A couple of street portraits I took in Shibuya.
Shibuya Girl, Tokyo
Shibuya Boy, Tokyo
Shibuya, Tokyo
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Kamakura Festival
Along with the horseback archery, last month’s festival at Kamakura included a parade of sacred horses and Shinto priests from Hachimangu Shrine. The weather was cloudy with sporadic rain but I was able to get some portraits of the priests and a few shots of the parade.
Festival at Hachimangu Shrine, Kamakura
Shinto Priest, Kamakura
Shinto Priest, Kamakura
On the Bookshelf: South Southeast & In the Shadow of Mountains by Steve McCurry
Along with the Annie Leibovitz retrospective from my parents, I got two other photography books for my birthday from Seiko, South Southeast
South Southeast is a big book in both physical size (39cm by 29cm) and scope (India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Tibet, Thailand, Cambodia and Burma). It is “a portfolio of the best of Steve McCurry’s photography” and it is simply fantastic. As a coffee table book it will draw oohs and aahs from visitors to you home. For photographers, however, it is a master class in travel imagery that will make you think more about the shots you take and the places you want to explore.
In the Shadow of Mountains is a collection of images taken by Steve over the last three decades in Afghanistan. (Yes it does contain the image of the Afghan girl that appeared on the cover of National Geographic.) I actually prefer that this book focuses on just one country giving me a better feel for the place.
Wonderful images, inspiring stuff.
EarthDesk and the approaching typhoon.
One little piece of software I have for my computer is EarthDesk. For 25 dollars it gives you god-like powers by transforming your desktop into a real time dynamic image of the planet. You can gaze down on the Earth and see areas of day, night and moonlight. You can see city lights, the physical topography of the land and cloud cover. When I look at the screen right now I can even see a typhoon approaching from the east.
Here’s a screen shot from my computer.
Screen capture showing EarthDesk and a typhoon approaching.
Clever stuff.
Rock Climbing, Okinawa
Another shot of outdoor sports in Okinawa.
Rock Climbing Okinawa
Visions of Japan Exhibition at Foster Library
From October 1st to 31st twenty of my photographs will be on display at Foster Library, Okinawa, Japan. Please drop by and check them out if you are in the area.
Visions of Japan Exhibition, Foster Library, October 2009
The Traveling Photographer #2
In October’s Okinawa Living magazine.
The Traveling Photographer Part 2 Okinawa Living Magazine
See a larger, readable, scan of the page here.
A Bathing Ape / Bape Clothing
Bape is a Japanese fashion brand designed by Tomoaki “Nigo” Nagao. It has quickly become a cult brand with both Japanese youth and American hip-hop stars including Pharrell and Jay-Z.
I think you can only buy the clothing at official Bape stores. I got this T-shirt at the Fukuoka branch a couple of years ago. It looks much better on my friend Chris than it does on me. Maybe I need to hit the gym.
Bape Clothing, Japan
Yabusame – Horseback Archery
On of the highlights of the Kamakura Festival is the horseback archery that takes place within the grounds of Hachimangu Shrine.
Three square wooden targets are placed at intervals along a tree-lined path. A rider gallops along the path and tries to hit all three targets. The event is free for people who are happy to stand on the target side of the path. If you book in advance you can buy tickets on the opposite side of the path with a better view of both rider and target. A small area was roped off for press photographers next to each of the three targets. I was stood in the third of these areas.
I love my Pentax 67II, but at an event like this (high speed sports photography), I was somewhat jealous of the lady next to me using a Canon 5D Mark II. As I have to manually wind the film on and manually focus the camera I could take a single frame for each of the dozen or so archers as they fired at the third target. I prefocused the camera on the target, set the exposure for the shafts of sunlight coming through the trees, then pressed the shutter as the rider galloped through one of the shafts of sunlight.
Just one shot came out with the horse and rider in clear focus.
Yabusame / Horseback Archery at Kamakura
However, in another frame the horse and rider are blurred, but I caught the exact moment when the arrow passed through the target.
Yabusame / Horseback Archery at Kamakura
Images were shot with Provia 100F pushed to 400.
Eboh Ajeroh Photography
A few days ago I met up with Eboh Ajeroh a fashion photographer who moved to Okinawa a year ago. Eboh contacted me before he even arrived on island to find out about where he could get film processed, but due to busy schedules we had never managed to meet up.
It was great to have a long chat about photography, particularly with someone who works in a field so different from my own. Eboh uses multiple strobes, both in the studio and on location. You can see more of his work at www.ebohajeroh.com
Image Copyright Eboh Ajeroh
TRAVEL 67 : Chris Willson Photography 