emuu.net photo of the day

photo of the day: twilight lamps

30 Jul 2010 08:00 +0900

Lamps at the onset of twilight. I like the look but I have to wonder if that frame was what they had in mind when they started to .. weld it.

photo of the day: stuck on a stalled train

29 Jul 2010 08:00 +0900

We were on a train bound for the city when another train struck someone on the tracks. We sat there for forty-five minutes.

photo of the day: how to make your bride cry

28 Jul 2010 08:00 +0900

It's easy. You write your own vows in her mystifying language, and surprise her with them in front of all of her friends and family!

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27 Jul 2010 08:00 +0900

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photo of the day: toddling in the rain

24 Jul 2010 08:00 +0900

The boy wanted an umbrella despite the rain coat. And by gum he'd get what he wants.

P.S. Yes I can so use a 20mm lens for portraiture.

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23 Jul 2010 08:00 +0900

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photo of the day: my family asleep on a bus

21 Jul 2010 08:00 +0900

We were leaving Tottori on a bus bound for the airport. I looked across and saw that it had all been too much excitement for Mari and Kenny.

photo of the day: lantern in a bamboo forest

20 Jul 2010 08:00 +0900

In Kamakura, there is a bamboo forest at a shrine in the east side of the city's inner area. There I found this lantern.

The pointy stalks in the background are bamboo shoots coming out of the ground. Who knew that bamboo grew out of the ground with its adult width?

photo of the day: lots of umbrellas

19 Jul 2010 08:00 +0900

One odd thing that I love about Japan: people use a lot of umbrellas in this country and they tend to leave them behind all over the place. Restaurants, railway stations, post offices, and of course in rental cars.

photo of the day: inagaddadavida

18 Jul 2010 08:00 +0900

Kenny hammers away at the organ at a toy museum.

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17 Jul 2010 08:00 +0900

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16 Jul 2010 08:00 +0900

photo of the day: toothpaste on the coffee table

15 Jul 2010 08:00 +0900

I came out to collect Kenny for day care one morning only to find him standing on the coffee table and squirting toothpaste onto the old teak surface. Of course.

photo of the day: buddha contemplates the many years

14 Jul 2010 08:00 +0900

I'm a fan of the daibutsu in Kamakura. How could you not be? Privately funded, it's survived being dragged around by a tsunami and every other outrageous sling and arrow from the past seven hundred and fifty years.

Ah, bronze, is there anything you can't do.

photo of the day: the wedding couple arrives

13 Jul 2010 08:00 +0900

The arrival of the couple at their wedding reception.

photo of the day: surprise leap into the frame

11 Jul 2010 08:00 +0900

Trust a basketball player to jump into someone else's photo. Good ol' Yaguchi-san.

photo of the day: congratulations, old friend

10 Jul 2010 08:00 +0900

Geoff, at left, congratulates Jon on the occasion of his wedding. They've known each other for Jon's entire life.

photo of the day: lovely girl at a wedding

09 Jul 2010 08:00 +0900

I like to photograph wedding guests. Often, young girls make the most interesting portraits.

photo of the day: get on your bikes and ride

08 Jul 2010 08:00 +0900

Nate Jensen, multi-talented creative person, performing Queen's "Fat Bottomed Girls" .. on a theremin.

photo of the day: running under a serene gaze

06 Jul 2010 08:00 +0900

These were young monks, running as they did some errands at the site of the shrine to Kannon in Ofuna.

photo of the day: kenny makes a donation

05 Jul 2010 08:00 +0900

Kenny, digging in his pockets for nuts to leave as an offering.

photo of the day: nuked rocks at a shrine to peace

04 Jul 2010 08:00 +0900

At the Kannon shrine we visited, they had on display these two rocks. One from Nagasaki, the other from Hiroshima. Both had been "nuked".

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photo of the day: silence of the pigs (2 of 2)

22 Jun 2010 08:00 +0900

In another photo in this series, I described an odd experience I had in this cluttered old pig abattoir.

I'd simply failed to meet the person that had made the distinctive noises of walking about on the far side of a wall only a few steps away from me. A wall that divided this scene from one just like it.

Only, when I rounded the wall to see what had become of the person there, I found .. nothing. Just an overgrown, debris-strewn wreck. No people, no large animals, and nothing else that could explain the sounds I'd heard.

