Taipei 101 Night Shots ~ 臺北101夜景

This small collection of shots was taken from a vantage point atop Elephant Mountain (象山), one of the Four Beasts Mountains (四獸山) in the Xinyi District of Taipei City (信義區). Tiger Mountain．Leopard Mountain．Lion Mountain．Elephant Mountain．(虎山．豹山．獅山．象山) comprise the Four Beasts Mountains. It was a short but steep climb to the 400-m summit. The mountains are regarded as the "spirit beast" guardians of the city. I took these pictures using a 24-70 mm lens on my D70 camera, which was then set up on a tripod. The subject of these pictures is the Taipei 101, the former tallest building in the world (now the Burj Khalifa in Dubai)and the landmark of Taipei. It was designed to look like bamboo, which in traditional culture symbolizes life, growth, and learning. The building itself symbolizes many things. For example, its 101 floors symbolize an ideal beyond perfection (since 100 connotes perfection), as well as the "renewal of time", according to Wikipedia, as the Taipei 101 was built at the turn of the century. Moreover, the yellow light at its pinnacle symbolizes a "torch of welcome", and the tower itself displays the seven colors of the spectrum according to the days of the week (Ex. Red on Monday). As I took these pictures on Wednesday (August 8th) the tower glowed with yellow light.