All posts tagged: okinawa

Jasmine at 6 months.

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August 12th is Jasmine’s 6-month birthday. She’s got a lot bigger, her head isn’t cone shaped, and she loves to laugh. She’s used to meeting a lot of different people, and is quite happy being held by family, friends, and complete strangers. She travelled with us all around Kyushu and Okinawa while we updated the Fodor’s Japan guidebook, and has been at various workshops and photo shoots. I hadn’t really considered how much joy and vitality young children bring to a neighborhood.  It makes you realize how tough it must be in rural communities where  young families leave for the cities, the schools close, and the majority of the remaining population is elderly.  As Japan deals with an aging population and a low birthrate it will be interesting to see what policies are enacted to nudge people to have babies, or to increase immigration.

Turtle Beach

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First dive of the year. Great to be back in the water again, and the long surface swim out from the beach with a big camera was a well needed workout. Plenty of interesting creatures. A pair of Risbecia tryoni, chromodorid nudibranchs. White-eyed Moray, Gymnothorax thyrsoideus Whitemouth moray, Gymnothoraz melegaris Plenty of clownfish hiding in their anemones. These included the false clown anemonefish (aka clown anemonefish) Amphiprion ocellaris, and the Pink anemonefish, Amphiprion perideraion.  The dive spot also lived up to its name as we came across a turtle.  It was a green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) with several common remora (Remora remora) attached to its shell. It was resting in a bowl in the coral when we found it, then after a while headed up toward the surface. Overall a fantastic couple of dives. Really have to get out more often. Huge thank you to Hiroshi for getting me back in the water. All images shot with the Pentax K5IIs in an Ikelite housing with Ikelite 161 strobes.

GubGub’s Vegan Kitchen

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GubGub’s Vegan Kitchen makes some of the tastiest food on Okinawa. Great food, that just happens to not have any animals in it. My favorite is the cheeseburger, but the pasta, pizza, sandwiches, and the famous teriyaki burger are all excellent. The restaurant is also home to many rescue cats, so it is pretty much a vegan cat cafe.  If you don’t like cats, or have allergies then check out one of the other great vegan / vegetarian options on the island including Niceness (Nago), Niffera (Naha), Ukishima Garden (Naha), Green Leaf (Yomitan), Esparza’s (Chatan), and Bollywood (American Village). The rescue cats at GubGub’s are also looking for homes so if you need a kitten you know where to go!

Solutions for Beach Trash in Okinawa

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Ocean trash is a global problem. A massive amount of marine debris floats in the sea, and some of it washes up on Okinawa’s beaches.  Other trash is left by beachgoers, and some items are dumped to avoid recycling fees. Okinawa is not unique in having trash on some of its beaches, but Okinawa’s economy is heavily dependent on tourism. Beach trash doesn’t just affect the beauty of the islands and the quality of life for residents, it can also damage the foundations of Okinawa’s tourism industry. Okinawa is a fantastic place to visit. Discover local culture at World Heritage sites, pottery  workshops, and karate dojos. Learn about the wartime “Typhoon of Steel” and Okinawa’s ongoing mission for peace. Experience culinary delights such as goya champuru and umibudo sea grapes, and wash them down with shikuwasa juice or Orion Beer. This is all combined with excellent levels of service, organization, and personal safety. Above all, Okinawa is promoted as a subtropical paradise in which to relax.  Escape the Tokyo metropolis or the neon glare of …

Anthony Bourdain

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In March 2015, Anthony Bourdain visited Okinawa to film an episode of his travel series Parts Unknown for CNN.  Yuki and I played a small part in the production. I helped set things up for a couple of weeks before shooting, and Yuki worked with Tony and the crew for several days during filming. It was a happy and exciting time in our lives, as on March 25th 2015, during preparations and filming, we also bought our home in Motobu and got married.   Yesterday, June 8th 2018, at age 61, Anthony Bourdain took his own life. https://edition.cnn.com/2018/06/08/us/anthony-bourdain-obit/index.html The tragic news has made us look back on the impressive work of Anthony Bourdain. To be honest, as a vegetarian I had never watched his shows to pick up tips on cooking. I saw him as a travel writer and filmmaker, rather than a celebrity chef.  One of the first episodes I ever watched was “Bourdain in Beirut” from the series No Reservations. I had never seen anything like it. Bourdain came across as a man interested in …

Location Shoot with Brylee – Skylum Video

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  The second video with model Brylee Williamson for Skylum Software is now on YouTube.   Things have been exceptionally busy recently so haven’t had much chance to put up blog posts even when the photos, and in this case video, are already shot and edited! Another team effort to produce the video. Thank you to model Brylee Williamson, makeup artist Jessica Ochoa, Gary Hughes for the BTS video clips, Keith Gordon for the intro music, Kaley Kinjo for the song, Yuki for Japanese subtitles, and Hiroshi Tsuji for proofreading. All images shot with the Pentax 645Z with the 90mm macro lens. Images shot with natural light and a reflector, and later with the Profoto B1 strobe with the OCF beauty dish. Images edited in Luminar by Skylum Software. If you like the video please give it a thumbs up, comment, subscribe, or even share. This helps spread the video and will encourage us (and our sponsors) to create more videos in the series!

Humpback Whale Watching on Okinawa

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Here’s my latest collaboration video with Skylum Software. I take to the waters off the coast of Motobu, Okinawa to try and photograph humpback whales. Please like, share and comment on the video as it will help others find it and allow us to keep on making videos! Skylum Software just released a new update to Luminar this week so it is now faster with a few new editing options also. A big thank you to Okinawa Island Crew for letting me shoot photos and video on the boat. I much prefer whale watching from Motobu rather than Naha as the whales are located much closer to the port. The gear used in the video was the Pentax 645Z camera with the 300mm f4 lens. The tripod was a carbon fibre LEO by 3 Legged Thing, and the bag is the Whistler by Lowepro.

It’s a girl!

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Yuki started going into labor at around 6pm on Saturday the 10th of February. We called the maternity clinic and drove from Motobu to Nago City. At the clinic they confirmed Yuki was in labor, but that it was going very slowly. The whole of Sunday was spent in bed with the contractions getting stronger. At around midnight Yuki was moved to the birthing room in the clinic. Yuki was attached to monitors,  but the birth wasn’t due for several more hours. At around 3.15AM things got very busy. The heart rate of the baby  suddenly dropped from around 130 to 60 bpm. The doctor made the decision to get the baby out right away and at 3.36AM on February 12th 2018  Jasmine Victoria Willson was born. She was weighed (2868 grams), and measured (47.2cm). She was checked and cleaned. Monitored, and then given to Yuki. Unten-sensei was able to explain to me what happened at the birth. The low heart rate was a sign of foetal distress, so he immediately delivered the baby by …

Senior Session with Jocelyn

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On Saturday morning I had a wonderful senior session with Jocelyn where we really got to make the most of Okinawa’s spring flowers.  Cosmos, cherry blossom, and  bougainvillea all created beautiful settings for our shoot. A huge thank you to Sandy for choosing me to shoot her daughter’s pictures. It was a pleasure to see you again, and we wish Jocelyn all the best with her future studies and adventures. Learn more about senior sessions with Chris Willson Photography here.