Food I Ate

Without meaning to, I seem to have started a new personal project. Recently I've been tongue in cheek copying the Japanese 'hobby' of photographing things that I eat / drink. Young Japanese people, especially teenage girls & young women, do this all the time. By themselves or with others, they go to cafes & order deserts or other treats and then photograph them before tucking in. 

Calories All Over The Place...

Went a bit silly today, with the calorie intake.

Loyalty cards

Loyalty cards (aka. points cards) are very popular in Japan and I am thinking seriously of introducing a variation on this theme. I've almost worked out the details, and will add them to the site when ready. I'm feeling quite excited about this. 

Phase One / Capture One Support

In the modern internet world, it is really easy to complain and moan. People, I feel, often forget to praise.

And praise is all I have for the Phase One / Capture One support team. I had to contact them today about using Capture One Pro 7 and, just like every single other time in the past, their response was blazingly fast, to the point of almost being immediate. I am truly impressed. Even without comparing them to some of the shocking service I have had from other vendors, they would impress. They exceed what I think of as good service.

I should add too, that every single time I've had to contact them, it has been about me and my silliness and ways to get around problems I have introduced, never actually about a problem with their product.

Landscape Photograph

I'm not much of a landscape-ist, but at times I swing back into it. Here's my current favourite most recent landscape. I think it will print well, once I work on it. Grahame Sydney clearly on my mind.

View fullsize

More Pithy Photography Quotes

Adding to the previous “A photograph is of someone but a portrait is about someone” pithy quote post, here’s one I got two days ago from reading a Rankin interview.*

“…be 51% the biggest believer in your work and 49% the biggest critic.”

Typed with a little whelp from Free’s song Woman.**

* in some now unremembered magazine while in the waiting room at the doctor’s (see previous post for the graphic outcome)

** I think I’ll leave that typo in

What is Portrait Photography? – A Pithy Quote

The other day I was watching a Bowens educational video online, hosted by Joe Brady and Tony Corbell. The video,The Basics of Portrait Lighting,* was kinda interesting, but the thing that stuck with me was something that Tony Corbell said near the beginning. Quoting someone (I think) called Arthur Rainville,** he said;

“A photograph is of someone but a portrait is about someone.”

I’m usually turned right off by pithy quotes, but this one seems to make some sense. Not so much as some kind of touchy-feely notion, but rather as a concrete goal to aim for.

* the link goes to the main video page

** probably this guy (http://www.studiorainville.com/), but I’m not sure as, after entering the site, I didn’t get past the very slow to load flash page that said something like “Not a site for the impatient traveller, rather, a destination to explore and perhaps connect…” or some such. There’s three composited images on the page, no links I can find anywhere and intensely irritating music. It’s still running on another tab and there seems no way past it. Making me reconsider the ‘wisdom’ of the above quote…

VSCO - Save, Save, Save

Visual Supply Company (VSCO) is currently having a sale and you can save up to 40% on VSCO Film. Sale ends midnight PDT on the 26th of August (2014 that is).

http://vsco.co / http://vsco.co/film

VSCO Keys also seems to be on sale.

Also, VSCO Aperture Film pack owners have a $30 coupon per Aperture Film pack since Apple discontinued Aperture.

All this means I just bought VSCO Film 5 for a paltry US$11.40. Nice, nice.

Tommy Oshima

Tommy Oshima - one of my favourite photographers. Often brilliant. 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/tommyoshima

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)