Again, to be clear, this wasn't the mis-heard sound of a tool on a hanger swinging into a wall, or a swinging piece of board or something like that. There was no hint of a breeze, and no sign of anything that was in an unstable or hanging position. Whatever had made the steadily approaching sounds had vanished into thin air. I have to stress: the sounds were as clear as they could be. Footsteps. On a debris-covered floor. Getting closer.

So that's my one and only ghost story.

My wife forbids me to go back there because the Japanese believe that ghosts are real and that they can be "picked up" and "brought home" from places like this. They are known to sit on one's shoulder on the trip home, I'm told.

photo of the day: silence of the pigs (1 of 2)

21 Jun 2010 08:00 +0900

This is a former abattoir for pigs. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it was the scene of the only time in my life when I've ever experienced anything that could be construed as a ghost encounter.

It was an unexplained noise that came from just past the dilapidated fiberglass wall. As I blundered about taking these photos, there suddenly came the sound of footsteps as clear as in any busy subway station corridor. Left, right, left, right, someone was clearly approaching. They even brushed aside some of the brambles there. And just when I expected the person to come into view .. nothing.

Now don't get me wrong. This wasn't "hey that kinda sounds like footsteps", this was such an everyday sound that it couldn't be mistaken for anything else. There were even the small sounds of things crunching underfoot.

Naturally, I went to find the person and unrattle my nerves. See the next photo for what I saw.

photo of the day: three long shadows at year's end

20 Jun 2010 08:00 +0900

My wife, my son, and my nephew in Miyakonojo, Japan. Kenny loves to balance on things as he walks.

photo of the day: tiny boy in a big field

19 Jun 2010 08:00 +0900

It's a school yard in Miyakonojo, Miyazaki. Kenny's a month away from his second birthday.

photo of the day: persimmons drying in the sun

18 Jun 2010 08:00 +0900

In the middle of what passes for Winter in Miyazaki, there are citrus on the trees, and the persimmons are picked and hung to wither. I liked the pattern these hanging fruit made outside my wife's family's home.

photo of the day: passed out in post office

17 Jun 2010 08:00 +0900

We were in a post office, and Kenny just had to get some sleep. When he's in my care, he sleeps where he falls.

photo of the day: concrete god

16 Jun 2010 08:00 +0900

This concrete statue of a god with a (bull? sheep?) sits on a temple property along the "旧東海道", a long rambling highway that's now little more than a shopping street (that just never ends). I shot this pic during the season when the flowering trees are in blossom.

photo of the day: buddha by the old shopping street

15 Jun 2010 08:00 +0900

The never-ending shopping street that passes near my home has an illustrious history. It's one of the five Edo-era highways that fed the old capital city. A place intended not only for transportation and accommodation but also a gathering place for tax-paying, partying, and everything in between. It's called the "old eastern sea-shore highway" (旧東海道).

This statue of Buddha is on the property of one of the countless temples and shrines that mark the length of the old highway. I like it for its elegant design, human scale, unostentatious placement, and the way it fits with its surrounds.

photo of the day: oversaturated scenery

14 Jun 2010 08:00 +0900

I was switching lenses fairly frequently as I visited this place, and using a camera I'd not touched in months. The meter was a little off, and I think that the batteries were dying. I also was using a yellow filter on at least one of the lenses, thinking that I was shooting black and white film.

No matter, this oversaturated look (straight from the scanner) suits the place and the mood just fine.

photo of the day: gazing at the bird nests

13 Jun 2010 08:00 +0900

Kenny has exceptionally good eyesight, especially compared to his eight-eyes parents. But he didn't seem to be entirely sure about what we were looking at when pointed out the many, many birds nests in the trees above the old mansion that we were exploring.

photo of the day: irresistable force and immovable object

12 Jun 2010 08:00 +0900

This is my two-year-old son in a nutshell.

photo of the day: ascending a temple's stairs

11 Jun 2010 08:00 +0900

Kenny pauses to greet a fellow who was doing work around the temple grounds in a town in Tottori prefecture. For a two-year-old he seems to have good sense in engaging with people. Something tells me he's going to make his way through this world just fine.

photo of the day: classic farmhouse door

10 Jun 2010 08:00 +0900

In a high valley we visited a small village inhabited by woodsmen. I don't think there were too many people under fifty years of age living there. So naturally the homes were old and interesting.

