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Matsumoto Castle, Nagano Prefecture

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On my final morning up on the Japanese mainland I got up early so that I could take a few shots of Matsumoto castle just after dawn. And from another angle. With a bag full of exposed film I took the train south to Tokyo, and then on to Haneda Airport. It was a great trip. I got nearly all the shots I wanted, and a few extras that came my way. The scanning is now finished. There were 111 shots from this trip that have been scanned and archived. Now I start planning for August.

On the bookshelf: Location Portraits by Cathy Joseph

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Location Portraits by Cathy Joseph is one of the books in the Professional Photography series by Rotovision. Although the photography is excellent, this is not a coffee table book but an instructional guide on how to take portraits outside of a studio. Advice is given by experts in various fields including travel photographers, photo journalists and those who specialize in corporate portraits. As with other books published by Rotovision,  Location Portraits includes the technical details for each shot  including camera, lens, film etc and where relevant lighting diagrams. Unfortunately this book is no longer in print but it is still available new or used and is well worth checking out. (There are used copies on Amazon for less that $4!) Enjoy.

Japanese translators

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I love the nonsensical English that appears when you put Japanese into an online translator. I just received the following email in Japanese, after ordering a dehumidifier cabinet from an electronics store. 商品が入荷次第、お届けの手配をさせていただきます。 今しばらくお待ちいただけますようお願いいたします。 And the translation… The commodity arrival circumstance, can point to the arrangement which is the delivery. Now for a while to wait, it can receive, the fish we ask. I presume there has been a delay with my order. I wonder which fish they are going to ask.

Earth Day

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Today, April 22nd, is Earth Day. I just watched The 11th Hour an interesting documentary about the impact of mankind on the planet and the changes we need to make to our lifestyles. Another documentary that is worth watching is HOME. You can see the entire movie on YouTube, so if you’ve got 90 minutes to spare, please take a look. Double click on the video below to watch it on YouTube (embedded viewing has been disabled).

Back in Okinawa

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Just got back to Okinawa. An exhausting but exciting final couple of days taking photos of the Onbashira Festival in Shimosuwa, Nagano Prefecture. Will drop off 17 rolls of 220 film  and 5 rolls of 120 film tomorrow. I’ll hopefully be able to see how successful this trip has been on Thursday.

Japan Times – Sushi Zen

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Got up at 6.00 A.M. to take early morning photos of Matsuyama Castle. Grabbed a coffee and had a quick look at today’s Japan Times in the hotel lobby. In the paper there is an article about the entrance policy at Sushi Zen, it includes a few quotes from me taken during a phone interview a couple of weeks ago. I thought the piece was well written although I have to note that I didn’t stage an exhibition of my work but merely displayed two pictures as part of a group. I also learned about the situation at Sushi Zen through Facebook rather than after Japanese friends saw the sign. The actual quotes are correct and as I have said before excluding a group of people based on nationality (religion, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, age or any other factor) is unwarranted and does not help create the kind of tolerant society in which I want to live.