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January 10, 2009
Machine Gun @ Club Clapper
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This past weekend I had the chance to attend a great event coordiated by DJ Ginga. He put a lot of time and thought into every last detail which made for a great event to shoot.
Machine Gun featured Magnum 38 (from Germany), Ginga, Hiloco, Tuttle, Sakaname, Aida and Kotan, Fatto and Ramo, Miyamoto S Atsushi
Event details and DJ profiles → myspace page
The gallery is here. |
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January 09, 2009
Kyoto and Osaka
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Going to Osaka to photograph the Machine Gun event was a great chance to catch up with some of the Kyoto Kaze messengers and other friends in Osaka.
Takuya introduced me to Mr. Kameoka who was a Keirin racer and now runs a unique rental cycle shop in Kyoto called PASSIONE.
We also stopped into Takuya's bike shop which shares a space with a great coffee shop.
I might have said at one point that I want to move to Tokyo, but having spent the past 2 years studying Kansai dialect Japanese, the way people talk in Tokyo sounds strange. Maybe I should move to Osaka or Kyoto... |
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January 6, 2009
Happy New Year.
I spent this holiday season riding trains all over Japan, stopping in Tokyo for a week for some street photography and Japanese new year tradition.
I had a few first experiences along the way.
I made my first snowman in Japan.
I visited Tokyo tower for the first time.
I gambled on keirin track racing for the first time
(and lost for the first time).
I watched the sun rise at the base of Fuji mountain.
A set of keirin pictures from the biggest race in Japan is here.
I hope you all have a great 2009.
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December 23, 2008
Did 2 months really pass since the last post? I've been busy to say the least. You could say swamped.
The biggest news is that the Japanese version of the blog is finally under way... thanks to the efforts of June! If you don't read Japanese then I guess it's not that big of news. :)
It seems between work, practicing guitar for Chirstmas concerts and photography, there's been little time to spare. I've been working on a few various projects so I'll just add a bunch of photos from over the last couple of months.
The first 6 images are personal works as I continue to experiment with the 1D.
The next 2 images are from the Takamatsu College of Technology culture festival. I was invited to participate and photograph the 2 day event. A larger collection is here.
The following images are from Cafe De Flots. I'm shooting the cafe and menu and putting together a simple site. The greatest part was eating all the food after shooting it.
The last 2 images are from a performance held at my school during PTA day.
Last but not least, I came across the website of a fellow photographer in Japan with some very inspiring works. He shoots most film and is located on an island near Kyushu. Not to far from me. His blog, "jonathin in japan" is here. |
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November 5, 2008
It was a sad moment when I finally parted from my Canon 5D forever. I got an email from the camera's new owner, AGConrad, and was happy to see his works. He's a talented photographer and I'm confident my 5D will be well taken care of. He's already put some images on his blog.
www.blog.agconrad.com
I sold my 5D to be able to purchase the 1D. After shooting non-stop in Tokyo with my 1D, I've had a chance to process the images and find that I'm in love with this camera. I was bit nervous moving to a smaller image size, 1.3x crop factor and the dreaded autofocus rumors surrounding the camera, but all in all, it seems like a good choice so far.
Some sample images from the 5 day photo spree are here. |
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November 2, 2008
One Pack is a group of organic farmers next to the Narita airport in Chiba. Every fall they have a harvest festival. I was invited last year and had such a great time that I made the trip again this year. Just like last year it was a great event with tons of good food and great people.
The gallery is here. |
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October 30, 2008
I happened to be in Tokyo for the Design Tide Week and stopped by the Pecha Kucha night. This being one day after buying the Canon 1D mark iii, I shot a few low light images to see the high ISO performance.
The few images shot are here. |
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October 26, 2008
The Kagawa AJET group hosted a Halloween party and I was a semi official photographer for the event.
The entire collection can be found here.
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October 19, 2008
Tako and Chousas
Every autumn, there are festivals throughout Japan. In this area, Chousa festivals are very popular. There are different versions and sizes of Chousa. Other than that, I can't really explain in detail what a Chousa is. They're like massive shrines that require up to a hundred people to maneuver, or battle. The Chousa "teams" are generally people from the same neighborhood of a town fueled by loads of booze.
The morning of the Chousa festival I was invited to go tako fishing. The word for octopus in Japanese is "tako." It was another one of those first experiences for me in Japan. It involved dropping a hook with no bait and waiting for the tako to latch on. We caught several hundred in a couple hours. |
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October 18, 2008
Japanese Halloween |
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Halloween is my favorite holiday. So I've been happy to volunteer with my city Halloween party for children over the past couple years. While trick-or-treating is not common (I don't think it even exists) there are usually town parties or Halloween lessons in elementary schools.
My costume was Doraemon for the second year in a row. It's such a great costume that it's hard to pick anything else. |
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October 13, 2008
Okayama 6 hour bike Race. |
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This is a 6 hour bike race on a 3.7 km circuit track for cars. There were various races all happening simultaneously. 3 and 6 hour solo and team relays, plus a mountain bike division. All in all there were at least a thousand people racing, but less than a hundred in my division, 6 hour solo.
This was my second time to enter the race. Last year I rode 203km for 13th place, while this year, despite having a cold, I rode 211km for 5th place. Maybe by next year I can lose a few more pounds and replace my steel San Rensho bike with something more competitive. Assuming I don't have a cold again, I might be able to make the top 3. |
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October 13, 2008
Finally finished? |
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After several hours of tinkering with the blog layout and template, I've finally settled on a final design. (I had a bit of a cold, so with a few sick days from work I had a 5 day weekend which gave me a chance to finish most of it.)
The only remaining task is to finish the Japanese version. If you have any desire to read the Japanese text, keep in mind that it will not be translated word for word. This type of translation isn't as interesting to read, and it doesn't help me think or write in a Japanese fashion.
But unfortunately the Japanese translating will have to wait. The rest of today is devoted to preparing my bike for a 6 hour race tomorrow. Last year I rode 126 miles during the 6 hour circuit race for 12th place. This year I have my sights aimed a bit higher.
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October 10, 2008
Portfolio shots for Ian Lynam.
ianlynam.com |
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I just finished shooting a massive pile of of Ian Lynam's graphic design products. It seemed to be a never ending mass of rad products (skateboards and spacey earphones), company identities, and art compilations.
I've been shooting Ian's stuff for over 3 years now and am very inspired by his drive and creativity. Since I'm pretty certain that this is my last year of teaching in Kagawa, maybe my next move will be to Tokyo to team up with Ian and see what the world of photography in Tokyo has in store for me. |
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