BattPhotos

Venus and ..which one is the moon?

2010-05-16T20:44:00.000+08:00

It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon, and then just after sunset, we get this...

The neighborhood kids were curious what I was doing with the tripod out and a bunch of folks gathered around to watch.

One of the neighborhood parents came over and asked what I was taking pictures of...I was using my 80-200mm 2.8, so it was pretty obvious in which direction I was aiming. But I told her I was taking pictures of the moon anyway.

She asked ... "Which one's the moon?" I think this says volumes about the quality of education in Taiwan.

Piles o' Bikes

2009-12-16T16:13:00.000+08:00

Got Time to Lean,Got Time to Clean

2009-03-20T15:57:00.000+08:00

A couple hours ago I sent an email to a friend I hadn't seen in 30+ years
Told him that I had no time for taking new pictures
The pictures I have are languishing on my hard drive
Neglected and Dirty

This collage from Picasa hints at the depths of my wind-porn fantasies
Wind Turbines near Taichung Harbor, Chinese New Year, 2009

Day Trip to Taipei

2008-07-05T10:42:00.006+08:00

I moved our Mac home and don't have Photoshop, so I've been playing around with Picnik, a free online photo editor. For what I do, which is basically nothing, this is more than I need.

I took a trip to Taipei on Thursday to visit the 228 Museum. This was my third trip on the HSR, and the first one for which I had my camera. Here's the train pulling into the station at Wuer.

And another shot after arriving at the Taipei main station. The train appears to have encountered a flock, or at least a few members of a flock, of sparrows on the way north.

The Peace Park is a peaceful enough place, plenty of trees for folks to sit under. There's a traditional Chinese concrete pagoda, and a modern sculpture dedicated to the memory of the people killed in the White Terror.

Little Boxes On the Hillside

2007-09-16T23:20:00.000+08:00

Little boxes on the hillside
Little boxes made of ticky tacky
Little boxes Little boxes
Little boxes all the same

There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same

And the people in the houses all go to the university
And they all get put in boxes, little boxes all the same

And there's doctors and there's lawyers

And business executives

And they're all made out of ticky tacky and they all look just the same
And they all play on the golf course and drink their martini dry
And they all have pretty children and the children go to school
And the children go to summer camp
And then to the university
And they all get put in boxes, and they all come out the same

And the boys go into business and marry and raise a family
And they all get put in boxes, little boxes all the same
There's a green one, and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same

--Pete Seeger

Creative photos by Chema Madoz | haha.nu - a lifestyle blogzine

2007-03-12T00:45:00.000+08:00

Creative photos by Chema Madoz | haha.nu - a lifestyle blogzine

Taiwan High Speed Rail

2007-01-12T12:26:00.001+08:00

Taichung Buildings

2007-01-03T15:41:00.000+08:00

These are monkeyed highlights from a series of pictures I took facing East from the roof of the Early Bird Diner on Chung Ming South Rd just South of Kungyi Rd across from that little park there. If you're in the neighborhood, check out the breakfast and lunch menus at the Early Bird. The pancakes are award winning.

A Free Morning

2006-11-26T23:29:00.000+08:00

A friend of mine and I took a scooter ride up Hwy 136 into the mountains and along the ridge down towards Puli. On the way, we stopped a couple times, and here are a couple shots that I picked up along the way. There are more at B@Taiwan.

First is a lotus blossom in a pond at a reconstructed park surrounding a tourist attraction called Bat Hole. And, as much as I hate cats, I had a good time communing with this one at a Buddhist monastery.

Before the Tripod Appeared

2006-11-06T18:09:00.000+08:00

This is another one of those serendipitous pictures that pop up from time to time. I went up on the roof last night to take pictures of the sunset, but the light was nothing like dusk tonight.

Virtual Graffiti

2006-09-19T00:52:00.000+08:00

Fun with layers and blending.

Taichung Botanical Garden--HDR

2006-09-15T00:16:00.001+08:00

This is my first attempt (that came out halfway decent looking) at High Dynamic Range (HDR) Imaging. Not very exciting, and it looks a little fuzzy. Try and try again. This is a combination of two seperate images.

Below is a combination of this image, and the two that begat it.

I've got my work cut out for me. Cybergrain.com has this introduction, there's this tutorial at Cambridge in Color, andFlickr has stacks and stacks of examples of some really groovy work. Another tutorial at Daily Pete

In Retrospect

2006-09-09T00:11:00.000+08:00

I haven't been up to much lately, but I've been enjoying putting pictures together in photoshop. This is a combination of some of the shapes that I put together over the last two years or so. I;m intrigued by how different each of the seeds for these mosaic/collage/fractals were, and yet how similar they appear after various filters are visited upon them.

Maybe it's not that remarkable at all. Perhaps it's just my ignorance of basic geometry that makes me think that silly stuff like this is magical.

Come in Here, Dear Boy...

2006-09-06T22:26:00.000+08:00

No, no, I haven't been doing much lately. When I took this shot, it was the first new Jaguar I'd seen in a long time. Like many Jags, this one wasn't going anywhere, but it was parked in front of the Starbucks on the Harbor Rd near the Science Museum. Nice lines.

Three Presentations of Leftovers

2006-06-12T11:51:00.000+08:00

A little something left over from the graffiti at Tagging Taichung.

A Photographer's Rights

2006-06-03T14:30:00.000+08:00

Interesting and/or helpful guide to the rights of a photographer in the United States. Not much help for me in Taiwan, but eventuallyI hope to put the PDF file to use.

Bert P. Krages II — Attorney at Law

ColorBox

2006-04-30T00:56:00.000+08:00

Here's a cool little game that I found through clicked.msnbc.com. Finally, those three years in the photolab in North Carolina are paying off. I enjoy games like Tetris, and this one is similar, but it tests your understanding of additive colors. Splendid fun.

One Tower, Two Views

2006-04-22T12:32:00.000+08:00

Some Excitement At Home This Morning

2006-04-20T22:50:00.000+08:00

There was a small kitchen fire in the next building over. By the time I got downstairs to take some pictures, there were no fewer than 12 fire engines parked on our corner.

Ananova - Photographer criticised

2005-12-30T00:07:00.000+08:00

Ananova - Photographer criticised:

Interesting ethical question here. Some folks are saying that the photographer had the responsibility to warn passing cyclists of the pot-hole. One reader of the Beijing Youth Daily says that the photographer ought to be "condemmed" for taking the picture instead of raising an alarm. I'm hoping that by "condemmed" he means strongly reprimanded.

But, does the photographer bear any more responsibility to warn people of danger than the average Jiu on the street? Certainly this photographer wasn't the first to discover the hole?

Nice photo story. Lots of raw emotion. Hope he's ok.

Photo Stories

2005-12-29T12:46:00.000+08:00

My friend Gary was in town for Christmas or the holiday or whatever folks call it these days. I got to take a couple of days off work and chat with him about the work he's doing in Traverse City, Michigan. If you're getting married in Michigan, he's your man. Not to marry, but...anyway.

Our conversations kept coming back to "the photo story." Gary was polite enough not to tell me that I was wasting time with abstraction, but it's pretty clear that people would rather look at pictures of people. Skinny Sean used to bug me about this quite a bit when he still lived in Taiwan. I guess I'm just a misanthrope.

Yeah, so my New Year's Resolution is to take more pictures of people and to look for photo stories. And to drum up business for my friend Gary. Now, wouldn't you love to get married in Michigan?

From the Hammock

2005-12-22T11:54:00.000+08:00

Koh Yao Noi, Thailand

2005-12-22T08:11:00.000+08:00

After finishing the CELTA course, I gave myself a break from traffic and study and people on the street asking me "Sir, where you go, you want 'Boom Boom?'"

One hour east of Bang Rong Pier on the east of Phuket Island, just off the coast of the province of Krabi rests a chunk of landscape called Koh Yao Noi. And on the east coast of this island 20 minutes by taxi through several small villages, past goast, sheep, & water buffalo, onto a gooey dirt road that winds its way between rubber plantations and rice paddies lay a cluster of eight bungalows spread out beneath dozens of coconut trees called Lomlae resort.

I cannot remember the last time I was in a place that was so absolutely still. It had been quiet snorkeling on reefs off a speck called Dok Mai where the only sounds were fish munching on what fish munch on, the staticky sound of life on the coral, and the occasional hum of boat engines. But the peace at Lomlae was entirely different.

The patter of a light rain on the grass roof of my hut, two or three birds, a fishing boat way far off in the distance, a falling coconut. The structure's frame creaking against the sway of the overloaded hammock in which this paragraph was written. And ... what's that? Ah, yes, a table saw in the resort next door cutting boards for the floors of a new set of huts. Such is the cost of progress.

If you want things to do, there is plenty to do there. The folks at the resort are careful to not be intrusive, yet are ready to fill any need moments after it announces itself in your frontal lobe. Wanna scuba? No sweat. Charter boats are available to take you to any of the islands of the seas between Phuket and Phang-Nga. Like every western hang out in Thailand, there's a book exchange if you just want to remain motionless on dry land. One afternoon I took a rather small sea kayak out to the nearest island approximately 30 minutes away. The visibility on the reef was poor, but I had the island to myself.

