Posts Tagged ‘Photography’

Kyoto/Osaka/Nara trip – Quite simply in two words; beauty and tranquilty. Think breathtaking shrines and temples, and then some.

The annual retreat back into wilderness and the embrace of everything natural continues this year with a 5 day travel itinerary to Takasaki in the Gunma Perfecture, hometown of my very good friend Takeshi. Here ample thanks and gratitude must be appropriated to my hosts Takeshi+Kojima whom without them this trip would never have been possible. We travelled far and wide for hours to distant mountains and waterfalls, cabbage farms so huge and wide it was like standing in the middle of the world; quiet, undiscovered villages that could only have appeared in quaint old Japanese films. One night a miraculously timed, passing glance into the starry skies had us catching a beautiful, long tailed shooting star. What are the odds.

Takeshi’s father is a farmer so every trip back to Takasaki is like a dietary detox session; an astonishing variety of homegrown vegetables are eaten and meat consumption drops to a virtual zero.

Kojima attempts a Kodak moment.

The Ito residence.

No, I didn’t digitally enhanced the colours on these flowers; they were of the very same intensity I saw with my own eyes, but Takeshi quickly informs : “Erm..these are actually the flowers of…weeds.” Killjoy.

Takeshi+Kojima+loadsa’cactus.

Babes galore, rush hour in Shibuya station. This is but only half of the entire ad spread.

My second trip to Miyazaki’s Ghibli Museum. I must have been too excited during my first visit to have missed thess 3 blokes perched on the top of the entrance signboard. Charming folks.

Revisits to familiar tourists’ spots like the Meiji Jingu and Shibuya’s 109 junction as I accompanied my 2 friends Gabriel and Waimeng from Singapore had me tuning my accustomed eyes to little hidden nooks and corners, delightful sights I never knew existed; indeed, god is in the details.

The gods must be lazy this year as they clumped Tokyo’s annual worth of snowfall into one single serving, those huge flakes of white crystals transforming a once familiar landscape into an almost unrecognizable winter wonderland; I woke up finding snowflake shadows cascading past my frosted glass windows; 10 minutes later I was out of the house, stepping into fresh snow, my d70 clasped readily in my hands.

Having tried out the great Meiji Jingu Jam ( Check out this entry; )in Harajuku during last year’s New Year’s Eve I figured I’ll go see something else this year; the great Ameyoko Jam, a very popular shopping street in Ueno, think a Japanese version of Chinatown on Lunar New Year’s Eve. Mingling into the crowd I was literally carried around involuntarily by the human traffic and I soon decided to just go with the flow, snapping whatever interesting that came into view. After that it was a laidback, quiet New Year’s dinner with some friends ( most others had gone back to their hometowns to celebrate New Year ); and yes, still secretly yearning for that intoxicated, sloshed out PVD party.

Tokyo’s metropolitan landscape stretches as far as the eye can see from Ebisu’s Garden Place, as breathtaking as it is dizzying. Taking the elevator up to the top viewing levels I almost felt like a character playing in Otomo Katsuhiro’s Akira as I gazed upon this colossal, hulking entity, the hectic home to 12 million denizens.

Winter holidays are here and I’ve taken this opportune moment while taking a short breather from school to indulge in a little creative pleasure; taking s**tloads of photographs with my newly acquired, long overdue and hitherto much desire(d) Nikon digital SLR D70s. I’m loving every second of it; the handling and feel of the camera, the expanded creative options I have ( check it : ISOs from 200 to 1500 at the flick of a switch ), and I’ve barely even started. Now before any film purist lambast me as been unfaithful to the medium, no, I’m not a digital convert; I still love my good old Nikon FE10 and the romantic look of film; but the wise auteur utilizes all tools available to him so as to advance his level of work; not that I’m claiming to be one.

Here’s to many more happy and rewarding shooting days. :]

Dusk near home in Tanashi, West Tokyo.