My school is located at the Daan District, which is where Daan Forest Park is located. As I grew up with Daan Forest Park, I have often lingered in there. There are banyan trees with long aerial roots, squirrels hopping, night herons foraging with ease, and fireflies shining like diamonds, etc. I see these plants and animals as my friends. With thoughtful and careful management of the government and civil groups, animals and plants can flourish in the park. The park provides healing spirit to the busy urbanites and a happy playground for children.

The title of my photographic works is Summer Reflection. The beautiful picture was captured on a sunny afternoon on a summer day. The sky in the picture was crystal blue without being affected by the haze. The clear water reflected the shadows of the trees with water lilies blooming on the surface. Although the picture looks peaceful, it does give people a vibrant feeling. I captured the beautiful and touching moment with my camera, hoping such a sight can be shared with more people and last forever.

After I joined Wilderness Crossing, the instructor had arranged a photography lesson for us. In addition to learning the techniques, we also tried to take as many pictures as possible in every activity. After extensive practices, we were happy to see significant improvement in photography skills. We were very excited when the instructor had asked us to host a photography exhibition. On weekend morning, we started to set up the exhibition in front of the campus square. We began with posting our photos one by one, and we made a beautiful tree art with leaf-shaped sticky notes for people to leave their feedback. The more feedback, the more leaves the tree will have, which will lead to so much joy with a sense of accomplishment.

My work for the exhibition is titled “The desire of the Night Heron”. The photo was taken in Daan Forest Park on a sunny weekend afternoon. There were a variety of birds present around the ecological pond at that time; some were foraging, and some were swimming in the pond. The common trait was that all birds were not afraid of the people who kept walking by. Other than night herons, there were many egrets and mandarin ducks surrounding the filtering outlet. Seeing the scene, I thought that all living things have the same desire for clean water. Therefore, I decided to take pictures and hoped that more people could see these animals’ desires.

I have always been fond of nature, so I have often used family trips as an opportunity to take pictures of beautiful mountains and rivers. Although I am not comfortable facing the camera, I do not shy away from taking pictures of the outside world. Since I joined Wilderness Crossing, the instructor has taught us photography techniques from the beginning. As we are required to take close-ups of people during the interviews, and photos of the natural environment to record our observations, we have a variety of “wilderness records” in our database. Therefore, the team decided to set up an exhibition to present our works. It was also my very first exhibition experience. Other than picking out the most representative of my thought, I was able to appreciate other teammates’ interpretations of the wilderness in their works.

The picture, “Hey, are you looking at me?” is a bud of a Golden Penda. Besides the Golden Shower Trees that blossom in May, Golden Penda is the yellow flower that has caught my attention. The flower of Golden Penda is very unique because it has no pedals, only the calyx and stamens. The radial filament is like a little sun hanging on the arbor. When I was taking the picture, I couldn’t help wondering “do you not want to be looked at by others, just like me?”. The plant originally came from northeast Australia. The species travelled through the equator and arrived at Taiwan, which is opposite to the migratory swallows that travelled to Australia from Wugu Wetland. In a way, the two species have travelled thousands of miles to visit each other’s home, which is what makes nature interesting.

I have been enjoying hiking and field trips since I was little. Every time I see animals and plants in the natural environment, I can always feel the uniqueness of the universe. During summer break 2020, the Wilderness Crossing members had conducted a series of outdoor discoveries. During our outdoor observations, we were able to see many tiny cute insects and plants, as well as amazing sceneries. I always like to take photos with my camera, and I can recall so many beautiful memories every time I look at the pictures.

My family had participated in the XinXian Trail tour guide hosted by SOW, which allowed us to discover an outer heaven on a heated summer day. The trail is surrounded by green fields, forests and mountains, which contain many Taiwanese native species, rivers and waterfalls. SOW volunteers also introduced to us many plants that can be used for medical treatment. When we were talking along the trail, we saw a monkey sitting comfortably on the tall tree branch above us. It was really interesting to see the monkey looking down at us from above. We must treasure the natural environment and protect our precious planet together!

