Kyoto’s Jidai Matsuri (Festival of Ages) was delayed by a day due to rain, but last Sunday it went ahead with a parade of around 2000 Japanese in traditional costumes. After a somewhat underwhelming Kurama Fire Festival I had a fantastic time photographing the various participants in the Jidai Matsuri. It was particularly interesting to see the number of horses in the parade. Yabusame (mounted) archers , along with various other riders  had come over from Nara for the event. The following photo was an interesting example of the benefits of photographic cross training. Previous fashion / beauty shoots with a model and horse on the beach had taught me to look for shots of the rider beside the horse’s head rather than sitting on it’s back.

Fodor’s Japan, 20th Edition was published this month. I mention it because I updated the Okinawa section of the guidebook. I’m not sure about other travel guides, but I can vouch for the fact that updater of the Okinawa chapter has actually spent a decent amount of time traveling around the islands.  It was an interesting experience reviewing the various attractions, and I hope that visitors have a memorable experience  whether their stay is counted in days or decades.

On the mean streets of Kyoto the growl of the chopper is followed by the yap of the Chihuahua.

After a little prodding from friends I have now joined Google Plus. You can find me here and add me (or encircle me) to follow my various exploits. I hadn’t realized that some people are googlers rather than facebookers. If you’re a tweeter, I’m sorry, but I haven’t opened that can of worms just yet. As for the usefulness of Google Plus I will give it a bit of time before reaching any conclusions. I have however made several new contacts already, and received a nice email from Pentax Europe introducing themselves and asking about prints. All in all, it’s good to be prodded from time to time.  

Pretty much as Mr. Moore predicted, there has been rapid growth in computing power, and at the same time data storage capacity. The original “standard capacity” SDSC cards had a max capacity of 2GB. These were supersceeded by the “high capacity” SDHC cards that ranged from 4GB to 32GB. And now we enter the era of the “extended capacity” SDXC cards ranging from 32GB to  2TB. One of the recent firmware updates to the Pentax 645D camera was to allow the use of SDXC cards. I currently use two 32GB SDHC cards in my camera, and write the data to both cards simultaneously. I needed to get an extra set of cards so thought I’d try a pair of the SDXCs. A Transcend SDXC 64GB card is about 90 dollars on Amazon.com, 7500 yen on Amazon Japan and a cringeworthy 66 pounds on Amazon UK. As with all tech equipment you can be happy that by waiting you didn’t have to pay the $150 List Price. However, in six months to a year prices will have surely dropped, if not halved, …

I spent Saturday morning in Naha’s Budokan (The Prefectural Martial Arts Center) photographing Tameshigiri Taikai ( the slicing of rolled tatami matting with a samurai sword). Hamamoto-sensei smoothly slices through the roll of damp tatami matting. The matting is analogous to human limbs in its resistance to a blade. Impressive and yet somewhat unnerving. I’m told the man in the above photograph is a surgeon. He certainly had impressive blade control, although would be somewhat nervous if he took a katana rather than a scalpel into the operating room. After the class I was able to get a quick portrait of Hamamoto sensei. I used a beauty dish, powered by my Profoto generator as the main source of illumination. A silver reflector added a little fill from behind. Not as portable or convenient as a hotshoe flash, but I love the light it produces, and what are friends for if not to help lug all your gear around. (A big thanks to Jen and James)

72 hours after arriving in Istanbul I manage to get back on the same rooftop for the sunset. Amazing 3 days, well worth a visit. A big thanks to the people of Istanbul. A photographer’s paradise and the perfect place for a face hunter.

Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar is one of the largest covered markets in the world. I spent a couple of hours in full face-hunter mode stalking the streets and alleyways.