaurant (老頭擺客家餐廳 in Longtan, Taoyuan. This restaurant is operated out of an old farmhouse (or sanheyuan, a traditional Taiwanese courtyard home) so I wandered around to take a look at each room before our meal arrived. Stepping out into the courtyard an employee gestured toward a giant moth perched on the leg of a chair. I had seen Neil Wade post one just like it on Facebook a few days prior to this so I wasn’t exactly surprised—but wow is it ever big!

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Recently my work on this site was featured in an article by Nien Ping Yu (于念平) for the Chinese language web magazine BIOS Monthly. The article, loosely translated as Canadian Cultural Blogger: Even Unremarkable Places Have History (加拿大文化部落客: 再平凡的地方都有歷史), was based on a sprawling conversation we had in person rather than an email questionnaire. Mostly we spoke about themes and practices commonly seen on this blog: discovering history through the exploration of lost and neglected places, revealing intriguing connections through observations of synchronicity, and using photography as a documentarian medium rather than focusing solely on aesthetic appeal.

Date CapturedMay 1st, 2016 at 22:23 UTCCameraNIKON D3100LensAF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED IIApertureƒ / 3.5Shutter Speed1/30 secFocal Length20.0 mmISO400Exposure Value8.5 EVOriginal Size1200 × 800

Last year one of my photos from Nakagusuku Kogen Hotel (中城高原ホテル) was picked up by LIFE Books for the publication of The World’s Most Haunted Places. I have yet to complete my own write-up of this fantastical and awe-inspiring ruin in Okinawa but I will certainly get around to it sooner or later. Appearing in a LIFE publication of any kind is also pretty cool even if it isn’t the original magazine, which my mother used to collect and keep around the house while I was growing up. She proudly bought a couple copies when she heard the news and the special hit the supermarket stands back home in Canada.

Date CapturedApril 27th, 2016 at 08:05 UTCCameraSM-G9208Apertureƒ / 1.9Shutter Speed1/25 secFocal Length4.3 mmISO200Exposure Value6.5 EVOriginal Size1200 × 800

This striking installation is one of the more iconic and well-known works of public art in Taipei. Created by artists Hé Cǎiróu (何采柔) and Guō Wéntài (郭文泰) in 2009, it is entitled The World in Aves’ Eyes (愛維思看世界), Birdperson (鳥人), or Daydreams (夢遊) and can be found somewhere in the labyrinthine passageways beneath Taipei Railway Station (臺北火車站). Apart from the obvious, the immature, androgynous figure holds a pencil in its right hand (never to write a word), water continuously seeps from its neck, and its feet show the signs of a mild case of pigeon toe, a condition that should be familiar to anyone who has seen young Taiwanese posing for photographs.

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Photos from my exploration of the Qiaoyou Building (喬友大廈) in Changhua City were in the Taiwanese news recently. UDN published a story that sparked a fair amount of sharing and discussion on Facebook most prominently here and here.

People often ask me what camera I use, presumably because they like my photography and figure I must have a bunch of high-end equipment. Usually I laugh, somewhat awkwardly, as my gear isn’t anything special—in fact, it’s about as shabby as can be circa 2016.

Date CapturedSeptember 13th, 2015 at 09:09 UTCCameraNIKON D3100LensAF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED IIApertureƒ / 4Shutter Speed1/40 secFocal Length28.0 mmISO400Exposure Value9.3 EVOriginal Size1920 × 1280

Sunday afternoon in the mountains of Shilin, not far from Yangmingshan, about 200 people gathered for The Forester’s Party (牧神的遊戲) at Siu Siu (少少原始感覺研究室), a lab of primitive senses built on a steep south-facing slope. The aesthetics of the space: slate grey walls, wooden planks underfoot on the dance floor, a round black mesh canopy overhead screening the forest without impeding the flow of fresh mountain air. Clean, modern, minimal, but also rustic—an exceedingly comfortable combination of form and function. The finest in dub techno wafting out of the speakers, one particular song selected by Al Burro capturing the mood of the afternoon with perfect ease, Nthng’s 1996.

Date CapturedOctober 31st, 2014 at 16:35 UTCCameraNIKON D3100LensAF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED IIApertureƒ / 3.5Shutter Speed1/60 secFocal Length18.0 mmISO1400Exposure Value9.5 EVOriginal Size1920 × 1280

This was the last image I captured in Toronto prior to boarding a long haul flight to Taiwan little more than a week ago. Pictured here is Tilted Spheres, a massive steel sculpture by Richard Serra, installed 2002–2004, prior to the opening of Pier F at Toronto Pearson International Airport in 2007. The building was actually constructed around this imposing monument to the ritual disorientation of international air travel.

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GeoGuessr is a web game based on Google Maps. Each round deposits you into some random location leaving you to puzzle out where you are by clicking around and examining what you find in the area. When it’s time to make a guess you pick a point on a map and you’re scored for distance. It’s a lot of fun for geography geeks like myself.

One of their games is Taiwan, which is how I initially found out about it. After playing a round I glanced at the thumbnail and thought, hmm, that looks awfully familiar. Sure enough, it’s one of my photos from Tainan! Not bad, though I can’t help but notice they failed to credit me in any way, which means I have an email to write… after the next game. High score: 23,744!

Yesterday I went out riding near where I grew up, something I haven’t really done before. I moved away from home as soon as I could and never really turned my attention outward to the countryside. Whenever I did go riding as a teenager I went inward to the big city. Nothing about long rides on rural roads appealed to me then. After a year of exploring Taiwan, typically on two wheels, I was curious to find out what might happen if I took the same unscripted approach. In Taiwan it was my habit to set out on rides with only a vague idea of where I was going. I opened myself to the possibilities and discovered many things of great interest to me that I might not otherwise have seen.