Author: travel67

On the bookshelf: Location Portraits by Cathy Joseph

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Location Portraits by Cathy Joseph is one of the books in the Professional Photography series by Rotovision. Although the photography is excellent, this is not a coffee table book but an instructional guide on how to take portraits outside of a studio. Advice is given by experts in various fields including travel photographers, photo journalists and those who specialize in corporate portraits. As with other books published by Rotovision,  Location Portraits includes the technical details for each shot  including camera, lens, film etc and where relevant lighting diagrams. Unfortunately this book is no longer in print but it is still available new or used and is well worth checking out. (There are used copies on Amazon for less that $4!) Enjoy.

Island Icons: Hip-Hop Heroes

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Teppan and Popo are two freestyle dancers who are bringing American funk and hip-hop to Okinawa’s streets. “Teppan” (Tetsuya Yamauchi), “Popo” (Masato Ishikawa) and “Taiga” (Taiga Ishioka) have been friends since elementary school. They grew up in the small, laid-back seaside city Ishikawa, and while most of their classmates were more interested in baseball or basketball their passion was street dance. They formed their own dance team “Sound Terror” and their slick moves have taken them to competitions and events across Japan, and recently to the United States and the United Kingdom. In 2005, they set up their own SKF Dance Studio in Ishikawa, teaching freestyle dance classes to a new generation of kids with big dreams. Teppan and Popo talk about their inspiration, their dreams and their love of dance. Where did you learn to dance? “We went to various classes while we were at high school. Teppan studied hip-hop, Popo was into locking, and Taiga did breaking. After six months, we quit the school classes and started dancing together as a team. Our …

8 Hells of Beppu

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One of the most famous tourist attractions in Beppu is to tour the 8 different “hells” or jigoku. You could easily argue that they are commercialized tourist traps with enormous souvenir halls and roped off walkways corralling  you around the pools. However it’s also worth remembering that a large proportion of Japanese domestic tourists are elderly so the smooth wheelchair friendly layouts provide an accessible taste of volcanic activity.  The decision to add some forlorn looking zoo animals was misguided, and may frustrate / irritate some visitors. So here are the 8 hells:

Ishigaki-Japan.com

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Quick announcement to say that fellow Brit Richard Shaw has created www.Ishigaki-Japan.com a great new website about Ishigaki and the surrounding islands. Ishigaki is one Okinawa prefectures southern islands. I spent three weeks there a few years ago, and it remains one of my favorite places in Japan. If you haven’t seen them already please check out “ Southern Comfort – Life on Ishigaki Island” and the “A tale of two islands -Taketomi & Iriomote” over at http://www.TRAVEL67.com

Umitamago Aquarium, Oita

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There are many aquariums in Japan. They vary in size, quality and role (education / research / entertainment). The Umitamago (Sea Egg) Aquarium in Oita seems to be aimed at entertaining and educating children about the ocean. It is far more hands-on than other aquariums, you can play basketball with the dolphins, feel the leathery skin of dogfish and rays, and even touch “Ponta”, “Mee” and “Bubu” the three resident Walruses. The role of zoos and aquariums in modern society is a complicated issue. Are they little more than animal exploitation with profit the ultimate goal, or do they have a role in educating and inspiring visitors to cherish the oceans and marine creatures from zooplankton to whales?

Tokyo Megacity Book Launch

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On Saturday, photographer Ben Simmons will be giving a talk at Tower Records in Shibuya to launch his new book “Tokyo Megacity.” A great opportunity to meet a fantastic photographer. I can’t think of a more appropriate place to launch a book about Tokyo than overlooking Hachiko Crossing! If you’re in Tokyo, check it out and say hello to Ben from me!

Noguchi-gera ( Pryer’s Woodpecker )

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Just got back the film from the couple of days I spent trying to photograph the Noguchi-gera. The Noguchi-gera is a rare woodpecker that is endemic to the forests of  northern Okinawa. It is the prefectural bird of Okinawa and is designated as a natural treasure of Japan. The photographs I’d taken were disappointing, but this was hardly surprising. There were several factors that made this a difficult shot. The bird was far away, the bird was moving, the day was overcast, and above all, I was using the wrong tools for the job. A large piece of film or a large sensor isn’t much use if you have to heavily crop the image to see the bird. I would have been better using my little 35mm film camera with a 67 to 35mm adapter on the lens. Even better would have been to have used a cropped sensor digital camera which would have increased the size of the bird in the image even further. Here’s the best of the images. It serves as a …