All posts filed under: Okinawa

A Close Call

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Had an eventful day today. As I was leaving the Okinawa expressway at the Ishikawa exit, in my rearview mirror I glanced a white car hurtling up behind me. I guess it was doing about 120 KPH exiting the expressway and not slowing at all. The car swerved around me hit the railing, careened across the road hitting the road markers and grass, but didn’t stop. It seemed the driver kept his foot to the floor as he veered back across the road hit the railing again then ricocheted back across again up the grass and drove along the banking. I thought he was going to flip, but he dropped back to the road, and kept on going. He went through the little tunnel under the expressway and then amazingly through the automatic barrier of the toll gate. I continued following him, as he bounced off more sidings. He reached the major junction bounced over the kern, hit the median, and the car came to a halt. I stopped my car at the lights, took …

Let there be underwater light (Part 1)

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A you descend beneath the ocean’s surface things become darker and bluer. Light is absorbed by the water and it does this to a greater extent at the red end of the color spectrum. When shooting in the shallows you can capture the vibrant colors of the reef, but sink a little further and your images will look a little green and possibly blurry from slow shutter speeds (or noisy from high ISOs). The solution is to shed a little light on your subject. Send in the strobes. I bought two used Ikelite strobes on Ebay (thank you Vadim in Australia). One is a powerful DS-161 strobe that has a 3W modeling light, and the other is a far less powerful (and much cheaper) DS-51 strobe that I use as fill. The above image is a pre-dive test in the bath, which showed that both strobes worked, and that the light from the modeling light allows the camera to autofocus on the subject. The strobes are positioned in this image for macro shooting. The lens …

Pixels 2 Pigment – Martin Bailey Okinawa Workshop

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If you listen to photography podcasts or are interested in Japanese wildlife photography you’ve probably already come across Martin Bailey. Check out his website to learn more about him, but in summary he’s a talented guy from the UK who works as a photographer in Tokyo and shares his knowledge with others through his podcast, an e-book, photography tours, and workshops. A couple of the areas Martin is particularly knowledgable in are color management and printing. These are key parts of a professional photographer’s workflow, and without a firm understanding of them, you’re just hoping for the best rather than taking control. After the successful Photography 101, Off Camera Flash, Retro Portraits, and Light Painting workshops I contacted Martin to ask if he’d like to come to Okinawa to teach a weekend workshop on color management and printing. We discussed the idea and as Martin is already planning on teaching  Pixels 2 Pigment workshops in the UK, America and Australia later in the year, he said if there was enough interest he’d come down to Okinawa …

Wonderful Workshops

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A great time was had by all at the two workshops held last week by Trevor Williams. Things were decidedly silly at the retro portraits evening, and smoking hot at the light painting weekend. Here are a few shots from the students. A huge thanks to Trevor for coming down to Okinawa again, you’re always welcome back to our little island.

Uechiryu Karate 9th dan Takehiro Gaja

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Gaja-sensei, a lovely Okinawan man in his late 60’s, who after years of conditioning, has become both the unstoppable force and the immovable object. Uechiryu Karate is in my opinion the toughest of the karate styles. It is based around brutal conditioning of the body so that, if required, the person can endure heavy blows and then deal out a devastating response. Conditioning fists, forearms and shins is done through striking punch bags, wooden boards and even concrete pillars. Gaja-sensei demonstrated his technique for conditioning fingertips. Fill a bucket with stones (or sand if you’re taking it easy) and then punch with an open hand deep into the bucket of stones. So why condition the fingers to such an extent? The answer is simple and brutal. Poking someone in the ribs is more effective if you can literally reach in through the rib cage and remove some of them.

Recovering the war dead on Okinawa

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A month ago I worked with writer Julian Ryall on a piece about how the remains of the war dead found on Okinawa are identified and hopefully returned to their family graves. Photographing the skeleton of a dead Japanese soldier, and shards of bones in various trays was somber, but at that moment you are working and concentrating on getting images. Only later, when you’ve packed your gear away and returned to everyday life do you ponder the deeper meanings of what you’ve witnessed. On the cover of the Number 1 Shimbun is an image I shot of Gushiken-san a volunteer that has devoted his life to returning the remains  of the fallen to their loved ones. Inside are a couple more images and the feature by Julian Ryall.

Trevor Williams Light Painting / Retro Portraits Workshops – 3 weeks to go.

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It’s three weeks to go before the Trevor Williams Light Painting / Retro Portraits Workshops. If you’re interested in coming to either of these workshops please contact me to book your place. It’s going to be a fantastic few days, and as the next Trevor Williams courses will be in 2013 or 2014 please make the most of this opportunity while it’s available. Trevor will also be showing off his light painting skills at the Apple Store in Ginza, Tokyo on April 17th. It will be a high tech interactive fusion of light and music, possibly the first of its kind in the world. If you can’t make the workshop, please check out what should be a fantastic event. You can check out some of the great images by last year’s light painting workshop participants here. Hope to see many of you in three weeks time 🙂

Trash the Dress – Okinawa

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Alexis, one of the riding instructors, recently got married to Michael. They have plenty of great wedding photos, but thought that they’d like to make the most of the Okinawan beaches and her passion for horses. After shooting the two of them cantering through the surf I took some quick “trash the dress” style images. I really like the look of this final shot, but from a story telling perspective you probably shouldn’t end the series with a shot of the bride gliding off into the distance without her husband! (Trash the dress – okay, trash the military dress uniform – not okay.) A final thanks to the clients Alexis, Michael, Eve and Madie. Also to Summer Johnson for getting up way way before dawn to start makeup, and to Shawn Miller as my faithful assistant.

Mihara Horse Club of Okinawa

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A fun shoot last Sunday with Alexis, Eve and Madie, three instructors from the Mihara Horse Club of Okinawa. I’ve hired horses from the club for model shoots in the past, so it was great to get the instructors in front of the camera. One of the advantages of photographing riding instructors, is that they will happily gallop along the beach without looking terrified or ending up bruised, battered and litigious. After getting some shots of the three ladies riding I took some portraits of them with the horses. Although it had only just turned 8AM, the Okinawan sun was already strong enough to make people squint and leave strong shadows. I brought along a large Ezylite diffuser which creates a patch of open shade in which I can shoot. Alexis’s husband Michael and my assistant Shawn were press-ganged into holding the diffuser up above their heads while I shot. A great morning with lovely people and horses. On a technical note. If you’re photographing galloping horses you’re going to need to take a lot …