TRAVEL 67 : Chris Willson Photography

Here’s the second image from the model shoot of Nikki I did with Eboh last month.

Studio shoot with model Nikki Wright

Thanks very much to the folks who came out to the Kadena Market Day. Overall, it was a good experience, met a lot of nice people and had some interesting conversations.

Kadena Market Day Display

Many, if not most, freelance photographers have to act as their own accountant, business manager, travel agent, website designer, publicist and even therapist. Adding the role of “vendor” has its own challenges to overcome, its own skill set to learn. I guess the only way to approach it is, like anything in life, to simply do it to the best of your ability.

I’ll be at Kadena Market Day in the Schilling Community Center from 10AM to 3PM tomorrow. Please drop by and say hello!

On a completely different topic…

Just checked to see if the Japanese release date for the new Sherlock Holmes movie is December 25th (the same as the US) or December 26 (the same as the UK). It turns out the Japanese release date is April 3rd. Bah, humbug!

Last Friday, the staff of One Shot Tattoo in Naha City were kind enough to let me take some photographs at their tattoo studio. Even better one of their clients gave me permission to photograph his full body irezumi.  I am not going to even pretend this is an everyday occurrence for me.

I set up a black background in a small changing room then used a hammerhead flash with a softbox attachment for lighting. I used the Pentax 67II, Fuijfilm Provia 100F and a 100mm macro lens. When I had everything set up Kamiya-san came in, stripped of his clothes and I took two rolls of film. Not sure how long the shoot lasted, I was too busy checking and rechecking the settings on the camera and flash making sure that I was getting everything right. Supposedly I looked a little flustered which would be about right.

The dragon on his stomach was remarkable, it moved and changed shape as he breathed, and at one point while looking through the viewfinder I thought I might be having a hallucination.

Irezumi - Japanese tattoos

Irezumi - Japanese tattoos

Later I took some shots of the studio owner and artist Satoru Koizumi tattooing a new design onto Kamiya-san’s wrist. It looked painful but as you can see from the photo some people are able to control themselves far better than others.

Satoru Koizumi of One Shot Tattoo at work.

I’d like to thank Michelle and Annya for helping set up the shoot, Satoru Koizumi for allowing me to take images in his studio, and of course Kamiya-san for baring all and allowing me to share this ancient Japanese art form with others.

A few weeks ago I spent the afternoon shooting with Eboh a fashion photographer based in Okinawa.  I don’t normally shoot fashion, or do much studio work so it was a fascinating experience.

The setup was relatively simple. White seamless background, that was blasted with light from two strobes. The main strobe was a large beauty dish positioned in front of the model and about 2 meters high. A silver reflector was used to bounce a little fill light up.

The three strobes went to a single Norman battery pack which was then triggered by a Pocket Wizard.

I used my Pentax 67II with a 165mm LS (leaf shutter lens). The leaf shutter lens allowed me to use flash synched at 1/250 of a second rather than 1/30 of  a second. A flash cable connected the leaf shutter lens to a second Pocket Wizard which triggered the strobes.

The model for the shoot was Nikki who did a fantastic job. Eboh took a variety of images with different outfits and poses. I would watch Eboh work, and then we’d switch and I’d take a few shots.

The film was processed and then another friend, Photoshop guru Annya, helped show me the basics of crafting the final image. (It turns out the Photoshop can do far more than my usual dust removal and cropping.)

Fashion shoot with model Nikki Wright.

Eventually you end up with a final image, or a version of the final image before you start tweaking it again. Many thanks to Eboh, Nikki, and Annya!