Kenny stepped into this frame as I was steadying myself against something to secure the shot in low light (no tripod!). I liked him there.

photo of the day: kenny and a girl at a wedding

09 Jun 2010 08:00 +0900

They say of funerals that "someone always catches their death". Maybe it's also true of weddings, Kenny.

photo of the day: so it's official!

08 Jun 2010 08:00 +0900

The happy couple upon completion of their wedding ceremony and arrival at the reception.

photo of the day: hillside garden patch

07 Jun 2010 08:00 +0900

Hi above the town, there are various crops being tended in the hills.

photo of the day: four generations

06 Jun 2010 08:00 +0900

My wife (upper left), her sister (kneeling in front of my wife), and her brother (upper right). And their children, their spouses, their parents and their grandmother. Plus one teddy bear.

photo of the day: four boys, one zombie

05 Jun 2010 08:00 +0900

Remember kids, zombieism strikes at any time.

My in-laws have four grandchildren, and they're all boys. In fact, my wife's surviving grandmother has seventeen grandkids and only four or five are girls.

photo of the day: shinya-san plays with the boys

04 Jun 2010 08:00 +0900

Somehow my brother-in-law managed to get three of the four boys to settle down and play quietly for a while. I think it's a record.

photo of the day: frost in soil

03 Jun 2010 08:00 +0900

I've never seen this kind of frost in Canada for some reason.

photo of the day: my mother-in-law

02 Jun 2010 08:00 +0900

My mother-in-law with the youngest of her brood of grandchildren, Ta-kun and Kenny.

photo of the day: my father-in-law

01 Jun 2010 08:00 +0900

It was new year's, and he had all of his children (and grandchildren) around for the first time in many years.

photo of the day: frost in the morning

31 May 2010 08:00 +0900

The frost that had formed in the soil had pushed pieces of the soil up during the night.

photo of the day: bamboo dawn

30 May 2010 08:00 +0900

The sun comes over a hill and finds the leaves of bamboo on a slope.

photo of the day: dawn bamboo in high places

29 May 2010 08:00 +0900

Bamboo growing in abundance in a high hill slope at sunrise.

photo of the day: playing in the airport

28 May 2010 08:00 +0900

Kenny and an unidentified girl play in the airport while waiting for their parents to get moving again.

photo of the day: taxi bikes in Manila

27 May 2010 08:00 +0900

Motorbike taxis seem to be a major mode of transportation in Manila. This taxi rank was under a bridge, adjacent to a profusion of what I took to be informal/illegal housing.

Just as I'd focused, this guy charged forward. Always with the blurry pics!

photo of the day: evening comes to the shrine at festival time

26 May 2010 08:00 +0900

A festival was coming up, and the shrine's keepers had strung the place with lanterns. I came along just before dusk.

photo of the day: kenny smiling as he wakes

25 May 2010 08:00 +0900

Once in a while, the boy wakes with a smile.

photo of the day: kenny and sora-kun in the morning

24 May 2010 08:00 +0900

I can't resist snapping an image of Kenny and his day care classmates from time to time. Kenny and Sora-kun see me off from the usual spot. With the usual hasty focus work in evidence.

photo of the day: under the tracks at yurakucho

23 May 2010 08:00 +0900

In Yurakucho in central Tokyo is a length of raised tracks. Under these tracks are many stores and restaurants .. and some glimpses into the older uses of the old brick monster–storage units and even bomb shelters.

photo of the day: nihombashi

22 May 2010 08:00 +0900

I like the Nihombashi area, though it's not exactly a tourist magnet I admit.

photo of the day: too big, too fast

21 May 2010 08:00 +0900

We had to get rid of this sailfin pleco. It was less than 4 cm long when we bought it, and by 2.5 months it had grown to about 13cm. Yikes! Bought the wrong fish.

photo of the day: wakey wakey bicycle boy

20 May 2010 08:00 +0900

The boy didn't seem impressed with being photographed just after he'd woken from a nap on the back of my bike. I'd taken him off the bike because we wanted to step into the aquarium store.

photo of the day: nihombashi in glass

19 May 2010 08:00 +0900

Nihombashi is a rather faceless business neighbourhood in Tokyo that I've come to like. Lots of buildings to see!

photo of the day: wall fixtures in an old embassy

18 May 2010 08:00 +0900

This two-tone wall was in the old French embassy in Tokyo, which I toured as part of a visit to the art exhibit being hosted there. I liked the worn-out (60's?) colours and the assortment of defunct wall fixtures.

photo of the day: a busy community tank

17 May 2010 08:00 +0900

I've taken up keeping an aquarium again. The squadron of rummy-nose tetras made their pass just as I was apparently trying to document the algal growth everywhere.

photo of the day: they look so sweet...

