Fall 2014

Feels like work has taken over my life lately... It took away most of my time, my mind, and more importantly, my sense of artistry.  Believe it or not, I have not taken any vacation time off since April when I went to China -- go figure!  I am soooo tired!!

Since I will be out of the country on vacation for 2 weeks starting this weekend, I sneaked out last weekend and took the one and only autumn picture of 2014.  Not sure if the leaves will still be here when I come back, but I am keeping my fingers crossed -- really, truly hope I could see more of the amazing fall colors...

You have no idea how much I regretted for not being able to spend more time at that sweet little pond, but I hope the colorful sentiment has been captured!

Woodward Lake, Michigan
September 27, 2014  

Chinese Moon Festival: 2014

It's Chinese Moon Festival today.  It's on August 15th each year based on the lunar calendar.  For some unforgivable reasons, I did not take any pictures of the "full" moon yesterday, and obviously, the name of the game today is work.  So, I don't have any full moon pictures for 2014 -:(((.

However, I found a picture taken last year when I was visiting Inner Mongolia in China.  It was a full moon on 10/18/2013, and the skies in the desert were unbelievably clear.  I remember being taken to this famous "dead tree forest" in the desert, where hundreds of acres of dead trees laying around silently with different sizes and shapes.  I was deeply touched by the deadly quiet surrounding and started to imagine the place from a hundred years ago when the trees were all alive... It was the golden season there in October, the trees, the leaves, the water, the soil, the grass, the birds, and everything -- so harmoniously composed, like a beautiful poem.

Now, a hundred years later, water disappeared, trees died, leaves gone, only the lonely tree trunks are still standing -- in the wind, in the rain, in the cold and in the heat...  The moon would rise and set every day and turn full every month -- this is the circle of life, circle of the world, and circle of the universe!

Picture 1 = Full Moon in Twilight (the reddish colors of the tree trunks and the sky looked totally unreal -- but that's the way it was)

Picture 2 = Same kind of trees today (胡杨林) -- 20 miles from the "dead trees forest" 

Inner Mongolia, China
October 18, 2013

Saturday Morning

I've told myself over and over again -- photography is largely not about technical skills, it's about being out there to see the world.  Even if it's the same part of the world, you are likely to see different things each time because nature is a wonder and the world has its endless beauty...

Downtown Chicago, IL

September 6, 2014

5:51 AM

Lake Mead in History: August 2014

Traveling for work this week so I had a chance to visit Lake Mead near Vegas.  Many thanks to my friend James who took me to this historical site.

Lake Mead is the largest reservoir in the United States. It is located on the Colorado River in the states of Nevada and Arizona. Formed by the Hoover Dam, Lake Mead is 112 miles long when the it is full, has 759 miles of shoreline, is 532 feet at greatest depth, with a surface elevation of 1,221 feet above sea level. When filled to capacity, it has 28 million acre-feet of water. However, the lake has not fully reached this capacity since 1983 due to a combination of drought and increased water demand.

The part of the lake I visited earlier this week has completely dried up, and this is a 70-year historical record.  I am thankful to be able to see a piece of the history where a trace of the struggle between human and nature can be found...

Picture 2 shows where people used to dock their boats, and the white line on the side of the mountain indicates the water level from 30 years ago -- pretty incredible and unforgiving stuff !! 

Lake Mead, Nevada
August 27, 2014

Hawaii, the paradise... (11)

I would not have done justice to the Big Island had I not showed you Kona Village -- the west side of the island.  So, here it is -- the desert side of the paradise!! 

We didn't have enough time to go back there for the 2nd time during our last trip, but I would like to visit Kona Village again next time.  When you drive to the west side of the island, it feels like you're in a totally different world.  The land is covered by the lava rocks, deserts and those tiny little grasses.  Human "intervention" is significant there, as evidenced in Picture 1, where expensive resorts have been built on top of the lava land!

Wish I could go back to take photos of the little grasses under the setting sun.  They grow under harsh conditions, but to me, they look as attractive and beautiful as all other green grasses...  I am sure that during each sunset, they get to show off their unique beauty in golden color...

Big Island, Hawaii

December 2, 2013

Hawaii, the paradise... (10)

I am still on my long journey of processing all the Hawaii pictures.  It makes me wonder if I can ever afford to go to Hawaii again, as the time required to process all the pictures is enormous!

The attached photos were taken in the mid morning of 12/5/2013 at the Mauna Kea on the Big Island.  I remember going up there in the dark that morning to catch the sunrise, and I saw one of the most amazing sunrises -- the sun was rising from the "ocean of clouds..."

These photos were captured when we came down the mountains, and we actually went to the same level as the volcanic craters. On the second photo, you'd see some white dots on the left side of the mountains.  Those were goats.  When you sat there in the open land next to the craters and listened to the soft voices of goats from the remote mountains, you'd feel like in heaven -- it's more than GREAT!

Volcanic Craters in Morning Clouds

Big Island, Hawaii
December 5, 2014

 

My Facebook

In this "information age" and the era of social media, I feel the need to take a minute to touch on my relationship with my Facebook.

1.  I joined Facebook on 3/13/2009 because one of my friends "friended" me.  I still remember making a statement on my profile, not particularly social media friendly. 

2.  Over the past 5 years, I was able to successfully secure 4 valuable Facebook friends:

       My little Michelle (age 24)
       My little Larry (my nephew, age 17)

       Steve Chen (my cousin's son who came to the U.S. for college and graduate school, age 24)

       Jeremy Cai (my good friend's son who went to college last year and is living his BIG dreams, age 19)

3.  There are MANY "friends" pending in the que.  If you are one of them, please accept my sincere apology.  I did not mean to offend you... but fundamentally, I want to preserve my Facebook only for younger generations.

4.  After 5 years, my Facebook page contains (only) the following lovely entries --        

11/26/2011:  Pei Tang became friends with Michelle Zhang

12/22/2012:  Tagged by Michelle -- Courtesy of my mother who spends all of her free time traveling to beautiful places and taking amazing photos at strange hours.

05/12/2013:  Tagged by Michelle -- Mom, you are the coolest. You can tell by the sunglasses. Happy Mother's Day, I love you! (This is not the cool picture Michelle referred to).

03/25/2014:  Tagged by Michelle -- Because while I am here struggling to maintain my sanity, my mom is off in California taking pictures like this.

08/15/2014:  Tagged by Michelle -- Courtesy of my mother, who somehow can make even Naperville look amazing.

5.  I must tell you, every time my pictures got tagged by my little Michelle, I felt like I won a big photography award!!