All posts filed under: Japan

Hamaori-sai, Chigasaki, Tokyo (Part 3)

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The early start was all a bit too much for this little girl. This baby was equally unimpressed. I did however find a happi dog. (This is a hilarious pun.The short sleeved jacket the dog is wearing is called a Happi. Please roll around on the floor with laughter.) The man above is a katsugite (担ぎ手) or mikoshi carrier. The huge callous on his shoulder tells you that he always carries the mikoshi on his right shoulder and he does it a lot. I presume he take part in festivals all over Japan, it’s not something that would appear after just a single morning down at the beach.

Hamaori-sai, Chigasaki, Tokyo (Part 2)

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Fellow photographer Damon warned me that to get decent shots you would need to follow the mikoshi out into the sea. The waves caused the height of the water to surge from ankle deep to waist deep in a few seconds. I kept a firm grip on the camera, and lifted it above my head when the waves broke to avoid water droplets hitting the lens. The real danger though was the strong undertow. It pulled at my sneakers and khakis trying to sweep me off the feet. Several of the participants were sent tumbling and then sucked ten or twenty feet out into the surf before being grabbed. This lady found her unexpected dunking to be hysterical. The key in situations like this is to have good camera insurance. I knew the chances that I would end up swimming were slim, but there was no way I’d have taken the risk without comprehensive cover. One thought provoking thing about this year’s festival was that on previous occasions when the waves had been of similar …

Hamaori-sai, Chigasaki, Tokyo (Part 1)

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4.30AM After spending the night drinking coffee in a Gusto restaurant Damon, Lily and I joined the worshipers as they arrived at the beach. Hamaori-sai takes place each year on Marine Day, in the city of Chigasaki. Mikoshi (portable shrines) are carried down to the beach and into the ocean. Large waves, a strong undertow, and a lack of sleep made the event even more memorable. First portrait of the day, and it’s not even 5AM 🙂 The sun’s rays begin to creep over the horizon while more mikoshi make their way to the ocean. Love shooting portraits at festivals. Someone told me recently that I’m a face collector. Sounds creepy, but it’s true 🙂

Pentax – Exhibitions, Cameras and the Future

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I was up in Tokyo last weekend to catch the end of the Love & Hope exhibition at the Pentax Forum, and to photograph the Hamaori-sai festival in Chigasaki. It was good to see the huge print of my image on the wall of the gallery, and then as a bonus find out that Pentax had also chosen it to promote the exhibition in a Tokyo newspaper. Had a good chat with the staff at the forum. They had the special edition Pentax 645D with a traditional laquerware body on sale at a mere 1,200,000 yen. (The perfect thing for the person who loves to collect cameras and then leave them in a hermetically sealed cabinet.) I also got to have a quick play with a preproduction version of the tiny, mirrorless Pentax Q camera. Not sure what I think of the Q. It is the world’s smallest camera with interchangeable lenses, but it will be interesting to see if it can compete with the likes of the Sony NEX-C3, the Olympus PEN or the …

June 16th 2011 Lunar Eclipse – Okinawa, Japan

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Got up at 3.30AM and drove over to Cape Maeda to watch the Lunar Eclipse. My plan was to photograph the moon reflected in the ocean as it neared the horizon, but this wasn’t possible due to clouds on the horizon. The image above is not a particularly interesting shot, (nothing to put the moon in context) but is a decent enough snapshot to remember the event. I was pleased that most of the sky was clear  so I could at least witness the lunar eclipse. This is in contrast to the  solar eclipse a few years ago when, having travelled all the way to Yakushima to be in the zone of totality, we spent the entire day under a thick layer of rain clouds.