In Chinese lunar new year, we visit parent, relatives and friends to celebrate the new year. This new year visiting period will start from the 1st day of the new year and continue around 1-2 weeks. There is one day not suitable for visiting, it is the 3rd day of the new year. In tradition, this special day will likely or higher probability to have arguments with the others when you go out. In Hong Kong, many people go to the Che Kung Temple to worship the God “Che Kung” and wish that he gives them good luck in this year. I visited the temple today and it was really crowed. I bought two pinwheels there afterward. Why pinwheel ? it has a special meaning in Chinese too. The pinwheel spins smoothly in the wind, in our word, your life in this year will work smoothly without obstacles, sounds great! ha.

#1 -
You can see many shops selling pinwheel. It is very attractive.
It is one of the tourist attraction in HK too.

#2 – A small one for K.

#3 – A big one for family.

2008 is the year of rat in Chinese lunar new year. So rat is the theme of all kinds of new year products and also decorations in the shopping mall.  In Addition, red is the theme color as it is the sign of good luck and happiness in Chinese tradition.

Copy 2 photos taken in the shopping mall:

When I encountered the stray cats in the park or the street, I will take some shots of them.
With the my new Canon lens f/2.8L 70-200mm, I can easily get them in range. I saw many other stray cats photographs from Japaneses flickr, they all look healthy, not like the one in Hong Kong. May be the stray cats in japan are well treated?

#1 – one of the eye is blind and get wet in cold weather. He is tough.

#2 – this cat is smart, he tries to find a “human” body to get warm.

#3 – this cat is very fat, may be he is the leader here and so get most of the foods.

All photos taken by 400D+2.8L 70-200mm, and only adjusted contrast in photoshop as it is cloudy.

Thanks for watching. Best wishes for the stray cats:)

Finally I purchased the Canon f/2.8L 70-200mm IS lens, it is expensive and heavy. I am still testing its performance on my 400D.

Here are few successful shots (all untouched, JPEG resized):

Taking photo on the street, capture what people’s doing, what people’s thinking. Each photo has its own story to tell.

It is so cool that you can travel around the world along with your guitar.

Concentrate.

Is this clown can make you laugh? I think it is kinda scary.