Photo Essays
A staple of good documentary storytelling, a photoessay exists to communicate a story through a sequence of images based around a common theme. If you think of the entire photoessay like a news article, then the individual images have to be like the sentences or paragraphs in a written work. A photoessay can contain words [...]
Tibetan Refugee Self Help Center, Darjeeling
A somewhat sad anniversary of sorts passed by recently with the 50th year of the Tibetan Refugee Self Help Center being marked, ironically, on October 1st. In 1959, months after the 14th Dalai Lama fled Tibet for what has become a life in exile, the Refugee Self Help Center was started. At the time, thousands [...]
Tuol Sleng S21 – A Story Of Torture
With waterboarding and other torture methods once again in the news this past week, and the 34th anniversary of the fall of Phnom Penh to the Khmer Rouge having just passed, it’s timely to take a look at Tuol Sleng, or S-21. In the months following the 1975 Khmer Rouge takeover of Cambodia, they established [...]
San Zhr Pods – A Final Look
Now consigned to the pages of history, here’s a final compilation from the pod village in San-zhr, Taiwan. The music is Wolf by Mister M. The images and production are my own. If you like this post, please share it with your friends and social media networks.
Disputed Lands – The Case of Preah Vihear
Situated on top of a 525m cliff in the Dangrek mountains of northern Cambodia is Prasat Preah Vihear. Straddling the border between Cambodia’s Preah Vihear province and Sisaket province in Thailand, the 11th century Angkorian temple lies on disputed ground. Over the past millenium, the temple has been located at times in both Cambodia and [...]
Faces of Tibet
To mark the 50th anniversary of the Tibetan Uprising, 3000 Tibetans, friends and supporters took to the streets of downtown Taipei on Saturday afternoon to show their hope and fears for the future, and remind the world of the ongoing oppression of Tibetans by the Chinese communist government. Below you can see some of the [...]
Taiwan Stories – The Lifesaver
As a travel and documentary photographer, I regularly come into contact with a wide variety of people from all walks of life. The more I travel and learn, the more it reinforces the idea that people everywhere are essentially kind, generous and willing to give of themselves. Stopping to take the time to talk with [...]
Looking into Taiwan’s Past – Lintianshan
Tucked away off Highway 9 that runs through the East Rift Valley is the old logging village of Lintianshan. What was once a thriving village set up to serve the Japanese logging activities in the early part of the 20th century, Lintianshan has seen its population shrink from 2000 to a couple of hundred. The [...]
Taiwan Delicacies – Mambo Fish
Considered a delicacy in Taiwan, Japan and Korea, but banned in the EU, the ocean sunfish, or mola mola, is found in temperate and tropical waters all over the world. The mola mola is the heaviest bony fish in the world, weighing up to 1 ton (1000kg) due to a diet consisting of large amounts [...]
From the Archives – Old Jiayi Prison
Tucked away on Weixin Rd, Jiayi is the old Jiayi prison. Of the five Japanese style prisons that were built in Taiwan, Jiayi prison is the only one still standing today, although the last inmates were moved out in 1998. Construction began in 1919, and the prison was opened in 1922. Built of cypress (Chamaecyparis [...]
Taiwan’s President
Don’t forget to keep your guesses for the theme contest coming in. I won’t be announcing the winner or correct answer until the end of the month, so there’s still plenty of time to try your luck and plenty of photos to come. Pictured above are Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), president of Taiwan (ROC), vice president [...]
Kinmen’s Military Bunkers
The final flashpoint of the Chinese civil war between Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalists and Mao Zedong’s Communists, Kinmen is a small island under Taiwanese control but located 2km off the coast of Fujian province, China. From 1949, throughout the 1950s and into the 1960s, Chinese cannons pounded Kinmen with over one million rounds. The earliest fighting [...]
Kinmen’s Military Bunkers
The final flashpoint of the Chinese civil war between Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalists and Mao Zedong’s Communists, Kinmen is a small island under Taiwanese control but located 2km off the coast of Fujian province, China. From 1949, throughout the 1950s and into the 1960s, Chinese cannons pounded Kinmen with over one million rounds. The earliest fighting [...]
The Power of Wind
Wind turbines on the Changhua coast. I can actually see these from my balcony on a clear day.
Cosplay
For those who fancy themselves as superheroes or comic book characters, cosplay is the answer. Short for costume play, Cosplay was originally a Japanese subculture that began in the 1970s which featured people dressing as characters from anime, manga, tokasatsu and video games. As it’s grown and spread to other countries, it’s added some local [...]
Mazu Madness
Fireworks madness from the Mazu Festival. Don’t forget to take a look at previous posts detailing the origins of the Mazu Pilgrimage and images from the first 2 days of this years festival. Also, check out the complete gallery of Mazu images from which these few highlights are taken.
2008 Mazu Pilgrimage Festival
Saturday April 5th saw the start of the 2008 Mazu Pilgrimage. Among the many gods and goddesses worshipped in Taiwan, Mazu, the Goddess of the Sea is perhaps the most revered. Every year, in the 3rd month of the lunar calendar, the Dajia Mazu, which is housed at the Zhenlan temple, is taken out on [...]
Partying with the Blues
The 2008 election season in Taiwan came to an unsurprising conclusion on March 22nd with a resounding win to the KMT (ä¸åœ‹åœ‹æ°‘黨) candidates Ma Ying jeou (馬英ä¹) and running mate Vincent Siew (è•è¬é•·), ending eight years of DPP rule. Ma and Siew, whose winning margin was 17%, will take office on May 20th, 2008. There’s [...]
316 Super Sunday
Sunday March 16 saw the last weekend rallies for the 2008 Presidential Election take place. In cities all over Taiwan, hundreds of thousands came up to support their preferred party. The DPP’s main rally in Taipei started at Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall under the slogan “A Million Giving High-Fives to Reverse the Tide”. The [...]
Chen’s Last Act
In his self-described last appearance as head of state, Taiwan’s president Chen Shui-bian (陳水æ‰) yesterday took part in the 228 Peace Memorial Day (和平紀念日) ceremony in remembrance for the 228 Incident (二二八事件). After a speech to mark the occasion at 228 Peace Park, Chen and vice-president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) headed to the Democracy Memorial Hall [...]
Chen’s Last Act
In his self-described last appearance as head of state, Taiwan’s president Chen Shui-bian (陳水æ‰) yesterday took part in the 228 Peace Memorial Day (和平紀念日) ceremony in remembrance for the 228 Incident (二二八事件). After a speech to mark the occasion at 228 Peace Park, Chen and vice-president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) headed to the Democracy Memorial Hall [...]
Taking Tea with the Dalai Lama
After writing yesterdays post about Foguangshan, I decided to go through some of my old film archives and dig up some older images related to Buddhism. In 2002-2003 I found myself in India for the third time, and Bodhgaya for the second. Bodhgaya is a small town in the state of Bihar that is the [...]
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