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On the bookshelf – Annie Leibovitz Photographs 1970-1990

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In an earlier blog I talked about buying a compendium of Annie Leibovitz photographs only to realize that many of the iconic images I was expecting were in the earlier collection of her work. Last month, for my birthday, I got just what I wanted when I was given the book Annie Leibovitz Photographs 1970-1990. The book is out of print but there are plenty of used copies available on Amazon.
There are the famous images of John and Yoko, fantastic shots of the Rolling Stones (they seemed to spend quite a lot of time unconscious) along with images of a young Schwarzenegger, Christopher Walken and self portraits.

What is really fascinating is that the books together become greater than the sum of their parts. As images of Jagger, Richards, Schwarzenegger, Walken and Leibovitz appear in both books, you also have a study of aging.  Some have managed to hide the years, while the weathered faces of others reveal a lifetime of hard living that took place between one photograph and the next.

Annie Leibovitz Photographs 1970 to 1990

Annie Leibovitz Photographs 1970 to 1990

Okinawa Shop

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For those readers of this blog who once lived in Okinawa and miss things like Ryukyu glass or goya a new online store, Okinawa Shop, helps to satisfy your cravings. Unfortunately international buyers can’t purchase any of the food items, but if you have moved from Okinawa to mainland Japan you can now get things like shikuwasa juice sent to you with just a click of a mouse.

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Scuba Diving – Sunabe Seawall

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On Saturday I went SCUBA diving for the first time in months. It was great to get back in the water, I’d forgotten how relaxing (and how quiet) it is gliding over the reef.

Hiroshi, my dive buddy, took his point & shoot camera in an underwater housing. Here’s my favorite shot of the dive, lovely gradation of blue, and my plain black fins giving a clean composition.

SCUBA Diving, Sunabe Seawall, Okinawa by Hiroshi

SCUBA Diving, Sunabe Seawall, Okinawa by Hiroshi

Couch Surfing

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One of the problems with photographing Japanese festivals is that the hordes of spectators mean accommodation is often booked out weeks if not months in advance. After being unable to find anywhere or anyone in Tokushima that had a bed or patch of floor I could sleep on, I remembered a friend had recommended I try Couch Surfing on my next trip.

Couch Surfing is based around a website  www.couchsurfing.org and is “a worldwide network for making connections between travelers and the local communities they visit.” People host or surf on couches around the world. To the pessimists out there this must seem like a nightmare – invite complete strangers into your home and hope they don’t kill you in your sleep. Optimists see it as a fantastic way to meet people from different cultures and have a much richer (and yet cheaper) experience of travel.

I found a couch surfer (Sarah) who was happy to let myself and two more couch surfers crash on her floor during the festival. Everything worked out great and it was far more interesting than staying at a generic business hotel. Interestingly, Sarah’s apartment was in a building designed by Tadao Ando – most impressive!

Here’s a photo of us all couch surfing 🙂

Couch Surfing - a fantastic way to travel

Couch Surfing - a fantastic way to travel

The Traveling Photographer #1

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I am pleased to announce that starting in the September issue of Okinawa Living Magazine there will be a monthly photo tips page titled The Traveling Photographer. I’ll be giving some advice on how to take better photographs and illustrating the various points with a few of my pictures.  The September issue just hit the stands today so for those of you on Okinawa please check it out. I will eventually put the text and images up on my website for those of you who aren’t living on the island.

The Traveling Photographer by Chris Willson, Okinawa Living Magazine

The Traveling Photographer by Chris Willson, Okinawa Living Magazine

See a larger, readable, scan of the page here.

Awa Odori continued…

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3 more photographs from the Awa Odori festival in Tokushima City.

The first is a dance move which looks similar to the defensive position you see in movies after marines exit their Humvees while under fire.

Awa Odori dancers adopt a classic defensive position.

Awa Odori dancers adopt a classic defensive position.

The second is of a girl wearing a variation on the men’s costume.  (Would have preferred a cleaner background, but it is hopefully out of focus enough not to be distracting.)

Awa Odori Dancer, Tokushima, Japan

Awa Odori Dancer, Tokushima, Japan

Most of the dances took place after dark. As I wasn’t using flash, I had to “rage against the dying of the light” and look for opportunities to use the last remaining shafts of sunlight.

In this shot I prefocused on the shaft of golden light and waited until a dancer entered the frame.

Awa Odori Dancer, Tokushima, Japan

Awa Odori Dancer, Tokushima, Japan

Awa Odori, Tokushima

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The first stage of my trip was to Tokushima to take photos of Awa Odori (Awa Dance) the biggest dance festival in Japan. It takes place from the 12th to the 15th of August and was a festival I’d heard of but never seen. There are two main types of dance one for the women (wearing crescent shaped hats) and one for the men (danced by both men and women). It was a fantastic event to watch, but quite difficult to photograph as it is both an evening event (dark) and people are moving around (tough to focus). I shot a lot of film, most of which was junk, but there were are few diamonds in the rough.

Formation dancing - check out how they all balance on the front of their geta (sandals)

Formation dancing - check out how they all balance on the front of their geta (sandals)

Awa Odori, Tokushima, Japan

Awa Odori, Tokushima, Japan

Back in Okinawa…

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Flew back into Okinawa last night.

Trip went as planned except that I spent 3 nights near Nachi Katsuura to get the shots I wanted of the waterfall so didn’t make it to Mt Hiei or Wakayama City.

In Osaka I got film processed at Yodobashi Camera.

5 rolls of Provia 400F 120

16 rolls of Provia 100F 220

I still have 7 exposed rolls of 220 that I will drop off at Kitamura Camera later today.

Big pile of transparencies means I will spend the next week with a loupe, light box and scanner. Hopefully will have some images ready for the web in the next few days.