Discover ever-changing joy in this
seemingly ordinary world.

The gates to the Underworld opens in the 7th month of the lunar calendar. It is the time when ghosts and spirits return to the world of the living. It's a pity that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, important religious activities including large-scale festivals such as "Releasing Water Lanterns", "Ghost grappling", and "The Burning of the King Boat" have been suspended. Although these are cultural customs, they have become accustomed to daily life since the image of Gods and Buddhas has long been integrated into the lives of ordinary people. The city has developed and changed with the times, but the ancestral temples are like big trees, gelling the people and the surroundings, hidden in every corner of the city. And then, I found that we have been accompanied with a long history if you pay attention to them.

I passed by a newly completed temple while wandering around the city, the manager of the temple was proudly telling its story. "This temple is not as quiet as the century-old Longshan Temple^*1, nor is it more lively than Tianhou Temple^*2. However, he turned to me and said: "A hundred years later, this Jian Temple will be a temple with a century-old history. In the flow of long history, the gap between these century-old temples will be shortened. Look, son, the images you shoot now will become history in the future." I smiled at him but I didn't photograph the new and golden temple that made the officer proud. Instead, I photographed the orange filter used in the filter pool next to the temple. The soft material has a sculptural-like texture, which I consider more approachable and represents the essence of things more solidly than that of those statues of Gods and Buddhas which are dozens of feet tall.

*1
The Lukang Longshan Temple is a Guanyin temple in Lukang Township, Changhua County, Taiwan.

*2
The Lukang Tianhou Temple is a Chinese temple dedicated to the Chinese sea goddess Mazu, the deified form of the medieval Fujianese shamaness Lin Moniang located in Lukang Township, Changhua County, Taiwan. It is one of the island's most famous and popular Mazu temples.

Due to the pandemic, the flood of worshipers was limited, but the traditional street operas were reopened instead. The dolls in these operas quietly and seamlessly replaced the roles of people. As time goes by, temples have to face a gradually decreasing number of people during the worship ceremony and traditional glove puppetry becomes less and less popular with scattered people, but the glove puppetry has not disappeared. I asked the temple manager why they continue to arrange these programs, and then he told me actually the audience of these street operas are exclusively presented for Gods. Therefore, no matter how difficult the pandemic situation is, I still hope that performances can be held to send our appreciation to the Gods for their divine grace and care for the place this year. The programs also evolve with the times, and we can perceive the roles and plots they play from the details of their costumes and appearances. Between the people watching and the dolls, the blurry line becomes more indistinguishable. Interesting operas are performed on and off the stage. What is the essence of being a person at this time? It is worth thinking about.

The daily street scene becomes blurred because we are too familiar with it and information fatigue. Lifting the camera and seeing them through the lens, you are seeing only through the conversion of a medium, but the world changes accordingly. I like common traffic mirrors on street corners very much. They stand quietly, but at critical times, always provide us with the correct road information and choices. With different positions and ways of viewing, things reflected by the mirror change accordingly. Looking at the mirror from one end of the street, you may see a hidden road and a motorcycle that is about to rush out; Approach the polished round mirror surface, what we see is how we perceive this transforming world.

The number indicated in "Six degrees of separation theory" has decreased since social media became trendy, but social interaction between people is less and less. During the pandemic, people are separated by both visible and invisible obstacles. For example, even a family in the restaurant will be separated by acrylic panels for dining. Through the SIGMA 18-50mm F2.8 DC DN | Contemporary lens, the closest focusing distance is only 12.1cm at its wide end and 30cm at its tele end, which makes it easy to take pictures of the food in front of you. At the same time, the telephoto end can also capture family members who are separated from each other, which is quite convenient.

In this shooting, SONY α6500 and SIGMA fp were used at the same time. The former camera is APS-C and the latter one is full-frame but I use it with the crop mode. Both of them are quite lightweight. With SIGMA 18-50mm F2.8 DC DN | Contemporary, the whole set weighs less than 800g, but I still benefit from a large aperture of F2.8 which surprised me! After all, in order to present a quiet and solemn atmosphere in a temple, faint light sources are used instead of bright fluorescent lamps. Here the F2.8 bright aperture plays a big role. With the beautiful bokeh effect, the Guangming lamps^*3 give a deeper profound feeling. Finally, what surprised me is that the weight of the SIGMA fp as a full-frame camera is actually lighter than the SONY α6500 combination, which completely makes me forget that this is a full-frame camera and I can totally rely on it when I used its crop mode.

*3
The votive candles in the temple that people lift to pray for a brighter future.

In general, the use of this lens reminds me of "To see a world in a grain of sand. And a heaven in a wild flower" described in the English poet William Blake's "Auguries of Innocence". The dynamic focal lengths of the lens allows me to see a completely different world from the same position and discover ever-changing joy from image editing in this seemingly ordinary world.