Tensyouren

So, as usual I have shot for the team again. For those of you who don't know me, my wife dances in an Awa odori team called Tensyouren in Koenji. As a way for me to participate I have become the team photographer of sorts. Each year I make a book of the images for each member of the team.This year with my lack of digital camera use I seem to be somewhat out of practice. I don't think I have nearly as many keepers as the previous years but as a few of you may know, I may be being a little harsh on myself (time will tell).

Anyway, the team just renewed their website and I think they did a fine job of it considering the state it was in previously. I've been a bit cheeky by posting this frame before I've handed off a small selection for the team to upload to their new site but I've not posted anything for a while and it's not for a lack of shooting. Anyway, if you want to see more shots (maybe old ones until later this week) head over to the site http://tensyouren.com/2011/

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Red night

Another take on the previous version of the image with a different colour pallette. Which do you prefer?

Scene from a film

The difficult part about these shots is the colour pallette. I don't particularly like the pallette in this shot but you need to start with something and finding a minimal pallette on the street is not an easy task let alone hoping the right subject matter will enter the frame with the right attitude. I'm interested to know if anyone who reads / looks at this blog considers such thing's.

Bicycles: a love story

So my mate mark finally kicked me very hard and managed to get this story he wrote in winter out yesterday. I was along for the ride to take the pictures. Was fun at the time. Would have liked to have spent more time shooting a more comprehensive set, but it seems life got in the way. Article is well written so check it out if you are into bikes.

Looking for faces

So I'm looking for faces to shoot. I will be shooting in black and white with film so the image above is not really true to what I am trying to achieve. Actually I am trying to develop a particular style and so require a lot of people to shoot. Male, female, young or old, it does not matter to me. I imagine that I will use the images as some kind of photo series at some point but I have no real fixed plan. Obviously I am not going to use your face commercially but if you choose to participate your image may end up on this blog or on my site sometime in the future.

If you are interested in having your face shot by me please send a mail to sean-at-50mm-dot-jp People who's picture I take that provide me with an email address will receive a copy of the image if it is to my liking (i.e. if I think I've done a good enough job)..

Shop windows

Bike parking

Late night bike parking.

Lens fun

So just for fun I asked several people, including my friend Stephan, for a photo. I usually use the Hasselblad and have tweaked my settings so I can use the 80mm lens to take close-up head shots. I was, however, surprised to see the result when I developed the film. I wasn't expecting him to look so different. And I always thought that the 80mm lens on the Hasselblad was a 50mm equivalent on a 35mm SLR. What a difference a lens and a bit of fiddling with the settings makes. Stephan prefers the digital shot. Probably because of how different the lens makes his face look. I actually like it more. Most likely because it's difficult to replicate the look. In any case I'm surprised to see how well the film version turned out when putting it side by side with the digital one. More of these to come.

Abandoned

A trip to Malaysia late last year had me jumping fences in between conferences to shoot these amazing abandoned houses. They can be seen everywhere and are usually locked away behind tall fences. If you find yourself there one day, just go easy while finding your way over the fence and back.

Industrial nowhere

As an escape from obligations looming, I packed my messenger back with about 10kg of camera gear including a tripod and set off for an industrial area of Tokyo. I'd been close to the same place a week before trying to figure out the best way to get there. Most of the evening was spent tracking down interesting scenes to shoot. No doubt I'll be going again at some point in the near future to capitalize on an evening spent cycling a good 50km trying to get pictures. I took the Hasselblad and the Canon in an attempt to capture atmosphere and get instant gratification and while I'm ok at holding a shot at 4th of a second I didn't want to do a 50km round trip and risk a shot being blurry, hence the tripod. While riding around I found myself at the end of a very long walled road with only the guarded entrance to an industrial complex and a very lonely bus stop. With not a soul in sight (except the guard at the end of the road) I set up my tripod in the middle of the road to take a few pictures. Out of the walls came people to the bus stop. By chance I'd picked probably the only moment in the evening when the bus would arrive. I'm interested to see how the Hasselblad image turn out. I leave you with a few more pictures from the outing.

Night moves

Sometimes you have to revisit the past to see if you missed anything. I think after a LONG hiatus I might be ready to revisit this genre. We'll see. Anyway, was a bit of fun to hang with the lads and shoot a few pictures.

Shinjuku 3am

out-take-not-chosen-made-after-submission-from-original-set.jpg

An outtake from a little assignment I was given by tv network you would have heard of. You'd think that it would be easy to shoot the streets of Shinjuku with no one in them. You'd be surprised at how busy it is at any time of the day or night. Word of caution. Try not to do this in the summer. The entire place smells of urine and it's not because of the poor sewage system. It's literally because so MANY people are peeing in the streets. And you thought Tokyo was hi-tech and trendy!

Secret Door

So a few of you will recognise where this shot is taken. What you may not know about is the secret door. Evidence above. Next time you're in the area, look for the hidden keyhole.

5D mk2 continued...

ok, So I might have over reacted a little when I slammed the camera. It is actually an amazing camera. Takes stunning pictures. Yes, even better that the 1ds mk3 (for $8k!) but it can't focus very well (I say not at all!) in low light / night. Some of you know I shoot events in these situations and also like to shoot the odd night candid photo. Well, seems with the 5D mk2 I was not going to be able to do any of that. It's a day time only kind of camera or night time - no moving subjects and break out the manual focus in certain situations - kind of camera. I.e. not suited to all subjects I am shooting. So, not able to aford or justify buying a 1ds mk3 or paying canon to build a special 5d mk2 for me I've opted to trade back.

I'm mentioning this so as not to kill anyones dreams of the camera being everything they hoped for. I'm sure if you've never shot with a pro camera for a while it will be. But for those that have you'll understand, read this and not learn the expensive way :-)

Expensive fuckup

Well that was an expensive fuckup. Trade the 1d mk3 for a 5d mk2 only to trade back again less than 1 month and less than 300 photos later.Lesson learned. The only reason I did not switch to Nikon is it would have cost me significantly to buy the same setup I have now. And given I make no money taking photographs it seems slightly unjustified. Moral of this story is buy Nikon from the start. Canon had the edge until the D3 then everything changed.

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