What that means is variable, I shouldn't wonder. Then I asked myself if I wanted to go, and as soon as the answer was 'yes', I got a move on. Going to the practice center serves the purpose of reminding me why I don't enter a monastery – I don't get along with people. Any of them. Although ironically, the monks at Deer Park were the best connection I made in years, and still I walked away. Still I managed to alienate people. So as long as I have a choice in the matter, I'll stick with a solitary, hermit-like goal. I'll stick with the internet. As far as practice goes, monastery/no monastery, doesn't matter.
I didn't start shooting until I got to Xin Beitou, but then remembered that I shot around Xin Beitou last week. Concerned that I might shoot the same things over again, I only shot things that I knew were unique about this time.
After the morning session, since Xin Beitou is so far up the Danshui line on the MRT, I decided to go to end of the line to Danshui and walked around there for several hours shooting. It was neat up there, although not what I expected. I didn't expect the huge crowds of people and the boardwalk atmosphere.
End of the line, mouth of the Danshui River, I was expecting something more natural and peaceful. I got some shots that I really liked through the viewfinder, and forgot to shoot safety frames of those shots. I'm usually economical with my frames and don't shoot more than one frame of a subject unless I know something was wrong about the first frame, like composition, camera tilt (it's a big problem for me, apparently one of my legs is shorter than the other), or metering. But with a subject I really like, I do like to shoot at least one more safety frame.
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| 1:08 p.m. - fishing boats? Danshui. |
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| 1:56 p.m., Danshui |
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| 4:37 p.m. - Guting MRT station. My apartment is about equidistant between Guting station on the green line and Technology Building station on the brown line in the opposite direction, slightly closer to the latter. This is a quaint image of the station as in later years it would become a transfer hub of the expanding MRT system and much more busy and crowded. |
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| Pentax ZX-5n, Ilford XP2 Super film |
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| Street shooting between Beitou and Xinbeitou MRT stations. |
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| Probably Xinbeitou MRT station |
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| MRT station on the way to Danshui. |
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| Danshui shooting |
iTunes soundtrack:
1. London Boy (Rebecca)
2. Snippet (Blonde Redhead)
3. Cross Bones Style (Cat Power)
4. The Day the Bass Players Took Over the World (Dave Pomeroy)
5. A Wonderful Day in a One-Way World (Peter Gabriel)
6. My Bee (The Pugs)
7. The Greeting Song (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
8. Don't Leave Me Now (Pink Floyd)
9. Hey Jude (demo take) (The Beatles)
10. Cruel (Enon)
