Sand Flowers

I helped teach at an English camp the last few days.  The kids were all from the Japan mainland and most of them have advanced English for their age (like the six-year-old who answered the question "What things do you like?" with "1 billion, 9 trillion, and black holes.").  On the first day we went snorkeling out at a deserted island, except I didn't get in the water because I'm old and know better.  It's a long story, but I ended up getting stranded on this island for 30 minutes longer than I'd hoped.  I was super cold, so I walked around to generate some body heat - and I found these flowers on the way:

Mimi 1, re-do

The bra strap bothered me a little bit but I thought the Photoshop work would be immense to get it removed.  But when my mom mentioned I decided to have a go at it and was surprised it only took me a few minutes:

And for comparison, the original, straight out of the camera:

Mimi 2

This is probably my "stockiest' stock photo yet:

Mimi 1

Last weekend I organized with a couple models to meet for photo shoots.  Mimi was first.  She brought her daughter and husband, though I didn't photograph him.  I got to the location an hour early, which turned out to be awesome because I discovered a part of the park I didn't know existed before and that's where we ended up doing all the shooting.  And I was able to unwind some nerves for my first independent shoot with a model.  Sky was gray, which was unfortunate, but at least it didn't rain.  I'll post more from this series later:

Ghosts

The Japanese school year is ending this week, so I am working at the Board of Education for the next ten days until the new year begins.  The big news today?  A ghost was seen in three different rooms at the teachers' apartments last night, so the head of the BoE is tasked with finding an exorcist today.  For real.

The Found Camera Follow-up

So two weeks ago I found a camera on a beach.  It was my most amazing beach find yet, but the coolness was overshadowed by the earthquake news.

Well, I received a good tip in the comments to look up the Bluefield Dive Shop, which is located on the Okinawan mainland.  I did so and wrote them a big long Japanese email and included 10 pictures from the camera hoping that the dive guides would recognize the faces or the dive locations (from above-water photos). I got this email back:


Hi David!!

It turned out that it's the camera that one of our staff lost last year!
She used it at the Whale shark dive site in the main island, then had a day of diving in the Keramas, that's where she lost it (the girl in a red shirt).
It will be nice if you can send it back to us with Chakubarai (Cash on Delivery)!
Then, we can send the picture data to the customers!




I'd be lying if I said I was psyched about this outcome.  Of course I am pleased the rightful owner is being reunited with the camera, but the fact that it's a business is a disappointment.  I was really hoping it'd go to a real person who would be ecstatic to get his/her underwater vacation photos five months later (and would then send me a cool Japanese thank-you note).  Instead, it will go to a company which has probably already replaced the camera.


Oh well, I didn't need the camera and it was worth the effort to take a chance at an awesome story.  Plus I'm sure it'll be a good story for them to tell their dive clients.

Kindergarten Graduation

[this teacher is leaving this year, so they did a little presentation and the everybody was crying]

video of a student receiving his diploma: