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“Love & Hope” exhibition at Pentax Forum Gallery, Tokyo

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“Love & Hope” is a new exhibition to be held at the Pentax Forum Gallery  in Shinjuku, Tokyo. The exhibition is currently scheduled to take place  from June 8 to June 20, and July 6 to July 18. Images will printed B0 size (1030mm by 1,370mm) which should be amazing. The first part of the exhibition will have 10 images each shot by a different photographer. Pentax asked if I’d take part, and they chose this image of Jessica as one of 10 to be exhibited.

Photography 101 Workshops – June 25&26 and July 2&3

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PHOTOGRAPHY 101 Weekend Workshops June 25&26 and July 2&3. Who is the course for? The beginner or novice photographer who has a digital SLR  and wishes to progress beyond the green fully auto mode. People who want to take better photographs of their friends and family rather than point, shoot and hope for the best. What do I need to bring? Your digital  SLR camera, lens, your camera manual, memory card, battery and charger. If you have a digital compact rather than a digital SLR camera then I can lend you a digital SLR for the course. You don’t need a particular brand of camera or lens. What does the course cover? Equipment – The anatomy of cameras, lenses, memory cards, filters and tripods. Exposure – Aperture, Shutter Speed, ISO, Camera Modes, Metering Composition – Angles, Repetition, Rules, Lines, Simplicity Data Management – Sorting, storing and protecting your images. This is a fun workshop rather than a lecture. As we cover new topics we will be taking photographs, reviewing the images, and discussing the results. …

Naha Haari (Dragon Boat Races) in the Rain

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I got the opportunity to take photos of the dragon boat races today. I took along the new 25mm lens I’m trying out hoping to get some interesting shots. It quickly became clear that the weather was not going to be favorable and it went from drizzle, to light rain, to downpour over the course of an hour. Everyone was soaked, but I was still keen to get at least a few pictures of the event. I kept the camera and lens in an Ortlieb bag until the race began and then worked on the assumption that the weather sealed body and lens would stand up to a few minutes of rain. The camera and lens survived their ordeal without any problems, and I have a few photographs of life in the Okinawan rainy season.

Thor v Hamlet

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Thor is going to be one of the blockbuster movies of the summer. Already getting rave reviews, it looks like director Kenneth Branagh has done a great job. If you’d like to see another Branagh film produced on an even greater scale, then check out the 1996 version of  Hamlet. Why am I mentioning this on a blog about photography? Here are some stats about the film Hamlet… Camera   Arriflex 765 Film negative format (mm/video inches)    65 mm (horizontal) (Eastman EXR 200T 5293, EXR 500T 5298) Cinematographic process   Panavision Super 70 Film length (metres)   6893 m  As I discussed in a previous blog post about the amazing movie Baraka, Hamlet was filmed on a 65mm negative. The Arriflex 765 is the cinematographic exquivalent of the Pentax 67. Even the marketing blurb is almost identical “The 765 has been specifically designed to combine the ergonomics and functionality of 35 mm cameras with the unparalleled image quality of 65 mm film.”  Enjoy Thor as it will, no doubt,  be pushing the boundaries of CGI technology, but …

Taxes

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In a previous post I talked about some books that discussed working as a professional photographer. One bit of information that was repeated in all the books was that as a professional you have to treat the photography business as a business. This means that as well as taking pictures, you need to have clear ideas about goals, marketing, clients, income, expenditure and taxes. How to organize your taxes will vary between individuals. Every country has different regulations, and if you get things wrong you may find yourself either paying more money than necessary getting an unexpected bill for unpaid taxes. (Try and cheat the system and you may find yourself following a similar path to Al Capone or Wesley Snipes.) Obviously, you need to keep records of both expenditure and income. As a photographer this includes my major photography purchases ( bodies, lenses, lights, computers) expendables ( film, processing, ink, paper), maintenance of gear, insurance, marketing (website hosting, updates, exhibitions, mailings), communication (internet, phone), transportation (flights, hotels, trains) and various other expenses. In my …

Tsunami Fund Raising Events

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There’s a fundraising event at La Pachanga Night Club in Chatan tonight (Sun March 27th). One of the DJs will be my my friend Keith Gordon of Ryukyu Underground. Will be a good night, that should raise a lot of money. Next Sunday there will be a Japan Tsunami Relief live Concert at Koza Music Town with several musicians including another friend of mine Kluso. Will be another great event. Please come along and donate generously. If you know of any other fund raising activities either in Okinawa, mainland Japan or around the world please introduce them to others in the comments section.