The cherry trees are starting to bloom in the Nakijin and Motobu districts of Okinawa. For the last couple of days Jasmine has had a mild ear infection so she’s not been that happy, but is getting better. We went out together to check on the condition of the flowers to prepare for family shoots over the next couple of weeks.
Another great Photography Fundamentals workshop last weekend. Always a pleasure to share my love of photography and Okinawa with other people. The next workshops are at the start of February and the end of March. Click on the links to visit the Facebook event page, message me to book your spot. Photography Fundamentals with Chris Willson February 2nd & 3rd, 2019 Photography Fundamentals with Chris Willson March 30th & 31st, 2019
It’s been three weeks since I posted the pilot for Sensei – Masters of Okinawan Karate on YouTube. The goal was to see if viewers were interested in the concept, and for me to get some feedback. This would enable me to make a decision about what to do next. If you’ve not watched already, please take 8 minutes 25 seconds out of your day, and check it out. In three weeks the video has had about 3500 views. More importantly, comments in various Facebook groups, and direct messages to me have been very positive. It seems that many in the karate community would like to see more interviews, and that the videos, similar to the photographs in the Karate Masters Portrait Project, would be valued by others. Today is January 1st 2019. It’s a time for new beginnings. A time to dream big, and aim for the stars. After talking with my wife Yuki, I’ve made the decision to go ahead with this new project. My goal is to create a series of 10 …
A great couple of Christmas dives yesterday with my buddy Hiroshi at Cape Zanpa. Rinsed the gear and now sorting through images with a pile of reference books at my side. Identifying fish is often a challenge especially when some of them such as the bullethead parrotfish change their shape, color, and even sex over the course of their lives. Trying to identify corals is even trickier, but hopefully over the years I’ll be able to better differentiate between the various sponges, sea fans, soft corals, stony corals and anemones. The featured photo is I believe a Periclimenes psamathe ( seafan shrimp) on a Muricella sp. gogorian sea fan.
Here are the final 4 videos from the TEDxOIST event my team and I recorded in October. It was great to see several familiar faces giving presentations, Nozomi Kobayashi is a good friend of mine, and many years ago I interviewed Makoto Suzuki for Okinawa Living magazine.
On November 30th, I had the honor to photograph and shoot some video of Yoshitsune Senaga, 10th dan Uechi ryu karate at his dojo in Tomigusku, Okinawa. He is the 82nd sensei to be photographed for the Karate Masters Portrait Project. 81 year old Senaga sensei also studies kobudo, and was willing to show us his techniques with the sai. Interestingly he showed how the pair of sai that he used would ring like tuning forks when hit. He explained that this was because these sai were made from metal that was once used in a temple bell in Nara. After taking portraits for the project, I recorded a quick interview with Senaga sensei, then finally we got some selfies of the group, and little Jasmine once again stole the show. The video, the second in the series we are working on, will be translated and hopefully appear online in the coming weeks. This is an exciting new addition to the project, and we are currently thinking about how we can take this video …
Three more videos from the TEDxOIST Okinawa event are now on YouTube. A great experience working on this project with Gary Hughes, Jon Galione, Patrick Batac, and the OIST team.
Why do scientists use the Latin names when describing a species? To avoid confusion between languages, and within the same language, about exactly what species you are describing. The fish in the photo above is Amphiprion ocellaris. For identification I could go to my favorite identification book for fish in Okinawa: Reef Fish Identification – Tropical Pacific In this book Amphiprion ocellaris is called the False clown anemonefish. If we check on Wikipedia for Amphiprion ocellaris we find a wide range of common names. “The ocellaris clownfish, also known as the false percula clownfish or common clownfish, is a marine fish belonging to the family Pomacentridae, which includes clownfishes and damselfishes. ” Wikipedia However, my preferred source for fish names is Fishbase which gives the common name as clown anemonefish. Then again, for millions of children around the world, Amphiprion ocellaris is simply known as Nemo.
Last month our team recorded the TEDxOIST lectures, and they are currently in the process of being released on the TEDx YouTube channel. The first 3 have just come online so if you didn’t manage to see the event you can watch them here. There are 10 lectures in total, so I’ll announce on the blog when the other videos are available. A huge thanks to my team of Gary, Jon and Patrick for operating the other cameras. It was great working together filming the event, and also to be part of an even larger team who were organizing TEDxOIST.
Octopuses, masters of camouflage. Their ability to change both color and texture to match their environment makes them difficult to spot until they make a move. Always a pleasure to see such an amazing creature while out on a dive in Okinawa.
TRAVEL 67 : Chris Willson Photography 