A couple of updates have been made to my website. There’s now a small icon taking people to my Facebook page, and more excitingly two new travel articles in the features section. Next time you’re surfing the web, take a look at The Best of Kumamoto and The Best of Nagoya. A big thanks to my good friend Nick Fraenkel for making the updates even though he now lives on the other side of the world. 🙂
I’d received several requests to see images taken with the Pentax 645D in low light conditions. (You can check out my Traveling Photographer article about shooting in low light here) On my latest trip to Osaka I hoped to get a night shot of the Umeda Sky Tower. I chose the hotel and then the room (on one of the upper floors facing North) so that I had a chance at a good shot. As with other best laid plans (and I’m sure many mice will agree with me) things didn’t quite work out. Although I had a good view of the building the angle meant that I couldn’t look through the gap between the two vertical towers. I still took the shot as I realized that this was exactly the kind of long exposure night shot that some photographers had been interested in seeing. So here’s the photo. Taken on a tripod at ISO 200 f11 30 seconds with the 105mm lens from the Pentax 67 camera. I have also put the full size …
The British Journal of Photography has reported that the Pentax 645D will go on sale in Europe in December. The list price in the UK is stated to be £9,000 for the body or £10,000 with the new 55mm lens. I am really pleased that Pentax has decided to release the camera to a wider market. I’ve been really impressed with the 645D, and I am sure there are many people in Europe who are eagerly awaiting its arrival. A larger number of users will hopefully mean that Pentax will continue to develop the system with more lenses. It will also be nice to have an English manual available! For those outside of Europe and Japan, the wait continues. I know this will frustrate many but I am sure that this photographic Godzilla will one day reach your shores.
Finally picked up and scanned the film from the afternoon kayaking with Heiko. Just goes to show that with film although it may take some time, you’ll get the results eventually.
Just a couple of extra images from the eisa festival.
There was an eisa festival in Okinawa City this weekend. I stopped by to get a few photos of the event. Most of the participants are dancers or drummers, but there are also chondara which are like clowns that help hype up the crowds, keep the drummers in line, and consume large amounts of awamori.
I’d been planning to take this shot for about a year, but kept on being distracted by other things. Drove car on to a deserted Okinawan beach in the middle of the day. Took some photos, drove home. I shot this with a wide angle Pentax-FA 645 35mm. The lens is exceptionally sharp and is thought by some as the best medium format lens available. I’ll be shooting a lot more with this lens over the following month. Glad to have it in my camera bag as I was really missing a wide angle on my last trip.
Matt the father of Alec, is a keen surfer and skater so he brought along a few props to the newborn shoot with Anya Schmidt. Before worried readers point out potential dangers, we were still in the same warm room next to the parents, and the wood with peeling paint is a surprisingly realistic bit of fake flooring. The result was some fun, and unique newborn baby images. Thanks again to Alec, his parents, and Anya for letting me be a part of their day.
Next month my sister is having a baby. Wonderful news for everyone, and I hope to make it over to the UK sometime this winter to see my new nephew / niece. I’ll bring my camera along, but to be honest I haven’t photographed many babies. I mentioned this to some of the other photographers on Okinawa, and Anya Schmidt invited me to assist on her latest newborn shoot. The first thing I learned is that newborn shoots are done when the baby is very young. We were photographing Alec at 14 days, and I was told this was quite old! The second thing I learned is that the baby controls the shoot. As most newborn images are created while the baby is asleep, you have to wait patiently in a very warm room until the baby sleeps. A newborn photographer is a bit like a horse whisperer trying to relax the baby and parents, before trying to get the shots. The third thing I learned is that if you are photographing naked babies, your …
Last weekend I did a little bit of location scouting with Norwegian photographer Heiko Junge. Shot with both the 645D and the 67II. Put all the gear in a Pelican case so I could wade across the river. Digital Discovery #10 Not really a discovery, but… The images from the 645D are now on the blog. The film from the Pentax 67II is currently on the way to Fukuoka for processing. Will get it back next week. After scanning the film I will post the images. Of course, the usage of my images extends beyond 470 pixels wide on my blog, but it is a clear reminder of the increase in speed using a digital workflow.
