Beating Midday Sun with Flash And Umbrella - One Way

I was taking some 'new entrant' photos yesterday and the child's mother really wanted the background to be a certain particular red brick wall. Continuity with a previous set with the older daughter was the reason. Fair enough too.

But, the sun was really bright, as in, too bright. So I took everyone around the other side of the building and wouldn't you know it, not a clean surface anywhere. Downpipes and a raised concrete base conspired to leave the only clean area the overly sunlit area on the other side.

Enter sudden flash of genius* - put up the large 60 inch Impact Convertible Umbrella, with the reflective cover on & use it as a sun shade.** Perfect size for putting a 5 year old in a large hunk of shade.

But as soon as that problem was solved another raised its head. A sudden change in the weather meant a wind sprang up, making it impossible to keep the umbrella up. No one is too concerned though. Rescheduled for Friday.

* no humble brag for me, just plain brag

** I'm sure others have done this before, and it's probably a fairly obvious solution, but I've never thought of it

Weather

Okay, so it's the middle of winter here - cold and wet. But I like that. Much better for me than the 38 - 40 degree days (100f - 104f) we've been having in Japan. Not so good for photography though.

On the other hand, some days have been nice. 

Heading Out To New Zealand

Heading off to NZ for several weeks tomorrow. Taking a bucket load of lighting equipment with me (well, for me anyway).

Oh, and a digital piano.

Tokyo Portrait on Twitter

Just not so long ago set up a Twitter account for Tokyo Portrait. Can be seen here. 

http://twitter.com/Tokyo_Portrait

New Flyer / Promo Card

Just made a new flyer / promo card for Tokyo Portrait. It can here seen here.

http://fujifilmxseries.wordpress.com/2014/07/29/flyer-for-tokyo-portriat/

Terry Richardson

So, a recent post on The Online Photographer about Terry Richardson details some of the recent controversy surrounding this somewhat notorious fashion / advertising photographer. The Online Photographer post is here.

And here is the New York Magazine article, referenced in the Online Photographer post. As Mike Johnston of the Online Photographer notes, it's rather Richardson-friendly.

Anyway, I see more has surfaced in the last wee while.

Here's an interview with one of the models in question, here.

And here's an article on Take Part here, deconstructing Richardson's work by replacing the females with male imagery.

(This is a copy of an entry on my Fujifilm X-Series blog, here)

Not yet!

Afraid I haven't yet ported over my regular Wordpress blogs, and not sure if I ever will. In the meantime here're the links. Sorry for the inconvenience. 

Fujifilm X Series (gear orientated + some current work) 

Short Documents (personal work)