On Saturday I went SCUBA diving for the first time in months. It was great to get back in the water, I’d forgotten how relaxing (and how quiet) it is gliding over the reef. Hiroshi, my dive buddy, took his point & shoot camera in an underwater housing. Here’s my favorite shot of the dive, lovely gradation of blue, and my plain black fins giving a clean composition.
I am pleased to announce that starting in the September issue of Okinawa Living Magazine there will be a monthly photo tips page titled The Traveling Photographer. I’ll be giving some advice on how to take better photographs and illustrating the various points with a few of my pictures. The September issue just hit the stands today so for those of you on Okinawa please check it out. I will eventually put the text and images up on my website for those of you who aren’t living on the island. See a larger, readable, scan of the page here.
I’ve lived in Okinawa for nearly 10 years but there are some places on the island I haven’t visited. Last week I went to the Japanese Navy Underground Headquarters for the first time. It was an interesting experience, a somber reminder of both the tragedy of war and the suffering it brings to all involved, particularly the young and old, stranded in the midst of a typhoon of steel.
Funnily enough, the Guardian newspaper’s list of interesting videos on the internet this week contained a video filmed at my local aquarium – the giant tank is right next to where the turtles were released (see previous blog.) Enjoy…
The day after I got back from Yakushima, I was up at Emerald Beach to photograph the release of captive bred turtles into the ocean. Here are a selection of images from the event.
I should have mentioned this before the event, but today was the 10,000 person Eisa dance festival on Kokusai Street in Naha. Took the big camera and shot a roll and a half. Manual focus and medium format film is not ideal for fast moving dances – there is a good chance that many if not all the shots will be out of focus or have an arm blocking the face. Will have to wait and see if there are any keepers when I get the film back. Until then here’s one from a couple of years ago.
My feature “The Best of Nagasaki” is in the August edition of Okinawa Living magazine. You can read the entire text from the article and check out more photographs of Nagasaki here: The Best of Nagasaki.
Last weekend I went for a bike ride with my friend Tom. He was visiting from California, and as a keen cyclist wanted to get at least one good ride in while he was in Okinawa. The problem with riding with Tom is that he is simply too fast. (Tom has ridden at 66 miles an hour while facing backwards on a recumbent tandem bicycle!) To give me a fighting chance, Tom started 40 kilometers away, riding my old heavy mountain bike. When he reached my house I joined him on my road rocket and we did a 70 kilometer loop up to Nago City and back. It was a great ride with fantastic weather, and we were both able to maintain a similar pace. The joys of an unfair advantage.
My friend, and fellow photographer on Okinawa, Annya Eyestone has a photo on the back page of this month’s Okinawa Living. Congratulations Annya! You can see more of Annya’s work at her website Picture Okinawa.
TRAVEL 67 : Chris Willson Photography 