The Traveling Photographer #11
Here’s this month’s traveling photographer page from Okinawa Living. You can view a larger readable version of the page on Flickr.
All posts filed under: Photography
Island Icon: DJ Keith Gordon
Feeling the Beat Keith Gordon is a DJ and musician, who combined dance beats with traditional Okinawan music to create Ryukyu Underground. After graduating from college in the United Kingdom, Keith Gordon backpacked around the world working as a club DJ. In 1997, he settled in Okinawa, and had his record collection shipped from home. Keith developed a passion for Okinawan music, and with American Jon Taylor, he formed Ryukyu Underground, producing a fusion of Okinawan, western and world music. After 3 successful albums, which have met with critical acclaim, he continues to find inspiration from the world’s music. What are your musical influences? “Coming from the UK, I grew up hearing bands like The Smiths and The Cure. At around 16, I got into hip-hop artists such as KRS-One, Jungle Brothers, Eric B, and Public Enemy. My tastes widened and I started to listen to older stuff that a lot of these hip hop artists sampled – such as James Brown, Roy Ayers and Donald Byrd. I guess it’s this stage of funk, soul …
F.A.Q.s – Can I check out the raw DNG files from your Pentax 645D
After putting up some full size Jpegs from the 645D on Flickr I’ve received several requests asking if I can send people the full raw DNG files. The first issue is that the file sizes are very large, too big to send as attachments to an email. The second issue is one of control and copyright. I rarely put images on the net that have a width larger than 470 pixels and these are all watermarked. As you may have noticed I have not attached full sized Jpegs of my latest images to Flickr, but will post crops when I need to show how much detail there is in the image. I feel that sending out the raw DNG files to people over the internet would be asking for trouble. The decision I have made is that I can burn a selection of raw DNG images to DVD and include copyright information explaining clearly that these files are for personal evaluation purposes only. Having the files will allow photographers to process the raw images and …
Beach Shoot – Liz
On Sunday, as the sun dropped lower in the sky, I switched focus from Ursula to Liz. (I shot Liz in the studio a couple of months ago, you can see the images here.) For lighting Eboh brought a studio strobe with battery pack and a smaller hot shoe strobe. Both were triggered wirelessly using PocketWizards. This was the first time I’ve used studio lights on location, and it was interesting balancing the light from the strobes with the natural light. Keep the power of the strobes low for a more natural look as in this shot. Or crank up the power of the lights, and produce a brighter look more similar to what you see in advertising. Thanks to Liz for being a great model, Kim for make-up and Eboh for lighting. Looking forward to working with you all again soon.
Beach Shoot – Ursula
Late Sunday afternoon, a small group of photographers, models, a make-up artist and I gathered on the beach in Okinawa for an almost impromptu shoot. Urusla, the wife of photographer Eboh, is simply stunning. She’s a fantastic model who knows how to produce great dynamic shots. I first went wide with the 645D 55mm lens to emphasize her stature. I switched lenses to try out the 67 105mm on the 645D body, while Ursula put on a shawl. I had been wondering if the 67 lenses would be a good match for the 645D body. I was pleased with the results of the test shoot with Bear, but a quick focus check on Ursula’s eye really blew me away. That’s not just a self-portrait of the photographer, but a mini landscape! A big thanks to Ursula for modeling and Kim Clay for make-up. More images from the shoot in future posts…
Pentax 67 lenses on Pentax 645D Body (Part 2)
Please check out the first part of this post here. I just tried out attaching my 105mm Pentax 67 lens to the 645D body. Adapter works well. Lovely mechanical clicks as everything locks into place. When you turn on the camera the readouts on the viewfinder, rear monitor and top panel all show the aperture reading as blank. The camera is however still metering so when I set the lens aperture to 2.4, the shutter speed automatically adjusted to give the correct exposure (or it’s best estimate of the correct exposure). Found Bear, and took another portrait shot. Of course not only do you have to manually set the aperture with the aperture ring, you also need to focus as the 67 lenses are all manual focus. Pleased with how this came out. Not having the aperture reading in the viewfinder isn’t a problem, in fact this is the same as when using the Pentax 67II normally. The 67 lenses give a nice bokeh and at 2.4 a very shallow depth of field. I will …
Island Icon – Kyoko Nakamoto
Dreams of Paradise Kyoko Nakamoto is an Okinawan artist whose paintings of “Paradise” show a world of beauty and vibrant colors where childlike inhabitants live simple, happy, and equal lives. When did you start painting? As a small child, I scribbled and painted all over the walls of our house. My mother never got angry, perhaps because we were living in a rented house. During high school, I knew I wanted to be a painter. However, when I went to university, I set aside my ambitions and chose to study business rather than art. After graduation, I got a job at an insurance company, but three days a week, I kept my dream alive by going to night classes at art school and slowly improving my skills. After ten years, I quit my job selling insurance and began working as an illustrator for magazines and packaging. Two years after that, I achieved my dream and became a full-time painter. Was it hard to suddenly start a new career? Of course, it was a tough decision. …
Shuri Castle Portraits (645D)
Dropped by Shuri Castle early this afternoon to take some photos. Unfortunately the sky clouded over and scaffolding covered half of the building. I did however mange to get a couple of portraits of the girls in traditional Okinawan costume that pose with visitors to the castle. After a couple of days with the camera I was comfortable enough using it for these opportunistic shots. I quickly opened up the aperture with the thumb dial to blur the background, moved the girls into some open shade and took a couple of photographs of each girl. I just realized that I never showed the girls the preview images after I took the shots. I hadn’t even considered it! It was only 30 minutes later when I sat down with a cold drink that I even looked at the pictures I’d taken. I think this is a case of delayed chimping. Must remember I’m shooting digital not film 🙂 I will however make a couple of prints and drop them off next time I’m at the castle. …
645D Portrait Test
Having taken photos of the dog and a quick landscape I wanted to give the camera a bit more of a challenge. I hoped to take a portrait shot that would show all the detail in a person’s face down to individual strands of hair. I knew just the man for the job. Now check out the full size image on Flickr. (Click view all sizes then click full image.) For those who don’t have the time or patience. Here’s an idea of what you can see. This is John’s right eye. (As a bonus, the shot of the eye also reveals how I lit the photograph, a single gridded beauty dish just above my right shoulder.) There’s a whole lot of detail in the image. More importantly I am pleased with the way the image looks, the gradations in colors look pleasing and natural. If I can take shots like this out in the field, I’ll be a happy man. Thanks to John for being a great model. I’ll make sure you and Martha …
Manza Hotel test shoot.
The story continues… Attached Kirk baseplate to camera so I can mount to tripod. Drove to Cape Maeda. Set up tripod. Set aperture to F11. Took a photograph of the Manza Hotel. Hung around for a couple of hours chatting to Nate, Luna and Akira. Unfortunately the sky clouded over so there was no spectacular sunset. I learned how to set copyright information, and change colour space from sRGB to AdobeRGB. Returned home and copied files. Uploaded small res. image to blog and full size image to Flickr. I am sure most experienced digital photographers will be shaking their heads, looking at the blown out highlights in the cloud by the hotel. I realize it’s a rookie mistake, and with time I will learn to use the histogram, but I am still amazed by the witchcraft that makes my pictures appear instantly on the back of my camera. More confusing is the purple fringing that seems to be appearing on some of the windows of the hotel. You will have to look at the full …
TRAVEL 67 : Chris Willson Photography 