Author: travel67

Pixels 2 Pigment – Martin Bailey Okinawa Workshop

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If you listen to photography podcasts or are interested in Japanese wildlife photography you’ve probably already come across Martin Bailey. Check out his website to learn more about him, but in summary he’s a talented guy from the UK who works as a photographer in Tokyo and shares his knowledge with others through his podcast, an e-book, photography tours, and workshops. A couple of the areas Martin is particularly knowledgable in are color management and printing. These are key parts of a professional photographer’s workflow, and without a firm understanding of them, you’re just hoping for the best rather than taking control. After the successful Photography 101, Off Camera Flash, Retro Portraits, and Light Painting workshops I contacted Martin to ask if he’d like to come to Okinawa to teach a weekend workshop on color management and printing. We discussed the idea and as Martin is already planning on teaching  Pixels 2 Pigment workshops in the UK, America and Australia later in the year, he said if there was enough interest he’d come down to Okinawa …

Wonderful Workshops

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A great time was had by all at the two workshops held last week by Trevor Williams. Things were decidedly silly at the retro portraits evening, and smoking hot at the light painting weekend. Here are a few shots from the students. A huge thanks to Trevor for coming down to Okinawa again, you’re always welcome back to our little island.

Uechiryu Karate 9th dan Takehiro Gaja

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Gaja-sensei, a lovely Okinawan man in his late 60’s, who after years of conditioning, has become both the unstoppable force and the immovable object. Uechiryu Karate is in my opinion the toughest of the karate styles. It is based around brutal conditioning of the body so that, if required, the person can endure heavy blows and then deal out a devastating response. Conditioning fists, forearms and shins is done through striking punch bags, wooden boards and even concrete pillars. Gaja-sensei demonstrated his technique for conditioning fingertips. Fill a bucket with stones (or sand if you’re taking it easy) and then punch with an open hand deep into the bucket of stones. So why condition the fingers to such an extent? The answer is simple and brutal. Poking someone in the ribs is more effective if you can literally reach in through the rib cage and remove some of them.

Juggling

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Another brief note to say that I’ll be back to posting soon. The Trevor Williams workshops went great, have done several portfolio shoots with local models, another couple of karate master portraits and slowly getting to grips with underwater photography. Along with that there’s been the usual drama with a computer that occasionally misplaces hard drives (hooray for Time Machine) and a labrador that is continually shedding hair.

Busy Busy Busy

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It’s been a little hectic the last week with various shoots, and getting ready for the coming workshops. Blog posts will follow soon. Also a quick reminder that there are a few places left on the retro portrait workshop and the light painting workshops. As a bonus it looks like the rain will have finally stopped. Here’s one of my favorites from last year’s course.

Recovering the war dead on Okinawa

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A month ago I worked with writer Julian Ryall on a piece about how the remains of the war dead found on Okinawa are identified and hopefully returned to their family graves. Photographing the skeleton of a dead Japanese soldier, and shards of bones in various trays was somber, but at that moment you are working and concentrating on getting images. Only later, when you’ve packed your gear away and returned to everyday life do you ponder the deeper meanings of what you’ve witnessed. On the cover of the Number 1 Shimbun is an image I shot of Gushiken-san a volunteer that has devoted his life to returning the remains  of the fallen to their loved ones. Inside are a couple more images and the feature by Julian Ryall.

Pick and Tuck Dressage and Eventing

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Riding instructor Alexis leaves Okinawa today, but will soon be back in the saddle on American soil. Alexis wanted some new images for her company Pick and Tuck Dressage and Eventing so we set up a shoot to take some horse jumping and barn images. For the horse jumping images I used a long 400mm telephoto lens and prefocused the lens on the bars of the jump. With the lens on a tripod and everything focussed and framed I just waited for the Alexis and Sky to be in the classic legs tucked position before firing the shutter. I took photos of two different jumps, once facing almost into the sun producing a backlighting effect, and the other with the sun almost behind me. I prefer the style of lighting and the more muted tones of the above image, but it’s all a matter of preference. I wish Alexis and her husband Michael safe travels back to the States. Okinawa, and particularly Sky, will miss them.

Gojuryu Karate 10th dan Tetsuhiro Hokama

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A great day last weekend shooting with Gojuryu karate 10th dan Tetsuhiro Hokama. As is clear from the following photos the idea that karate is a weaponless martial art is clearly not accurate. Although many practitioners state that karate means empty hand, the original meaning of the word was Chinese hand. Improvised weapons, many from farming equipment, were very much part of karate. It might seem strange to see a karate master using duct tape covered nunchaku, but it’s also impressive that he’s using them so much he’s got to give them a little reinforcement. “Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far” Theodore Roosevelt, a big proponent of the rokushaku bo. Tonfa now used by police forces across the world. Never start a fight at the Okinawan dragon boat races. The Okinawan sai, as used by Raphael. Hopefully before you clicked on that link you weren’t thinking of this other Raphael. Hokama-sensei showed how the kama can be used between the opponents legs to end the fight very quickly. And if …