Both as a personal exercise in creativity and as a theme for a competition, putting together a series of photographs that are based on the song titles on a favorite album is a lot of fun. There are a number of ways you can go about it, so let’s look at a few. They all start with choosing or being assigned an album to use as your theme.

• Spend a few hours shooting all images relating to the song titles.

• Go through your archives and find differing images that relate to the titles.

• In a group, divide the album up and shoot 2-3 “songs” each.

• Shoot the album as a project spanning a few weeks.

• Get really ambitious and try to work your way through Rolling Stone’s “Top 500 Albums” list.

For the examples here, I’ve chosen Pink Floyd’s 1973 album “The Dark Side of the Moon”. Images are after the jump.

Speak To Me - popular Taipei mayor Hau Long-bin makes a speech.

Breathe - Tai chi in a Taipei park.

On The Run - 42km (26 miles) of pain, a runner about to complete a marathon.

Time - Taichung HSR Station.

Great Gig in the Sky - Pingxi Sky Lanterns

Money - ghost money stacked in a Taiwanese temple.

Us and Them - Barbed wire barricades to keep protestors away.

Any Color You Like - Choosing fabric in Taipei.

Brain Damage - drink too much and that's what you might get

Eclipse

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Welcome back to 5. A few photos this week, all linked to the idea “broken”. Enjoy. Check back tomorrow for the free March desktop calendar download.

After one month of images and lots of good attempts from you to guess the theme, it’s time to announce the winners and tell you what the theme actually was. I’ve actually decided to award two prizes to two winners. They will each win the photo of their choice in a size that’ll look good hanging on a wall.

So onto the results. The first winner was Ashish. Back on December 3rd he made a guess that was correct in the details, but slightly off in the overall name. But it’s the details that count, so congratulations Ashish. Let me know which photo you’d like.

And the second winner was Dalbanese who made his guess a week later and followed on from Ashish’s reasoning to make a formal guess that was correct in name as well. Congratulations Dalbanese, a photo will be coming your way. Just let me know which one you want.

So the actual theme this past month was “The English Alphabet”. Here’s how they fit each letter.

Airplane / Airport / Arrival

Beach / Board

Construction

Deep Fryer

Engineer

Fantasy / Fiction

Gate

Heron

Intoxication

Jump

KMT / Kuomintang

Looking

Maritime / Marina

Never Again

Owl

Protest / Polar bear

Quick

Red shirt army

Swimming

Taiwanese identity (if you’re green) / Thief (if you’re blue)

Umbrella

Victory

Wind / Windpower

Ximending

Yellow

Zoo

So this is it. The final image in the month long theme competition. All you have to do to correctly win a limited edition photo is guess the theme that’s been running. The first correct guess (or guesses) will be the winning one. I will be announcing the results in a couple of days – look for the post on Christmas Eve, so that’ll give everyone a couple more days to think. Good luck.

A flamingo dips its beak at Taipei Zoo.

Today is a Sunday special – the penultimate photo in the theme competition. Don’t forget to make your guess for a chance to win a limited edition photo. The results will be posted in a few days.

Fortunately, these vehicles are rarely seen in Taiwan. Driving anywhere is chaotic and in the city, completely unnecessary.

Coming to the end of the theme competition. Just a couple of days to go.

Bustling Ximending, Taipei at night.

Counting down the last few days of the theme competition. Only 4 photos to go. Here’s one of them.

Growing awareness of environmental problems associated with fossil fuel usage, coupled with fears of a dwindling oil supply, had led to a massive increase in the use of alternative, renewable energy sources. As of 2007, wind energy capacity globally was 94.1 gigawatts, representing 1% of total global energy use, a fivefold increase on 2000 figures. Here in Taiwan, the government has set a target of 10% of the energy supply being derived from renewable sources by 2010, wind power is forecast to be 80% of that (8% of total usage). Currently, Taiwan is 23rd globally in windpower capacity with 282 megawatts, making it the third ranked country in Asia, surpassed only by India and China, a phenomenal achievement when relative population is considered.

Coming to the end of week three in the theme competition. Some good guesses so far, keep them coming in.

Two Taiwanese men run away from exploding fireworks during the 2008 Mazu Festival in Changhua, Taiwan.

Among the many gods and goddesses worshipped in Taiwan, Mazu (媽祖), the Goddess of the Sea is perhaps the most revered. Every year, in the 3rd month of the lunar calendar, the Dajia Mazu (大甲媽祖), which is housed at the Zhenlan temple (鎮瀾宮), is taken out on a pilgrimage lasting 8 days and covering 300km. Over the course of the 8 days, more than 1 million people will come out to see Mazu as she makes her way from Dajia to Hsingang in Jiayi county and back again, visiting more than 80 temples. It is thought that the Mazu pilgrimage is one of the three largest religious festivals in the world.

Here we are with Thursday’s image for the theme competition.

As part of the 1206 Global Climate Campaign’s International Day of Action, Taipei hosted a march and concert, beginning at Chiang Kai shek Memorial Hall and ending up at Da-an Forest Park after a march through the streets of Taipei. The above shot is a group of protesters with a model polar bear.

This is the second photo in the guess the theme competition

Taiwan is a hidden jewel for surfers.