Merry Christmas

Like the title says. =] Sorry i'm not doing this in chronological order.. but we'll backtrack eventually..

Well, i was alone for Christmas as my family had all gone overseas on various trips, Yes i was asked to go, however i declined, as plans i had made with a friend had some last minute changes, hence i was stuck on Christmas day alone. HOWEVER it was fine. I had a good day doing what i enjoy the most. 

by the way.. this is going to be long..

Woke up stupidly early on xmas day and stared out the window for a while. the sky was blue.. Really blue.

This is my view each morning. It's not much but nice enough in Hong Kong. And isn't that sky blue?! Haven't seen a blue sky like this since i landed 2 weeks ago. THe sky was enough to get me out of bed. 

Went back to Pacific Place to catch the train (place where those bell players were) This time there were like a trio of musicians.  

I don't know who this guy was, but people were lining up to take photos with him.. i dunno.. he seemed friendly.

this guy didn't.

or her.. but whatever.. they sounded aight..

There were a lot of people there on xmas day, surprised me a bit. lots of people with cameras too. nice gear some of them

Had enough of P.P, caught the MTR to TST or Tsim Sha Tsui and looked at the "tourist" board for  ideas of where to go. I chose Kowloon Park. Good decision. It was closer to the station that i thought and a shit load of people there. Most of them phillipinos, i assume they had a day off, as most of them, well, A LOT of them in HK are house workers. or.. people that come work for you and look after your house, clean, cook, wash, walk your dogs etc..  But more on them later. There was a maze there. but not like you think.

 

Smart having it short. Atleast you wont get stuck i there forever.. I didn't walk it. I got distracted taking photos.

This place was amazing. I'd been here for 5 mins and already amazed and taken back by it. I tried to take a photo of the place, but.. it just doesn't do the place justice. Bustling with people and the the BIRDS everywhere.. it was fairly beautiful. no. it was beautiful.

 

There were flowers. fyi. The colours are a bit muted, i never convert the colour space for web viewing. imagine the photos 20-40% more VIVID.

There was an aviary there. No joke. it was cool. I went.

I don't know what birds these are, and if you are wondering "something about this photo.. looks strange" yes. I was shooting thru a metal fence thing.. you'll see it a bit later, so the "strangeness" about hte photo is the fence out of focus giving that look. Hate shooting thru fences and shit.. but no choice. btw. LOVE the 70-200.. used it all day. except for a few photos. you'll see..

You know. As a foreigner, what seems strange to us, is normal for the natives. Like, when we, Westerners, see parrots we say "hello" or.. shit like that, cos.. parrots can talk... they said it in chinese to the parrot. i know like yeah whatever thats normal. But i've been so used to hearing it in english i had to pause for a second and think about it. haha

That's not his beak on the top of his beak.. i don't know..

From birds in cages to birds.. not in cages.

I like pretty flowers.

I love DOF more.

Looks almost like a love heart. nawww. I was there for 10mins trying to get a good photo. I looked like a loser.. but whatever.

I put this in here, although i don't think anyone wil lget it. you DO NOT understand how beautiful this place was. The light on this tree is light reflecting off the pond, and it just shimmered.. and it moved.. the leaves in the tree shimmered from this light.. amazing.. absolutely.. when i get my D3s i'll come back and take a video.. absolutely.. breath taking..

Turtles =] They liked to climb up on things.

Something simple but i liked it. Felt like new life.. new beginning. This walk was like an epiphany for me. haha

 

70-200 can do a little bit of macro. not really.. but good enough.

Photos jsut don't do it.

This caught my eye.

I like families doing things together. I went pigeon hunting. Shot one.

If you saw this at 100% you'd see how sharp it was. Love this lens.

back and forth, back and forth.. cute fella.

More trees and plants.

He had just swallowed a berry the size of his head. no shit.

Wonder what he's thinking.. wonder where his family is. This made me sad.

How do they grow in the roof? It was about 230pm. hadn't eaten since 10am. I was hungry. but i still stopped for photos.. sigh..

i like flowers =] Saw a soccer game while i went to look for food.

D80 can do sports too.

There was a fair turn out. Nice atmosphere. Don't see much of this back home. Unless i look in the wrong places. It's true. Locals know less about their own city than tourists do.. shame.

little girl wasn't too into the game.

He was though. Game for everyone. Young and old.

Went to go eat food after this shot. I don;t know who won. But i got my fill and went back to Kowloon park and took more photos..Aviary to be specific.

 

Everyone likes birds. =]

I could probably or should probably do some post work to my photos. But trying to sort and edit photos is a pain in the ass. esp for blogging. Sorry guys.. photoshop > automate > batch. is my friend =] and THOSE wire fence things i was telling you before, is what i was shooting thru.. hmm

At least I wasn't the only person alone on xmas =] It was fairly warm. Lots of people wanted ice cream.

Only ice cream and sundays. No hot food.

Found another pond. This was was epic.

This side had ducks.

AHHH!!! ^_^ i like ducks..

duck...duck...goose.

Bro had a sigmonster.. 150-500mm... hmmm

It sure would have come in handy.. Anyways.. the other side..

Do you know what they are..?

yes. Flamingos. epic.

I have too many photos of them.. so did these guys.

Little friend having a bath.

She liked the Flamingoes. Had enough of this place.. continued on..

I like taking photos of people taking photos.. its a thing i have.

Big fountain. Lots of people. very pretty.

I dunno who they were.. if anyone but they were being photographed. I think it was like a group of guys with lots of good gear on a photo taking adventure.. the dude in the red was the leader.. haha I didn't join.. didn;t want to show them up.. *cough*

By this time i had had enough of Kowloon Park. Left and headed towards the Harbour.

Still fairly busy on xmas day. as usual in HK

this is I. should smile more often.

Fishballs anyone? Had walked a little further by now..

mainlanders..

This dude was there for a good 5mins setting up before running back to join the photo (tall dude, 2nd left) i probably should have offered to take the photo for him instead of having him put it on a tripod. However i must say, it was a good effort to have noone walk thru the image. Hope it turned out nice.

Nice place here. lots of people get married on xmas day.

Lots of photographers too.

100%... mainlander.. i should photoshop something underneath her...

Very smoggy.. what started as a beautiful blue skied day had become this.. really the whole view was like this..

I probably should've posted this a little to see it better but.. thats how it was.. very smoggy.. but it created an almost dream like feel to the image..

I am fortunate enough to take this photo.. my new personal favourite.. don't know why.. but.. really.. i love it. should've given them a copy.. but too late now.. well.. that's where i'll leave it for tonight. on a happy note, and that christmas can really bring the best out of people. family and love. i'm glad i had this day off to experience it and capture it. i'd be happy to spend 10 more xmas's alone if i could get 10 more shots like this. well.. I like it... a LOT...  Hope you all enjoyed your Xmas. The next post will probably be pre xmas.. i'm all over the shot.. whatever..

Ciao ciao.