If you happen to be around the Okutama area and are looking for a very quiet and out of the way place to have a BBQ or a spot of lunch (provided you have brought your own) I recommend visiting the Otaba area. The river is also perfect in thew summer for swimming.
Note that you'll likely only be able to reach it by bike or car.
I'm sitting on a little set of images I seem to have grown quite fond of over the last week. The title says it all. I could end up making parts through to 19 or thereabouts but I might hold off a bit. I'm always unsure if the images are all too the same to be a little series or they are different enough. I've managed to break to usual habits so far. One is to not sit on these for half a year and procrastinate. And the other being I may end up calling this a set and moving on for fear of never completing the series.
I think the blog might just be a good place to think out aloud and let new ideas form.
I'm sure this little series I've just made will appear in B+W but for the moment I'm releasing maybe a single colour image.
Venturing to the mountains again I happened upon a little road I did not know existed. Followed it quite a way before the rain caused me to turn back (that's what happens when you carry three cameras and no umbrella on your journey :-)
I will be visiting this area again but hopefully next time it will be by bike and I will see where the rest of it leads.
The weather, if you have not guessed by the picture was wet and foggy with the whole mountain covered in cloud. At points you couldn't see beyond 15 feet in front of you (that's 4.5 metres for the modern world).
I also shot Holga and Horizon Perfekt. Will be interesting to see how the film turns out.
As usual click the image for a larger version.
Mountain Trail
Top of Matsuhime pass
View from half way down Matsuhime
Reverse Matsuhime climb
Spent golden week (read - a few public holidays) driving around the mountains I usually ride. Was a relief to be carrying the camera in the car rather than lugging it 100+km on my bike. The weather turned bad late in the afternoon which brought hail and a huge downpour. I felt sorry for the few people we saw doing a reverse climb of Matsuhime pass. Images all shot with the Canon and various lenses and tweaked in lightroom. Oh, and the pics, as usual appear in the wrong order. One day I'm going to fix that.
Another photo from the old website that needed a new home.This shot again from Mt. Mitake. Makes me think I should go back for a visit.
This is one of my favorite photos.On the train from Kanazawa to Tōjinbō there are these mountains that line the edge of the coast. I was sporting the 150mm lens for the Hasselblad and managed to take a few shots out of the window. Once I returned and developed the film I realized that the developer had died and there were real issues with how the film turned out. I was really surprised and happy to find that the mistake actually made the shot.
As part of the trip to Aokigahara Jukai we also took a little drive around Mt. Fuji and through the road that leads right through the forest. To our surprise we came to a lookout area along the way.This is the result. Inford Pan F+ 50 shot using the Rolleiflex and an ND 8 filter and developed in Rodinal at 20c. The neg's turned out a lot more grainy than I expected but I guess that's what Rodinal will do.
[gallery link="file" columns="1" ids="1851"]I finally managed to take my Hasselblad for a ride on the weekend. 100km and a very sore back later I had finished about 2 rolls. My late start and being not as fit as I would have liked clearly affected the number of shots I could get but despite this round of pain I think the area deserves at least a second look. I'll just have to train for it.
Shot taken about a year ago on a trip to Kanazawa. Colour version of the better original black and white
Shot taken from around here while on a bike ride around the mountains.The Hasselblad is a bit heavy to lug around while trying to race up mountains so the Holga has become the substitute on rides. Can't have great views and not shoot medium format!
Thanks to Manny Santiago for the REALLY old expired (march 2000) Fuji once again.
Sometimes you get lucky. First 2 rolls from my trip to Kanazawa and I'm using expired developer unbeknownst to me. The grain is huge but somehow this accident ended in a shot I am happy with. This is also an example of the over use of the red 25 filter I have :-)
