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
Tag Archives: japan
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
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
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
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
Kids at Hanami: Charlie and Ami in Negishi Shinrin Koen
The other day myself and two of the kids ventured down to Negishi Shinrin Koen for a morning walk. The cherry blossom was just about 100% out and looked fabulous. Not the best of weather, kind of damp and grey, … Continue reading
Fireworks in the family home-town, Fukushima, Japan
Obon is a period of August when people visit their hometowns to pay respects to their dead relatives. We’ve been up in Ishikawa-machi, Fukushima, for a few days to see family and enjoy a little summer down-time after a very … Continue reading
Long exposures with Hasselblad H4D-40: Toji, Kyoto, Japan
This was shot a month or two ago, art of a feature I was shooting in Kyoto for Travel and Leisure Magazine. This shot didn’t make the cut for the magazine but is one of my favourites from the three … Continue reading
Bringing in the catch: trawler off the coast of Numazu, Japan
Shot this one a month or so ago, on a day out with the family down around the coast near Numazu. Hasselblad H4D-40 HC 300mm f/4.5
Shinagawa Inter City architecture
The Inter City development in Shinagawa, Tokyo, has become a regular shooting haunt for me, for everything from fashion to street photography. I live fairly close-by, just a few stops along the Keikyu Line near Tachiaigawa. Apart from some great architecture, … Continue reading
Mamiya RB lens on Nikon: Shinagawa street photography
Recently I bought a couple of old Mamiya RB67 lenses to use with a Fotodiox adaptor on my Nikon D800E. This is one of the first shots I took with the 127mm f/3.5 lens. This particular part of Shinagawa, down … Continue reading
The Night Before the Workshop: Hyuga, Kyushu, Japan
Just dug this photo out of an old folder, as today I have been putting together some materials for another fashion workshop I am doing later this year in the same location. This was shot with my Nikon D700 from … Continue reading
Miu plays Medusa: nudes with Mini Miu, Pt.3
One never wants to kill an idea by over-doing it. But I think this latest incarnation of the ‘take one image and mirror it’ idea with the nudes of Miu works well.. maybe the best out of all of them. … Continue reading
Snow-quiet streets of Omori: January 14th, 2013
I guess I am sort of excited about the prospect of having more heavy snow tomorrow, hence the couple of posts today from the last dump of snow we had in Tokyo. This is a street not far from our … Continue reading
Getting back into nudes, gently….
It’s been years since I shot nudes; at art-college in the early 1990s was probably the last time I did a lot of it. I shot a few semi-nudes during the workshop I did lats year in Miyazaki and a … Continue reading
Shooting the new 2014 Lexus IS 350 F Sport
Having checked with a bunch of people in the US – and now the car has been previewed at the Detroit Motor Show and is public – I can finally show you a few of the shots I did last … Continue reading
Momiji in Yoyogi Park: shot in December, 2010
One from a couple of years ago but which hasn’t been posted before now. This was shot in Yoyogi Park, Tokyo, right at the end of the display of momiji that year. Love the way with this Mamiya 80mm f/1.9 … Continue reading
Autumn still in full swing: Asakusabashi shrine
I was out for a few hours yesterday with one of my photography students, getting her sorted on some composition related items: leading the eye with line, colour, exposure mainly. This little shrine near Asakusabashi subway station is a spot … Continue reading
Two scenes from a movie called life
These were shot down at the beach in Izu the other weekend at a place called Bentenyama. The larger island is called Bentenjima. Lovely 45mins around sunset spent just shooting the waves breaking over the low wall that runs along … Continue reading
Paddle-boarding in the last of the sun., Kamakura, Japan
I don’t post many photos these days that are cropped to widescreen but this one just suited the crop. I actually have a custom ground-glass screen in my Nikon, which has 16×9 and Panavision crops ground into it. So when … Continue reading
Autumn in Yoyogi Park: the last of the sun
For part of yesterday I was teaching Daniel, who I first met when I co-ran a workshop here in Tokyo with Trey Ratcliff. We spent some time in the photo-library and cafe at the Canon S Tower in Shinagawa, working … Continue reading
The empty stage: Kinugawa haikyo
One more from last week’s outing to Kinugawa and one of the haikyo [abandoned buildings] there. This old enkan [or enka singing/karaoke ballroom] was remarkable: the stage, the curtains, the atmosphere of everything that had happened there over its years … Continue reading