A priceless piece of memory that doesn't change when everything around us does.
MCCS Camp Fuji
There are times when I'm on a story at one of the U.S. military bases in Japan. This one here is Camp Fuji, a Combined Arms Training Center which is an installation of the U.S. Marine Corps. Being an American citizen myself, it's kinda refreshing to escape "Japan" from time to time without having to get on a plane.
A Live Snail Facial Treatment
I'd go nuts if I were stuck shooting beauty or fashion in the studio for the rest of my life. I mean, could you imagine being in closed quarters for 8-10-12-14-24 hours a day? Day after day? The interesting stuff to photograph are usually present outside of the traditional photo studio setting. Such stuff that I'm referring to is live snails crawling all over one's face, which is what some people believe to be as the next hottest thing in facial treatments.
It's funny because I don't have a clue about the beauty and fashion industry, but yet, I'm privileged to shoot a chunk of it here and there. Really gotta thank my editors, photo editors and art directors who believe that I have somewhat of a distinct eye for the beauty and fashion thing. what should be include in
So I'm off once again for The Times packed pretty light for this. The 6D, 16-35 and 50 1.4 in the Think Tank Shape Shifter.
The snails live in a small plastic cage and they eat only organic vegetables. Snails gotta stay healthy in order for them to leave their rich sludge all over a customer's face.
Here are the beauty salon in Tokyo, one of their staff member's was more than happy to be the model for the demonstration. After all, she gets this expensive "celebrity" facial treatment done on the house.
Now to place those slimy little creatures on her face…
Sometimes you gotta stick together in certain situations.
Only three of them max are allowed onl. I guess like most things, too much of anything is usually not good.
The snails living it up in their own closed temperature controlled room.
In the end of things, the story never ran unfortunately. That's the life of newspapers and magazines...deadlines, last minute incoming advertising, spacing issues and etc., can cause stories to be put away in the company's digital archive.
Why Most Photographers Fail...
- They're afraid of risk
- They're afraid of failing over and over
- Their main purpose is to become "famous"
- They're just attention whores
- They make the same pictures like everyone else
- They're afraid of being different
- They're not hungry enough
- They make excuses for everything
- They follow trends
- They don't make an effort to educate themselves in business
- They don't know what sacrifice is
- They're not willing to be a thought leader in their own community of fans
- They worry more about the equipment they have rather than focusing on the pictures they make
- They worry more about the number of Facebook likes than being pleased with their own art
Am I missing anything?
Sukiyabashi Crossing
Mark IV with the 16-35. Placed the camera on the ground and hit the motor drive set at 1/10th at F5, ISO 400. Just a run and gun shot - I'm in and out of there in two minutes.
The Beauty in Car Crashes
During a late night dinner discussion yesterday, photographer Arnold Odermatt was brought to my attention as his work illustrates amazing car crash scenes in such a beautiful way.
The Golden Pavilion
Also known as Kinkaku-ji in Kyoto, Japan.
Know Your Photo Buyers
Those people are usually art directors, producers, photo editors, agency art buyers, editors, and marketing and communication managers.
Before trying to sell yourself to any of them, it helps to do a bit of research on your buyer before sending off that promo piece highlighting your best food shots to John Doe, Photo Editor at the Women's Fashion Daily. It's important to understand as photographers, we need to be salesmen or women if you plan to stay in business in the long run. Sure, it helps if you have your own team of sales people but no one can really understand your product as well as the person who created it.
Remember, closing a sale doesn't happen by sitting in the office or house all day. It happens by being out there meeting those key people and maintaining those relationships whether they buy now or later. So go make those phone calls, take that magazine photo editor out for lunch, or get on that plane headed to China and meet those art buyers. There's a lot of content hungry people out in this world today...
Straight Out Of The Camera
In a filtered, HD-R, heavy image manipulated world, I still prefer things straight outta the camera.
On a Plane to Yakuza Land
Not the usual type of story I often cover. So I pack the Mark IV and a couple lenses into my Domke F-2 and hop on the plane bound for Kitakyushu in Fukuoka Prefecture. On assignment once again with Richard Lloyd Parry, Asia Editor of The Times of London. Really, I gotta thank a shooter friend of mine whose work inspires me, Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert, for passing me a lot of jobs after leaving Japan. Out of all the other photogs out here in Tokyo, I was chosen and I'm more than grateful for that. Check out his blog here.
Back to the post...
I really didn't know much about these yakuza groups at the time but I was told that the Kyushu region is noted to be among the largest source of yakuza members in Japan, and that one group referred to as the Kudokai were expecting us. Not to meet in a public restaurant, coffee shop or hostess club, but into their four-story headquarters.
I think that it may be only in Japan where these types of groups have legitimate offices and business cards to hand out. This one is our warm welcoming to the Kudokai fortress consisting of high walls, barbed wire and security cameras all around. I have doubts that it's open to the general public. In this scene I kinda felt like a president for a minute as we made our way in, the guys to the left and right all bowed to show a sign of respect.
Making our way inside to what it looks like as the VIP meeting room. My mental note to myself was "once I'm step foot into their property, anything can happen." I was cautious and made sure to ask if it was OK to take a picture of this and that. Didn't feel like making any of these men in a bad mood if you know what I mean...
A scene you just don't see everyday that I had to take a photo of it. Of course, asking the Kudokai's PR person for permission first. They prepared some delicious treats for us. Coffee and cake.
The man in the center is Hiroshi Kimura. One of the Kudokai's senior executive members on the board.
As a photographer out in the field where you can't always exactly control the environment, over time I learned a lot about how the way people move which enables me to better predict how I could capture that reaction shot best illustrating the individuals character from my perspective. I'm not perfect at it still, but I've gotten a lot better.
Situated in one of their rooms is a religious altar where Kudokai members regularly pay their respects to members that have moved on into another life.
I thought this scene was pretty gangster to get Hiroshi pose for a picture with their Kudokai flag and that real samurai armor you see in the background. Pretty cool stuff if you ask me.
After spending a couple hours inside, it was time for us to head back home. They were so insistent on giving us a lift in their cars back to the station that I think would've been an insult to them if we declined. Off we go into their black cars...
For some reason I was kindly asked to be in a separate car by myself a part from The Times staffers.
The drive back to the train station where we all eventually made it back to Tokyo with an entire experience to remember.