Model – Sachi Perry MUA – Summer Johnson Pentax 645D HD PENTAX-D FA645 MACRO 90mmF2.8ED AW S Lighting – Charcoal background. Gridded Beauty Dish powered by Profoto Pro-7a as the main light . Square softbox front and low as fill. 2 medium size strip softboxes behind that were adding rimlight (powered by Profoto compacts). Strobes triggered with PocketWizards.
An image from this week’s shoot. A chance to work with a great new model Alexis, and to test out both the 90mm lens for the 645D camera , along with its little brother the new K5IIs. Model – Alexis Jacoby MUA – Felicia Lee Pentax 645D HD PENTAX-D FA645 MACRO 90mmF2.8ED AW S Lighting – Charcoal grey background. Gridded Beauty Dish powered by Profoto Pro-7a as the main light . Square softbox front and low as fill. 2 medium size strip softboxes behind that were adding rimlight (powered by Profoto compacts). Strobes triggered with PocketWizards.
Off Camera Flash Workshop Move your flash away from your camera to create more natural images or to give your photographs a drop of magical light. January 19 & 20 2013 1PM to 6PM Class Size: Max 12 Location: Ishikawa, Uruma City, Okinawa (Maps and pins will be sent out) Instructors: Pete Leong & Chris Willson Price US$150 To book a place on the course please email me on chris(at)travel67.com I will send you a paypal request for the class fee. Payment secures your place on the course. Pete uses off camera flash everyday as an wedding photographer. He can use it to overpower the sun, and create flattering light for the bride and groom. He’s very good a what he does, and a great person to learn from. On the first day we will talk about the different types of strobes and how to get the most out of them on and off camera. The second day we will move from TTL to manual flash control, and from wired to wireless triggers. At the end …
Hokama-sensei, one of the karate masters I shot a few months ago asked if he could use some of the portraits of him in the latest printing of his book on karate. The book is actually two books combined, the first part is a history of Okinawa karate, the second part is biographies of 100 karate masters. It has been translated into English and is available for 3,000 yen at either the Okinawa Prefecture Karate Museum in Nishihara or at the Dojo Bar in Naha. Unfortunately Hokama sensei wasn’t aware that the karate portraits I’d posted on the web, were not the full resolution images. This means that my photos in the book are a little pixelated and watermarked, but we’ll sort out things for the next print run. Hokama-sensei, however, was delighted with how it came out, and I now have my own signed copy for the bookshelf. Osu.
I love shooting portraits. In the studio or on location. Friends or strangers. In exotic lands or in the backyard. I like the fact that each portrait is unique, and if you can get eye contact, you’re staring into a person’s soul, capturing for eternity a brief moment of connection. When it comes to photography books, once again the eyes have it. I thought I’d show some recent additions to my bookshelf that are focused on portraits. It’s probably not a coincidence that the cover of each book has the subject staring directly into the camera. In Focus: National Geographic Greatest Portraits and Portraits are filled with immersive images taken all over the world. The National Geographic book spans more than a century with shots by a wide range of staff photographers. Portraits is solely by Steve McCurry (whose work also features in the Nat Geo book). The blurb about McCurry’s book sums up things nicely: Compelling, unforgettable and moving, McCurry’s images are unique street portraits: unstylized and unposed snapshots of people that reveal the universality of human emotion. Although …
Just spent a great weekend with Lian and Kevin teaching December’s Photography Fundamentals Workshop. On Saturday we covered theory, discussing equipment, exposure, composition and workflow. On Sunday we took what we’d learned out into the field and practiced photographing people at Ryukyu Mura and then landscapes at Cape Zanpa. Coming Workshops Off Camera Flash Workshop Move your flash away from your camera to create more natural images or to give your photographs a drop of magical light. January 19 & 20 2013 1PM to 6PM Class Size: Max 12 Location: Ishikawa, Uruma City, Okinawa Instructors: Chris Willson & Pete Leong Price US$150 Photography Fundamentals Workshop Move beyond the auto modes by understanding your equipment, controlling exposure & depth of field, and composing images. February 2 & 3 2013 10AM to 6PM Class Size: Max 4 Location: Ishikawa, Uruma City, Okinawa Instructor: Chris Willson Price US$250
I’ve been to Fushimi Inari Taisha in south east Kyoto several times. I took one of my most popular images there, a simple geometric photograph of the orange torii gates winding up the mountain. On my recent trip I wanted to get some new images, this time showing a Japanese person visiting the shrine. Of course I could just photograph tourists milling around, but I decided to be a little more proactive. I met up with model Mari and photographer Keith at Kyoto Station, and we took the local train to Fushimi Inari. It was fortunate I wasn’t even attempting a shot similar to the one I’d taken before because the shrine was packed with people. Luckily we could find gaps in the crowds to get some decent images. The image stabilization function on the new 90mm lens added an extra bit of stability which was useful, and the wide aperture gave a nice limited depth of field in the portraits. Fushimi Inari shrine is dedicated to a fox god so there are numerous fox statues, …
Eriha is a 17 year old maiko in the Gion district of Kyoto. Only her lower lip is painted red which shows this is in her first year in the profession. I was told that it normally takes three years as a maiko, before the girl become a geiko (geisha). As a young maiko her pinkish kimono and her hair ornaments were youthful and cute, but these will change to more formal designs as she gets older. I had always presumed that “real” maiko and geisha didn’t use wigs, and that these were for the “tourist” maiko and geisha. It turns out I was half right. Maiko always use their own hair to create the ornate hairstyles. This means they still have to use special wooden pillows when they sleep. Most geisha, once they have graduated from maiko status, use wigs, and presumably are able to get a much better night’s sleep.
A few shots from last weekends trip to Kyoto to photograph the fall leaves with the new Pentax 90mm macro lens. Although fall viewing was coming to an end, there were still many trees covered in bright red and orange leaves. Quite an amazing sight.
I was watching the latest episode of the British quiz show QI yesterday and spotted one of my images being used to illustrate the Hadaka Matsuri in Okayama. A little surprised that the researchers managed to get the details of the festival so confused. There is no mud involved in the Okayama Hadaka Matsuri (but this does occur at a different “Naked” festival) The winner doesn’t get two sticks but the sticks are thrown into the throng of men by the priests and fought over. The sticks are now thrown at 10PM rather than midnight. And finally, the men are wearing fundoshi loincloths so they are not actually naked. At the moment you can watch the episode on You Tube, my pic is at about 33 minutes. And a final quite interesting fact. Host Stephen Fry will play the part of the Master of Laketown in the new Hobbit movies.
TRAVEL 67 : Chris Willson Photography 