Published in 2011 Metropolis Japan Calendar

I became more serious about photography in August 2008.  I already had plans to leave Japan in February 2009.  In that six month period I had a goal of getting a photograph published in the "Photo of the Week" section of Metropolis, the #1 English magazine in Japan.  To my great surprise I reached that goal on October the 24th.  Though no money was involved, for a few minutes it felt like I had won the lottery.  

Then almost two years out of Japan, Metropolis contacted me for permission to have one of my photographs considered for their 2011 calendar.  I had originally submitted it in January 2009.  I said, "sure."  I was then told it was selected for the month of January and the copies they mailed to me across the sea arrived this afternoon.  I was also happy to find out I was sharing space with two other old Japan photographer friends, Vladimir and Alfie.  I was with Vladimir when I made the above photograph, and really only went out shooting that day because of his invitation.  So I guess I have him to thank most!  The photograph is in fact, one of my own top five all-time personal favorites, and a shot I am rather proud of.

Getting a photograph published in Metropolis I feel is still a sort of right of passage for a photographer in Japan, and perhaps Tokyo especially.  It results in a sort of Who's Who of photographers.  A small, but nice honor.

This got me to thinking this afternoon about where my photographer career would be if I had stayed in Japan.  Alfie is a true professional photographer with many connections and he was starting to appreciate my work.  Could I have gone on to be more of a photojournalist like he is?  Would I still have pursued lifestyle photography in Tokyo as well?  I can imagine wedding shots with Mt. Fuji as the background, or family portraits taken under the cherry blossom trees in full bloom.  Who knows . . .

Wired to the Sky in Suidobashi Tokyo Japan

Nikon D80 Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G VR @ f/5.6 ISO 400 1/320thThough I have never photographed in New York or London, I am still absolutely sure that Tokyo is one of the top five cities for photography in the world, if not the best.  So many factors contribute to how good a city is for photography that have nothing to do with photography itself, for example public transportation, safety, regulations restricting what can be photographed, etc.  Tokyo excels in all those areas with a great train system, an absolutely safe city to walk around with a thousand dollar+ DSLR at any time of night and no restrictions on what can be photographed.  Want to set up on a tripod in the train station, go ahead!

Then of course it has an incredibly rich source of photography subject matter.  Perhaps what I have written so far should be for another future post.  The photograph above was taken in the Suidobashi area of Tokyo, Japan.  It is a central part of Tokyo, more toward the older, traditional side of the metropolis.  There is an amusement park right in the middle of all the roads and buildings, surprisingly.

Using all 200m of reach I framed a mother and son in what looks like a converted airline food server tethered high above the sky in a series of elongated cables.  I thought it looked like a great way to see the city.  I never went up on the ride myself.  So that is a tip for any current Tokyo photographer who wants what will undoubtedly be a unique vantage point.

A fuller view of a most unusual sky carousel in the middle of Tokyo.

Very Old School Tokyo Assassins

Tokyo, Japan 2009 - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8D @ f/2.8 ISO 640 1/2500th

There are mainly only two things about daily life in Tokyo that I miss, first of course is my beloved washlet, the second is the ability to do street photography from right out my front door.  Living in any big city offers lots of street photography chances, add to it the allure of Japanese culture and an indifference to photographers and Tokyo just might be the best city in the world for street photography, or photography of any kind.

I was on a photo walk on my very last day in country (after six years living there) with three friends walking from Shinjuku to Yoyogi Park.  We passed these guys in the middle somewhere.  Even though I was shooting something entirely different the moment before (if you can believe it horseback riders jumping gates!), I was able to change gears in time (as any good photographer must be able to) to photograph these guys as they got their bearings.

They were wearing trench coats and carrying weapons and suitcases.  I imagined them as some Rip Van Winkle type assassins from the Edo Period or something transported to modern day Tokyo and trying to continue their assassin profession with 500 year old technology.  Perhaps I was fortunate they did not spot me photographing them or I may have been added to their hit list.  

The weapons they are carrying . . . Japanese traditional archery bows and arrows.  

Observing the potential and the uncertainty

To this day I wonder what he is looking at, thinking about.

