While I am not yet in Taiwan, I have taken many chances to visit the ethnic communities of Houston and see what this city has to offer. Over the weekend, I brought my newly acquired Nikon D5000 for the ride, and here are the results. Click on each image for a Flickr.com page and larger view. I always label these Creative Commons – not like I’m a real photographer or anything. I would like any comments and constructive criticism preferably here… or if it’s detailed, on the Flickr page itself – please let me know what you think. I’m just now learning about aperture, shutter speed, ISO, and the other (seriously) fun things that go into a DSLR photograph – although many of these were taken with minimal customization and “post processed” through iPhoto.
The visit itself was nothing short of amazing. The scent of incense filled the air as I fumbled around people – trying not to get in the way of their conversations with the divine. People were walking around gods with incense giving offerings of food (I saw some Asian-style pound cakes), incense, and money. My girlfriend thankfully is a native Mandarin speaker – she was able to ask permission for me to take these photos… I responded with a brutal “谢谢” (Xie Xie… thank you) and smiled.
NOTE: Some of these were compressed for size, so the iPhoto/Flickr conversion ruined some sharpness on the stark blue backgrounds. Let me know if you want to see the real thing.
The rooftop of Teo Chew Temple
A gateway leading to a meeting area.
土地公 - Tu Di Gong is an ancient Chinese god worshipped in many villages.
Offerings in front of a god at Teo Chew Temple.
Lanterns and roof at Teo Chew.
Streamers and Lanterns at Teo Chew.
A focal-length focused shot on incense. Not sure who the god is... enlighten me if you do!
I should also mention the flickr photostream of kinjotx. His photos of the temple are wonderful – especially some of the portraits.
I’ll be getting more photos of Houston before I leave. Please give some feedback if you know more about photography than I do!
Josh Fahler Photography 
Jealous! I almost took a position in Japan back when I was out of university…in the end it worked out for the best, but I’m still sad sometimes that I didn’t go experience it!!
I’m worried that I’ll have the feeling of regret at some point. Because I’ve had some issues with the Texas educational system, I’ll take a (rather extreme) break!
Not being connected to a mortgage has never felt so good.
…feeling of regret if I DON’T go to Taiwan, that is!
Looks good, Josh.
The learning curve in dSLR-land is steep but quick, and completely worthwhile. I’d be happy to help answer any questions you may have, if you’d like. :)
Thanks! I’m still getting used to the more manual settings – like Aperture and Shutter speed. I have a bad feeling that these turned out so well because it was such a sunny day. Most of the interior shots were helped along with iPhoto – and I don’t like that feeling. Luckily, iPhoto got rid of the extra sunlight coming in the big temple doors that day…
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