15 May 2010 08:00 +0900

...when they're asleep.

photo of the day: lego train for a toddler

14 May 2010 08:00 +0900

Kenny plays with a lego "kikansya", a steam engine replete with two domes, a smoke stack and even pistons (reverse mounted for some reason).

photo of the day: the birthday boy is delighted

13 May 2010 08:00 +0900

The boy's second birthday. When it comes to parenting, it rarely gets better than a look of delight on a child's face.

photo of the day: reading to the boy in his bed

12 May 2010 08:00 +0900

Kenny's new bed needed some special introduction, so I got in with him to read to him that night.

photo of the day: not in the morning, dad

11 May 2010 08:00 +0900

The boy isn't usually in the mood for photography first thing in the day.

photo of the day: yes boys, she's single

10 May 2010 08:00 +0900

All this and brains and personality, too.

photo of the day: yakking and blinking

09 May 2010 08:00 +0900

I always make a fine portrait subject. (e_e)

photo of the day: amano shrimp

08 May 2010 08:00 +0900

Tricky to photograph, this skittish shrimp managed to outwit me and swayed back out of focus at just the wrong time.

photo of the day: this tasted better than it looked

07 May 2010 08:00 +0900

...but then it would have to. Also, a dang chewy snack.

photo of the day: men's hair saloon

06 May 2010 08:00 +0900

Why get your hair cut at a salon when you can go to a saloon!

photo of the day: an ancient house surrounded

05 May 2010 08:00 +0900

This is not a terribly unusual scene in Tokyo—an ancient house surrounded by newer ones that loom large.

photo of the day: the only good rat is a....

04 May 2010 08:00 +0900

...dead rat. This is the only kind I've ever seen in Tokyo. Possibly something that can be attributed to the huge population of feral cats.

photo of the day: Pentax booth bunny

03 May 2010 08:00 +0900

This was the first time I'd tried to use my camera phone in such circumstances. Probably the last.

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02 May 2010 08:00 +0900

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photo of the day: whatchyoo staring at?

30 Apr 2010 08:00 +0900

Showing off his face full of yoghurt.

photo of the day: my wife as a young woman

29 Apr 2010 08:00 +0900

Shortly after we'd wed.

photo of the day: as bad as algae gets

28 Apr 2010 08:00 +0900

I see three types of algae, here. First, the matted cyanobacteria that's covering everything. Then the hair/beard stuff that's on the leafy edges. Then the general light-green algae, also visible on the broad leaves.

I had this all cleared up in a matter of a week or so, following the nadir recorded in this photo.

photo of the day: red means bad earthquake risk

27 Apr 2010 08:00 +0900

The darker the red hue, the worse the earthquake risk. It's pretty easy to see where the Philippine tectonic plate, the Asian plate, the Okhotsk plate, and the Pacific plates all come together. Just east of Tokyo!

If you'd like to see a geologic map, check out the image here.

The dark red spur that cuts through the main island of Honshu at its widest is a really interesting bit of geology. For some time it was below sea level, meaning that Honshu was cut in half and that it was deposited upon with sedements. It was then thrust upward again, presumably as the Okhotsk plate was pushed up between the Asian and Pacific plates. So it's a strip of sedementary rock cutting through Japan's otherwise tortured volcanic rocks.

photo of the day: goodbye, sensei

26 Apr 2010 08:00 +0900

Kenny's teacher "ええちゃん" is being transferred from Kenny's day care to something I can only describe as a "child center" somewhere else in the city. Kenny's going to miss his sensei .. he's already asked after the man and it's only been a couple of hours.

Note the giant feet in the prints. Poor lad.

photo of the day: hit with shit while cycling

25 Apr 2010 08:00 +0900

I'd just been crapped on by a bird for the tenth time. Shot in the men's room.

photo of the day: yokohama camera show

24 Apr 2010 08:00 +0900

I snapped this with the lousy camera on my iPhone while we were at a camera show in Yokohama. And the baby makes three oh....

photo of the day: commends it to the attendant of

23 Apr 2010 08:00 +0900

I'm glad that the staff at Yodobashi tried to help out English-speaking foreigners. But.

photo of the day: third anniversary

22 Apr 2010 08:00 +0900

I'm collecting pics for a special future album. The photos will be of Mari and me and Kenny (and any future children), always taken at or around our anniversary.