Coming back from this island was a chore. The wind was in my face and the tide was strong. One of the guys from the resort gave me a hand dragging the kayak up the beach and I went in and booked an hour long Thai massage for 300 baht. The masseuse was a 60 year old woman who lived in the village nearby. Imagine what a half-century practitioner of massage knows. With waves crashing on the beach yards away from my head this may have been the most relaxing hour I've spent since a Sunday afternoon back in 1993 that I recall with fondness.

Motorbikes for Hire, Phuket Town

2005-12-21T08:07:00.000+08:00

Four of us went out for a trip one Friday afternoon and half of us wiped out. One guy jumped a ditch and a girl got cut off by a dude pulling out of a blind driveway. Or a blind guy pulling out of a driveway. One of those. Phuket is Thailand's number one province for motorcycle fatalities. Keep that in mind and drive safely. These bikes are surely colorful enough to be noticed.

Patong is Perverse

2005-11-14T18:49:00.000+08:00

This is a slightly different take on the de rigueur holiday travel guide photo of beach umbrellas. Here we see them stacked up besides some white plastic chairs. Kind of.

Nothing Spectacular

2005-11-14T18:45:00.000+08:00

The only thing about this picture is that I am shocked to have gotten picture with a level horizon while in a madly leaping speedboat. Honest. Ok, maybe I cropped it a little bit.

Phuket Kaleidoscopes

2005-11-14T18:39:00.000+08:00

Evening at Patong Beach

2005-11-14T18:29:00.000+08:00

There was rain all the way from Phuket Town over the mountains and down to the beach, and it didn't let up just because we'd arrived. It was a pleasure to dive into the warm waters of the Indian Ocean and escape the cold drops of rain.

One of my traveling companions/classmates took advantage of waiting for another one driving back to retrieve a forgotten bag and took another stab at the heavy surf.

There'd have been plenty to do there if the weather had been more cooperative. The clouds rolled away in time for a sunset memorable only because I took it home in my camera, but maybe the guy under the parasail has a different story to tell.

Loooong Boat

2005-11-14T18:25:00.000+08:00

Can you believe how clear this water is? OMG. Even at 10 at night, there are beaches where I can stand in the water and see my feet illuminated by moonlight. It was nice to see Cyan in a natural environment rather than on something in the refrigerator.

2005-11-14T18:17:00.000+08:00

20 passenger tourist speedboat in Maya Bay, Phi Phi Lei, Thailand.

Phi Phi Don

2005-11-14T18:10:00.000+08:00

The bay at Phi Phi Don was wiped out by the tsunami. Like most of the tourist hotspots around Phuket, it's back in action.

The Beach in Fours

2005-11-14T18:04:00.000+08:00

The beach in Maya Bay on Phi Phi Lei was used as the setting for the (what I understand to be) dreadful film The Beach. Don't know. Never saw it. But, I could sit and watch the waves break on the white sand there for two hours. How bad could the movie be?

The Sharpest Image - Popular Science

2005-10-24T18:45:00.000+08:00

Retired British man discovers he has too much time on his hands and converts a Cold War spy plane camera to take landscape photographs in the neighborhood of 4 gigapixels of resolution. Zeets!

Persian Carpet

2005-10-13T01:13:00.000+08:00

A Korean American friend of mine used to say "Oriental is a rug, I'm Asian." I've been teaching youth in asia for 6 years now and I can't remember the last time that I heard the word "Oriental." Even while playing Mainland Monopoly here in Taiwan, Oriental Avenue is called "Urumqi," which I'm sure we all know is the capital of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Life was so much simpler when I was younger so much younger than today. Back when I played with kaleidoscopes and thought they were the best thing in the world. Or was that one wild weekend in 1992?

Domular Kaleidoscope

2005-10-13T01:11:00.000+08:00

Blue Yodel #9

2005-10-13T01:07:00.000+08:00

Hell, if you gotta name it something, it might as well make sense.

Flower

2005-10-13T00:39:00.000+08:00

More Late Summer 2005.

Look Closer

2005-10-13T00:09:00.000+08:00

The Nature of Squid is...

If you squint your eyes just a little bit and lean in close to the monitor, you may figure out what the original was here. The only hint your getting is that it's in Asia.

