A huge thanks to Robert, Michelle, Danielle, Shawn, Amanda, David,  Jen and Dave for being such fun and motivated participants in last weekend’s off camera flash workshop. The first day we learned all about the different types of strobes and getting the most out of them on and off camera. The second day we moved from TTL to manual flash control, and from wired to wireless triggers. By the end of the weekend we were on the beach as Pete gave a short masterclass in location lighting. I’ll post a few more of the photographs from the weekend soon. It all goes to show that a little bit of off camera flash can brighten anyone’s day.

There’s a sunflower festival taking place in Kitanakagusku Village at the moment. Local farmers have grown thousands of sunflowers in vacant plots of land between the vegetables. It’s free to wander around, and there are small paths that wind through the flowers if you want to immerse yourself in nature. Enterprising locals have set up a few stalls selling ramen, soba, shisa and garden plants should you wish to help the local economy.

Living on Okinawa, I can scuba dive most weekends. If you shore dive and only pay for tank rental, a day’s scuba diving actually works out cheaper than an evening bowling. I’ve tried underwater photography a couple of times before. First with an EWA Marine bag for my Nikon film camera that was good down to 5 meters, but limited functionality. Then I got a used Sea & Sea MX-10 submersible camera that you could take scuba diving, but the optical quality wasn’t great. I sold off the MX-10 and for the last 8 years have dived without a camera. From 2012, however, things are going to be different. Ikelite recently started production of a housing for the Pentax K5 / K7 cameras.  I ordered an Ikelite housing from the States and picked up a K5 on sale at Amazon Japan. The housing is rated to be waterproof to 60M (20M below the maximum depth for recreation divers) and allows you to access all the functions of the camera while underwater. You must attach a …

3 Legged Thing is a young British company making camera tripods. After being on the waiting list for several months, a friend just received one of the tripods so I thought I’d check it out and offer up some comments. The tripod is really well made, and similar in many ways to my Gitzo. They have carbon or alloy legs and twist locks at the end of each segment. The design of the legs allows the tripod to be placed very low to the ground, a real bonus for people who shoot a lot of macro. The motion of the ballhead is smooth and it comes in a range of anodized finishes. The quick release camera mount is available as a stylish Black Rapid compatible plate or a more traditional Arca Swiss style plate. Each tripod also comes with it’s own bag to protect your investment. All in all, a great piece of kit. Although I’m impressed,  I already have a great tripod that will continue working fine for several more decades. A quality tripod is …

Happy Surfing Okinawa  is a new guest house and surf / paddle board school in Okinawa set up by professional surfer Danny Melhado. With its reef breaks, Okinawa is not one of the easiest places to surf, you have to be aware of the underwater topography, the tides, the currents, and weather patterns. What you really need is someone who is both a good surfer and a good teacher that can guide you through the choppy waters.  Danny is almost the archetypal laid back surfer, with a relaxed personality and an understanding of what are the really important things in life. He set up a great guesthouse by the beach, built a pizza oven in the yard and continues to share his passion for surfing with others. I haven’t tried surfing on Okinawa yet, but once the warmer weather arrives I’ll definitely be giving it a go.

Had a great time this weekend teaching the Photography 101 Workshop. On Sunday Lemont, Mitzi and I were out in Yomitan practicing the various things we learned the previous day. It was a bit wet and windy as we explored the area around Cape Zampa, but even in inclement conditions there are plenty of opportunities to create images. We were also practicing composition looking for repetition and leading lines. Overall a good weekend with excellent company.

Another quick studio shoot with Alisa Hilton in front of the camera, make up by Summer Johnson and hair styling by Courtney Valimont.

There are a couple of spaces available for my January 14-15 Photography 101 Workshop, and a couple of spaces available for the January 28-29 Off Camera Flash Workshop with Pete Leong and me. If you want to snag one of these places just email me on chris@travel67.com and I’ll send you a Paypal request to reserve your place.  

Took some photos of my friend’s twins last week. A quick photo tip: when photographing children it is a good idea to get down to their level. Thanks to Kirsten and Shiro for letting me spend the afternoon with them and their beautiful girls.