On Friday afternoon there was a small cos-play event in Mihama. I’ve shot much bigger gatherings in Tokyo and Kyoto, but anytime you get people dressing up as anime or manga characters there’s going to be some good photographic opportunities. It was bright and sunny at the time I was shooting so the main challenge was finding patches of open-shade that had a clean, uncluttered background.
Summer is here in Okinawa. The asphalt gets so hot it’s tough to walk around in bare feet. Some people retreat to the air conditioned malls. Jusco and San A always seem at their busiest during the blistering heat. The other option is to head to the ocean or to the pool. Above is a shot from a portfolio shoot with model Michelle Santos. Lovely sunny day, but to combat the harsh shadows I used a strobe and umbrella for some fill light.
A great shoot yesterday with Shorin-ryu Karate 10th Dan Master Sokuichi Gibu. On friday afternoon, James Pankiewicz and I headed over to the dojo of karate master Sokuichi Gibu. Another great opportunity to photograph an Okinawan icon. Sokuichi Gibu may look fierce in his portraits, but he was exceptionally friendly and willing to run through a wide selection of poses, and a few fierce kicks.
Here’s the first draft of the DM or promotional postcard for the Matsuri exhibition at the Pentax Forum in September. The next step is selecting and printing images. Most of the images I’m choosing from are in my Matsuri set on Flickr, please check them out and let me know if there are particular favorites you’d like to see in the show.
A portfolio session with model Darryl Chiang. We worked fast and efficiently to get a good selection of images in a short amount of time. Makeup artist Summer Johnson was on hand as guys (or potential Presidents) can sometimes benefit from the use of makeup. Summer’s talents, however, would really come in to play on Darryl’s next shoot, “Fight Club”. Darryl has been told he looks like a Korean pop star, but I thought I’d go for a Japanese otaku theme for this next shot. And finally a far cooler sports image of Darryl on a triathlon / time trial bicycle.
9th Dan Kounanryu Karate and Kobudo Master Jyosei Yogi, photographed at the Budokan national martial arts center in Naha, Okinawa.
I bumped into Sid a couple of weeks ago as he was taking his two human minions for a walk along the seawall. I asked Sid if he’d done any modeling before, and he said that people were always describing him as a leggy blonde. A couple of days later he was chauffeured over to the studio and happily struck a few poses for the camera. I was going to point out that Sid looked at little like Scooby-Doo, but this would have been a real insult to a Great Dane as it is common knowledge that Scooby-Doo was modeled on the exact opposite of what a champion Great Dane should look like. Takamoto consulted a studio colleague who happened to be a breeder of Great Danes. After learning the characteristics of a prize-winning Great Dane from her, Takamoto proceeded to break most of the rules and designed Too Much with overly bowed legs, a double chin, and a sloped back, among other abnormalities. Wikipedia Thanks very much to Sid and his two personal assistants. Hope …
A few images from a portfolio shoot with model Michelle Santos. Michelle heads back to Brazil having spent several years in Japan. She wanted some new images in her book so that’s what we did. I’d like to thank Summer Johnson and Aiasha Orick-Fleurantin for their work on makeup and hair, and Michelle for being able to pull off so many different looks in a short time.
A couple of weeks ago, I did a portfolio shoot with model Susan Fletcher.We worked on a selection of looks to give Susan more variety in her images. The keys to this transformation were the skills of makeup artist Summer Johnson and hair stylist Aiasha Fleurantin.
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.
TRAVEL 67 : Chris Willson Photography 