All posts filed under: Japan

Protecting your Camera Equipment from Mould

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Here’s an email I received today from a friend based on Ishigaki (one of Okinawa’s southern islands). I’ve just discovered the power of Ishigaki’s mould. I left my favorite  macro lens out on the desk for about 2 weeks….every day I told myself that I should pack it away before it gets mouldy. I finally got around it to and guess what – inner element completely smeared with mould which looks like it might have cut into the glass. How stupid. Lesson learned. I really need to get some dry-storage, especially as I’m about to buy a nice Tokina 11-16mm wide lens which I really don’t want to suffer the same fate. Mould is a serious problem in Okinawa, especially during rainy season. Lenses and film are particularly vulnerable. A mouldy lens can be sent to a specialist for cleaning but more than likely the mould will have etched itself into the coatings and a repair will be more than the cost of the lens. I imagine mould could easily create havoc on a digital sensor. The cheap solution is to store …

Onbashira – Japan’s most dangerous festival

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Although I started scanning the images from my trip in order, I grew impatient and skipped to the grand finale. The Onbashira Festival took place on last few days of my travels, and was the big event the entire trip had been planned around. The festival takes place every 7 years. Huge tree trunks that will be used to rebuild the local shrine are dragged from the forest to the town. The route, however, includes a treacherous  steep slope. The locals rather than use the slope as a respite from dragging, have made it a test of bravery, machismo, and it would appear, sanity. This is an important traditional festival in Japan, but it does come at a cost. People are often injured and fatalities do occur. I photographed the event on the Friday and Saturday. On the Sunday, while I was flying back to Okinawa, one of the participants was killed. I hope the photographs give some idea of the spectacle. The following series comes from Saturday afternoon.

Mount Takasaki National Park, Oita

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Twenty minutes west of Beppu is Mount Takasaki National Park. The park is famous for the group of wild monkeys that live on the mountain.  Throughout the day, park staff feed the monkeys barley so visitors are literally surrounded by wild monkeys. Unlike at a zoo, when the visitors leave and the feeding stops, the animals can retreat to the depths of the forest.

Island Icon: Wildlife Illustrator (and birdwatching guru) Ichiro Kikuta

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Having talked about Ichiro Kikuta in my last post I realized I hadn’t put up an Island Icon interview I did with Ichiro three years ago. Here it is. Wildlife Illustrator Ichiro Kikuta Wildlife Illustrator   Ichiro Kikuta is an artist trying to capture the spirit of Okinawa’s wildlife. When he was only an elementary school student, Ichiro Kikuta loved to sketch and paint the birds that nested near his home. During high school, he was inspired by the work of British wildlife artist Charles Tunnicliffe. At that point,he knew what he wanted to do with his life. After graduation, he spent 6 months traveling around Britain exploring the landscapes and animals that had inspired Tunnicliffe. Upon his return to Japan, Ichiro began to explore his own country with sketchbook in hand. For the past 25 years, he has journeyed from Hokkaido to the Ryukyu Islands capturing the beauty of animals ranging from snow-covered crested cranes to the Okinawan rail. He now lives in the northern part of Okinawa known as Yanbaru. There, he continues …

In search of the Noguchi-gera

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The Noguchi-gera or Pryer’s Woodpecker is a rare bird species, endemic to the forests of northern Okinawa. I’ve been hoping to photograph one for a while but in general you’ve probably got a better chance of spotting a Yeti. However as is often the case it’s not what you know, but who you know and my friend Ichiro Kikuta is a birdwatching guru living near the northernmost tip of the island. A couple of days ago Ichiro gave me a call saying he’d found a nest and I headed up north to get some shots. We set up  our cameras not far from the tree. Due to the size and weight of my 400mm lens and the addition of a 2X converter I brought along a 20 liter water container and hung it from the underside of the tripod to provide some stability. The Noguchi-gera did appear on several occasions over the course of the afternoon. Unfortunately we were shooting into the sun so although I may have some nice backlit images of the birds …

Mount Ogi Fire Festival, Beppu

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The image above is of Mount Ogi, Beppu during the fire festival. It was quite a challenge to take this shot. The fire is lit at the top of this triangle and flames slowly creep down the sides and then burn inwards over the course of around an hour. If you were to take a single photo for a few seconds you get an unimpressive thin line of fire on a large mountainside. The secret is to use a long shutter speed or shoot multiple exposures on the same roll of film. Both techniques are tricky but as I had forgotten to pack a shutter release I opted for the second method. I shot a 4 second exposure then without winding the film onto the next frame I cocked the shutter. (How to do this varies between cameras. With the Pentax 67II you hold the multi-exposure lever while turning the wind lever.) I repeated this 4 second exposure on the same piece of film every 4 minutes until the fire had finished. There were a …