August 2005

2005-10-12T23:49:00.000+08:00

This is another foray into the unknown with a handful of filters of questionable value. Free is free, though, and the effect I quite like. The original, if you feel like wrapping your head around a bit, is the back door to a temple in Angkor Wat, originally shot using color film w/ an orange filter. I'm sure I thought I knew what I was doing at the time. In retrospect, I look at it as a mistake with a positive outcome. Much like...hell most all of the pictures I take that I like are partially serendipitous. Take it or leave it. Or take it, forget about it for a few years, look at it again, crop it, spin it, saturate the hell out of it, and run an unkown kaleidoscope filter past it a time or two and see what happens. This is the kind of stuff my photography professor would hate. Dunno, maybe he's spinning in his grave this very moment. Sorry Arnie.

September 2005

2005-10-12T23:40:00.000+08:00

I haven't been up to much lately with Franklin and all that goes with him. Here's a section of grafitti wall from ... jeez, I can't remember where in Taichung now. I downloaded some fun little filters for Photoshop a few months ago just to see what they can do. This one is a chaos mirror effect. The grafitti in itself is awesome, I think and I'd love to have a room in my house done up in it and then changed every few months, except for the fumes.

It's not mine. This thing was just out there, I found it, and folded it up a bit. Call me crazy but this kind of stuff turns me on. The original resides on a wall behind the Global Theater on Min Sheng Rd in Taichung.

I dig the new blogger tool on Picasa2. Let's see what else it can do.

2005-07-27T19:37:00.000+08:00

Our neighborhood at sunset

2005-07-27T12:32:00.000+08:00

The Eye

2005-07-27T12:15:00.000+08:00

Oldies/Frank's Hot Dogs has a new location between Mickey D's and KFC on Kungyi Rd across from People's Park. Stop in today.

2005-07-27T12:12:00.000+08:00

710 reasons for war in Iraq

2005-07-27T12:11:00.000+08:00

betelnut vortex

2005-07-27T12:10:00.000+08:00

masked neighborhood

2005-07-27T12:09:00.000+08:00

more filter fun

Underneath Wat Umong, Chiang-mai, Thailand

2005-07-24T14:09:00.000+08:00

I've re-discovered Kai Power Tools, and figured out what to do with them. Good Lord, so much for a productive afternoon.

2005-07-24T14:07:00.001+08:00

Setting up the Park for the Year of the Goat, 2003

2005-07-24T14:07:00.000+08:00

A Short Walk Down the Park, Saturated

2005-07-24T14:06:00.000+08:00

Burning God Money

Mammatus Clouds

2005-06-28T19:28:00.000+08:00

Groovy cloud pictures from Nebraska. Might want to move to someplace where the clouds have interesting personality. It'd be a change from Taiwan.

Robert & Shana Park Harrison

2005-05-26T19:35:00.000+08:00

Here's a nice site I came across today on a reference from MSNBC: Clicked. Surrealism with sticks.

This is the Street Art

2005-05-16T00:57:00.000+08:00

Detail of a wall in a park on Kungyi Rd, next to the river by Hua Mei St.

More Taichung Street Art

Keep it Greasey

2005-05-16T00:50:00.000+08:00

This drip reminded me so much of McDonalds' Fry Guys that I had to take it home in my camera.

EARL

2005-05-16T00:46:00.000+08:00

Natural Mandelbrot. Ok, not all that natural, but this is Taiwan, and these things do happen with some frequency. A lack of concern for the environment is almost second nature here.

Locust Towers

2005-05-15T21:03:00.000+08:00

Had some fun with this one, too. It's the new high-rise across the park from my office, with some filtering thrown on.

Saturated Neighborhood

2005-05-15T20:59:00.000+08:00

This was the view from the back balcony at work, but then I played around with the colors in Photoshop and mixed and matched a bit. Looks Escher-esque? Yes, doesn't it?

Franklin at Five Months

2005-05-12T12:35:00.000+08:00

Franklin nearing the completion of 20 push-ups.

GRACE

2005-05-09T00:41:00.000+08:00

I just love pollution, don't you? If only it were all this lovely. I saw this mess going down the back alley behind work last Saturday. Someone's scooter was having problems with its sphincter and left little presents of the sort that my dog used to leave in our living room, except more flammable. F-ing beautiful, though.

2005-04-13T04:28:00.000+08:00

Here's something I put together years ago in Indianapolis. The root images are of a rock formation and were taken near Denver, CO. With 4x6 prints it looks rather collagey. It's a different effect than with Photoshop. I'm still not sure which I prefer.

2005-04-13T04:27:00.000+08:00

Monument Circle, Indianapolis, Indiana. This is a fountain at the base of the Soldiers and Sailors Monument.

2005-04-13T04:26:00.000+08:00

An experiment. A friend of mine had some slides that she unknowingly spilled soda on and then put into storage for several months. The result was a starburst spore of mold coming up over the Clock Tower in London. I played around with saline solution, and baking powder...just whatever was around, really,and wiped it all over some overexposed slides that I had, and then came up with this a few days later.

