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Mushama Festival, Hateruma Island (Part 2 -The Ladies)

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Mushama Festival, Hateruma Island

A few shots of the ladies at the Mushama Festival on Hateruma Island. Although the biggest festivals in Japan can sometimes be raucous male dominated events, the smaller local matsuri are a great opportunity for the whole family, young and old, to take part in celebrating traditions and give thanks.

I wonder if, on the other side of the world, there’s a Japanese photographer wandering around a village fête in rural England photographing the local bake-off, morris dancing, and a gurning contest.

Mushama Festival, Hateruma Island

Mushama Festival, Hateruma Island

Mushama Festival, Hateruma Island

HD PENTAX-D FA645 MACRO 90mm F2.8 ED AW SR

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HD PENTAX-D FA645 MACRO 90mm F2.8 ED AW SR

HD PENTAX-D FA645 MACRO 90mm F2.8 ED AW SR

Pentax has just announced a new lens for the 645D system, the HD PENTAX-D FA645 MACRO 90mm F2.8 ED AW SR.That’s a ridiculously long name for a camera lens but all those letters are actually quite important and go a long way to explaining the price tag.

HD – new high grade multi layer lens coating

FA 645D – As with the new 55 and the 25mm lens the image circle is that of a full frame 645D sensor so you can use it on both the current 645D and (in theory) on a future full frame 645D camera

MACRO Ability to focus very close allowing 0.5x magnification of the subject.

90mm A good short portrait lens length. Fits nicely between the 55mm and the 150mm (I currently use the 67 105mm lens with an adapter for this range)

F2.8 A large aperture for a medium format lens  gives the option of shooting with a shallower depth of field and faster shutter speeds.

ED (Extra-low Dispersion) Optically excellent glass. Clearer, sharper images.

AW (All Weather) Dust and water resistant seals, protect you from the elements

SR (Shake Reduction) Reduces motion blur when you’re shooting without a tripod. Great for street photography and festivals.

A couple of caveats with this lens, the same ones that I had with the 25mm lens. The first is it’s heavy. At 1040 grams for just the lens it’s going to give your arms and back a real workout. The second is the cost, at around 4000 dollars, it’s a serious investment in a very serious piece of glass.

Hopefully I’ll get to test the lens out in the coming weeks, and I’ll be better able to give comment on this bohemoth.

Nunchaku by the Numbers

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Mazakazu Kinjo & Kenta Kinjo – Ryukyu Kobudo

Masakazu Kinjo demonstrates that there’s more to nunchaku than just swirling them around the body. Use the end to jab and break your attacker’s ribs.

Mazakazu Kinjo & Kenta Kinjo – Ryukyu Kobudo

Trap the attacker’s wrist between the two shafts of the nunchaku.

Mazakazu Kinjo & Kenta Kinjo – Ryukyu Kobudo

Use your forearm to bend and twist the attacker’s arm. The step into the attacker to to take control.

Mazakazu Kinjo & Kenta Kinjo – Ryukyu Kobudo

From here onwards it’s the simple and painful application of leverage. Twist locked arm and apply further pressure to elbow as required.

Mazakazu Kinjo & Kenta Kinjo - Ryukyu Kobudo

Mazakazu Kinjo & Kenta Kinjo – Ryukyu Kobudo

Mushama Festival, Hateruma Island (Part 1 -The Guys)

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Mushama Harvest Festival Hateruma Island Yaeyamas, Okinawa, Japan

Hateruma is the most southerly inhabited island in Japan. It has its own police station, post office, school, awamori distillery and a summer festival called Mushama. I took a day off from scuba diving off Ishigaki and took the ferry down to Hateruma for the festival.

Mushama Harvest Festival Hateruma Island Yaeyamas, Okinawa, Japan

The festival, as so many are, was a gold mine for a photographer. So many interesting faces, great costumes and a welcoming atmosphere. The majority of the spectators were island residents and their families that had returned for the event. Nobody minded that I was wandering around taking photos of everyone, and as usual I was up in people’s face shooting portraits.

Mushama Harvest Festival Hateruma Island Yaeyamas, Okinawa, Japan

Mushama Harvest Festival Hateruma Island Yaeyamas, Okinawa, Japan

Mushama Harvest Festival Hateruma Island Yaeyamas, Okinawa, Japan

Canoe Eyes

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Jovanna - Canoe Eyes

Canoe Eyes – Jovanna

When photographing a person, if you bring the camera above their eyeline and ask them to lower their chin you can create what some call “canoe eyes”. As you can probably guess, they’re described as canoe eyes because the whites of their eyes form canoe shapes.

Although canoe eyes appear most commonly in images of people being alluring, they can also be used to produce a more sinister vibe,

Canoe Eyes – A Clockwork Orange

or even a simple presidential portrait.

Canoe Eyes – JFK

Okinawans protest against MV-22 Osprey on Marine Corps Air Station Futenma

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Locals protest against basing MV-22 Osprey helicopters on Okinawa

12 US Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey helicopters are scheduled to be based on Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in central Okinawa. Today Okinawans, and some mainlanders, protested against their arrival citing the poor safety record of the Osprey and the location of Futenma in a residential area.

Locals protest against basing MV-22 Osprey helicopters on Okinawa

Locals protest against basing MV-22 Osprey helicopters on Okinawa

Locals protest against basing MV-22 Osprey helicopters on Okinawa

Locals protest against basing MV-22 Osprey helicopters on Okinawa

Matsuri Exhibition – Test Prints

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The 34 images to be displayed in my Matsuri exhibition have been selected and you can see the choices on Flickr.

I then made prints of each of the 34 images myself using the same large format printer and Hahnemuhle papers I use to make prints for sale or clients. For the exhibition the images are printed borderless (for mounting on board), rather than with a white border (to be used with a matt and framed). Each print I made was around 17×24 inches or A2 in size. The prints were then sent to Tokyo and Pentax will have them mounted for the exhibition.

Pentax also agreed to print five of my images B0 or a whopping 55.7 x 39.4 in. I sent them the original DNG files and today I got five A4 size test prints from Horiuchi Color Labs

Test prints from Horiuchi Color Labs

Test prints look great so we’re ready to go big. 11 days to go.