News and Opportunities

Snow! In Shinjuku! That happens like once a year, so I was out in it! See more on Flickr.

Blending natural lights and strobes can be a trick when you’re first learning it, or a bicycle that you have to get back on and ride a few kilos if you haven’t done it in a while. It’s really a rewarding skill to have, and I got the chance to teach a few people on the waterfront in Yokohama. Where I started, and still one of the portrait scenes I enjoy shooting the most, is a self-lit background, like the Yokohama skyline, or the neons of Kabuki-cho. The basic idea is to dial in the background first. If you know that you’re shooting a person, and you want… let’s say, f/5.6, then giver, and see how close you can get to that. Maybe you’ll end up shooting at 1/125 at ISO 400 and f/5, or maybe not. That totally depends on the lights in your city. Once you’ve got your background set, then you bring in your model, and add the strobes… or in this case, one SB-25 going through an umbrella that’s up and to the right of the camera, being held by Meg Yamagute, my noble VALS, and illuminating Ale Matsumoto, the model for this shot.

It was a blast teaching Meg and Ale, and rotating through the positions with them… though, I’m not convinced I make a very good model. Sorry about that, guys.  One amazing resource is Strobist. I really recommend all the beginners to go through the Strobist 101 material. It’ll be eye opening.

Rionne McAvoy’s been a friend for a number of years now, so it’s kinda a wonder that I hadn’t dropped by any of his sets until recently. Here’s a couple shots from the his upcoming police drama.

It was a real experience to shoot stills for him. I hadn’t really been involve with fictional film production since I graduated university, and it was interesting to see how the developments in digital image capturing have revolutionized small-budget filmmaking. Gone are the days of cutting 16mm film in freezing cold back rooms in the middle of the winter, not that I or my numb toes will miss them.

Cute conquers all

How can you not love kittens? Randal Monroe really and truly hit upon a universal truth, and these girls were intent on proving it. As was I, as I was the guy taking photos of kittens on a party night in the middle of Shinjuku. Thankfully, being the photographer, you don’t have to look at me making silly cute kitty faces. The girls are much better at it than I am, trust me.

I’m all moved into my new studio, so if you’re in the need for some studio photos, drop me a line. The new studio has the ability to be natural light or strobe, and we can do a lot, depending on what your needs are. So come on down. And you might even convince me to give you a discount if you’ve got your own well-loved copy of the Chicago Manual of Style~

Chicago Stylin'

There are some nice places to watch people in Tokyo, but one of my favorites is this intersection in East Shinjuku.

Window Shopping

Tomoka Nagayama and two other artists are having a show this week in Omotesando. You should go!

Sorry for the downtime~ I’m trying to set up some stuff here, so the web page was down for a couple days. I’ve got some cool news in the pipe, but I’m holding off until I’ve got pics. Stay tuned!

I was the lucky recipient of a box of Fuji apples from Aomori. They’re beautiful, and delicious. Thanks, Mr. Kubota!

Fuji apple from Aomori!

Hot Wheels

Tim from G.S. Astuto brought over a few sweet items from his lineup, and we had a good time photographing all that amazingly awesome carbon fiber and titanium. Here’s a gallery from the shoot.