I spent the first 6 months of my time in Japan living in Niigata. It’s a busy port city, famed for its excellent rice and heavy winter snow falls. This shot really reminds me of the paintings by L. S. Lowry. It has the same grey, industrial bleakness as my hometown of Manchester. The factory with the red and white towers is the paper mill. (This bleakness is not a permanent state, both cities do have some lovely sunny days.)
I spotted this Red-crowned Crane on the back of a bridal kimono while wandering around Niigata. The Red-crowned Crane is thought to bring luck, longevity and fidelity which is why it’s often found on wedding kimono. Hopefully I will get to see some real Red-crowned Cranes (Grus japonensis) later this winter in Hokkaido.
I didn’t spend that much time with the monkeys this year, but came away with a few good shots. Really pleased with the detail I was getting in the eyes and fur, then a nice drop off into creamy bokeh. Weather proofing of the body and lens was useful as it was snowing at the time, and the monkeys tended to splash when they were getting in and out of the water.
Monkey, there’s no other superstar, you know that I’ll be your papa – paparazzi Japanese Snow Monkeys at Jigokudani Onsen, Nagano Prefecture Pentax 645D with Pentax-FA 645 55mm Read the article about snow monkeys and how to get to Jigokudani on my main website
Dosojin Fire Fesitval is held on January 15th each year in Nozawa Onsen, Nagano Prefecture. A “shaden” or temporary shrine is built of beach wood and then the town’s 42 year old men (an unlucky age) sit on the top. The town’s 25 year old men (another unlucky age), drunk with sake, stand at the base of the shrine. Local men and boys carrying flaming torches try to set fire to the shaden while the drunken 25 year olds must protect them by hitting the torches with pine branches. The battle goes on until flames take hold of the shaden and the 42 year old men quickly descend by ladder to safety. The shaden is then engulfed by flames, and everyone staggers home.
Last Friday I arrived at sunny Naha airport with a ticket to Niigata. Unfortunately, the flight was cancelled due to heavy snow up on the mainland. They told me the next flight to Niigata was the following day, when things would probably be back to normal. The problem was I needed to be in Niigata that night, so that I could get to Nagano the following day. ANA allowed me to change my ticket and get on a flight to Haneda. I then got the monorail and local train to Tokyo Station, and finally jumped on the bullet train to Niigata. I arrived in Niigata 4 hours later and 11,000 yen poorer than I’d expected, but at least I’d made it. Let the adventures begin.
Snow monkeys, Nagano. Mount Ogi Fire Festival in Beppu Beppu Sand Baths Onbashira Festival Korakuen, Okayama Dogo Onsen, Matsuyama Studio shoots with the new Pentax 645D Location shoots with the new Pentax 645D Akita Kanto Matsuri Nebuta Matsuri Shinjuku Shoot Yasukuni Shrine Kishiwada Danjiri Naha Tug of War In the studio
The final couple of images from my studio shoots make up this final post of the year. The model is Nina, Kim Clay did makeup and hair. Nina’s done a lot of modeling around Asia, so it was a great opportunity to work with her while she was back home visiting Okinawa. So that’s it for 2010. Happy New Year everyone and see you in 2011.
It has probably become obvious that I’ve been doing a series of portraits that all have the same basic ingredients: model against a grey background, lit with a beauty dish and a fill light. For most shoots I did a simple, natural portrait followed by a second look in which the makeup artist, Kim Clay, could flex her creative muscle. The beauty shots are a great way for me to concentrate on the fundamentals. By not showing any jewelry or clothing, you simplify the image. I take the majority of portraits close up and I usually like the model looking directly at the camera. It was during my exhibition that I realized that I work in the studio in a very similar style to when I’m traveling . The majority of prints I had put on display were also head and shoulder crops of people looking directly at the camera. As a photographer I think I am trying to capture a moment of connection between the subject and the viewer. Step by step, I can now add …
A couple of weeks ago I put up the panoramic photo taken by Pete Leong of my exhibition. Pete took the photo with his iPhone using an app called AutoStitch. You simply take a series of overlapping photographs with your phone, then open the app, select the images and the app will stitch them all together into one seamless image. AutoStitch is only a couple of dollars so it seemed like a fun thing to try out. You probably will have slightly ragged edges to the image when it is stitched together, but the phone can automatically crop out the black space for you. If you have an iPhone and feel like broadening your photographic horizons then it’s well worth playing around with.
TRAVEL 67 : Chris Willson Photography 