All posts filed under: Okinawa

Underwater Leak Detector

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One of the major issues with underwater photography is the possibility of flooding the housing with water and damaging the camera. I believe the majority of cases of flooding don’t occur due to some catastrophic failure of the housing (crumpling under the pressure) but rather an imperfect o ring seal due to a spec of dirt or a hair. In these cases water may trickle rather than surge inside the housing. If you’re busy checking your gauges, or you’re diving at night you may not notice the water until it’s too late. Some housings come with a built in leak detector, but for those that don’t, a quick visit to UWleakdetectors.com is a good idea. For 36 dollars you get a little bit of circuitry, velcro and some blue tack that may just save your equipment from a dunking. With regards to my housing I checked with Ikelite and it turns out that there is a control on the housing that allows you to press the lens release button. Now this has been pointed out …

Karate Masters Portrait Project – Behind the Scenes

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A few behind the scenes photos that James took on the last shoot. You can see the black velvet background I set up behind them and the strobe with beauty dish on a light stand. The strobe is connected to a flash generator which plugs into the wall. This is a much more cumbersome setup than simply using an hotshoe flash but I like the power, recycling time and flash duration I get with the studio gear. I’ve mentioned it before, but when traveling or in the studio it’s great to be able to show the subject you’ve just photographed or the client the image. The large screen on the back of the camera is pretty good for this, but tethering the camera to a laptop (now possible with the 645D) would make this even better (but far more cumbersome). With a clean black background and without the need to do beauty retouching, pretty much what you see on the back of the camera is going to be the final image. Back home I sort …

Synchronized Freedive Photography

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Freediving is diving without the use of SCUBA gear. Jacques Mayol (as mentioned in my Yonaguni posts) was one of the world’s most famous exponents of the sport. While my parents were visiting Okinawa I took them snorkeling at Cape Maeda. I brought the K5 camera and housing along, held my breath, and got some shots of them exploring the reef. My dad brought along his W60 waterproof P&S and at one point we took photos at the exact same time. It turns out that freediving and photography are a tricky mix. As a photographer you’re often limited by battery life, memory cards, imagination and talent, but removing the ability to breathe is perhaps pushing things a little too far. Until I’ve developed gills, I think I stick to doing most of my underwater photography with a tank of air.

A Swift Adventure – Iheya Island, Okinawa

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Last weekend, I went over to Iheya Island with fellow photographers David and Jose. It’s a 90 minute ferry ride from Unten Port on the Motobu peninsular. Rather than rent a car when we got there, we all bundled into my little Swift. One of the advantages of a small car is that it makes the ferry ride cheaper. The weather wasn’t great while we there, thick clouds at dawn and dusk meant there were no spectacular sunrises or sunsets. It was, however, a decent opportunity to explore one of the islands I’d never been to before. And because I didn’t get all the shots I wanted I have a good reason to go back again. One of the island’s attractions is Kumaya-gama a large cave beside the ocean that holds a small shinto shrine. I think the plastic buckets you can see on the floor to the right of the shrine are to collect droplets of water dripping from the rock. At other religious sites in Okinawa such as Sefa Utaki, this water is …

Karate Masters Portrait Project – Hanshi 10th dan Yoshitaka Taira

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These are the first images in the Karate Masters Portrait Project. The idea is to document the hanshi (grand masters) of karate. I wish I had started this project several years earlier before some of the hanshi passed away. Hanshi 10th dan Yoshitaka Taira Images are shot with the 645D which means I have fantastic detail, important for an archival project. I used a portable black velvet screen to have clean background and then used a single studio light with a beauty dish for illumination. I plan to shoot all portraits with the same setup.

April / May Photography Workshops

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Now that I’m back from Yonaguni and Tokyo I can start organizing the coming workshops. Please click on the links to see more details about each class. I’ve put in two Photography 101 workshops in April so that people who aren’t yet comfortable with their digital SLR can master the basics before taking part in the Light Painting Workshop. I’ve also had requests for another Off Camera Flash course, hopefully this will happen later in the summer. April 14/15 – Photography 101 Weekend Workshop with Chris Willson US$250 April 28/29 – Photography 101 Weekend Workshop with Chris Willson US$250 May 3 – Going Retro Mini Workshop with Trevor Williams and Chris Willson US$50 May 4/5 – Light Painting Workshop with Trevor Williams and Chris Willson US$150   To reserve a place send an email to chris@travel67.com (please write WORKSHOP on the subject line) Please state the name and date of the workshop you wish to book. I’ll send a paypal request for the course fee. Once payment is made your place on the course is confirmed.

Kihachiro Aratake

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Kihachiro Aratake was the captain of the dive boat for most of my dives. He still dives occasionally, but most of the guiding duties now go to his son Shotaro and the other dive staff. I noticed that Aratake-san always wore the same dive watch, a special edition “Apnea” Omega Seamaster. It was designed for Omega by Jacques Mayol. Aratake-san said that Jacques had given him the watch on one of his several visits to Yonaguni. After Jacques Mayol’s death an underwater plaque was placed off Yonaguni’s coast in his memory.

Ikelite K5 Housing – Open Water Test

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Tested out the underwater housing for the K5 at Cape Maeda this morning. Hiroshi and Shawn were my buddies for the dive. As more experienced underwater shooters, they could make sure that I’d sealed everything down properly. So what did I learn? The housing didn’t leak and you can operate all buttons while underwater. There also appears to be a button (labeled Fn Button in the manual) that allows you to press the lens release button. I may contact Ikelite to see if I’m just being dimwitted or if this is some design issue. (I didn’t try to use this while underwater.) Operating functions that require doing two things at the same time are tricky e.g. pressing the ISO button and turning the rear e-dial. This means using exposure compensation underwater will be more problematic than simply using manual mode and adjusting exposure with the e-dials. The controller for the “Green Button” can easily get stuck. Probably not an issue as I don’t use the Green Button normally, but strange nonetheless. Live View is useful …