Author: travel67

Okinawa Five-O

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Coming soon to television screens this fall… Okinawa Five-0 Yuki leads a special police task force bringing justice to Okinawa’s streets. Genres: Action | Crime | Drama  Certificate: TV-14 Parents Guide: References to goya and shikawasa Trivia: In the show Yuki drives a left-hand-drive Toyota 2000GT. From 1945 to 1978 Okinawans drove on the right side of the road, and many had “import” LHD versions of Japanese cars. Lighting Engineer – Shawn Miller Director of Photography – Chris Willson A Lab Report Production

Typhoon Neoguri – The Aftermath

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Drove around today to get a few shots of the aftermath of Typhoon Neoguri. I didn’t get down to the flooded sections of the 58 as traffic was backed up for many kilometers, but did see how well the Yomitan Peninsular had fared. Driving along I saw an old lady walking slowly along the sidewalk. It wasn’t too windy, but it was raining a little. I stopped to see if she was okay and she told me she was just heading over to the village hall. She told me her name was Tokumura, she was 93-years-old, and that this wasn’t the biggest typhoon she’s ever seen. (I’m pretty sure she laughed at the suggestion.) I asked if she needed a ride, and she said not at all, the hall was just around the corner. As we talked a couple of young Okinawan guys also checked to see if she was okay. I left them chatting, and headed back out on the road. Large waves were still hitting Cape Zanpa, but the strong winds had gone. Most of …

Typhoon Neoguri Approaches Okinawa

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PREPARE FOR A DIRECT HIT FROM CATEGORY 5 SUPER TYPHOON Super Typhoon Neoguri is probably going to hit Okinawa with brutal strength on Tuesday morning. Right now at midday on Sunday it’s a beautiful sunny day, enjoy the lovely weather, but you also need to prepare for the arrival of a meteorological Godzilla. Before it gets windy and rainy. Tidy up the garden / balcony. Bring in your trash cans. Your neighbors won’t be impressed if they find your parasol embedded in their car windscreen. Have bottled water for drinking, and fill the bath so that you have water to refill the toilet cistern if water is cut off. Have plenty of food  that you can eat without using electricity or gas. Have batteries and flashlights ready before you get a power outage. An LED lantern is also a good idea. Have some towels ready as the strong winds can sometimes push rain under doors and around windows if they aren’t sealed perfectly. Rent some DVDs / buy a new book / set up an indoor bicycle …

Pentax 645Z – Frames per second / Autofocus speed

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A couple of days ago my friend Rob said he was going to sell his classic Toyota Landcruiser Prado 70. I wanted to get a pic before it finds a new home, so this morning at 7AM I met up with Rob and my friend Shawn for a quick photo shoot. Shawn drove my car, I sat in the back with the hatchback open, and Rob cruised along behind us. We drove up and down Route 58 for a few minutes and I quickly got the shot I wanted. The 645Z can shoot 3 frames per second rather than 1 in the 645D. The autofocus also locks on faster. That said, for me, the most noticeable thing about this image is the dynamic range I’ve got to play with. No photographers were harmed during the making of this photo.

Pentax 645Z – High ISO Performance / Dynamic Range

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The 645D is an amazing camera. I use the present tense, because the arrival of the 645Z does not diminish it all. The CCD sensor, however, does have a restricted ISO range from 200 to 1000.  When I bought the 645D this was not an issue for me. I was used to using my Pentax 67II camera  with Provia 100F or on rare occasions Provia 4ooX. This inability to shoot at higher ISOs meant that there were times that the 645D was the wrong tool for the job. Several indoor events, including the yuta ceremony in the cave were shot with the more flexible K5 / K3 cameras. If I didn’t have a tripod with me, there were times that I’d simply miss the shot. The new 645Z has an ISO range of 100 to 204800. Although the upper end of this range is not suitable for commercial work, the results at 3200 are very good. The above shot is an example of where 645Z enabled me to get a shot I otherwise wouldn’t have been able to get. While …

New arrival – Pentax 645Z

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It’s been a very busy few weeks and things aren’t slowing down. On Saturday night the new Pentax 645Z arrived. Bear had been hoping that box was filled with dog biscuits, so was somewhat disappointed at the mundane, inedible contents. I got to take a few pics the following day while teaching a fundamentals workshop. I’ll be doing many shoots over the coming weeks, and will put up a full review of the camera. Busy, busy, busy.

Tetsunosuke Yasuda, 10th Dan, Okinawa Goju-ryu Karate – Jundokan.

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Although 88 years old, Tetsunosuke Yasuda is still training in karate. Before the portrait session, he held a 10 kilo barbell plate behind his head then started doing sit-ups. Yasuda sensei is one of the few 10th dan masters of karate. It was great to meet him, and an honor to take his photograph. He was smiling almost the entire session. A real gentleman.  

Back in Blue

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You can dive in Okinawa all year around, but from July to October the water is warm, and rough seas are less frequent. The occasional typhoon does disrupt the fun, but these months are perfect for underwater photography. It’s going to be a fun summer.

Tetsu Gima, Hanshi 9th Dan, Okinawa Goju-ryu Karate – Jundokan

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The second sensei in the recent trifecta of Jundokan karate masters. Tetsu Gima, Hanshi 9th Dan, Okinawa Goju-ryu Karate – Jundokan. On a technical note, I now use a 20.5″ Profoto White Softlight Reflector rather than a generic 16″ silver beauty dish. This doesn’t change the look of the images, but gives better control over specular highlights and a wider spread of light.