Author: travel67

Kamakura Festival

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Along with the horseback archery, last month’s festival at Kamakura included a parade of sacred horses and Shinto priests from Hachimangu Shrine. The weather was cloudy with sporadic rain but I was able to get some portraits of the priests and a few shots of the parade.

On the Bookshelf: South Southeast & In the Shadow of Mountains by Steve McCurry

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Along with the Annie Leibovitz retrospective from my parents, I got two other photography books for my birthday from Seiko, South Southeast and In the Shadow of Mountains both by Steve McCurry. South Southeast is a big book in both physical size (39cm by 29cm) and scope (India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Tibet, Thailand, Cambodia and Burma). It is “a portfolio of the best of Steve McCurry’s photography” and it is simply fantastic. As a coffee table book it will draw oohs and aahs from visitors to you home. For photographers, however,  it is a master class in travel imagery that will make you think more about the shots you take and the places you want to explore. In the Shadow of Mountains is a collection of images taken by Steve over the last three decades in Afghanistan. (Yes it does contain the image of the Afghan girl that appeared on the cover of National Geographic.) I actually prefer that this book focuses on just one country giving me a better feel for the place. Wonderful …

EarthDesk and the approaching typhoon.

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One little piece of software I have for my computer is EarthDesk. For 25 dollars it gives you god-like powers by transforming your desktop into a real time dynamic image of the planet.  You can gaze down on the Earth and see areas of day, night and moonlight. You can see city lights, the physical topography of the land and cloud cover. When I look at the screen right now I can even see a typhoon approaching from the east. Here’s a screen shot from my computer. Clever stuff.

A Bathing Ape / Bape Clothing

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Bape is a Japanese fashion brand designed by Tomoaki “Nigo” Nagao. It has quickly become a cult brand with both Japanese youth and American hip-hop stars including Pharrell and Jay-Z. I think you can only buy the clothing at official Bape stores. I got this T-shirt at the Fukuoka branch a couple of years ago. It looks much better on my friend Chris than it does on me. Maybe I need to hit the gym.

Yabusame – Horseback Archery

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On of the highlights of the Kamakura Festival is the horseback archery that takes place within the grounds of Hachimangu Shrine. Three square wooden targets are placed at intervals along a tree-lined path. A rider gallops along the path and tries to hit all three targets. The event is free for people who are happy to stand on the target side of the path. If you  book in advance you can buy tickets on the opposite side of the path with a better view of both rider and target. A small area was roped off for press photographers next to each of the three targets. I was stood in the third of these areas. I love my Pentax 67II, but at an event like this  (high speed sports photography), I was somewhat jealous of the lady next to me using a Canon 5D Mark II. As I have to manually wind the film on and manually focus the camera I could take a single frame for each of the dozen or so archers as they …

Eboh Ajeroh Photography

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A few days ago I met up with Eboh Ajeroh a fashion photographer who moved to Okinawa a year ago.  Eboh contacted me before he even arrived on island to find out about where he could get film processed, but due to busy schedules we had never managed to meet up. It was great to have a long chat about photography, particularly with someone who works in a field so different from my own. Eboh uses multiple strobes, both in the studio and on location. You can see more of his work at http://www.ebohajeroh.com