Miyakojima (宮古島) – Part 3

Posted on June 12, 2010 by jason

The next morning we went snorkeling. Visibility was great. I saw thousands of beautiful tropical fish and some amazing coral formations. Unfortunately I still don’t have an underwater digital camera. I’ve been meaning to get one but keep putting it off. So this time I took some crappy (probably) pictures with a disposable underwater 35mm camera. If any of them come out OK I’ll post them here when I get back the prints.

That afternoon my wife wanted to make a Siisaa (シーサー), one of those clay dog, lion, monster things. There are a few pottery shops on the island where people can go and learn how to make one of these things. We found one and she went to work. The guy there walked her through making the body, adding the legs, head, etc. He was really fast. She was not. Continue reading →

Miyakojima (宮古島) – Part 2

Posted on June 8, 2010 by jason

Back at the hotel… Amazing room, flowers on the balcony, the ocean in the distance… We paid for the whole trip as a package deal 3 months or so ago. This is the way to do it. By the time you get there you’ve forgotten exactly how much you paid, and the pain of paying has long since faded. Yes, I know this is irrational, but you should definitely try paying for a trip in advance. Trust me, it feels better that way. If you don’t think this makes any sense read “Predictably Irrational” by Dan Ariely and then we’ll talk.

That night we went to this open air village thing. They had a weird system where you sit at a table, look at the menu, and then walk to the booth to order. Than you sit back at your table until they call your number. Then you go get your food. And when you finish you have to take back your own trays. But the food was great, and Okinawan Orian Beer is great on a warm evening after a hot day. I had my 50mm f/1.4 which is wonderful for turning mundane scenes into beautiful photographic backgrounds.

The band was good too. They’re call Harvesta (ハーバスタ) and you can find them on MySpace here. Apparently these guys are playing Osaka and Tokyo in the next few weeks. Check them out if you’re in the area.

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Miyakojima (宮古島) – Part 1

Posted on June 7, 2010 by jason

Miyakojima

A few months ago I signed up for the annual Tour Du Miyakojima, a 100km cycling road race on the Island of Miyakojima. Miyakojima is about 300km southwest of the main island of Okinawa.

The plan was to ditch the kids with their grandparents and to have a nice weekend getaway with just the two of us. And to race 100km on a bike somewhere in there. But as the race got closer the weather forecast looked worse and worse. It seemed like it was going to rain all weekend. The plan tickets and hotel were already paid for, but it was starting to look like a miserable weekend for a bike race. So I decided to leave the bike behind, and just spend a weekend on an island with my wife. I figured a weekend of relaxing would do me good, even if it was rainy. And of course I was hoping to make some good photos.

As it turned out, the weather was perfect! But I don’t regret skipping the race. It was pretty hot, and those guys looked miserable. And since I didn’t have the race to worry about we had a great time touring the island.

We arrived around 10:30am and had several hours before checking into the hotel. We spent the time driving around in a rental car and taking in the sights. Misakojima is beautiful. And unlike most places in Japan that are worth visiting, it wasn’t crowded at all. The roads were empty, the parks were empty. After 4 years in Tokyo, I felt like I could finally breath again.

One of the first places we stopped was Sunayama Beach (lit. “sand mountain beach”). Surprisingly enough, it’s a big mountain of sand that drops down to the water. We saw butterflies, pretty flowers, beautiful green plants, and the amazing emerald green of the Pacific Ocean. Truly island paradise stuff.

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First Wedding Shoot – Part 3

Posted on June 7, 2010 by jason

Planning for the Wedding Day (continued from here)

The Wedding Photographer’s Handbook really opened my eyes to the amount of planning that the pros put into a wedding shoot. Hurter recommends talking to the flourist, the caterer, DJ, etc before the event. He also suggests studying the wedding gown from a fashion and design perspective to achieve an awareness of what details to shoot. And perhaps most importantly, visit the location prior to the ceremony at around the same time of day to get a feel for the lighting. This is serious stuff!

I didn’t have time for the detailed in-depth prepartions recommend in the book, but I did visit the setting about 24 hours before the actual wedding ceremony. I took pictures of locations that I thought would work for group shots, and I made mental notes of how the shadows were falling, and where to place my flashes. I also studied the lighting using Lighttrac for iPad to see where the sun would be a different times in the day. Read more about this cool app [here].

That night I reviewed my test photos, and organized my shot list. My mom had kindly provided an impossibly long list of requested group shots. My sister and I hacked away at it for a while to make it more reasonable, and I tried to organize the final list by location, hoping to decide ahead of time which shots to take where. This helped a little, but I ended up making several changes on the wedding day because of people camped out in the background of my planned shot areas.

Next: Backing up photos onsite

First Wedding Shoot – Part 2

Posted on June 6, 2010 by jason

Group Shots (continued from here)

I’d been to enough weddings to know that there would be a need for lots of group shots. I was sure this would be a challenge. You always see the photog referring to a paper shot list, and in addition to that, there’s always someone yelling at the last minute “oh, let’s get one with uncle Bob!”

And that’s before you get to the technical issues like having enough depth of field to keep everyone in sharp focus, making sure no one’s face is in shadow, and making sure uncle Bob doesn’t have his eyes closed in the shot. Kelby’s book has a couple good tips for these issues too. For groups of people he recommends shooting at f/11 and focusing on the eyes of the person in the first row. Perfect! Practical advice I can use right away without having to trial-and-error my way to the same conclusion. Kelby also mentioned that in group shots someone always has their eyes closed. He recommends telling everyone to close their eyes at the outset, count to 3 and then tell people to open their eyes and smile. This trick works great and has the added benefit of being funny and unexpected – so the smiles are genuine.

Another book that was very helpful was the Wedding Photographer’s Handbook, by Bill Hurter. If you’re shooting your first wedding, you need to read this book. It’s full of practical advice, sample photos, ideas for album layouts, etc. The constant “watch your DoF” reminders were especially helpful. I often use shallow depth of field for creative effect, and I really did need to be reminded of the situations were I’d need to stop down to f/11 or so to get enough DoF for the group shots.

Next time: Planning for the Wedding Day

Looking up in Toranomon

Posted on May 31, 2010 by jason

Lunch break photo walks are hard; almost nothing looks good with the midday sun directly overhead. I started doing these because I think I need more time behind the camera and finding a good photo in a limited amount of time in difficult lighting conditions with only one lens to choose from can be good practice.

(I bring only a single prime lens for my week-day practice shoots. Usually it’s the EF 24mm f/2.8 because that lens is small and light and fits in my bag nicely, but today I brought my EF 35mm f/1.4L)

But I’ve already walked all over Akasaka, and taken pretty much every photo that can be taken within walking distance from my building on a one hour lunch break. The images are starting to blur together and I’m beginning to hate myself for taking so many pictures of flowers. Continue reading →

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