For our third anniversary, Kenny was out of sorts and Mari had to hold him. He wouldn't sit for his own portrait.

photo of the day: young women spinning

21 Apr 2010 08:00 +0900

These three women were spinning on the child's ride in the park at the end of my street. One of those "shoot first, ask permission later" pictures.

photo of the day: waiting for the earthquake machine

20 Apr 2010 08:00 +0900

Kenny and I tried out the earthquake demonstration machine, a sample of a 7.0 earthquake that takes place in a mocked-up kitchen built into the back of a truck.

These families were waiting for their turn.

photo of the day: Takahashi-san and me

19 Apr 2010 08:00 +0900

This is Takahashi-san, my barber. He runs a place called Hair Soyuz in Gotanda. I've been going to him regularly for about four years now.

P.S. This is the first time I've linked to a domain that's spelled in kanji (品川理容組合.com/SOYUZ/takahashi.html). Oh little Internet, you're growing up.

photo of the day: holding hands at the day care

18 Apr 2010 08:00 +0900

Two children—neither of them one of mine—were sitting in the classroom bench at the day care and holding hands. Awwwwwww.

photo of the day: R2D2 from an iPhone

17 Apr 2010 08:00 +0900

We took Kenny to a place that has lots of things for kids to do. It's called "Kid-o-kid".

Among the many activities is an area where kids (and dads) can assemble things from plastic parts. I made this R2D2. Sorry about the lousy photo, it came from my iPhone.

photo of the day: a throw and a timely snap

16 Apr 2010 08:00 +0900

I managed this pic of my son just as he threw a ball at me from under a picnic table/bench.

photo of the day: nice wall...

15 Apr 2010 08:00 +0900

I like interesting walls. I also like shooting film for the textures and colours it produces. Putting them together, I especially like shooting walls with film.

Happily, Tokyo allows me a nearly endless variety of interesting walls to shoot.

photo of the day: daddy's to blame!

14 Apr 2010 08:00 +0900

I don't remember what offense I'd committed. But I'd displeased the boy somehow. I don't suppose that I was helping by laughing at the lad and taking his photo.

photo of the day: the Jensen presentation

13 Apr 2010 08:00 +0900

Nate Jensen presenting the results into the study of frequency of kanji in the Japan Post address database.

The largest kanji are "storey", "new", and "inn". Other large ones include "west", "rice paddy", "port", "city", and "town".

photo of the day: warez in Taiwan

12 Apr 2010 08:00 +0900

If I recall correctly, these are bundles of tea.

photo of the day: showa neon

11 Apr 2010 08:00 +0900

A neon company that takes pride in their work. Taken at sunset.

photo of the day: kenny staring at the sky

10 Apr 2010 08:00 +0900

I'm not sure what he sees, here. But this pic became the background image on my phone after this.

photo of the day: kenny's first tantrum

09 Apr 2010 08:00 +0900

We were in a store. Kenny refused to go any further, because he wanted some plastic toy firetruck.

He didn't get the toy.

photo of the day: sunset over Shinagawa

08 Apr 2010 08:00 +0900

Just past sunset one fine day in January.

photo of the day: getting his socks on

07 Apr 2010 08:00 +0900

At the age of 22 months, the boy wants to put his own socks on. He does the shoes, too, but gets them on the right feet about one time in ten.

photo of the day: kenny does push-ups

06 Apr 2010 08:00 +0900

For some reason, Kenny's always been fascinated with my push-up hand-bars. This was his first go at actual push-ups, though. He's such an inquisitive kid!

photo of the day: tiny lock

04 Apr 2010 08:00 +0900

I was amazed to see the ridiculously flimsy lock on this carbon-framed bicycle. I seriously doubt that the bike frame could be had in Japan for less than $10,000, and yet that lock is a mockery of protection.

Such is life in this virtually crime-free city.

photo of the day: $4 a mouthful

03 Apr 2010 08:00 +0900

This is simple liverwurst. The kind of stuff I grew up on (I had German grandparents).

Here in Tokyo, a tiny 80g jar costs as much as a Starbucks coffee.

photo of the day: the bear is all right

02 Apr 2010 08:00 +0900

The bear's not a wicked creature, it's just an odd angle and some odd lighting that gives him the cruel look. His name is Kumar and he's 100% organic Japanese cotton (so his tag says). He's a very huggable fellow, actually, if Kenny's reaction's been anything to go by.

