Well I admit it! Mea Culpa on the tabloid-style title of this post. I recently did a shoot with my son Kevin at Taichung's Art Street (Guoji St.) near DongHai University. We both like this area for laid back people watching and shopping. I've used this area as background previously on shoot for Moshang and Chris Bailey's Sun Cake Lounge here.

No sons were injured during this shooting. In fact son ended up with a nice shirt afterwards...

I mentioned last time how when I visited Chung Hsing University they were in the middle of their intra-school cheer leading competition. Here are some more shots of that. It was quite fun to be in the midst of with camera in hand. Here is the complete set you can view as a slide show.

The Beach Boys-Be True to Your School ahh simpler days....

The other day I asked a friend about the photogenic qualities of the ChungHsing University campus on the south side of Taichung. He said it ws quite good, mentioning they had a small lake (a pond really) and that it was large and layed out nicely. So I was motivated to see it and shoot some stuff. Well you can imagine my delight when I got on campus and 2 minutes into my journey I discovered that the whole school was engaged in an intra-school cheerleader squad competition. The colors, action and energy were all great. I will do a featured post on that later this week.

The lovely young ladies looking like extras from Sheena the Queen of the Jungle were mistaken by me to be CosPlay(ers) since my friend told me they were often around the school on weekends. They corrected me and informed me that they had just been in the aforementioned cheer leading event.

The lake/pond area had quiet of few people hanging around toting big Nikons and Canons(here in Taiwan anything else lacks the status) even a wedding photo shoot going on there. I decided to shoot some ducks (I'm not a big wildlife photography guy but I have my moments) and was pleased after shooting that I caught the coppery reflection of one of the buildings in the shot.

While I was sitting down shooting I saw a tortoise and this older man stopped by to see what I was looking at. I ended up having a nice conversation with him.

Finally I needed to head over by the Taichung Station to meet my son for our weekly Fri. night father/sons's street food outing. I liked the look of the moon peaking through the buildings so here it is.

It just so happens I'm listening to this song now-Cameo : Word Up.

It never fails. Whenever I need to clear static out of my brain, I mean the residual life's minor(and major) aggravations I head for the fields. As soon as I get inside the fields I feel all tension relieved and it's replaced with a very serene and fresh feeling. I love being surrounded by this unpretentious living sphere. Just dirt and food stuff growing out of it.

First image of the statue taken at the Chung Shan Theater. It is quite a beautiful sculpture of a couple dancing in traditional Tang Dynasty clothing. I'll include a full shot at a later date.

The second is a very friendly and sweet lady I met while shopping at an area market. She was so cute albeit geographically challenged(but isn't that most people). We talked while I was waiting for a friend to return from an ATM run.

The third is kind of an intense guy who does cell phone repairs. He had an acerbic wit which is kind of rare among the Taiwanese who tend to not casually crack jokes. A surprise but a welcome one at that.

Finally was a cell phone vendor showing off his China-made product which is a touch screen and gets TV shows. He is the reason my friend Brian had to run to the ATM.

Music today is from Emerson, Lake and Palmer: Lucky Man. Yes at times I feel that song is about me or at least could be

Poetry in motion

A time to dance

Analog information assimilation

Relaxing in the cool shade

All shots taken in Taichung Park .

It's fall so how about some Autumn Leaves by Cannonball Adderly with Miles Davis.

The Taichung Thieves Market sounds so much more interesting than "Flea Market" connoting a hint of Ali Baba and his gang. That is the old name of this market from it's original location where it used to run in the middle of the night with buyers showing up with flashlights to see the goods. Now it's a daytime affair and more out in the open with much more legitimate merchandise. Wonder if the buyers are equally legitimate? Ahh, guess we'll save that for future posting.

Nothing beats a red car for coolness. God put this into the male DNA...

I was mainly interested in the old photos but quite a selection here.

These photos were particularly interesting-the vendor lady of this stall tried to keep me from taking a picture but then...

...her husband came to my photographic rescue saying,"by all means take a picture." He claimed these were his shots-nice work!

What fun would the sojourn be if I didn't find some nice glass to shoot the world through? Well I did and this is the first shot from the Cosina 35-70mm lens I got at the stall nest to this one. Was quite happy to find that at a great price too.

Well here it is Samia Gamal-Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves

I have been on several scouting missions for the best of Taichung's few graffiti artists. Here are a few from recent sessions with many more to come.

These are all from an area close to Taichung Park opposite the swimming pool on ShuangShr Rd. Here is a link to a blog dedicated to Taiwan tagging.

Jurassic 5 provides us with the right setting with Concrete Schoolyard.

This year's festival had the inclusion of some blues, in the form of the Joey Gilmore band. Joey was teh winner of the 2006 International Blues Competition. Joey really livened things up and demonstrated that blues is very crowd friendly music and probably lends itself better to strangers than jazz does. Just sayin (and yes I love jazz).

A little back story-I got here early enough to get pretty good position right behind the official VIP/photographer/camera man area. Then right as show was about to begin a camera man came in setting up right in front of me-and of course ruining my view of the stage. I politely asked him(with a scowl on my face) if he'd be stationary or moving. He said he'd move around. 2 seconds later he said,  "Hey why don't you come in next to me for a better position?"

Here is Joey playing Born Under a Bad Sign

There are several iconic architectural sites nearby I've been meaning to shoot. The buddha is at nearby monastery. The Catholic church building not far away. When I arrived at the monastery there was a group of Mormon missionary girls there taking pictures and exploring. When we exchanged greetings I jokingly asked them if they were there to change religions? That was good for a few giggles. It's amazing how religions and the faith they inspire so influences what men build.

Last but not least-the final leg of my shoot was the Botanical garden. I don't think this was inspired by any religion, but plant lovers can be fanatical too.

Since we've been on religion I thought it was only appropriate to share this song by John Lennon- Give Peace a Chance.