I invite my friends over for coffee and then force them to dress up for photos. As my little garden faces west I can get down low and place my subject against the colorful evening skies. In these shots I hid the setting sun directly behind Dan which avoids blowing out the highlights and gives both the Dan and the clouds some cool rim lighting.
Pentax 645Z with 90mm and 55mm lenses. Profoto B1 with OCF beauty dish white triggered with the Profoto Air Remote.
Last weekend I met up for a collaborative test shoot with photographer Jennifer Buchanan of Sunshine Soul Photography. Jennifer specialises in couture portraits of high school seniors, and is great at producing timeless images of the young ladies before they venture out into the big world.
Jennifer arranged for two high school students Sierra and Savannah (and their parents) to meet up with us in Motobu. In exchange for their time, we’d give them a few photos they’ll hopefully love.
Savannah – Senior portraits collaborative test shoot.
Jennifer and I took turns photographing the girls. We offered each other tips, watched how we posed the “clients,” compared the gear we use, but above all we could just practice.
Practice, practice, practice.
Savannah – Senior portraits collaborative test shoot.
Practice, and a lot of it, is required to become proficient at any skill. One theory states that 10,000 hours of “deliberate practice” is required to master something. Concert musicians are well known for playing hour after hour after hour. (Two thumbs up for the movie Whiplash).
Sierra – Senior portraits collaborative test shoot.
Sometimes it’s not the gear that is holding us back, but the limited amount of time that we spend practicing with it. I used to have a purple Washburn electric guitar, but wasn’t getting the sound I wanted. I upgraded to a beautiful fiesta red Fender Stratocaster with maple fretboard, and I still couldn’t play like Buddy Holly, Eric Clapton or Mark Knopfler. The lack of callouses on my fingers was a pretty good indication of where my real problem lay.
Sierra – Senior portraits collaborative test shoot.
10,000 hours of practice may not be realistic, or even necessary to achieve your goals. But without regularly picking up the camera, progress is always going to be slow or nonexistent. As a photographer there is so much to learn, so much to practice, and so much room for improvement. One tip would be to stop spending so much time browsing through the reviews of gear, and get out there and take photos.
Sierra – Senior portraits collaborative test shoot.
Thank you to Savannah, Sierra and their parents for coming up to Motobu for the shoot. Thanks to my assistant Keith for working as a voice activated light stand. A huge thanks to Jennifer for suggesting the idea it was great hanging out with you again.
A few things I learned on the shoot.
You can work wonders with a big reflector. Especially to create very soft light across the entire face.
Watch the shape of hands. Are they relaxed, posed, flat to the camera or side on.
Cosmos flowers bloom for around 2 weeks, but different parts of a field can bloom at different times. There may still be a section with beautiful flowers when other sections just have dead heads.
Gear used
Pentax 645Z, 90mm 2.8 Profoto B1 with OCF beauty dish white, large white reflector.
Last weekend I was doing some test shots with new gear while mentoring my friend Keith about off camera flash techniques.
We headed back to the cosmos field but this time rather than using the Profoto B1 strobe with an aluminum softlight reflector I was using the new collapsible OCF beauty dish with a front diffuser. ( OCFビューティーディッシュ・ホワイト)
A crop of the top image shows the octagonal shape of the OCF softbox catchlight, and also the amazing resolution of the Pentax 645Z camera.
Back at the house M.U.A. Audra Pesicka switched the makeup and hair for a bohemian look with white henna on the hands. We shot in the garden but this time switched the softbox for a Profoto 41′ Umbrella Deep White ( Profoto 写真撮影用アンブレラ アンブレラ ディープ ホワイト M)
Another great day of shooting! A huge thanks to Natalie for being a fantastic model, and to Audra Pesicka for hair and makeup. Thanks also to Yuki and Keith for assisting on the shoot.
A fun Off Camera Flash Workshop last Saturday. Pete Leong and I taught fellow photographers Ashley, Kali, Jessa, Ray, Corey, and Takashi a few new tips and tricks for using flash while on location.
Comparing the Profoto B1 with Deep White Umbrella and the Cactus 90x with umbrella.
A huge thank you to Cactus and Profoto for providing some extra gear for demonstrating to the group.
Demonstrating the Profoto B1 with the OCF gel holder system.
Thank you to Okinawan musician Nayuta for modeling and wearing the traditional ryuso kimono, and to Yuki for assisting and interpreting throughout the day.
The OCF Team! by Pete Leong
Thanks again everyone for another successful workshop!
Last Saturday I had a great location / studio shoot with Kelley. Kelley’s husband gave her a portrait session as a Christmas present and she had some magical ideas about what she’d like to do. Her initial idea was to be a queen for a day, but with a change of outfit and makeup we realized we could first shoot softer images of “the princess” before turning to the dark side as “the queen”.
Cosmos fields are blooming at the moment so they made a beautiful background. I shot with the Pentax 645Z along with the 90mm and 300mm lenses. For light I used the Profoto B1 with a softlight reflector white.
After the softer images, makeup artist Audra Pesicka switched the hair and makeup to the second look. We first shot in the studio with a simple 3 light studio setup. ( Profoto D2 with beauty dish, and a Profoto 7a generator to 2 proheads in 1×4′ softboxes.)
