Blog

The photographic blog of Sean Wood (aka motionid)

Misty mountains

A few months ago I took a day off and went for a training ride and took the Holga. I've lugged the Hasselblad around the mountains before but sometimes you need to make a compromise.The whole area I ride (see strava link above) has the potential to look like this. And if you can time your ride and hit the last mountain late afternoon the sunsets can be impressive. Now summer is here I'll have to wait for winter to set in before we see more moody, misty skys again.

Shot on Portra 400 and developed with a load of crap all over the neg (hmm).

盆踊り

Sometimes it's all about the atmosphere. In Tokyo you need a real reason to shoot colour and unless you're shooting in the outskirts, the place just looks ugly during the day. Which is why I've been itching to shoot a few festivals. Obon is that little splash of colour in the year that makes it enjoyable to shoot at night again in Tokyo. And along with this comes the festive spirit which always seems to contrast drastically with the day to day tension of the city.

The neighbourhood

Shot using my newly acquired Rolleiflex f/2.8d and inspired by Thomas

Shinjuku Street Scenes

A whole weekend of scanning and not a great deal to show for it. Looked for a load of shots I'd taken a few years ago that I never got around to scanning and ended up finding many, many more shots I've yet to scan.These are three of the many. Did attempt to go out shooting this afternoon but mistimed my start. On the way though I had to wonder if I should not be just spending the next few months trying to sort out what I already have (and what I have yet to scan). hmmmm.

Oleg

So my friend Oleg came to Tokyo for a week of work and a few days off recently. I'm very glad he could make the trip. I didn't really take the chance the last time he was here to get a decent shot of him but I couldn't let him escape this time.Now that 400b has gone I'm shooting 3000b and carrying an ND4 or 8 filter with me when it's required. Nice thing about 3000b is the neg that you get from the shot. And this shot is from the neg. I only hope instant film for the Hasselblad stays around for a while.

Post Fragments of Tokyo 2011

Finally I discover where the Negs to the exhibition party went.I ended up double exposing a few of them at the start of the roll. Figured it might make for something a bit different. Well, I'd say different is correct. Still...I'm kind of happy with the way some of these turned out. Slightly more entertaining than your usual snap shots.

Jon Ellis, Dairou Koga, Thomas Orand, Toshiya Watanabe.

Salaried man

This has to be one of the best shot's I've taken in a long while. I'd developed it a few months ago and had left it jammed in my Annie Leibovitz book to flatten out (you gotta maximize the value from those expensive books). I'd finally managed to get a few new rolls developed over the weekend and discovered several sleeves in the book I'd forgotten about.This shot popped right off the neg. It seems to have a timeless quality to it I'd like to explore more of.

TOKYO-GA Charity Photo Book

Tokyo-GA-Charity-Photo_book.jpg

So, the Tokyo-Ga charity photo book that I contributed to is finally out. I encourage you to stop by and take a look.

The website for the book can also be found here http://www.tokyogaga.com/

Tokyo-GA is a group on flickr started by Dairou Koga and has turned into a great place where like minded Tokyo photographs that enjoy shooting scenes of tokyo gather together. The book contains submissions by many of the Tokyo-GA members and monies received will go to the Japanese Red Cross

I'm very happy to have been invited to contribute and also feel humbled to be along side a number of photographers in the book I admire.

A major thank you should go to Dairou Koga, Charlie Kirk, Toshiya Watanabe, Fabrizio Quagliuso for making the whole project possible.

Ponies

For what could possibly be a happy title I've managed to make a pretty dark image.Went out after a few drinks this evening and found myself a few Ponies with owners. Somehow through the rain and umbrellas I managed to get something I liked. Or maybe it's because I haven't shot this way for more than a year it feels new again. Either way it's different to the clichés I'm known for apparently.

Mirror realities

I started to shoot this series and felt it lacked depth but it has been siting on my computer for a while and I thought it should see the light of day. Inspired by Jon, it's trying to find a different way to look at the same space I use to visit many times a week. Anyway, now that it's out I can leave it alone and get on with trying to find a new subject (which is seeming to take a very long time).

Dog's on the beach

This is a shot from a long time ago. I must be the ultimate procrastinator when it comes to choosing what to post.Everything about this photo is wrong but I can't help loving the atmosphere and spontaneity. It's starting to dawn on my I might have something for beaches. maybe i should spend some more time on them :-) (obviously this whole post is a note to self)

Railed

ok, So I am taking some serious inspiration from Jon and posting a few of these because, more than anything, I'm liking the tones and the grain.

Sakura Polaroid

It seem every year I have to do flower shots. I'm sure I'll do more but this year I ran out of energy. It seems you can only do the same subject for so long before you need a rest.Fitting that I chose to take a break and make the last of these shots a chocolate Polaroid. The colours somehow seem to fit the subject.

Afternoon light

Earthquakes, Radioactivity, bad backs, hospitals, work, dysfunctional servers. Just some of the thing's distracting me from adding pictures to the blog and taking new ones.

Credit for the ability to shoot on a very rare box of Polaroid Chocolate iso 80 film goes to Nanako san who was generous enough to give me a box AND a box of colour (yet to be shot) as well.

Let's see if I can make up for a large gap in posts.

Station raw

Station photo fail unedited.