When I was participating in SOW activity, the volunteer provided a detailed explanation, making every living thing look more appealing. These living things had caught my attention, however, it was difficult to take a picture of them as they were easily scared. After many failed attempts, I learned that patience and instant are two essential factors to a good picture. Even for plants and landscapes that are more static, it still requires a lot of thinking to get a beautiful composition through the lens.

My work is titled “The Aged Banyan that Coexists with The City”. The picture was taken in Daan Forest Park. The park was originally a residential area for soldiers with 1800 households. 30 years after eviction and demolition of buildings, the metropolitan forest park filled with greenery was created. The park is also known as the Lungs of Taipei. In the park, it amazed me that the aged banyan’s roots have covered and surrounded a corner of the red brick building, creating a scenery of secret passage that connect history and memory.

Photography is important to me as it has the ability to record every moment of life, turning lost memories into eternity. Perhaps it is because my grandmother often travels through Taiwan with her camera, I have developed interest in photography. I am glad that I was able to participate in the exhibition because I was not only able to capture nature’s mysterious moment, but also learned about how to focus and improve my concentration. The exhibit was truly a very interesting experience for me.

Photography actually does not require you to travel great distances into the mountains, sometimes there is a perfectly good spot right in front of your own home. Take my home for example, a group of butterflies often comes in the morning to collect nectar in the flower garden, and I was lucky to be able to capture a picture of this beautiful white butterfly. As the butterfly was flying all the time, I took many pictures to get the one that I was most satisfied with. I named my piece, “The Butterfly.” With this exhibition, I hope we can raise every student’s environmental awareness.

Located in Taipei’s suburbs, there is a place known as the back garden of Taipei – Yangmingshan National Park. It only takes 30 minutes to get away from the busy city and into the beautiful landscape. Yangmingshan has rich natural resources and various hiking trails. Its unique volcanic geological structure also provides ample thermal energy to satisfy the desire for hot springs. The diverse landscapes and good plant conservation have formed a friendly ecological environment for Yangmingshan. As a result, we can see a variety of insects, animals and birds.

In the exhibition, the picture titled “A Tiny Stream” was taken by me when my family and I took a trip to Yangmingshan. The picture was taken at the Xiao Yin Tan Waterfall, which is hidden next to the Flower Clock with many people unaware of its existence. Due to less rainfall this summer, the waterfall has become a tiny stream. Although it may not be as spectacular as before, it has created another beautiful sight with a long stream. I want to share the beautiful sight and my appreciation with everyone to remind them to cherish water resources and deliver a message of the importance of soil and water conservation.

I submitted three pictures: Footprints of Ocean Love, Perspective of Ocean Love, and Beauty of Ocean Love. The Footprint of Ocean Love was taken when the team participated in SOW’s beach cleanup activity. Through the cleanup activity, we were able to see a clean beach that was previously covered by garbage. I was touched to see the footprints my teammates left on the beach while picking up the garbage, so I decided to capture that moment and titled it Footprints of Ocean Love. The footprints may be washed away by the waves, but the beach cleanup experience had left inerasable footprints in our hearts.

It may be easy to capture a beautiful picture, but it is very difficult to capture the beautiful mentality. The pictures of Perspective and Beauty of Ocean Love are both captures of the mentality. Whether it’s the scene of people working hard to dig out the plastic bags buried in the beach, or diving into the ocean to pick up the garbage, the pictures can convey the mentality that shows the love for the ocean. Humans are responsible for the destruction of the ocean ecological environment, therefore, only humans can restore the beauty of it. Through the exhibition, I hope we can deliver the ocean loving mentality to everyone.

I have gained a lot of photography experience since Wilderness Crossing started the SOW research project. My teammates and I had participated in many SOW related activities such as swallow observation at Wugu Wetland and park tour in Daan Forest Park. We not only had a chance to experience the natural environment, but also were able to learn how to protect the ecological environment. The best part was that I could record every moment with my camera.

I selected a picture of a frog for the exhibition. It was a surprise encounter to discover the frog when I participated in the XinXian Trail tour. The volunteer tour guide had stated that there are 31 species of frogs in Taiwan. The frog in the picture is an Emerald Green Tree Frog. The color of its back is green, which has a very beautiful and cute look. Because frogs are nocturnal animals, which makes it more difficult to spot in the daytime. Therefore, everyone was very surprised to be able to see these frogs on that day!