This [...]]]> It’s been a while since my late post, and it’s even longer since I took these photos last summer. Every August there’s a small obon celebration under the bullet train tracks near our house. Obon is the festival of the dead when Japanese honour their ancestors. A local taiko drumming group comes to our festival.

This isn’t the first time I’ve photographed the celebration although it’s the first time I’ve recorded sound. Please make sure you have can hear the soundtrack.

We live in an unremarkable and by no means affluent part of Tokyo, but there’s a great sense of community. One village in a city of 13 million people.

There’s a lady who sells foie gras, two architects, a pattisier, a man who imports Dutch goods and a scuba diving instructor. (Thanks to our designer Paddy [...]]]> The magazine I edit, EURObiZ Japan, has been running a monthly column on Europeans working in Tokyo, and I’ve been taking the photos. These are the first five portraits.

There’s a lady who sells foie gras, two architects, a pattisier, a man who imports Dutch goods and a scuba diving instructor. (Thanks to our designer Paddy for the terrific photo selection and layouts)

The challenge each time is to find way to show the job in a single frame. Not sure I succeeded every time – but I’m trying. I usually shoot by myself with one or two off camera strobes and an umbrella.

I’ll post the next five or six later this year!

I was down in Kyoto last week meeting a Danish tea master (more on that one day) and staying at a Zen Buddhist temple for a night (no photos!).

In between the two I had a morning to spare so what to do? My first thought was to find [...]]]> Is this the most photographed temple in Japan?

I was down in Kyoto last week meeting a Danish tea master (more on that one day) and staying at a Zen Buddhist temple for a night (no photos!).

In between the two I had a morning to spare so what to do? My first thought was to find a nice quiet temple among the thousands, but in the end I decided to head for Kinkakuji, temple of the golden pavilion, and the ultimate Kyoto tourist trap. The challenge I set myself was to avoid the usual cliches. (In fact, there’s only one place to take a ‘postcard’ shot of Kinkakuji. No doubt it was designed that way, albeit not for photography)

This was a scorching spring day so the temple was even busier than usual. I took my shots and hot-footed it out of there.

(Set myself a challenge of the simplest camera setting I could think of.)

Most of these shots were taken downtown near my hotel.

To say thank you for letting me take these pics, last week I posted a few photos and a couple of Anpanman toys to Houston. There is a little bit of Tokyo in Mr Turner’s garden [...]]]> When I was in Houston, my friend Katherine took me to see a very special person. The first photo explains.

To say thank you for letting me take these pics, last week I posted a few photos and a couple of Anpanman toys to Houston. There is a little bit of Tokyo in Mr Turner’s garden now.

I’d never shot a proper wedding before, and I think I was at least as nervous as the bride and [...]]]> This was a bit of a departure for me. My friends Katherine and Gary were married in Houston earlier this month I and flew over to give them their wedding present – photos of the day!

I’d never shot a proper wedding before, and I think I was at least as nervous as the bride and groom. But, luckily, it all couldn’t have been better. I was photographing good friends, in a gorgeous setting, on a gorgeous day with perfect light. It was a privilege to be able to record the occasion.

Since formal portraits aren’t really my thing I tried for a photojournalist style. As usual, that meant shooting anything and everything. I started with the preparations before the wedding, the rehearsal, the rehearsal party, getting ready on the day, the ceremony itself, and finally the reception party.

Here’s a selection. The last two photos are of Katherine’s parents and Gary’s parents.

Lakewood Church, says Wikipedia, is the largest congregation in the US – what they call a mega-church. The services are held in a converted basketball station that seats about 16,000  people.

I attended to the 11am service. Seeing as my last visit to Sunday church [...]]]> I am in Houston Texas this week to photograph my friends’ wedding.

Lakewood Church, says Wikipedia, is the largest congregation in the US – what they call a mega-church. The services are held in a converted basketball station that seats about 16,000  people.

I attended to the 11am service. Seeing as my last visit to Sunday church was probably with the boy scouts,this was quite an experience. I pretty much had to lie down in a dark room afterwards to recover.

The pastor Joel Osteen preaches with his wife Victoria. They have an internet TV  channel here.

On this spring day the shrine museum was hosting a exhibition on the kamikaze pilots of WW2.

These were taken right outside the station just as the portable shrine got moving.

The trick with these is to focus while walking backwards and avoiding the waving arms of drunken revelers . . .

A few portraits from our local spring festival last weekend. It’s not the first time I have shot the festival, though I took a different approach this time.

D700 + 50mm lens. All were taken close to maximum aperture, usually within a few seconds of [...]]]> Beautiful day, gorgeous light, happy people – what more do you need?

A few portraits from our local spring festival last weekend. It’s not the first time I have shot the festival, though I took a different approach this time.

D700 + 50mm lens. All were taken close to maximum aperture, usually within a few seconds of asking if the subject minded being photographed. I reduced saturation and added some film grain in Adobe Lightroom.

(Another of our local festivals. It’s held every two years, so perhaps I’ll shoot it again this Autumn?)

Ukimafunado Festival 2008 from Tony McNicol on Vimeo.