Kenny's too big for me to push him around on the car, now, but it's Kenny's turn to drive. I can only imagine what had been going on here. Panda, Kumar, and Blah-Blah were enjoying a ride in the cow car. Panda and Blah-Blah are inseparable (word 'round the romper room has them an item). Maybe they were showing the new bear around when I met them.

photo of the day: two wheels taiwan

01 Apr 2010 08:00 +0900

A child's bike with training wheels is parked in front of some adult scooters. In the background a rider on another scooter awaits the light.

This is one of my favourite pics of all time. Especially because I shot it without framing it at all.

photo of the day: abandoned pet clinic

31 Mar 2010 08:00 +0900

It never ceases to amaze me how many abandoned buildings are to be found in central Tokyo. This old pet clinic stands among embassies and mansions and luxury apartments.

photo of the day: Barge in the Sumida

30 Mar 2010 08:00 +0900

The Sumida river passes through central Tokyo. Where it meets the bay it passes through a maze of canals.

photo of the day: shopping street, infrared light

29 Mar 2010 08:00 +0900

photo of the day: The panda is feeding

28 Mar 2010 08:00 +0900

My son loves pandas and while we were in Hong Kong we visited a "marine park" located on a mountain to see the big "cuddly" beasts.

photo of the day: family and panda

27 Mar 2010 08:00 +0900

Mari and Kenny watch a panda feeding.

photo of the day: hong kong at night

26 Mar 2010 08:00 +0900

Taken from atop a building's uncovered roof. This shows the many towers in the eastern half of the city's centre.

photo of the day: repulse bay cable car

25 Mar 2010 08:00 +0900

Hanging above a slope on the shore of Repulse Bay on Hong Kong island, a cable car carries people from one half of a marine park to the other. Yes, the marine park is situated on a mountain's shoulders....

photo of the day: scared of heights

24 Mar 2010 08:00 +0900

Mari is, shall we say, not happy with heights. Kenny doesn't seem to have inherited the phobia.

photo of the day: fish and turtle

23 Mar 2010 08:00 +0900

In a public park in Hong Kong, I spotted this scene through my polarizer. By eliminating the reflections on the water's surface, it gives the impression that the animals are suspended in air.

photo of the day: little girl makes mochi

22 Mar 2010 08:00 +0900

This little girl was maybe all of four years old, but she was better at slinging a mochi hammer than some of the men present that day. I'm not exaggerating, either, sadly.

photo of the day: decision maker

21 Mar 2010 08:00 +0900

In Japan, if you want to assign an order to something randomly, you use one of these decision maker doo-dads. It works surprisingly well.

Let's say you're assigning speaking order to a number of speakers at a public event. First draw a number of vertical lines, and label each one with a speaker's name. Assign the speaking orders available to the bottom of the lines.

Then randomly connect each of the vertical sticks with some more-or-less horizontal lines. These can be truly level or rather off of level.

Starting with the first line on the left, follow the line down until you hit a horizontal line. Then follow this to the next vertical line and go down that line until you once again hit a horizontal line. And repeat. You must always change course when the line you're following intersects with another line.

You'll find yourself traipsing through the thing in a way that gives each speaker a unique speaking order. Done!

photo of the day: my boy and me

20 Mar 2010 08:00 +0900

Mari made this image of Kenny and me in the park near our home. I like to think that the underexposure lends me a certain textured air.

Certainly the dust in the scan lends the air a certain texture.

photo of the day: macha

19 Mar 2010 08:00 +0900

There's a special form of tea in Japan called macha. It involves a certain frothing technique I don't understand, and takes quite a knack to get right. Trust the Japanese to have a way of making plain ol' green tea into something special.

photo of the day: the shinkansen photographer

18 Mar 2010 08:00 +0900

At the end of our street is a small park that has a commanding view of the sweep of several rail lines. There's a place in the fence where a square has been cut to allow a gate to be unlocked. Occasionally, photographers and train-spotters will use that place to snap the passing Shinkansen.

These are, it seems, the fans who are willing to go the extra distance—it's far more common to see them at the bridge at the end of the lane, where I've seen a dozen at a time. I've also seen expensive gear left behind in all of the excitement.

