A few images from an early morning beach shoot with Alisa & Jared Hilton. Glad I could work with them during one of the brief moments they’re in the same place at the same time. One of the sacrifices that comes with serving your country is the amount of time you are away from your family. I guess it makes those moments together that bit sweeter.
In Okinawa, you have to pay a small fee for the disposal of trash. You must buy specially marked bags for your regular household waste, and buy special labels to stick on larger items such as washing machines, televisions, or refrigerators. The problem is that old appliances now appear as if by magic at your local park, woodland or beach. I feel the rage inside of me growing…
Here are a few images from a lovely beach shoot with the Thomas family. A big thanks to Leonard, Rebecca, and Jabari for a fun morning.
This October if you happen to be flying Dragonair from Hong Kong, check out their inflight magazine Silkroad. Inside you’ll find a feature I wrote on Okinawan Karate. A big thanks to all the karate masters who let me wander into their dojos with my camera and notebook. ありがとうございます
Before we get onto the overseas trip here’s a couple more shots from the Suzanne Somersall jewelry shoot.
Another location shoot, this time with Essa and Bianca on the beach in Uruma City, Okinawa. Bianca is wearing pieces by Suzanne Somersall Jewelry. More images to come, but currently on the road so will upload more when I return to Okinawa. Horses are somewhat fidgety models, and similar to kids and babies, spend a lot of time pulling faces and sticking out their tongues. In this shot Essa was suddenly tranquil and I could capture the image I wanted. It turns out that horses can either pull funny faces or relieve their bowels, but can’t do both at the same time.
Along with the other images from the shoot I thought I’d try and get a snorkeling stock image. The ocean isn’t normally so flat, but it was great to get such a clear reflection. If anyone’s interested, I think the best spots on Okinawa for snorkeling are Sunabe Seawall for the vast gardens of soft coral, Cape Maeda for the easy access and the Blue Cave, and Channel Crevices for its shallow tide pool and interesting rock formations. Just remember that when snorkeling don’t rely on an inflatable ring or an air mattress if you’re not a strong swimmer. There have been numerous cases of mainland Japanese drowning after they are pushed out to sea by the wind, or their floatation device is popped by sharps rocks or coral. Also be careful if you snorkel out past the reef edge and the breaking waves. If the winds change and large waves suddenly appear, you may find yourself unable to get back to shore without going through a gauntlet of churning surf.
Here are a few photographs from an early morning beach shoot with Amanda modeling some of Suzanne Somersall’s jewelry. Beautiful morning light, but in minutes it would transform into scorching summer sun. At that point we retreated to the shade. Amanda had her longboard in the car, so it seemed like to good an opportunity to capture some images with a surfer vibe. You can see more of Suzanne’s Jewelry on her homepage at kirakirajewelry.com
The first thing you notice when you arrive in Okinawa are the orchids. They greet you at the airport, then in the hotel lobby, and if you’re staying somewhere nice, in your room. They are also a common gift, when you might otherwise give a bunch of flowers. When people start a new business, move house, or even hold an exhibition it’s quite common to see an impressive display of orchids. If you want to see a large variety of orchids on Okinawa, check out Bios Botanical Gardens in Uruma City or the Tropical Dream Center located in Expo park a short walk from the Churaumi Aquarium.
Great Photography 101 workshop last weekend. Saturday was all about the fundamentals, looking at how we can better control aperture, exposure and composition, then on Sunday we explored the Yomitan peninsular to practice our techniques. Shirley got this great shot of a couple posing at Cape Maeda. I like the way she’s positioned the couple away from the center of the frame for better composition, and captured the decisive moment as they both smile for their own photograph. And here’s a shot of me demonstrating that you sometimes have to get down to the same level as your subjects. As one of Japan’s most famous diving and snorkeling spots it was not surprising that on a gorgeous day in August there were plenty of people enjoying the water. I took at quick photograph of the scene, and when looking at the image on the computer it reminded of the Where’s Wally books. (Where’s Waldo in the U.S.) I put the full size image up on Flickr, scroll around the screen to check out everyone having …
TRAVEL 67 : Chris Willson Photography 