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Hamaori-sai, Chigasaki, Tokyo (Part 2)

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Hamaori-sai

Fellow photographer Damon warned me that to get decent shots you would need to follow the mikoshi out into the sea. The waves caused the height of the water to surge from ankle deep to waist deep in a few seconds.

Hamaori-sai

I kept a firm grip on the camera, and lifted it above my head when the waves broke to avoid water droplets hitting the lens. The real danger though was the strong undertow. It pulled at my sneakers and khakis trying to sweep me off the feet. Several of the participants were sent tumbling and then sucked ten or twenty feet out into the surf before being grabbed. This lady found her unexpected dunking to be hysterical.

Elderly lady delighted with her morning dip

Hamaori-sai

then realizes her iPhone's in her pocket

The key in situations like this is to have good camera insurance. I knew the chances that I would end up swimming were slim, but there was no way I’d have taken the risk without comprehensive cover.

One thought provoking thing about this year’s festival was that on previous occasions when the waves had been of similar size the police had roped off the beach and stopped the mikoshi from entering the water. This year there were three security guards and two lifeguards, but no visible police presence. One of the locals explained that it was because most of the city’s police were up in Tohoku dealing with the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami.

Hamaori-sai - Ocean Bouncer

Hamaori-sai, Chigasaki, Tokyo (Part 1)

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4.30AM

After spending the night drinking coffee in a Gusto restaurant Damon, Lily and I joined the worshipers as they arrived at the beach.

Hamaori-sai takes place each year on Marine Day, in the city of Chigasaki. Mikoshi (portable shrines) are carried down to the beach and into the ocean. Large waves, a strong undertow, and a lack of sleep made the event even more memorable.

Hamaori-sai Chigasaki (1)

First portrait of the day, and it’s not even 5AM 🙂

Hamaori-sai Chigasaki (2)

The sun’s rays begin to creep over the horizon while more mikoshi make their way to the ocean.

Hamaori-sai Chigasaki (3)

Love shooting portraits at festivals. Someone told me recently that I’m a face collector. Sounds creepy, but it’s true 🙂

Hamaori-sai Chigasaki (4)

Pentax – Exhibitions, Cameras and the Future

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Love & Hope Exhibition discussed in the Tokyo Headline newspaper.

I was up in Tokyo last weekend to catch the end of the Love & Hope exhibition at the Pentax Forum, and to photograph the Hamaori-sai festival in Chigasaki. It was good to see the huge print of my image on the wall of the gallery, and then as a bonus find out that Pentax had also chosen it to promote the exhibition in a Tokyo newspaper.

Self portrait of a mad man. Taken with my iPhone

Had a good chat with the staff at the forum. They had the special edition Pentax 645D with a traditional laquerware body on sale at a mere 1,200,000 yen. (The perfect thing for the person who loves to collect cameras and then leave them in a hermetically sealed cabinet.) I also got to have a quick play with a preproduction version of the tiny, mirrorless Pentax Q camera. Not sure what I think of the Q. It is the world’s smallest camera with interchangeable lenses, but it will be interesting to see if it can compete with the likes of the Sony NEX-C3, the Olympus PEN or the current belle of the miniature ball the Fuji X100.

Hopefully I will have a solo exhibition of my festival images at the Pentax gallery sometime in the next couple of years.  With that in mind, it was time to meet up with a couple of photographer friends and head out of the city to Chigasaki.

Fugu Chef’s License

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A kabuki-cho fugu chef shows his license.

Fugu the dish that can quite literally take your breath away.

To avoid poisonings fugu chefs are required by law to have a fugu license. The license was introduced after WWII as many starving Japanese died having eaten improperly prepared fugu, or discarded food waste which contained fugu liver or skin.

This image was shot in Kabuki-cho, Shinjuku. The fish in the background are fugu unaware of their impending doom.

Natsumi & J.P. Engagement Shoot

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The light painting course finished at around 1AM on the Sunday morning. 5 hours later I was back at the beach for an early morning engagement shoot with Natsumi and J.P.

Natsumi & J.P. Engagement Shoot

Natsumi and I had already chatted about the look she wanted for the photographs. It allowed us to make decisions on what they were going to wear and how I would shoot. I decided on using natural light with reflectors. The final images are all very similar to how they looked in camera. I had originally thought I would give the following images an Abercrombie style sepia tint in Photoshop, but the cool blues of the sky and ocean would have lost their magic. I also consciously kept the images bright, aiming to give them a certain freshness and vitality.

Natsumi & J.P. Engagement Shoot

Natsumi & J.P. Engagement Shoot

Natsumi & J.P. Engagement Shoot

Natsumi & J.P. Engagement Shoot

Both Natsumi and J.P. were relaxed in front of the camera, and it wasn’t long until they had forgotten about posing and were just enjoying hanging out at the beach.

Natsumi & J.P. Engagement Shoot

Natsumi & J.P. Engagement Shoot

Natsumi & J.P. Engagement Shoot

All in all, a great shoot with a lovely couple. Congratulations to you both 🙂

Night Fever – Fantastic Light Painting Workshop

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The Maeda Monster by David Clumpner

It’s been a busy few weeks. Last weekend was the Light Painting Workshop with guest instructor Trevor Williams. It was a fantastic course, everyone learned a lot, and each of the students produced some amazing images. Here are just of few of things we created.

Dave bends the Matrix by Jen Shue

Dave bends the Matrix by Jen Shue

Trevor does Tron by Jen Shue

Trevor does Tron by Jen Shue

Moon and Fire by Natalie Jo

Beach Flowers by Shawn Miller

Ocean Sphere by Shawn Miller

Thanks to all the participants who made this such a great weekend, and of course to Trevor for flying down from Okayama for the weekend. If you missed this course, Trevor’s next weekend workshop will be in Vancouver this August and then hopefully we can get him back to Okinawa sometime in 2012.

July 2011 Light Painting Workshop (Shawn, Natalie, Dave, Chris, Jen, Trevor)