All posts filed under: Inspiration

24 hours with David Levene

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A couple of years ago I met David Levene a photographer for The Guardian. It was 5 in the morning and we were both  waiting to get in our respective hot air balloons while photographing the Bristol Balloon Festival. We had a good chat for an hour, and I said it would be great to meet again if he ever made if to Japan. I then got in my wicker basket and had my first (and only) balloon ride. It was a great experience and I got a few good photos.  A couple of months ago I got an email from David saying he was coming to Japan to get shots for the newspaper, particularly the two page center spreads, which are an amazing showcase for a photographer. Check out this short video to see the kind of work David does. (Then come right back!) David is in Japan for two weeks and came down to Okinawa for 24 hours to get some images of  Churaumi Aquarium I talked about in a previous post which …

On the bookshelf – Sport & Action

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Another title in Rotovision’s The World’s Top Photographers’ Workshops series is Sport & Action. For me this is perhaps the weakest in the series. My main niggle is that there are nine sports photographers and one wildlife photographer. Andy Rouse’s photographs are excellent, but they are completely out of place, especially when there is a separate and far superior book in the series called Wildlife.  The other reason for not enjoying this one so much is perhaps more contentious. It seems to me that for  sports perhaps the still camera is not the best medium for recording events. The opposite seems to be true in the world of Fashion & Advertising where a well crafted image has far more impact than catwalks or television commercials.

On the bookshelf – Travel & Nature

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  Rotovision is a British publisher that produces several really good books on photography.    I just got one of the latest releases in their “The World’s Top Photographers’ Workshops” series titled Travel & Nature. The book is divided into ten sections each based around a particular photographer. Each section has an interview with the photographer, several pages of their best photographs and then a Tips for Success page where the photographer gives 10 nuggets of wisdom (or common sense).  Travel photography is a bit like ecology  in that it is a blend of several different disciplines. This book therefore has interviews with a wide range of photographers including Steve Bloom (nature), David Doubliet (underwater) and Lee Frost (landscape).  I have most of the titles in the series, some of which are better than others. Travel & Nature due to its diversity is a great book by itself, and if you like the informative style that delves more into the mindset of the photographer rather than the equipment he or she is using it deserves its space …

The song in my head : Boom de ya da!

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And just in case you want to sing along too, here are the lyrics: I love the mountains, I love the clear blue skies I love big bridges   I love when great whites fly   I love the whole world And all its sights and sounds   Boom de ya da, boom de ya da  Boom de ya da, boom de ya da      I love the oceans   I love real dirty things I love to go fast   I love Egyptian kings   I love the whole world   And all its craziness Boom de ya da, boom de ya da  Boom de ya da, boom de ya da      I love tornadoes  I love arachnids   I love hot magma   I love the giant squids   I love the whole world It’s such a brilliant place Boom de ya da, boom de ya da Boom de ya da, boom de ya da

Photographer Ben Simmons

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Last week photographer Ben Simmons visited Okinawa and dropped by my house for coffee and a chat before exploring the island. It was fantastic to meet Ben and have a good discussion about photography, living in Japan, and the changes in both camera technology and the photography industry as a whole.       I also got some advice on places to shoot when I am in Tokyo for a few days later this month. Ben has published several books including Tokyo and Japanscapes: Three Cameras, Three Journeys.           What pleased me most of all was that after many decades of working as a professional photographer Ben still loves taking photographs. I think it is all to common for the realities of work to erode away the passion you have for something. I know SCUBA diving instructors who found that their dream career rapidly became more and more like a regular job. It gives me confidence that I will still love taking photographs for decades to come.      

Inspiration – Stephen Wiltshire

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When I was around 11 years old I saw a TV programme about an extrodinary British boy just a year older than myself. His name is Stephen Wiltshire and he has not just a photographic memory, but the ability to then reproduce what he has seen on paper. In May 2005 after a helicopter flight over Tokyo he drew a 10 meter long 360 degree panorama of the city over the following 8 days. Possibly the greatest feat of memory there has ever been.   See a larger version of the above panorama here I love Stephen’s work, we have a shared interest in architecture and classic vehicles. Several years ago  I even bought a tiny sketch he had done of a New York taxi. It seems that  taxis have become one of his favorite things to draw, but for me his most awe-inspiring pictures are his cityscapes of London and New York.    Next time I am in London I plan to visit his gallery, but until then I’ll continue to keep up to date with …

Baraka

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A couple of years ago I met up with Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert, a Tokyo based photographer who produces fantastic images for clients ranging from The Guardian to Greenpeace. During our conversation he asked which photographers I was inspired by. There was a rather embarrassing pause, followed by me admitting that I had always been inspired more by TV and movies than photographers.  The truth is it was the images from documentaries like The Trials of Life and movies such as Dances with Wolves and Braveheart that were truly awe-inspiring. There is one film above all others that really affected me  – Baraka. Baraka is a fantastic journey through 24 countries with breathtaking cinematography.  I was amazed when I saw it 14 years ago as a university student, and it still inspires me. One wonderful thing is that I have now been to some of the places captured in the film. I have witnessed snow monkeys relaxing in their hot spring pools, and thousands of commuters surge through Tokyo’s stations. In a previous post I talked about film size and the tradeoff between film size( …

Childhood Inspiration

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  There are a few really memorable people from when I was growing up. Family not included, these people tended to inhabit the grey box in the corner of the living room.   This morning I saw on the news that one of my TV heroes, Tony Hart, had died. He inspired a generation of kids to draw and paint through his show Take Hart on the BBC.  As a child I used to watch in amazement at he chatted to Morph, his animated plasticine sidekick. There was also something strangely calming about “The Gallery” when you stared at the creations kids from all over the country had sent into him while a mezmerizing jingle played in the background.     Both Tony Hart and Morph will always be a wonderful part of my childhood, and I am sure the feeling is shared by thousands if not millions more.

Where the Hell is Matt?

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It started as a regular guy (Matt) using his digital camera to take videos of himself doing funny little dances while on his travels around the world. His dances became a You Tube phenomenon and now he travels to more and more places doing his funny little dances.  Looking for something to make you smile? Here it is…

On the bookshelf

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My fascination with photography  began  in 1999 when I arrived in Japan. I bought my first SLR camera, put in some film and started taking pictures. I didn’t have any photographer friends, know of any photography clubs or really have any clear idea of what I was doing. For the first few months my new camera remained in the auto everything mode, but slowly I started experimenting seeing what all the other buttons did and working my way through the camera’s manual. Taking more and more photographs is a great way to improve, but I still didn’t have anyone that could offer me advice on subjects like which lenses to use or the best way to shoot a portrait. It turned out however that there were hundreds of fantastic mentors out there who had distilled their wisdom into books. It didn’t matter that I was living in a snowdrift in northern Japan as those magical brown cardboard boxes from Amazon always managed to get through. And so in a country where I can’t even read the children’s …