I spent a whole day, on Wednesday working with one of my students, in my studio. He did 99.9% of the shooting. I just took a few shots at the end of each session. Mainly I was there to do … Continue reading
Shooting in the studio with Sai
Architecture: Repeated Patterns
Tokyo has some fabulous architecture and I like nothing more than walking around the city capturing the patterns and shapes. Back in 2016, a new building opened in Tokyo’s Ginza shopping district. The Tokyu Plaza Ginza immediately became by go-to … Continue reading
The Olde Worlde Charm of Ningyocho
The neighbourhood of Ningyocho in Tokyo’s Chuo-ku borough, is a place I visit often and it’s full of relaxed, olde worlde charm. Ningyocho is about 25mins on the train from where we live. It’s a charming old neighbourhood of small … Continue reading
In Praise of Clouds
I guess we’ve all been going out less, due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This has created challenges for me with my photography. In the early part of the pandemic, although we had no formal lockdown here in Japan, I was … Continue reading
What kind of winter will it be?
Friends in the weather business have recently been telling me that due to La Niña starting up again a little while ago, we could be in for a hard winter. I’ve experienced some great times here in Japan during winter. … Continue reading
Cinematic times at Yangon Station
In March of 2018, I spent almost two weeks in Myanmar, mostly in and around Yangon, as Unit Stills Photographer on a short film. The movie is a love story. The Japanese male lead, Hasegawa Hiroki, plays a guy working … Continue reading
Blue Friday
In all the years I’ve been visiting and living in Tokyo, one thing is constant: I’ve not yet become bored with the city. I can probably put some of this down to the fact that I’m an inquisitive photographer. So, … Continue reading
Re-energising this blog
It’s been a long time since I regularly updated this blog. That’s changing as of today. One of the main reasons I lapsed was that, for a long time, I’d been using Google Plus to cross-post pics to this blog. … Continue reading
Tokyo Skytree at Sunset
Yesterday looked like it might produce a lovely sunset and a views of Mount Fuji. The mountain never materialised but it was a beautiful sunset. I’d been out on Sunday, with some students, shooting the city with telephoto lenses. So … Continue reading
Walks with the camera: looking down
As a professional photographer, I constantly need to exercise my eyes to keep them fit for purpose. Some days I just go out and spend my time looking at the floor. My brain and eyes are like a radar set: … Continue reading
Revisiting good locations & the orange towel
Some places just keep drawing your back. Others end up being the sorts of places you just naturally gravitate back to or pass by now and then. The buildings near the bus depot between Shibuya and Ebisue are like that … Continue reading
Silhouettes in Asagaya
The big summer festival in Asagaya is one of those events in Tokyo that have me torn: do I go and brave the massive crowds? Or do I not go and then regret it? This year I went. Stuck around … Continue reading
Explaining how my eyes work
Part of the challenge of being a teacher of something is to pass on, in easy to understand terms, the things within your realm that are subconscious to you. Seeing, for instance. Why do I see the things I see, … Continue reading
Tohoku winter wonderland
At various times during the end of 2017 and through into January of last year, I was on a shoot for the JTB and Japan National Parks Authority. It gave me the chance to visit some truly breathtaking parts of … Continue reading
Evening falls in a Tokyo backstreet
The simple geometry and colour pairing in this quiet backstreet near Asakusabashi typifies why I like spending time with subjects like this. As a professional photographer who needs to deliver for whichever client comes through the door on a given … Continue reading
A wall that I love: Kinshicho
Kinshicho is a neighbourhood I first discovered about eight years ago. Recently, I’ve been walking there a lot. Tokyo has so many wonderful neighbourhoods to explore and because there are so many of them, one tends to explore them on … Continue reading
Last of the gingko: Shinagawa
Undoubtedly one of the great charms of Japan in autumn are the gingko trees. Above and beyond the majesty of a vast carpet of fallen, yellow leaves there is, for me, the exquisite beauty of the solitary leaf. In Shinagawa … Continue reading
Patterns in blue: Nihombashi
I love Tokyo’s winters: piercing blue skies, crisp cold air. But after a while the skies, what I’d call BBB (Blue But Boring), get a little un-interesting. Until, that is, you start using how the perfect flat blue reflects in … Continue reading
Perfect light on buildings, Asakusa
After my wife and I visited our local shrine to do ‘hatsumode’ 初詣 (the first visit of new year), I headed off for a walk. After walking pretty much the whole of the first station of the Old Tokaido Road, … Continue reading
Old and new, Shinjuku | 今昔、新宿
I was out in Shunjuku recently, doing a lesson for a student. The area by the West exit of the JR station, where the skyscrapers are concentrated, is always a favourite place for me to walk. I’ll often do that … Continue reading
Scenes from an imaginary movie: on the bullet-train to Kyoto
I’m always reminded of Jim Morrison and what he once asked, in the lyrics of a song: “Have you had a good life, enough to base a movie on?” For me life is very much like a movie. Not because … Continue reading
Portrait photography in Tokyo: Nikki in the studio
I bumped into Nikki on Instagram and instantly knew she was someone I wanted to shoot with. She has a unique look and is an all-round creative person: ex-dancer, currently a singer. I feel close, spiritually, to people like Nikki. I … Continue reading
The National Art Center, Tokyo, in Miniature: shot with Hasselblad HTS Tilt-Shift Adaptor
This shot is part of a series I’m working on, called ‘Tokyo ToyTown’. Everything is shot using the Hasselblad HTS1.5 tilt shift adaptor. Various camera bodies used. one mine, some borrowed. This one was shot the other day, with my … Continue reading
The purple of dusk in Tokyo: at the Hikarie building, Shibuya
The Hikarie Building in the Shibuya district of Tokyo is one of those buildings that I always try to make time to go and visit, especially if I am in Shibuya around sunset. The view towards sunset can be frustrating, … Continue reading
Portrait of my daughter, Ami
I was working from home yesterday so decided to do a few portraits of Ami and Charlie. Simple setup: one Bowens monolight through a small, shoot-through umbrella hight at camera right, angled down about 50degrees onto Ami. Flash triggered by Photix radio … Continue reading
Late March snow in Nikko: the lady with the pink umbrella
It’s not unheard of to get snow in late March, in Nikko. But the locals were saying that such heavy snowfall in such a short space of time [overnight on the 26th/27th March this year] was unusual. Not so far … Continue reading
Fashion shoot: Mari for Shisa Brand
I recently received a commission from the Faroe Islands based fashion label, Shisa Brand, to shoot some shots of a few of their lines. This shot is just a little teaser of a larger post I’ll put up on my Japanorama … Continue reading
‘Cup ramen shooting’: five minutes in Shibuya with Norie
Over the last couple or three years, I’ve done a few of what I call ‘cup ramen shoots’. The idea is basically to shoot a fashion set in about the time it would take to unwrap, add boiling water to … Continue reading
A sunset and a sighting of Doctor Yellow
Doctor Yellow is one of those elusive trains in Japan. It’s used as a diagnostic vehicle, to check track alignment, alignment and quality of overhead electricity lines etc. There IS a schedule, sort of, although most people will tell you … Continue reading
Camping by the shores of Lake Motosu
Last week we had a great camping trip, for three days, to Lake Motosu in the Fuji Five Lakes area. Great campsite. Fully recommended. There’s details on the site in the post at the link below, along with a whole … Continue reading