Then we headed out to the village of Bise and its roads lined with Fukugi trees. This created a moody Into the Woods background.
We packed up the gear and started to walk back to the beachside carpark, then I noticed the sky. I asked Kelley if she was up for one more shot and we quickly set up the gear again. As the wind picked up and the rain began, Kelley struck the pose and we got a final epic shot.
A huge thanks to Kelley and Zac for being such fun and inspirational clients. Thank you to Audra Pesicka for her great work with hair and makeup, and to Yuki as my assistant.
Kelley & Zac 🙂
Hatsuko Machida 町田 初子 is ranked 6th dan in Uechi-ryu karate 上地流 空手. She teaches at the Ageda Women’s Dojo which is unique in Okinawa for offering women only karate classes. She explained that many of her students had not been allowed to study karate when they were young so now embrace the opportunity to do so. Many of the ladies are over 50 with the oldest still training at 78.
Machida-san was a student of Takamiyagi Shigeru (1935-2014) who encouraged her to set up her own dojo and help spread karate to more women.
Machida sensei’s class also uses the nigiri gamae (握りえ構え) ceramic jars that strengthen their grip and forearms.
After shooting in the dojo we took a short walk to the local park to get a shot of Machida sensei training outside.
All images shot with the Pentax 645Z with the 90mm lens (indoors) and the 25mm lens (outdoors). Lighting with the Profoto D2 (indoors) and Profoto B1 (outdoors) with a Softlight Reflector.
Wonderful family session with the Lyon family at the end of December. I photographed Michael and Kana’s wedding in Kagoshima 4 years ago, so it’s always a delight to see them again.
Holiday visits are always a great opportunity to take photos of the extended family. Big smiles and warm feelings on a cold and blustery day!
It’s always a pleasure to show clients my favorite spots in Motobu, and take some nice pics.
Thanks to you all for a lovely afternoon. See you on your next visit to Okinawa!
If you’d like to have your own family session in Motobu, check out the details here.
2017 is here, and the year starts with swathes of pink.
In Okinawa, farmers often plant fallow fields with cosmos flowers. Not sure if it’s just to make life a little more beautiful, or if there are direct biological effects. Maybe something similar to planting clover for nitrogen-fixation.
The cosmos flowers also provide lovely natural backgrounds for photos whether you’re out walking the dog, or taking pics of other people’s families.
Thanks Jamie for letting me share a pic of KateLynn.
Just before the New Year we took some pics of all the dogs at the Cherubims no-kill animal shelter in Ishikawa, Uruma City. There are a wide range of dogs from big to small, young to old, healthy to infirm. They all need homes, but for the very old dogs that are not normally adopted, it would be lovely if they could spend their last few months on a blanket with people to dote on them.
Please help if you can.
Cherubims Japanese Facebook Page
2016 has been an great year with a mix of photography and putting in the groundwork for future projects.
The year began with cherry blossom in Okinawa, and a few months later I was whizzing around mainland Japan shooting cherry blossom in Himeji, Kyoto, Nara and Tokyo. 2017 should be another epic year for cherry blossom pics as I run a Kyoto Workshop in April while the trees are in full bloom.
The Karate Masters Portrait Project continues although at a slower pace. In 2016, I shot images for James’ new clothing brand Okinawa Dojo of Life. The Guinness World Record for the most people performing a kata was broken, and Sensei Higa took on the minotaur of Zakimi.
Didn’t spend much time shooting underwater this year, but have made new contacts with the Churaumi Research Center so it’s been great to document some of their work monitoring the migration of humpback whales. In 2017 I hope to get pictures of other monitoring programs including coconut crabs and turtles.
I continue to shoot editorial images of life on Okinawa. Artisans featured heavily this year with photos of shisa makers, painters, weavers, carpenters, and bodybuilders. Photos went into magazines for Cathay Pacific, Dragonair, Star Cruises, Action Asia and numerous websites.
Along with the fiery Dosojin fire festival, and the damp Ohara Hadaka Matsuri the big festival of my year was Onbashira where teams of men risk their lives riding tree trunks down the side of a mountain.
I shot in and out of the studio and worked with some new gear by Profoto to add magical light to the images.
Pentax sent me their new camera the Pentax K-1 and one of the images was used for their exhibition up in Shinjuku, Tokyo.
Spent a couple of weeks back in the UK and France meeting up with friends and family along with shooting imagery in the Lake District, London and Paris. Beautiful weather, awesome museums, and a wonderful time catching up with so many great people.
Motobu is surrounded by great locations for family, couple, and commercial sessions. In 2016 I got to photograph many lovely clients and look forward to many more in 2017. Details about sessions can be found here.
This year my favorite shot is the pic of Yuki walking across the Millennium Bridge in London with St. Paul’s Cathedral in the background. Technically it works with the focus, framing and exposure being correct, I also knew that just before sunset direct light on her face would work. However, it is the little bits of luck with the clear skies, the break in the pedestrians, and the dress billowing that made it all come together.
Hope 2017 is a great year for you all.
TRAVEL 67 : Chris Willson Photography 