Musings on photography, Japan, and my life on Okinawa.
As a follow up to the David Levene post, and the audio-recorders post I thought I would put up a link to David’s audio-slideshow on Tokyo’s Shibuya crossing.
You can watch the video on the Guardian website here.
Tokyo's Shibuya Crossing by David Levene
In an earlier post I talked about the construction of the huge Gundam statue in Odaiba, Tokyo.
John Burgreen of Okinawa HDR was up in Tokyo a couple of weeks ago and managed to get this fantastic image of the behemoth.
Gundam Statue Odaiba Tokyo in HDR by John Burgreen
What is HDR?
HDR stands for high dynamic range. The photographer takes multiple shots of the same subject varying the exposure so that some shots accurately expose the shadows while other shots accurately expose the highlights. Combine all the photographs in Photoshop and you produce a image which doesn’t lose detail in areas that would normally be too dark or too bright. Read more at the Wikipedia page here.
HDR is an exciting development in digital photography. Some people love it, some people hate it. In my opinion, it is a technique that is difficult to do well, and can’t remedy an otherwise poor photograph. But, get it right and the images produced can be stunning. John’s Gundam photo is an example of HDR done well.
Now that I have had my car for a couple of months, I thought I would make a few brief comments.
Exterior:
The motoring press has made a lot of comparisons between the Swift and the Mini. Many comment that the new body shape of the Swift is a copy of (or homage to) the Mini. I am not so sure. If anything, it looks like Suzuki have been borrowing from (inspired by) the designers at Audi. Compare the front of the Swift and the TT.
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Perhaps my favorite external feature of the car, are the subtle twin exhausts. It may seem like a strange pet peeve, but the asymmetry of a single exhaust on a car niggles me. However, a single central exhaust like on the Porsche Boxster just looks a little odd. Of course no exhaust would be even better, but the Tesla Roadster is a little out of my price range.
Interior:
One of the best features of the Japanese spec car is the option for grey Recaro sports seats rather than the bright red generic seats that come as standard. Firm and supportive it took a few days to get used to being clamped, but now I love them.
Economy:
The official figures for the car are 15 km/l. I am not driving the car aggressively, but it’s summertime in Okinawa and the air conditioner is blasting away most of the time. On average the car is doing 12.2 km/l.
Performance:
The Swift Sport has a similar 1.6 liter engine, the same amount of power, and is a comparable weight to my previous car, a 20 year old Mazda Miata MX-5. It is nimble and quick, but doesn’t feel as fast or as well planted . The first reason is that Swift is simply much quieter. The thin canvas roof of the MX-5 meant you were far more aware of the engine and exhaust. The second reason is that the Swift sits much higher on the road, compared with the low slung roadster. Another big difference is that the Swift is front rather than rear wheel drive. I would have to agree with purists that rear wheel drive is more engaging, but for everyday driving the Swift is still a great car to be in.
Overall:
Fantastic little car. Motorists around the world are beginning to realize that bigger isn’t always better. If you want a fun, practical, small car it doesn’t have to be Mini.
And the comments from Fifth Gear…
In Japan walking your dog is so passé.
My friend, and fellow photographer on Okinawa, Annya Eyestone has a photo on the back page of this month’s Okinawa Living. Congratulations Annya!
You can see more of Annya’s work at her website Picture Okinawa.
Tidepools by Annya Eyestone in Okinawa Living Magazine
In the July issue of Okinawa Living, I have a 6 page feature on photographing Okinawa’s outdoors.
Scans from the magazine below, and I’ll put up the text next month for people who’d like to read the feature but aren’t on Okinawa.
In the interview with sanshin player Byron Jones I asked if he could play Hendrix.
Yesterday I found this video by shamisen player Kevin Kmetz proving that you only need three strings to rock!
I believe the Japanese dubbed version of Iron Man began with this song 
The job of a photographer is getting more and more complicated. In the past photographers have had to be their own promoter, accountant, travel agent, porter and therapist.
More recently many photographers have added the role of writer and blogger, but perhaps the biggest change is going to be the increasing importance of both video and sound.
