Adan trees are a common sight along the beaches of Okinawa. They seem to tolerate the salty soils and buffeting winds better than almost any other plant. At first glance, the adan fruit is often mistaken for a pineapple. I don’t know any people that eat it, but it does seem to be a popular treat with the island’s crab population.
Here’s a couple of night photographs I’ve taken since Trevor’s light painting course last month. The first shot had an exposure of about half a minute, the second shot was closer to 15 minutes.
Not often that you look up at the night sky and wonder if The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are about to burst through the clouds.
There are a growing number of parking spaces for the disabled around Japan. In fact, with the exception of historic buildings, Japan seems to be quite accessible for those with limited mobility. Car rental companies usually have a variety of vehicles specifically designed for wheel chairs or even with seats that rotate and lower the passenger. As would be expected the train system in Japan is excellent for disabled travelers. Hotels, likewise, have disabled parking and many hotels have disabled accessible rooms. (I believe it is mandatory for larger hotels.) One thing that some people in Japan have yet to understand or value, is that disabled parking spaces are only for people who need them. Unfortunately, they are used by able-bodied people when car parks are almost full, to reduce the time walking to the front of the store, or when the disabled parking space is in the shade. I’ve seen it done by both men and women, old and young, rich and poor. The repercussions for using disabled parking in Japan appear to be …
A couple of years ago I held a small exhibition at Cotonoha Art Space + Cafe. It’s a great place run by American expat Daryl “Michi” Mitchell, and well worth visiting. Hideki, one of Michi’s friends, asked if he could make a mini documentary about the event, and it was finally uploaded to You Tube a few weeks ago. I’m aware that my name isn’t spelt correctly at times, but it’s a great reminder of a fun event. A big thanks to Keith Gordon of Ryukyu Underground for the use of his tracks as background music. More thanks to both Michi and Hideki for helping me put on the exhibition and creating the video. You can see more images from my exhibitions in the following video. Music by Eduardo Terre. Prints from the exhibitions are currently available through the website or at Kadena Gift Corner.
Enjoy the sunny skies this weekend because soon it’s going to get wet and windy. Original image has been updated to a more recent image of the correct typhoon. Looks like a really big one.
This weekend was the official opening of Dojo a new bar in Naha aimed at the karate fraternity on the island. Brit, black belt, and all round nice guy, James Pankiewicz set up the bar with the hope that it can be a meeting point for karateka of all styles and nationalities. On Saturday’s opening night half a dozen karate masters were sitting around one of the tables drinking together. It was the equivalent of setting up a soccer themed bar, glancing over and seeing Pele ordering beers for Maradona, Beckenbauer, Cruyff and Charlton. Dojo bar is located a couple of hundred meters from the Makishi monorail station (north end of Kokusai street). Open 18.00 to 00.00, closed Tuesdays. See more of images of James training in the Arakaki dojo and on the beach.
The light painting course finished at around 1AM on the Sunday morning. 5 hours later I was back at the beach for an early morning engagement shoot with Natsumi and J.P. Natsumi and I had already chatted about the look she wanted for the photographs. It allowed us to make decisions on what they were going to wear and how I would shoot. I decided on using natural light with reflectors. The final images are all very similar to how they looked in camera. I had originally thought I would give the following images an Abercrombie style sepia tint in Photoshop, but the cool blues of the sky and ocean would have lost their magic. I also consciously kept the images bright, aiming to give them a certain freshness and vitality. Both Natsumi and J.P. were relaxed in front of the camera, and it wasn’t long until they had forgotten about posing and were just enjoying hanging out at the beach. All in all, a great shoot with a lovely couple. Congratulations to you both …
An early morning shoot with Cotton Williams building her model portfolio before she moves back to the States next month. A big thanks to Rocky the horse and Eve the trainer from Mihara Horse Club for all their help.
Got up at 3.30AM and drove over to Cape Maeda to watch the Lunar Eclipse. My plan was to photograph the moon reflected in the ocean as it neared the horizon, but this wasn’t possible due to clouds on the horizon. The image above is not a particularly interesting shot, (nothing to put the moon in context) but is a decent enough snapshot to remember the event. I was pleased that most of the sky was clear so I could at least witness the lunar eclipse. This is in contrast to the solar eclipse a few years ago when, having travelled all the way to Yakushima to be in the zone of totality, we spent the entire day under a thick layer of rain clouds.
TRAVEL 67 : Chris Willson Photography 