The above photograph has long been one of my personal favorites.  It may have no meaning to anyone else, but the main reason I make photographs is for myself actually.  I remember this day clearly.  I had just bought a Nikkor 50mm 1.8D lens, after thinking about it constantly for over a week.  I wanted a fast lens, and a sharp one, and on my Nikon D80 at that time, it was both.  

This pedestrian bridge was my favorite place in all of Tokyo.  Connecting to Shinjuku station, the busiest public transportation hub in the world, the potential there is tremendous.  Yet there is so much it can be and is overwhelming.  The pedestrian bridge puts you just slight above it all, in a safe position where the potential, as well as the uncertainty of all things, can be observed.

I saw this ojisan taking a long stare down the street I actually lived on for 4 years.  Looking at this photo now, after one of the most chaotic days of my life, it makes me feel calm, and reminds me that potential is still out there, along with uncertainty.

Unedited Series 01 - Yurakucho Lantern

No post editing done on this jpg of a Yurakucho lantern in Tokyo Japan

I have said several times lately to some of my DSLR Photography Lesson students that I edit every single one of my photographs, that I never post any online without at least some editing, and that post-processing can be up to 50% of the process of producing the final photograph.  Then earlier today I was talking with Bob Kroll, a photographer far more experienced than I, about how just even a little over one year ago my post-processing workflow was embarrassingly simplistic.  

So this gave me an idea for a new series of posts called "Unedited."  By unedited I mean a jpg straight out of my Nikon D300, with no post-processing done outside of the camera in any photo editing application, not even any cropping.

The debut image for the Unedited series is a shot I made back in February of 2009 after meeting with great Tokyo-based photographer Alfie Goodrich.  We had met at the Foreign Correspondents Club which is in the very photographic Yurakucho area of Tokyo.  Alfie has photographed a lot there himself.  The lantern in the above shot does not have any deep spiritual meaning or anything like that, it is merely a small restaurant's sign.  Looks much more impressive than some rectangular corporate signage doesn't it?  

Could this image be improved with some editing?  Sure.  The reds might be toned down a bit and maybe some shadow detail pulled out.  A little sharpening might help define the kanji characters as well.  However, I am satisfied with the results I got just from the jpg, and at least for me personally, this photograph is a nice reminder of a well spent day with another photographer during my time in Tokyo.

SHOT DATA:

• Nikon D300 
• Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D
• aperture:  f/2.8
• shutter speed:  1/250
• iso:  800
• handheld

Kosodate-zizou and pinwheel

A kosodate-zizou statue staying cool with its own pinwheel fan

 The temples and shrines of Japan are full of a wide variety of photography opportunities.  On this particular occasion, the whirring pinwheel caught my eye.  I did not have a tripod with me, but I thought the pinwheel might be spinning fast enough that I could handhold a shot and capture it in motion blur beside the very still statue.  

The statue is called a kosodate-zizou, and they are for the well wishes of a newborn child.  They are adorned with various hats and scarves.  I had never seen a statue "dressed up" before going to Japan.  Something about it is just very curious to me and causes my brain to have to think on the paradox of putting soft material on a hard statue.  Somehow it seems to be a very compassionate thing to do, like, just because the statue is made of stone does not mean its head does not get chilly from time to time.  

Street Photography - Tokyo Skateboarder

2008, Shinjuku Tokyo Japan - Nikon D80 with Nikkor AF ED 80-200mm f/2.8D lens

I did a lot of street photography when I lived in Tokyo.  Since I lived within a short walking distance of Shinjuku station, literally millions of people walked through my neighborhood every day.  On such street photography occasions I would seek out a spot out of the way of the flow of sidewalk traffic, preferably with my back against something (railing, subway entrance wall, etc), but with a clear view of the passing people.  There are other techniques I use to make my street photography images, but I will not reveal all of those here.  

Anyone carrying a skateboard would automatically grab my attention, but throw in a manilla envelope with BUGS in a large font across the front of it, and you have exactly the type of person my eyes comb through the masses for.  The bonus was I had a clear shot of him long enough to also make a detail shot of his skateboard.  

I would like to do a photo series of skateboard deck customizations some day.