All posts filed under: Photography

8 Hells of Beppu

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One of the most famous tourist attractions in Beppu is to tour the 8 different “hells” or jigoku. You could easily argue that they are commercialized tourist traps with enormous souvenir halls and roped off walkways corralling  you around the pools. However it’s also worth remembering that a large proportion of Japanese domestic tourists are elderly so the smooth wheelchair friendly layouts provide an accessible taste of volcanic activity.  The decision to add some forlorn looking zoo animals was misguided, and may frustrate / irritate some visitors. So here are the 8 hells:

Umitamago Aquarium, Oita

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There are many aquariums in Japan. They vary in size, quality and role (education / research / entertainment). The Umitamago (Sea Egg) Aquarium in Oita seems to be aimed at entertaining and educating children about the ocean. It is far more hands-on than other aquariums, you can play basketball with the dolphins, feel the leathery skin of dogfish and rays, and even touch “Ponta”, “Mee” and “Bubu” the three resident Walruses. The role of zoos and aquariums in modern society is a complicated issue. Are they little more than animal exploitation with profit the ultimate goal, or do they have a role in educating and inspiring visitors to cherish the oceans and marine creatures from zooplankton to whales?

Tokyo Megacity Book Launch

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On Saturday, photographer Ben Simmons will be giving a talk at Tower Records in Shibuya to launch his new book “Tokyo Megacity.” A great opportunity to meet a fantastic photographer. I can’t think of a more appropriate place to launch a book about Tokyo than overlooking Hachiko Crossing! If you’re in Tokyo, check it out and say hello to Ben from me!

Noguchi-gera ( Pryer’s Woodpecker )

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Just got back the film from the couple of days I spent trying to photograph the Noguchi-gera. The Noguchi-gera is a rare woodpecker that is endemic to the forests of  northern Okinawa. It is the prefectural bird of Okinawa and is designated as a natural treasure of Japan. The photographs I’d taken were disappointing, but this was hardly surprising. There were several factors that made this a difficult shot. The bird was far away, the bird was moving, the day was overcast, and above all, I was using the wrong tools for the job. A large piece of film or a large sensor isn’t much use if you have to heavily crop the image to see the bird. I would have been better using my little 35mm film camera with a 67 to 35mm adapter on the lens. Even better would have been to have used a cropped sensor digital camera which would have increased the size of the bird in the image even further. Here’s the best of the images. It serves as a …

Protecting your Camera Equipment from Mould

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Here’s an email I received today from a friend based on Ishigaki (one of Okinawa’s southern islands). I’ve just discovered the power of Ishigaki’s mould. I left my favorite  macro lens out on the desk for about 2 weeks….every day I told myself that I should pack it away before it gets mouldy. I finally got around it to and guess what – inner element completely smeared with mould which looks like it might have cut into the glass. How stupid. Lesson learned. I really need to get some dry-storage, especially as I’m about to buy a nice Tokina 11-16mm wide lens which I really don’t want to suffer the same fate. Mould is a serious problem in Okinawa, especially during rainy season. Lenses and film are particularly vulnerable. A mouldy lens can be sent to a specialist for cleaning but more than likely the mould will have etched itself into the coatings and a repair will be more than the cost of the lens. I imagine mould could easily create havoc on a digital sensor. The cheap solution is to store …