Taipei As Few See It

I worked in Taiwan on various healthcare projects and academic endeavors for a decade. Like with many countries in South East Asia, I found cultural similarities but an identity in attitude that is very specific to each country and cities in those countries.

I know Taipei quite well as it was the focal city of my visits and work. If I have to say what comes to my mind as initial and overwhelming characteristic, I would say “busy”. Especially the streets. Especially at night. People, motorcycles and cars take every inch of navigable space and all in a delightful and peaceful harmony.

So, I decided to take a picture of Taipei that would be atypical. During my lunch break of a conference, I took my Mamiya 645 in search of such a shot. Street level photos always are about traffic and large numbers of people. So for this one I perched myself on one of the pedestrian bridges over the main artery waiting for that moment.

But what was I looking for?

It suddenly happened. For an unknown reason there was an open space in the traffic file! Not a small space, but there were no cars, scooters an people jamming the street. So I took a shot.

When I was printing it, I wanted to increase the surreal feeling even more. So I underexposed the photographic paper to a fraction of what I usually like. Indeed, my favorite exposure time is about 1.15 minute. In this case, I exposed it for only 20 seconds. It is not possible to do so with 35mm film, but 120mm captures amazing detail and can yield surprising prints.

… When I look at this photo I wonder “is this a reflection of Taipei at noon?” And, as with any photo the answer is always “yes” because I cannot capture what is not there. I can only place reality on a two-by-two dimension. But what I can do is to capture that which many do not see or happens rarely.

Still, a rare event is part of reality.

January 16, 2018

© Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2018