One Night in Taipei

Having one sleepless night in Taipei I stumbled upon this street corner which leaped out as the perfect urban scene for a night-time HDR shot. Spending almost a half hour on the ground with my tripod waiting for traffic to slow down just enough, with no motorbikes or people blocking my taxi or buildings, I finally nailed the composition I had in mind. This photo alone made it worth lugging my tripod out and back that night.

Temple of Heaven, Beijing China (中國北京天壇）

After many trips to Beijing as a tourist, as tour guide, and for work I surprisingly never visted the Temple of Heaven. Aside from Summer Palace, this is my new favorite historical site in China's culturaly rich capital city. Constructed from 1406-1420 by the Yongle Emperor (永樂) who also constructed Beijing's famous Forbidden City. During the reign of the Jiajing Emperor the complex of Taoist buildings were renamed Temple of Heaven.  The temple was later occupied by the British-French alliance during the second opium war, and the Eight Nation Alliance during the Boxer Rebellion.

Since 1918, the temple has been a park open to the public as a celebration of it's masterful architectural and landscape design. It is this combination of nature and larger than life architecture which draws my attention to both the Temple of Heaven and Summer Palace, as they are utilized by Beijing locals as public gathering spaces as well as popular torist destnations. 

This photograph is a combination of HDR techniques and Photoshop retouching, with a motion blur filter applied to emphasize the movement of the crowds around the temple, but also to direct focus to the architectural design of the temple.  My goal was to create an image that feels both photographic and like a graphic llustration.

老朋友，中国西安 Old Friend Revisited

老朋友, 中国西安

One of the most rewarding things about my travels to China is the wonderful people I've met. In 2008, I visited 西安 to see the 兵马俑. At the end of the day I was strolling about the neighborhood that sits behind the back gate and heard a man asking me in broken English "do you take photos?" The big camera hanging around my neck being all too obvious I confirmed, at which he proudly proclaimed "my dad smokes tobacco! Come with me... my dad smokes tobacco". A little nervous I followed the man through the narrow passages of the neighborhood to his home, where his 90 year old father sat outside smoking a pipe of tobacco. Not being able to communicate well, I captured a few photos and thanked the men for the opportunity. A year later this photo (top image here) had become a signature image in my portfolio.
In 2010, I returned to Xi'An specifically to reunite with this man, and to deliver prints of this image for the family. With no name or address I only knew to go back to the Terracotta Warrior site and to repeat my stroll from two years earlier. Confused and lost I began showing my photo to locals asking if anyone knew the old man. Luckily, I was only a few doors away and a neighbor helped me to reunite with the old man whose face I knew so well. The man was sick, still in bed in the afternoon, but woke up to greet me after being informed of the visit by his daughter. Despite his health he did a dance for me, called me 老朋友and smiled from ear to ear when looking at the photo I had captured at my last visit. My mission almost complete, only one thing left to finish... get a photo together with my old friend.
The bottom image was taken during my second visit in 2010.
All images and words ©2006 Rash Photo / John F Rash.

 

Antiques and Cell Phones

Antique
Antique ©2010 John Rash
Cased
Cases ©2010 John Rash
Experimenting with iPhone photography apps, I've found that some really nice effects can be achieved when processing photos through multiple applications. Apps such as Hipstamatic allow the photographer to treat the cell phone like a film based Lomography camera, with various digial "lenses" "films" and "flashes" which you must choose before taking your shot. It's a nice metaphor to film based photography in the sense that you have to make a commitment to your choice before releasing the shutter.


The social photography app Instagram combines retro film effects with a social stream of photos, comments, and the ever popular "like" button. Instragram allows users to process their shots after capture, or to choose previously taken photos from their library, which might be more appeal to those non-committal in choosing the effect of your film and filter choice.

Above you can see two photos I process using a combination of both apps together. Capturing originally through Hipstamatic and then processing through Instagram. Giving an effect unique and not available within any individual app alone.

All images and words ©2006 Rash Photo / John F Rash.