Meeresruf (Call of the Sea)

Surfing always had a certain coolness and sexiness to it. Both the sun and sea call for light beachwear, even naked skin. This in turns calls for a "good body" (in a conventional sense). Surfing is a sport, so training and showing your body go hand in hand. Does this mean the coolness and sexiness of surfing are of a commercial, evaluative kind, restricted to the "cool kids"?

It surely looks like this on many photos, but I'm sure it's not true. While my own experience is restricted (I do it a few times a year at most), I've seen mostly open-mindedness, respect, or a you-do-you kind of ignorance around looks and beach fashion. Sure, it's probably different once you start battling for the best wave of the beach (and/or the queen or king riding it), but this seems like an edge case.

Altogether, I often feel the commercial aspect of surfing, "cool" brands, influencers, IKEA photos of beaches or self-made surfboard-benches is at best a meaningless aesthetic game (at worst a pile of bs) when compared to actually doing it. Actual surfing is more about sun burns, sore muscles, injuries, sleeping in a tent or van where it's hot, sweaty, and full of insects, and a wild and free joy that doesn't care about superficial status questions.

This also means: There's nothing you have to do to "belong" but showing up at a beach. Often, you can even find someone renting a board, and they are entrepreneurs who love the sea, so they are happy and helpful to get you (and your money) coming back.

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🌏 | #taiwan #taipei #waiao #waiaobeach
📷 | #a7r #voigtlander #voigtlander40mm #manualfocus
🏔️ | #nature #photography #photographersatwork #music #beach #coast #surfing

共同創造 (Co-creation)

象山 (Elephant Mountain) is probably the most popular place in all Taipei to take photos of the skyline - at least if you trust Google image search for the city's name. Indeed, it's very accessible, close, and offers a great view onto 101 and Xinyi district around it, especially at dusk!

No wonder that it's very popular with tourists and photographers alike. While the former mostly go to the "Six Boulders Observation Deck" for cheesy pictures and stop at the platform on the way there, local photographers often make a turn towards the Firework Lookout that is much less crowded and offers an at least equally good view onto the city.

At least I love it. After collecting hundreds of images of the skyline, I now love to do some "street" there, like with these two photographers, probably nerding about cameras, framing, perspectives, etc. What joy!

(It's of course impossible to not blow out the sun here and I had to lower the highlights and raise the shadows a lot, but it still kinda works and looks realistic. It's probably mimicking how our eyes deal with a situation like this.)

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🌏 | #taiwan #taipei #taipei101
📷 | #a7r #voigtlander #voigtlander40mm #manualfocus
🏔️ | #photography #street #streetphotography #sun #photographersatwork #sunset