This October if you happen to be flying Dragonair from Hong Kong, check out their inflight magazine Silkroad. Inside you’ll find a feature I wrote on Okinawan Karate. A big thanks to all the karate masters who let me wander into their dojos with my camera and notebook. ありがとうございます
I spent Saturday morning in Naha’s Budokan (The Prefectural Martial Arts Center) photographing Tameshigiri Taikai ( the slicing of rolled tatami matting with a samurai sword). Hamamoto-sensei smoothly slices through the roll of damp tatami matting. The matting is analogous to human limbs in its resistance to a blade. Impressive and yet somewhat unnerving. I’m told the man in the above photograph is a surgeon. He certainly had impressive blade control, although would be somewhat nervous if he took a katana rather than a scalpel into the operating room. After the class I was able to get a quick portrait of Hamamoto sensei. I used a beauty dish, powered by my Profoto generator as the main source of illumination. A silver reflector added a little fill from behind. Not as portable or convenient as a hotshoe flash, but I love the light it produces, and what are friends for if not to help lug all your gear around. (A big thanks to Jen and James)
Here’s a couple of recent studio portraits of Alisa and Tory. Both are building up their modeling portfolios and I wish them both a great deal of future success. It was also my first opportunity to work with the talented makeup artist Summer Martinez. Summer and I will be working on several exciting projects over the next few months so keep this blog bookmarked 🙂
72 hours after arriving in Istanbul I manage to get back on the same rooftop for the sunset. Amazing 3 days, well worth a visit. A big thanks to the people of Istanbul. A photographer’s paradise and the perfect place for a face hunter.
Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar is one of the largest covered markets in the world. I spent a couple of hours in full face-hunter mode stalking the streets and alleyways.
I met the calligrapher Hattat Kamil Nazik in a small studio near the Little Aya Sofya mosque. He produces artwork and greeting cards in Arabic or Latin calligraphy. Took a photo and then headed off towards the Grand Bazaar.
Istanbul’s Aya Sofya (also known as Hagia Sophia) was an Orthodox patriarchal basilica, that would later become a mosque, and is now a museum. Its complex history as one of the world’s greatest cathedrals, and then later as a mosque makes it a fascinating place to visit.
Many many fantastic mustaches in Istanbul. But what would the world be like if everyone had a mustache…
I arrived in Istanbul late in the evening, but managed to do a quick reconnaissance around the Sultanahmet area before going to bed. The key thing I found was a suitable rooftop, and at 6.30AM the following morning I had the perfect position to get shots of the Blue Mosque.
TRAVEL 67 : Chris Willson Photography 