In March, during the annual migration of humpbacks past Okinawa, I had an article in Dragonair’s Silkroad magazine on whale watching. Only some of the photos are mine as I didn’t have any great whale breaching images for the client, but text and some pics will do this time. The new home / office looks out from Motobu towards Sesoko Island so hopefully next March I’ll be able to do some whale watching from the garden.
On Saturday April 25th (not Sunday 26th), I will be selling prints and chatting to people about photography workshops at the Mother’s Day Bazaar inside the Kadena USO. I’ll have a range of photographs for sale including framed gallery prints that have not been available to purchase previously. I’ll also be answering your photography questions, and introducing the upcoming photography workshops. Stop by the Kadena USO on Saturday and say hello! You never know, you might even find something beautiful for your walls.
A recent feature on Okinawan shisa in Horizon magazine. If you’re relaxing on the ocean with Star Cruises check it out!
On Friday I photographed 9th-dan master Yoshimasa Matsuda and his son Hirokazu Matsuda at Naminoue Shrine, Naha City, Okinawa. On January 31st Matsuda will receive the rank of 10th-dan. Naminoue Shrine is the most famous shrine on Okinawa. The fact that Matsuda is a local resident and supporter of the shrine meant we were given permission to use it as a background for the photographs.
James, Sam and Fumiya, practice kobudo on Toyosaki Beach, Okinawa.
A couple of weeks ago the lighthouse at Cape Zanpa reopened to the public. I was out teaching the Photography Fundamentals workshop when we came across the special opening day event. The mascot got my seal of approval. Unfortunately nobody seemed to have checked which end of the flag festooned rope they should attach to the top of the lighthouse. The result is that the flags of about 50 countries were flying upside down, an international signal of distress.
Now that the Karate Masters book is completed and on sale I have time to catch up on things on my to-do list. Here’s a scan of my Kokusai Street feature from last month’s Silkroad, the magazine of Dragonair.
Flowers of the Red Powder Puff, Calliandra haematocephala known locally as obenigoukan. Flowering in Yomitan Village, Okinawa, Japan.
I regularly meet this chondara (Okinawan clown) when teaching my photography workshops, yesterday he had a new face pattern. I had presumed that each chondara would have a unique pattern they would keep for life, but I guess Okinawan clowns take these things lightly.
TRAVEL 67 : Chris Willson Photography 