Welcome to a new monthly feature here at Craig Ferguson Images. Each month you will find a list of events taking place that are of interest to those in the photography world and those in Taiwan. If you have an event you want listed that is not already here, contact me and I’ll add it if appropriate.

PMA 2008 -  From January 31st until February 2nd, PMA 2008 will take place in Las Vegas. As the worlds largest annual photographic trade show it hosts imaging companies, retailers, photography professionals, videographers, professional labs and so forth. Major announcements of new cameras usually start a few days before the show. DPReview has full coverage of the show and a list of rumors and predictions. Last year saw 4 new DSLRs introduced at PMA and predictions for this year suggest that at least that many and possibly more will be announced in the coming days.

Taiwan Photography Club – The first meeting of a newly formed photography group will take place this Saturday, January 26th in Taipei. More information about that can be found at forumosa.com.

Chinese New Year – Of course, the biggest event in this part of the world in February is Chinese New Year, ushering in the year of the rat. The holiday starts on February 6th and runs until February 11th.

God Pig Festival – The sixth day of the new lunar year sees the God Pig Festival take place at Tzushr Temple in Sanxia, Taipei County. Pigs are fattened up and then sacrificed to the Gods and displayed outside the temple.

Taipei International Book Exhibition – Starting on  February 13th and running until the 18th, the Taipei International Book Exhibition takes place at the Taipei World Trade Center.

Taiwan Lantern Festival – Officially on the 15th day of the new lunar year (February 21), the Lantern Festival in Taiwan takes place over a couple of weeks with different dates in different places.

One of the more popular locations is the small town of Pingxi in Taipei County which hosts the mass release of sky lanterns.The festival here runs from the 11th until the 21st.

If danger is more your style, check out the Yenshui Beehive Rocket Festival in Yenshui, Tainan county.  Here, fireworks are fired at, into and over the crowds and good protection gear including a full-face helmet is a must.

Solar City in Tainan’s southern science park plays host this year to the official Taiwan Lantern Festival, beginning on February 21.  Taipei’s Lantern Festival in various locations in Taipei city will begin on February 16th and run until the 24th. In Kaohsiung, the activities will be centered around the harbor beginning on February 16th and running for 16 days, and in Taichung the festival will be held at WenXin Forest Park as well as other smaller locations including Taichung Train Station, DaQin Bus Station, TaiYuan Bus Station, City Square, City Hall, and LeChun Temple. This years theme in Taichung sees east meet west with Mickey Mouse being the mascot in the year of the rat. And in Miaoli county a fireworks festival will take place on February 23rd, but I have no other information about it.

The Tainan Ancient Capital Marathon will take place in the streets of Tainan starting from 6am on February 24th. Meeting place is the Tainan City Hall.

Towards the end of the month, the Kaohsiung Flickr Group will be having their monthly meeting. Details are not yet available for date, time and place. I will update this as soon as more is known.

If you know of any other events taking place, or have more information about the ones listed, please get in touch.