All posts filed under: Japan

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 …

iPhone Apps for Photographers

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On my last trip I found my iPhone to be a fantastic companion. Although it did struggle to  make phone calls (possibly due to the fact that it uses the Softbank network) it was filled with many other great features. Of course I could listen to music, watch videos and check emails, but there are several applications out there that are particularly useful for photographers. The first one comes as standard on the phone: the compass. While walking around at night scouting locations, I could check where the sun would be the next day. Also it  stopped me walking a couple of kilometers in the wrong direction when confused by Japanese street signs. The Simple Depth of Field Calculator is a useful learning tool and field tool that allows you to calculate which parts of your photograph will be in focus for a given film/sensor size, lens length, f-stop, and focus point.  Use it to check you will have front to back sharpness when shooting landscapes or calculate just how shallow your depth of field …

Beppu Sand Baths

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Just started scanning the images from my trip. Here’s a couple of shots from the sand baths of Beppu. I tried the sand baths myself, and although it was  an interesting experience, the sensation of the heavy sand pressing down on your chest while your arms are pinned to your sides was more unnerving than relaxing. One great part of the day was that I met a few fellow sand bathers who didn’t mind me taking a few photos of them while they were buried alive.

A little help for vegetarians in Japan

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If you are vegetarian or vegan and living in Japan shopping can be tricky, especially  if you can’t read ingredients labels. I ate what I thought was vegetarian Miso (bean paste) ramen for many months before I found out that it also contained ポークエキス (pork extract). I hope the following list of words will make things a little easier for others. Gelatin ゼラチン Beef　ビーフ　　Beef Extract　ビーフエキス Chicken 鶏  or チキン　Chicken Extract　チキンエキス Pork ポーク　Pork Extract　ポークエキス Katsuobushi (fish sprinkles)　鰹ぶし Another useful thing to know is that when you are buying eggs in Japan the most expensive ones are not free range eggs but rather fertilized eggs. These are labelled 有精卵 yuu-sei-ran. There doesn’t appear to be any particular labelling for free range eggs, but they are usually priced between the battery eggs and the fertilized eggs. At my local supermarket the free range eggs have a photo on the box showing chickens wandering around in the dirt.

Baggage Allowances in Japan

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Recent changes in the Japanese airline industry and are going to affect the way photographers select and transport their equipment. On my last couple of trips up to the Japanese mainland I noticed that when checked baggage is weighed the display shows the weight along with the excess charges for baggage over 20 kilograms. Carry on baggage is restricted by both weight and size,  and these dimensions are shrinking. For flights of 100 passengers or more maximum dimensions are 55cm x 40cm x 25cm (115cm total) and 10 kilos in weight. For flights less that 100 passengers this drops to 45cm x 35cm x 20cm (100cm total). Why is this significant? Well your present bag which came with a sticker saying suitable for carry-on may no longer be small enough. My Lowepro bag is 37 X 29 X 48.5 cm which comes out at a total for the 3 dimensions of 114.5cm, just under the limit. However put a few extra items in the front pocket and and you will have a bag that is …

Pentax 645D v Nikon D3X v Canon EOS-1 Ds Mark III

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The April edition of Nihon Camera 日本カメラ includes a couple of very interesting things for Pentaxians. The first is a history of Pentax’s medium format cameras, the second is a detailed overview of the new Pentax 645D camera including a comparison of the camera with the top of the range 35mm digital cameras. Here’s some (but not all) of the differences between the Pentax 645D, the Nikon D3X  and the Canon EOS-1 Ds Mark III. Sensor Pentax 645D: 44x33mm 40MP CCD Nikon D3X: 35.9x24mm 24.5MP CMOS Canon EOS-1 Ds Mark III: 36x24mm 21.1MP CMOS Live View Pentax 645D: No Nikon D3X: Yes Canon EOS-1 Ds Mark III: Yes Dust Removal System Pentax 645D: Yes Nikon D3X: No Canon EOS-1 Ds Mark III: Yes Max Shutter Speed Pentax 645D: 1/4000 Nikon D3X: 1/8000 Canon EOS-1 Ds Mark III: 1/8000 Frames per second Pentax 645D: 1.1 Nikon D3X: 5 Canon EOS-1 Ds Mark III: 5 Memory Card Pentax 645D: SD / SDHC cards Nikon D3X: CF cards Canon EOS-1 Ds Mark III: CF cards & SD / …

Nicholas Centala at Global Gallery

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Several interesting things happening in Okinawa this weekend. Ceramic artist Nicholas Centala has an exhibit at Global Gallery (Plaza House),  Kluso is playing Saturday night at Al’s Place in Okinawa City, and Erykah Badu is performing on Camp Foster Sunday night. Just scanned this image of Nick firing up his kiln. Really happy with the shot, as it was very difficult conditions to shoot. I used a light meter to check how much light there was on his face and then asked him to stand still for a couple of seconds while I took the photograph. The heat was incredible, it was tough being so close to the flames for more than a fraction of a second. Nick came away a little singed but I think he’ll be happy with the portrait.