Yeah, a photographer can never get tired of this area! Well, maybe if you’ve had a few too many bar visits, then you do physically run out of energy at some point… that’s why I try to spend as long taking photos before going inside any of them! 🙂
If you’re a passport member, then today you get my newest video I just made in Japan about the creation of photos from this location:
Here’s some of the behind the scenes and my thoughts on composition and story-telling around these shots. And, thanks again for being a Passport member! Btw, hint hint… it’s a good gift to get for a friend! 🙂
If you’re a Stuck In Customs Passport Member, today you get a super-cool travel tip video from Kyoto!
Here’s a few of my favorite photos from that area for you! 🙂
I hope you’ve been enjoying these RATHER high-quality videos we’ve been making recently. I really wanted to thank the team for making it all happen. Here are more tips, tricks, and mind-vitamins from Japan… this time, Kyoto!
I’m getting my new Origin PC all set up now… it’s kind of fun for me to set up new computers! Maybe it’s KIND of a drag to reinstall all the Adobe software, move over my preferences, and this sort of thing. But, at the same time, it makes for a nice clean re-start.
This came from a single RAW file, which was actually the case with over half my HDRs I processed from Japan. I processed this one with the new Aurora HDR 2019, which I think handles RAW files a little bit better! It’s exciting too because I still have about 30 unprocessed photos from other gardens around the area as well! It’s hard to choose from these gardens because everywhere you look is just as stunning!
I don’t actually like this place, so I am not sure why I am posting a photo. Well, I guess it is to honor how awesome this owl looks! When Ethan and I were in Tokyo, we decided to go to an “Owl Cafe.” There are all sorts of cafes all over the city where you can dine with all sorts of animals. It took us forever to find this place, and we had to walk up about six flights of some pretty sketchy stairs. We were instructed to wait outside until our “seating time.” We stood out there looking at a bunch of other Japanese owl-seekers, whom all seemed pretty excited.
Finally, the door opened and we were ushered in. It wasn’t a cafe at all unless you consider humans feeding owls the goopy entrails of mice to be a cafe. We each got a little apple juice carton like we were in kindergarten. There was a small green circle sticker on it. They instructed us to take the green circle sticker and put it on the wall to signify our favorite owl. I voted for this one, which already had about 500 stickers… but there was this one really ugly owl that was not even close to symmetrical. It had only three stickers. It was both super sad, and I was wondering what three crazy people would vote for that owl.
Anyway, I don’t recommend going to an owl cafe… I thought the owls would be happier or get to fly around some big awesome owl Disneyland or something, but I was wrong.
In the spirit of today’s post about Japan, here’s a video I made about F-Stop when I was in Okinawa. BTW, Okinawa is ALMOST like a different country than Japan… many different customs, food, drinks, and even weather. Also, people in Okinawa are some of the longest-lived people in the world.
I was just interviewed by USA Today about the new book. Here it is for ya! This was a fun interview and I hope it helps to ease some of the undue anxiety out there on social media! You can find the audio below and here’s a link to the book.
I feel like I jump on here every week and talk about how awesome Japan is. It reminds me a little bit of Austin in a strange way… in that, in Austin, everyone sits around coffee shops and talks about how awesome Austin is. It’s sort of a strange thing, and quite the existential self-compliment. But, I do the same thing in Japan when I meet another English speaker. It’s always the same conversation: “Can you believe how awesome Japan is?” then they say, “Yes, how about the Japanese people?!?” then I say, “Yeah, like totes.”
I’m in the middle of planning one right now! This time I’m going to try to visit more places in the deeper part of the south… I may start with Hiroshima. I’ve heard it’s really beautiful and there are a few interesting things to see from the war. I wonder how long the radiation stayed around… it could not have been that long because it’s totally clear now. I thought radiation would hang around for hundreds of years, but it wasn’t that big of a bomb. Well, I mean, it was big, but not like the ones we have today. I need to look this up!
I had one extra day at the end of the Japanese tour, and I decided to visit a new place I had never visited before: Kobe. It was another awesome Japanese town, although I didn’t get to spend a lot of time there. You can see another town there in the distance across the way. That’s actually Sakai, which is near Osaka, and I was there a few weeks early to watch a blacksmith craft swords and knives using the old traditions.
If you’re a Passport member then today you get one of the coolest videos I’ve ever made! It took about a week to make this, shooting all over Tokyo, and I hope you enjoy it!
Here’s a special treat for you! You get to follow me around Tokyo for a while and find out more about my mission there, creating order from the chaos!
Here’s one of the photos we’ll be releasing in Series 2 of the fine art collection. It’s one of my favorites of Tokyo because you can’t really tell it’s Tokyo!
I still give this game my absolute highest recommendation. I’ve played a ton of video games on consoles, and this one may be my absolute favorite!
Japanese people tend to be very close to nature. That’s part of their Shintoism, which basically equates nature with being closer to the eternal. I certainly don’t disagree with that! And this is why you see so many Japanese people out in nature, spending times with trees. During the cherry blossom season, whole families will stake out a Sakura and sit under it all day long.
If you’re a Passport Member then today you get to see about a 10 minute video of my time here in Shirakawa-go, Japan. I talk about the shots I’m trying to get, my travel pains, my travel pleasures, and other various tips and tricks. I hope you enjoy!
This was a last-second idea to make this video in Shirakawa-go, Japan. I was having so much fun… I was totally alone, and then I thought, hey, why not bring the Passport members along with me on this little adventure! Anyway, here ya go… a lot of stream of consciousness in here, but I hope you like it! 🙂
Here’s my overall favorite photo from this area! If you watched the Passport video, then you’ll have a bit of perspective on what went into the shot.
