What an incredible city this is to shoot at night! I love taking photos at night and it could not be any safer. You might see a few drunken salarymen out wandering the streets, but they are all happy and good fun! The other thing I like about the whole scene is how it slides a bit into the cooler, blue colors, which gives it more of a Blade Runner feel.
Maybe at the end of this, if I’m still in Lockdown, I’ll do an ALL JAPAN week! But we’ll get started with these five…
If you haven’t seen a show called “Devs” – then definitely check it out if you like Sci-Fi. It’s made by the same guy that did Ex Machina, so if you loved that, you’ll love this show too.
This area of Tokyo is gold for photos! There’s not a bad angle, and, even better, no one cares if you use a tripod. Or, if they do mind, Japanese people are so polite that they would never say anything anyway.
While I was in Tokyo with my son Ethan, we ended up visiting a few different museums. This is from the Mori Art Museum, which is on the top floor of the Mori Building in Roppongi. They seem to swap out the exhibition every three months or so. This one had all kinds of cool stuff in it, mostly related to optical illusions.
It was my plan to get to Tokyo for every single Halloween, but I missed it last year because of some family stuff. But, this year, coronavirus permitting, I plan to go! It’s absolutely amazing because everyone is in costume and the Shibuya area is completely crazy. Also, since it’s in Japan, everyone is super nice despite the insane number of people out partying in the streets. It’s a goldmine for photography, so I can’t wait to get back out there with my Leica lenses to capture more photos like this.
I hope you enjoy using these presets as much as I do!
When I look back at this amazing rainy night in Tokyo, it just makes me want to return! This night was actually completely freezing and below zero. Most of the “rain” was actually sleet. I stayed up extra late, roaming the streets of Shinjuku, hoping that the sleet would turn into snow but it never did.
My friend Pete sent me this video of Paris Hilton making lasagna. I always thought she was an idiot, but I was wondering if she was faking it. Now, I’m completely convinced she’s not just an idiot, but a self-deluded idiot. I think she was trying to be funny sometimes, but some of the things she said to be funny are things an idiot would say to be funny.
Remember Google+? Yeah, that was the best! Actually, it was an absolute blast for a while. I made a lot of great friends including this guy: Vic Gundotra! He was kind, he made me laugh, and he was always full of surprises. That’s about all I ask for in a friend! 🙂 I gave a talk at the Google HQ in Tokyo after a fun photowalk (where I took this photo).
This is one of the photos that encouraged me to release my Movie Night Presets. I hope you love them as much as I do!
I have a hot tip for you as a photographer on a rainy night in a city. See if you can convince a friend (or hire someone) to carry around a giant golf umbrella for a few hours while you take photos. Photographers really need two hands, so having a buddy do this for you is a huge game-changer. It’s kind of boring for your friend, but promise you’ll buy them a burger or something!
Here is one of my favorite recent interviews with Leo Laporte!
I stayed in a hotel that was kind of in a “boring” area near Shinjuku. It was all office buildings and kind of dull. But it was only a ten-minute walk over to the more intense part of Shinjuku, which is the most Blade Runner area of Tokyo. On the way, you begin to walk over a bridge and things suddenly start to come alive. This is the first scene I saw each night as my son and I walked into the city.
I wanted to link you to a rather interesting podcast with Derek Sivers on Tim Ferris. Here is the link right here. He’s the one I got this interesting tidbit from below!
While in Tokyo last time, I got the quad up a few times to take photos of this incredible city. There are many interesting things about Tokyo. For one, streets do not have names. Blocks have names. It’s the opposite of the west where streets have names but blocks do not. Interesting, eh? Also, Japanese addresses are not in order. For example, address #1 on a block might be smashed between #23 and #38. The number is associated to the first building on said block.