2005-04-05T17:59:00.000+08:00

Incense (no peppermints)

2005-04-05T17:12:00.000+08:00

Church of the Saviour, Moscow, 1999

2005-04-05T17:01:00.000+08:00

Mosque under construction, Kazan, Tatarstan, Russian Federation.

A Cold Sunday in February

2005-04-05T17:00:00.001+08:00

Kolomenskoye.

2005-04-05T17:00:00.000+08:00

Detail of the Church of the Ascension, Kolomenskoye, Moscow. A UN World Heritage Site

2005-04-05T16:55:00.002+08:00

A tower of the Kazan Kremlin

2005-04-05T16:55:00.001+08:00

Onion Domes

St Basil's Cathedral

2005-04-05T16:55:00.000+08:00

St Basil's Cathedral, Red Square, UN World Heritage Site.

2005-04-05T16:54:00.001+08:00

Crossing the Kazanka, February 1999

2005-04-05T16:54:00.000+08:00

Bauman Street, Kazan, Tatarstan, Russian Federation, 1999

2005-04-05T16:53:00.000+08:00

Hare Hare, Freedom of Religion in Moscow. The happiest people I saw there the whole time.

2005-04-05T16:52:00.000+08:00

Cathedral of the Saviour, Moscow

2005-03-04T01:20:00.000+08:00

A new photo just to say there's a new photo. This is a new photo of an old photo. So, let's just say it's a new photo.

2004-12-16T19:34:00.000+08:00

Future Secretary General of the United Nations
paulbatt

2004-12-06T22:00:00.000+08:00

Big Hero Temple, FoGuang Shan, Kaoshuing County, Taiwan

2004-12-06T21:59:00.000+08:00

Lotus in Lotus

2004-12-06T21:53:00.001+08:00

Big Hero Temple

2004-12-06T21:53:00.000+08:00

Buddha standing in the corner.

2004-12-06T21:49:00.000+08:00

Cris-Cross Applesauce

2004-12-06T00:10:00.000+08:00

Hmmm...

paulbatt

They Weren't Happy When we Tried

2004-12-05T23:47:00.000+08:00

To rephrase an earlier question..IS sophmoric humor more sophisticated than fourth grade humor?

paulbatt

KABUTO

2004-12-05T23:45:00.000+08:00

I was told that this looks like the helmet worn by Samurai. Fair enough.

paulbatt

Thai Tile

2004-12-05T23:44:00.000+08:00

I can't resist a pun. From the trip to Thailand during which Maggie and I got engaged. The tiles came from the neck of a dragon atop Doi Suthep.

paulbatt

Board Work

2004-12-05T23:43:00.000+08:00

Warped boards on the side of a factory in near Shuili, Nantou County.

paulbatt

A Place of Peace

2004-12-05T23:40:00.000+08:00

Inside Big Hero Temple at FoGuangShan, Kaoshuing County.

paulbatt

Faux Jewelry

2004-12-05T23:38:00.000+08:00

The wife (who still hasn't had her baby) thinks this looks like a bracelet. This is also from the point where the earthquake originated. Absolutely incredible--the mountain split in half and moved homes miles away from where they began.

Flashpoint

2004-12-05T23:37:00.000+08:00

This was taken at the epicenter of the 921 earthquake at Jiufen Ershan, Nantou County.
paulbatt

Wedding Parade

2004-12-02T02:24:00.000+08:00

Low Brass continues to kick ass, all over the world. Euphonium player in Patan, Nepal.

2004-12-02T02:22:00.000+08:00

You gotta hand it to me, I was going to make a manicure joke, but I held back.

Nepal Faces

2004-12-02T02:20:00.000+08:00

This was after an all-day strike, or bandh. The electricity was off and the foreigners walking by was the most entertaining thing going.

Atop Sarangkot

2004-12-02T02:19:00.000+08:00

Our well-paid tour guide couldn't distinguish between mountains in the Annapurna Range, so whilst ignoring him, I struck up a brief friendship with this little girl.

2004-12-02T02:18:00.002+08:00

Holiday Jam Session

2004-12-02T02:18:00.001+08:00

Charming the money out of the pockets of tourists, Pokhara, Nepal.

2004-12-02T02:18:00.000+08:00

Loomy Tunes

2004-12-02T02:16:00.000+08:00

Faces from Nepal Series

2004-12-02T02:14:00.000+08:00

Sunburst Stupa

2004-12-02T02:13:00.000+08:00

Patan, Kathmandu Valley