All posts filed under: Okinawa

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 …

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 …