Nezu Again - This Time B&W
I ahve gone on a number of trips to the large shrine at Nezu, and you will continue to see more photos from there as I continue to try and get the best I can from the place.This time I took Dave from ShootTokyo fame along to try and get a few rolls of film shot off. I brought along my 2 Leica film bodirs - the M6 and M7 and a Noctilux attached to the M7 and a rather old Canon 50mm F1.4 LTM that is as old as I am, on the M6. …
Shibakoen Shrine
As you probably have guessed, I spend a lot of time photographing shrines - not a surprise given where I live and the tens of thousands of shrines that are all across Japan. Tokyo has a few very famous ones, like the Meiji Shrine and the Yasakuni Shrine, but one of the larger ones is in Shibakoen, right next to the Tokyo Tower, just a few railway stops from Tokyo proper. …
Koinobori - digital version
The word Koinobori literally means "carp streamers" and is an apt name for this very Japanese sight. Every year to celebrate Children's Day - one of the Golden Week holidays, huge carp streamers are strung across rivers to fly in the early spring winds. These carp can be up to 3 meters long and are very finely detialed and beautiful to see. …
Kitaguchi Hongu Fuji Shrine
The base of Mount Fuji is dotted with Shinto shrines, as mountains hold a special place in the beliefs of the Japanese. Mountains are sacred places and worthy of respect, care and even worship. Given Mount Fuji is the "Daddy of them all" in Japan, there is a lot of effort in some of these palces. Near to Lake Kawaguchi there are a number of shrines in one quite small area. …
Velvia 50 at Lake Kawaguchi
With digital you ahve an instant ability to peruse, edit and share your photos - as soon as you get back to your computer. With film, you have to wait. Firstly it takes around 5 working days for my developer to complete the work on a medium format film - even longer if Black and White. Then I have to scan - in some cases multiple times and then edit the photos. …
Lake Kawaguchi
Mount Fuji is probably the most famous image the world knows from Japan. It is truly imposing and rises in almost perfect symmetry less than 150km from Tokyo and can be seen from many miles away - including my office desk on a clear day. Just north of the mountain there are a number of lakes - the largest of which is Lake Kawaguchi. …
Mitakesan Dog Shrine
I have a chocolate labrador dog, who is getting a bit on in years these days. She has come with me from Singapore to Hong Kong and now to Japan. She seems to enjoy Japan the most as, I guess, the weather is cooler and more easy on her. The people in Japan seem to really love dogs. Although here a dog is about the size of a cat, and often carried in bags or even pushed around in prams. …
The Hong Kong Dai Pai Dong
Dai Pai Dong means "big label" in Cantonese and refers to the permit that allowed these street restaurants to operate. Street dining is an art form in Hong Kong and somewhat now on the wane as the city gets wealthier and the value property means that many of the space that these used to use are now being developed or in some cases, whole areas are being raised in the name of "development". …
Black and White Nezu
This is the final (I promise) in the series from the Nezu Photowalk. This time I am showing some photos from the 2 rolls of Kodak TMAX 400 that I shot in my Mamiya. I was not extremely happy with the result, but want to post them here as a sample. I have, however, vowed to do more Black and White as I love the results when I gett he subject just right. …
Analog Nezu Photowalk
The previous post was the digital series from the Nezu photowalk with Mr Shoottokyo. I also took along a analog beast - in this case my beloved Mamiya 645 Pro TL. I had a couple of lenses and bunch of rolls of the now discontinued Fuji Astia positive film in 120 format. This was a perfect set for the kind of day - and the wonderful subject matter. …
Digital Nezu Photowalk
My buddy Dave from Shoot Tokyo (www.shoottokyo.com) arranged a photowalk recently. We decided to head for Nezu to see the famous temple there and then head back around to Yanaka and see where our group took us. We had around 25 people show up and in a sort of random fashion we headed out. I took along two cameras that day - one film and one digital. …
Baseball
I admit, I have the wrong nationality and grew up in the wrong country to have any clue about the game of baseball. It seems to be an arcane arrangement of folks in caps with very thin bats and a huge leather glove to make catching the ball seemingly dead simple. I had never had any experience of the game or even seen it on TV until I came to Japan. …