Tatami Rocks – Kume Island, Okinawa
Interesting interlocking rocks on Kume Island. They’re called tatami rocks after the Japanese floor matting, but they look more like turtle shells to me.
All posts filed under: Okinawa
Diving off Kume Island, Okinawa
I went diving off Kume Island a couple of weeks ago. The water is still quite cold in February so I was wearing a hooded 5mm wetsuit, but the visibility was excellent and there were plenty of things to see. A small whitetip reef shark (Triaenodon obesus) hiding in a cave. This was shot at 17mm, so I was only a couple of feet away. It’s quite emboldening having all the underwater camera and strobe equipment between you and your subject. Hope it recovered its night vision after being dazzled by 4 or 5 very bright flashes.
The Cascade
I rather like the contrast you get here between the transient etherial water and the static earthy root system. Shot north of Nago on an early morning exploration with David Orr and Shawn Miller.
Travels through the Cosmos
Good weather, and a field of flowers in bloom. Time to get out of the studio, and make the most of the natural environment. Model – Rie Tanaka Makeup and Hair – Summer Johnson.
Shades of Blue
The ocean, shot from beside the road on a cloudy morning. Turns out to be one of my favorite shots of the year.
Kiyoshi Yogi – Uechiryu Karate & Ryukyu Kobudou
Kiyoshi Yogi is a master of Uechiryu Karate & Ryukyu Kobudou. He was the sai world champion, the bou world champion, and the first Okinawa traditional karatedo world champion. Yogi sensei was the 17th master to be photographed as part of the Karate Masters Portrait Project. We stared on March 11th 2012 so we’ve being underway for a year. Over the past 12 months it has become clear just how important the project is. There has been praise and encouragement from all over the world, although the best feedback is usually the beaming smiles from the masters as we hand over the prints for their dojos. Hopefully over the next year we’ll photograph even more of these Okinawan icons. I’ll continue to take the portraits, James will continue to organize the shoots, and the karate masters will continue to share their knowledge with the world.
Business Portrait – Hisano Pankiewicz
Hisano Pankiewicz makes traditional Okinawan sweets. It’s been the family business for over a century. They have a small store in Naha called Jahana Kippan, which can also be found online at OkinawaSweets.com Her husband James is the owner of The Dojo Bar in Naha. Hisano needed a new portrait that can be used when promoting the company and introducing herself as a young Japanese businesswoman. We decided to keep the look of the shot simple and natural. Hisano was delighted with the image, and a happy client means a happy photographer. Hisano also gave me some coconut covered tougatsuke, as a thank you. Very happy photographer.
Corporal Bermudez United States Marine Corps.
It would have been much better timing if I’d posted these images a couple of days ago. The US government had just announced changes to military regulations that would allow women to serve in frontline combat positions. (It has been pointed out that many have already been doing this for years.) These portraits are of Corporal Bermudez of the United States Marine Corps. It should be noted that while there have been numerous photographs of fictional fishermen, lumberjacks and brawlers, Corporal Bermudez is a very real Marine.
Karate Masters Portrait Project – Prints
Dropped off a couple of photos for Tokumura-sensei today. It’s always great to see the karate masters beaming when they see their prints. Tokumura happily told me that he’ll get them framed and they’ll go up on the wall beside the portraits of his own mentors.
Off Camera Flash Workshop
Pete Leong and I had a fun weekend teaching the off camera flash workshop on January 19th and 20th. We covered pop-up flash, on camera speedlights, and off camera flash with TTL cords. Then we threw off our creative shackles, went wireless, and started to modify our lights. By the end of the weekend we were on the beach with our model Jovi practicing what we’d learned. A huge thanks to Keith, Bernice, Alex, David, Jessica, Lian and Ana for being such great students. Thanks also to Jovi for modeling and Summer Johnson for makeup. And a final thanks to Pete for sharing his knowledge with us all.
TRAVEL 67 : Chris Willson Photography 