digital b&w

One of my favorite portraits in the digital age was a black and white portrait I took of this man about 5 years ago.

http://www.yasooo.com/jp/people/bw2/12.html

That portrait was taken with an earlier Nikon D1X, and I was very pleased with the rich black and white tones in the final print where it was almost as satisfying as a beautiful silver print made in the darkroom from film. Now I shoot with a D3 which allows me to do more in available light, but when I look at the old black & white shot with the D1X, I don't think that camera has been yet outdated in terms of image quality.

excuse me

...while I make this shot.

Yesterday evening I was having a meeting at an English language school where I will be teaching an english photography class to japanese students next month. As I looked out the window of one of the class rooms I saw this incredible cloud, and just had to record it. Another wonderful moment captured with my point and shoot Lumix LX2. That camera has been a great investment.

Actually, all my cameras have paid off except for the Deirdorff 8x10, Contax G-1, Fuji GA-645, and Nikon F5 which didn't get to see much action. The F5 didn't get as much use because of the digital take over.

Ernest H Brooks II in Tokyo

Two nights ago, I had the pleasure of meeting up with Mr. Brooks (the man behind Brooks Institute for many years, and a world renowned underwater photographer) for the first time in 15 years. He was here for the opening of his underwater photography exhibit sponsored by Blancpain at the Nicholas G. Hayek Center in Ginza.

Retired, but still diving at the age of 73, and still shooting film with his underwater Hasselblad gear, WOW. His underwater photography has certainly brought him in touch with an exciting crowd these days. I hope my photography will open up new doors for me in the future. In any case he was very happy to see one of his students still in the business. It's kind of funny that I said "I'm a survivor." 26 years ago in school, we all knew it was tough to survive in the business, but who would've thought we'd become an extinct species... lol

It was so great to see Ernie.

dear Abbey

Whoops, this blog is starting to slip away again.

Last month I had the pleasure of working with a group of people from Wegmans Food Market of New York. From what I understand, they run a chain of high end food markets along the east coast with unbeatable prices. Working with Wegmans was great. They are really on top of things. Anyways, we were in Kyoto when I saw this pedestrian cross walk. I don't know why, but the first thing that comes to my mind was the Beatles "Abbey Road" album cover. Just for fun I asked the guys if they would like to do an Abbey Road shot. Tim, from the group remembered that there was one band member on the cover walking barefoot so he took his shoes and socks off for this shot. After I got home, I looked at the Abbey Road album and sure enough there was Paul walking barefoot in the third position, although they were walking from left to right. Doing stuff like this is fun, and often helps the rest of the shoot by breaking the ice. The shrine in the background is Heian shrine in Kyoto. If you subscribe to Wegmans "Menu" magazine, you might see my pictures of Japan in the upcoming issue (maybe early next year).