San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge

Just before the CNY escapade in HKG I was in SF. When I saw this trip on my roster I was determined to cycle across the bridge and take a picture of it from the other side (North) of the bay. After monitoring the weather (mainly the temperature) for the previous few days I ascertained that this task would be possible. Little did I know until I met another set of crew while on the way up that I was indeed fortunate as it had been raining quite heavily the previous few days.

On the day in question, it was bright and sunny and after breakfast at my usual joint I rented a bike, strapped my gear down and headed out. It wasn't the easiest of bike rides getting up to the bridge level but was well worth the effort. Managed to find a few nice spots along the way to take photos of the bridge in addition to the intended location, Vista Point.

To top it off, I "discovered" the town of Sausalito, where I took the ferry back to Fishermans Wharf. Looked interesting enough to warrant another visit back... perhaps next time I'll just take the ferry there!

Lunar New Year in Hong Kong

Was in Hong Kong during the Lunar New Year holiday weekend and went with Mei Lan to the temple on Lantau Island to observe how the locals celebrate the New Year. Was an interesting trip, well planned by ML. We took the MTR from Causeway Bay to the last station Tung Chung and from there took the scenic cable car ride all the way up the mountain to the temple area. Along the way the scenery was really beautiful, but slightly marred by the fact that it was very hazy.

We had a vegetarian meal at the temple (which is supposedly for good luck) before ascending a small hill to the vantage point where the buddha (bottom picture) sits.

That night we went across the harbour to Kowloon to take pictures of the Hong Kong skyline. Again.. if not for the hazy conditions it would have turned out much better.

GXFC!!!

M@cAlfie

Chinese New Year 2007

Chinese New Year is almost upon us again and as usual I won't be around for the hoopla.. but I'm not complaining. Took the opportunity of an off day to go down to Chinatown to take pictures of the lights (boring) and the street vendors selling the more traditional stuff. Was fortunate to have gone down early in the season as it gets really crazy and crowded closer to the main event. Managed to capture a few nice shots which you can see on my flickr site by clicking the blue title above.

Overall it was just an okay excursion as the crowds just got to me... kind of reminded me why I prefer landscape and architechtural photography... you tend to want less people around. Also, I managed to try out a new processing software that i downloaded for a short trial.. seems to take a lot of hard work out of post-processing.. might be my next acquisition!

Stay tuned!