Self Portrait

I went into the woods yesterday afternoon to play with some off-camera lighting and my bow.  I was pleasantly surprised with this result:

Photographing the Miyajima Fireworks

On the 6:25am ferry, all of us walking passengers had to wait until all the vehicles exited.  There was a rather large mob jockeying for front position, which quickly escalated into a fast walk and then a run.  I was surprised how many people at the front of the run seemed to be families and not photographers.  Since I knew it would be the only exercise I'd get for the next 13.5 hours, I ran the whole distance - about 5 minutes.  When I arrived at my spot the old guy whom I'd brokered with the day before held his end of the bargain and let me stand my tripod up next to his.

[Unless you actually spent the night at your spot (and some people spent TWO nights), you weren't allowed to reserve a spot with a tarp until midnight of the day of the fireworks.  So when I came Sunday morning at 6:30am, I was surprised to see ALL the waterfront areas for a couple hundred meters reserved.  By the way, this section is not considered a choice spot to photograph from because of the limitations on the right-hand side of your frame.]

[See the two extra tall tripods (one with a hat on it)?  This was a great idea apparently not used before.  These two photographers still gained a choice spot just by getting above everybody (they used ladders), but they only had to wait 13 hours instead of two days.]

[This is probably the best spot because it lines up perfectly with the fireworks barge that puts out the 'fountain' style fireworks from water level - makes for great backlight/framing of the torii gate.  I was in the second-best spot.]

[My tripod]

There was a man and woman who occupied this spot (above) for ~38 hours prior to the fireworks display.  The man had a still camera and big video camera mounted on two fancy tripods with an umbrella attached to protect them from the sun.  While I was on a bathroom break the wind came up and apparently blew both his tripods and cameras off the wall and onto the tidal flat below.  Thankfully it was low tide, but his cameras still suffered enough damage to not be useful.  He was a good sport, but he left his spot two hours before the show to return home.  I imagine he would have been crushed to sit there and watch the show thinking the whole time about how he wasn't photographing/taping it.  The woman stayed and offered me his spot.  I gladly took it as it offered me a lot more space to spread out.

[one hour to go]

[the old guy at the bottom of the frame stayed in that spot for 2.5 days waiting for the fireworks show]

Mariko T. 3

One more of Mariko T:

Mariko T.

The first model I photographed in Kyoto, Mariko T. is a woman I met on Zamami a month ago and proposed photographing to.  I left her with my email and website information and a little hope - and a week later she emailed saying she'd like to photograph.  We met in Gion near dusk, which is a beautiful backdrop for a yukata shoot.  Interestingly enough, a couple of times hordes of geisha-seeking tourists gathered around the end of our alley and photographed us.  I think they thought I was a professional or she was famous or something.  At one point there were 25 people all snapping pictures of us.

Zamami Matsuri

I've got 4500 pictures from the Hiroshima/Kyoto trip to sort through and here I am shooting more at Zamami Matsuri (festival)..

[fire dancer]

MarikoTSD 2

[I posted this one last week, but this time it is processed differently]

MarikoTSD

I photographed two models in Kyoto, both named Mariko.  MarikoTSD was the latter Mariko's username on the modeling site where I found her, so that's how I'll differentiate her here.  We met at the Kyoto Botanical Garden for an hour of shooting with her son.  She was on time, very easy to work with, and had a son who, despite it being his naptime, was a very good sport.  I am hoping to get back to Kyoto this winter or next spring to, among other things, get another shoot in with MarikoTSD by herself.  Her skin was amazing and I think with her hair down she'd be a wonderful, beautiful model.

Here's the first half: