Author: travel67

On the banks of the Yamuna River

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Sometimes things don’t go quite as expected. I’m standing on the bank of the Yamuna River with the Taj Mahal right in front of me. My favorite shots from the afternoon, however, are the goat herders that were wandering along the dusty riverbank. The last rays of sun created a glow on everything they touched. Magic.

Marine Corps Combat Utility Uniform

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Going through some images from shoots earlier in the year. Love the eye contact in these.  A huge thanks to Corporal Bermudez of the United States Marine Corps. Pentax 645D  Pentax 645 150mm Lighting – Charcoal background. Gridded Beauty Dish powered by Profoto Pro-7a as the main light . Square softbox front and low as fill. 2 medium size strip softboxes behind that were adding rimlight (powered by Profoto compacts). Strobes triggered with PocketWizards.  

Ie Island, Okinawa

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Took a 30 minute ferry ride from Motobu across to Ie Island. I’d never been to the island previously, which is amazing considering I’ve lived on Okinawa for over a decade. It also looks to have some great shore diving. Ie is famous for beef, togan, and brown sugar, but surprisingly the main crop on the island was tobacco. Ie island was heavily bombed during the Battle of Okinawa. The local population hid in caves to try and survive the typhoon of steel. In one cave called Niya-Thiya, around a 1000 locals waited out the battle. US war correspondent Ernie Pyle was killed on Ie Island on April 18th 1945. He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1944, and covered the war in Europe, Africa and the Pacific. The main event on Ie Island is the Lily Festival that takes place from the end of April to the beginning of May. There are fields of white lilies, and also several rows of the more colorful varieties of Lily.

Vary your Angles (Part 4) What’s the story

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In the late afternoon I crossed to the other side of the River Yamuna to see the Taj Mahal from the Mehtab Bagh Park. Knowing I already had the classic postcard shot of the Taj, I wanted to be a little more creative. The shape of the Taj Mahal is so distinctive, it is recognizable even when out of focus. I first tried a shot with some low hanging flowers, and then moved onto barbed wire. These shots of the Taj Mahal behind the wire, are examples of capturing a story in a single image. Of course, unless you provide a detailed caption,  it is up to the viewer to determine exactly what the photograph means.

No Osprey Protest – Torii Base, Okinawa

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Another No Osprey protest took place last week outside of Torii Army Base. It was much smaller than the event I’d previously photographed near the Ginowan Convention Center. On Friday, there were around 100 protestors (and a couple of bulls), and it only lasted for around 30 minutes. There were several short speeches by leaders of the group about not wanting Osprey helicopters and military bases on Okinawa. Then as a group they faced the gate and shouted their demands. They chanted in Japanese that they didn’t want the helicopters, they didn’t want bases, and they didn’t want military on Okinawa. Then after a brief pause, the chant became “Yankee go home, Yankee go home, Yankee go home.” This was the last thing shouted, and then the protest ended and the gathering broke up. The presence of military bases in Okinawa is a contentious and complicated issue. The Okinawans have every right to voice their opinions and try to effect change on the political situation. However, to end a demonstration repeatedly chanting “Yankee go home,” …

Snorkeling and Scuba Diving in Okinawa

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Here are a few snorkeling and scuba diving images that I shot both for Leia’s modeling portfolio, and for potential use in travel magazines. You could argue that scuba divers wouldn’t be wearing as much makeup, or that a wetsuit might be more sensible when diving in April. This is true, but as I’m not shooting this as a news story, a photographer can use a little artistic license.