Take a look inside the camera bag of travel photographer Tewfic El-Sawy:
* Canon EOS 5D Mark II
* Canon G10 (ideal for unobtrusive street photography)
* Canon 17-40mm f4.0
* Canon 28-70mm f 2.8
* Canon 24mm f1.4
* Marantz PMD 620 Audio Recorder
* Acer Aspire One 8.9-inch Mini Laptop (w/LR2 and SoundSlides)
* A 250gb G-Tech Mini G-Drive External Hard Drive
* Blackberry & an iTouch
Along with all the camera gear there is a Marantz PMD 620 Audio Recorder.
Marantz PMD620 Handheld SD MP3 WAV Recorder
When I met Guardian photographer David Levene a few months ago I noticed that along with two Canon EOS 5D Mark IIs and a wide selection of lenses he also carried an Edirol Audio Recorder. He recorded sound at Okinawa’s Churaumi Aquarium which would later be combined with photographs to create the slideshow that can be seen on the Guardian website here.
Edirol R-09HR High-Resolution WAVE MP3 Recorder
The Marantz PMD620 Audio Recorder
Both photographers use Soundslides (you can see Tewfic has it loaded onto his laptop). Soundslides is a “rapid production tool for still image and audio web presentations.” Basically, it’s a computer program that allows you to upload a series of photographs and a soundtrack to produce a slideshow that can then be easily uploaded to the web.
I used Soundslides to create the slideshow for my latest exhibition using guitar music a friend had recorded (If you haven’t seen it you can still check it out here on You Tube.).
The next challenge for me is to produce a slideshow with both my photographs and sound I’ve recorded. I am planning on documenting the Awa Odori Festival in August, so hopefully this will be the perfect opportunity for me to get some great shots and interesting audio.
Of course the big challenge after that is finding a market for the work, but I’ll cross that bridge (or at least attempt to ford the river) when I come to it.
Pentax have just announced the latest model in their popular waterproof compact camera range, the Pentax Optio W80.
Pentax Optio W80
I mentioned in a previous blog about how good these little cameras are as a worry free point & shoot.
My sister, dad and Seiko all have different models of the camera, and yesterday I was given my own W60 so that I’m not always borrowing theirs.
The W80 will be on sale from next month for just under 300 dollars at Amazon.com. This latest model has 12.1 megapixels and is now coldproof as well as waterproof (to 5 meters) along with being able to record HD video.
This does mean that as soon as the W80 is available there should be plenty of places selling off the W60 cheaply. Right now, at Amazon the W60
I won’t be using the camera for assignments, but for everyday events, images for the blog and documenting things the dogs have destroyed the camera should be perfect.
Which reminds me… waterproof, coldproof, dustproof but probably not Bear-proof. Must keep it out of reach.
From JapanUpdate Okinawa’s weekly English newspaper:
Date Posted: 2009-06-25
A seven-year-old boy is dead after being run over by a Nanjo City bus Monday afternoon.
Nanjo City Police say the fatality occurred as a city bus driver on the Baten Branch run in Tsuhako, Sashiki area of Nanjo City, on Route 331, encountered the young boy on a bicycle in front of him. The bus driver reportedly tried to get the youngster, Kousei Chinen, to move to the side of the road, and tried to pass him. When the bus driver sounded his bus horn, the noise surprised the elementary school student and caused him to lose control of his bicycle.
Chinen fell from the bicycle, and beneath the bus. The driver, realizing what happened, stopped the bus about 100 meters from the accident. A passenger aboard the bus ran to the youngster, saw his school nametag, and called him “Kousei chan, Come on, please. Can you hear me?” The boy was transported to a nearby hospital, where he died less than two hours after the accident.
The bus company says the driver has a long record of safe driving, more than 20 years. The company says he was an expert driver, but police say they’ll now investigate.
This whole article amazes, angers, saddens, infuriates, but does not surprise me.
Blast your horn, run over a kid and then stop 100 meters (300 feet) later!!! Expert driver!!!
Some of the worst driving I see on Okinawa is committed by truck drivers, bus drivers and taxi drivers.
I hope the police send a photo of the little boy to every truck, bus and taxi company across the island.
