I’d read prior to the trip that with the exception of the A-Mei Teahouse which opens till midnight, the shops at Jiufen Old Street close at 6PM. Coupled also with that most of the visitors to Jiufen are day-trippers, I’d assumed before the trip that the area will basically empty itself out from around 5PM onwards. Boy, was I wrong. The place at 5:30PM was still teeming with crowds, which was why I decided to return all of us back to the minsu to wait it out. Or maybe it was just a Friday evening thing. Our minsu owner remarked that there’s a good number of day-trip visitors who’ve opted for the evening tour package and teahouse experience, and the place will only see less people from 8PM onwards.
So, at 8PM I ventured out again in the rain alone this time to see if things have improved. Well, the crowds were indeed smaller, but there were still easily more than sufficient that it was still impossible to take pictures of the Old Street without sighting umbrellas, human faces, or ponchos. There were still a few shops and eateries opened, I did what I could, then returned back to the minsu to wait it out some more and targeted 11PM this time. The 11PM shoot really saw far few people indeed so that I didn’t have to wait long for an opportunity of an almost or fully clear street to take pictures – all still in the pouring rain. Only problem was that the one establishment still open indeed at this point was A-Mei Teahouse, and everything else had closed – which meant most of the overhead lanterns had been switched off too. Less striking pictures as a result.
There are better vantage points from terraces to see the entirety of the A-Mei Teahouse, but the entire two experiences were turning out to be miserable affairs with the rain and cold weather making things really difficult. So I took what I minimally needed, and scooted back to the house.
So, two photo shoots at 8PM and 11PM, in 14°C weather, in rain, balancing an umbrella and the Sony A73 + 24-105mm f4.0, and trying not to slip at the same time. Here’s a selection of shots. The 8PM first:
And at 11PM:
The shots were taken mostly at 24mm to 35mm angle, and at ISO3200 to ISO6400. I reckon I could have gone with ISO1600 or even lower than that, but I had to keep the shutter speeds at 1/30s and higher as I was holding the Sony A73 with one hand and the umbrella with the other, and trying desperately to keep the edge of the umbrella shield out of the fairly wide capturing window of the lens. Not easy!
But the noise control of the Sony A73 at high ISOs has really come through to produce fairly decent pictures for me to further tweak in Lightroom. I don’t think the E-M1 would have ever been able to pull this off. Though on the other hand, the E-M1 + 12-40mm f2.8 is weather sealed and I wouldn’t have had to worry at all about water seepage into the camera or lens.
The locals all remark that winter season is a particularly rainy period for the north-east side of Taiwan, including Shifen and Jiufen. So, if you’re traveling to this town for night photography, keep that in mind. You’d likely need a weather-sealed camera and lens with a lens hood to reduce the rain splatter, and wear a poncho. Balancing an umbrella and a camera is really no fun! And between 8PM and 11PM, you’d likely going to get better pictures at that time. If you want to get some dark blue skies in, you can also try shooting earlier – about 5 to 5:30PM in winter season – but be prepared to deal with the crowds.
On the overall, a learning experience – though I definitely don’t want to try a shoot in rain anytime soon again! Next post in our Taiwan trip covers the Day 09 itinerary @ Yangmingshan.
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