A fun shoot with another Japanese icon. The Nissan GTR is a technological marvel, able to make far more expensive European and American supercars look archaic and sluggish. Shot with the 645Z and 25mm lens. Shutter speed was kept relatively slow at 1/125 to show motion on the road. A huge thanks to Michael for bringing his beast to the shoot.
Kensho Tokumura, Hanshi 9th-dan Ryukyu Dento Kobujutsu Hozon Budo Kyokai photographed for my Beyond the Dojo project on the beach in Heshikiya, Katsuren, Okinawa. These images were all shot with the Pentax 645Z paired with the 25mm wide-angle lens. A Profoto B1 strobe with a white softlight reflector was used for off camera flash. I’m really enjoying shooting these wide-angle portraits. The kobudo weapons when held towards the lens give a wonderful depth to the images.
Lotus, an iconic British motoring brand. Makers of lightweight sports cars including classics such as the Esprit and Elise. The most famous Lotus was the white submersible driven by Bond several decades ago, but they are still building amazing vehicles and competing in F1. Rudding Park Hotel was a great backdrop to take a picture of the car before we headed out into the Yorkshire Dales.
Last year, on my trip to India I took the Pentax 645D, a 35mm wide-angle lens and the new 90mm macro. I also packed a Pentax K5-IIs with a 40mm pancake lens for low-light street photography. The K5-IIs would also be my backup camera in the unlikely event that the 645D was stolen or had problems. The K5 takes the same batteries, charger and SD cards as the 645D. The body and pancake lens combined weigh about 800 grams so it didn’t t take up much space or weight if it wasn’t used. The image quality from the K5 is excellent, obviously not on a par with the 645D, but I would still be able to use the images for commercial purposes. While in Agra, shooting the Taj Mahal at dawn, the 645D suddenly stopped working. The shutter seemed to open for a couple of seconds then the screen showed just a black image. I turned it off and on, removed and replaced the battery, the lens, the SD cards, but the problem was …
Yotsudake is one of the traditional Ryukyu dances. The dancers wear a flower shaped hat, and a bingata kimono. They hold a pair of instruments similar to castanets which are made from four (yotsu) pieces of bamboo (take). They clap the yotsudake in time to the music. These images were all shot with the Pentax 645Z and the 90mm lens. The 90mm lens is an excellent portrait lens, allowing a shallow depth of field when needed and also has image stabilization to reduce motion blur due to camera shake.
I took some more photographs of a client’s Toyota 2000GT on Sunday night. An exceptionally beautiful motoring icon, and now extremely rare. It was fun to get into the driver’s seat for a moment while I was checking the lighting. It’s not often you get to sit behind the wheel of a million dollar car. In both images I used the Profoto B1 strobe and a medium softbox to add some light to the car (above) and subject (below).
Last weekend was the world’s largest tug of war. It is held each year on route 58 in Naha City, Okinawa. First the two halves of the rope are joined together with a giant wooden pin. Kings of the west side and east side are then carried to the center of the rope. Thousands of spectators including Okinawans, tourists and local American military take part in the event pulling for either the East or West team. I was pleased that this year I could add to my selection of images of the tug of war . I already had a fantastic overview shot from 2010, but it was great to get some POV shots from the center of the action. The above shots were all taken with the Pentax 645Z and the 25mm lens held above my head on a monopod. The photo below was with the Pentax 645D and 55mm.
The Pentax 645Z may be the perfect camera for high-end wedding photographers. Of course it may seem like an unusual choice in an industry now dominated by Nikon and Canon, but the 645Z has some advantages over the competition. Can it get the job done? Shooting inside a gloomy church, a makeup room, or at the reception are now possible with ambient light. The new CMOS sensor in the 645Z means that you can use higher ISOs when required. This has been an issue with many other medium format digital cameras including its predecessor the 645D. Rain, no problem. Weather sealing on the body and lenses means you can keep on shooting no matter how “ironic” the wedding day is. Dual memory card slots, giving you redundancy in case of card failure. The “weaknesses” of the 645Z compared to the top of the line DSLR’s in terms of focusing speed and frames per second may be an issue for sports photographers, but unless you have an actual runaway bride it shouldn’t be an issue at …
TRAVEL 67 : Chris Willson Photography 