Apparently, there's a special "yellow" Shinkansen that can be seen on this line that attracts them.

photo of the day: blurry in Shanghai

17 Mar 2010 08:00 +0900

The streets may be dominated by crazed taxis and private luxury vehicles, but they're still home to heavily-laden pull-carts as well.

photo of the day: Shanghai alley way

16 Mar 2010 08:00 +0900

I love all of the architectural confusion in Shanghai. Various alley-way scenes in the foreground, a looming tower in the background.

Note also the phone numbers written on the walls. These are apparently for services such as plumbing.

photo of the day: dynasty restaurant

15 Mar 2010 08:00 +0900

A busy shopping street in Shanghai.

photo of the day: blurry shanghai

14 Mar 2010 08:00 +0900

The focus was way off when I grabbed this shot of Shanghai's French Quarter, but I rather like that the only semi-focused item is the front of the motorcycle (lower left).

photo of the day: the old city

13 Mar 2010 08:00 +0900

We came across this hand-cart piled high with chairs in Shanghai's old city. Sites like this were not altogether uncommon.

photo of the day: the french quarter

12 Mar 2010 08:00 +0900

We did a motorcycle/sidecar tour of Shanghai. This is one of my favourite pics from the trip, showing a tree-lined street in the French Quarter.

photo of the day: the assisted tree

11 Mar 2010 08:00 +0900

In my travels in Japan, I've occasionally come across trees that are propped up by sticks and slings.

This one is more stick than tree!

photo of the day: riverbank surprise

10 Mar 2010 08:00 +0900

I was participating in a river cleanup when I found this charming little surprise.

photo of the day: this is how it's done

09 Mar 2010 08:00 +0900

The boss, showing his staff how to sling a mochi hammer!

photo of the day: grinding mochi

08 Mar 2010 08:00 +0900

Mochi is a Japanese food made from smashed-up cooked rice. To make mochi, you place the cooked rice in a wooden container as shown, and pound it to a soft, pliant paste. The first process is to break up the rice so that it becomes a gloppy semi-congealed mess. If you just started hammering the cooked rice as is it would, of course, go flying in every direction.

The team doing the work here were some of my wife's coworkers.

photo of the day: mantis laying eggs

07 Mar 2010 08:00 +0900

As part of the river clean-up at the Arakawa, we had a biologist explain things to us. Such as, there are 2,000 raccoons in Tokyo (nothing compared to Toronto's 50,000, but I doubt anyone's complaining).

The biologist told us that we'd be able to find plenty of "eggs". I guess these are the ones he had in mind. If you're puzzled by what you're seeing, it's a mantis hanging upside down and planting the eggs in a nasty sticky mess. I have no idea how the biologist managed to spot this!

photo of the day: graffiti never sleeps

06 Mar 2010 08:00 +0900

In mid-September, I photographed this graffiti while on a visit to the site along the Arakawa that we'd be cleaning up in late November. At that time, it was simply one word, written in large yellow block letters: FOCUS.

Returning for the actual river cleanup day, I found that the original word has been largely obliterated with small scrawls in red and white and blue-white.

I guess graffiti is a volatile art form.

photo of the day: mari with a treat

05 Mar 2010 08:00 +0900

Mari enjoys candied fruit in a corner of the Old City, Shanghai.

photo of the day: suddenly shy

04 Mar 2010 08:00 +0900

This teenage girl was staring at us as we waited in traffic in the sidecar. I think it was Kenny that caught her attention.

When I turned the camera on her, she shied away.

photo of the day: ghost in the tower

03 Mar 2010 08:00 +0900

Someone cut into the photo I was setting up. I love it when people make themselves part of my composition.

photo of the day: eight stories up

02 Mar 2010 08:00 +0900

This young couple was taking in the sights on the rickety balcony that ringed an eight-story tower in SuZhou, Shanghai.

I offered to take their photo, then suffered a bout of vertigo as I looked at the LCD viewfinder.

photo of the day: night of the living dead .. goldfish

01 Mar 2010 08:00 +0900

Ghostly goldfish under far too crowded conditions and under way too much light.

photo of the day: motorcycle, mama

28 Feb 2010 08:00 +0900

Kenny's a lucky boy. He's got a devoted mama and a museum-piece motorcycle to ride for the morning.

photo of the day: kissy kenny

27 Feb 2010 08:00 +0900

Kenny kisses one of his classmates during a chance weekend encounter.

photo of the day: 4 pieces for 5 yuan

26 Feb 2010 08:00 +0900

I liked this guy's attitude.

photo of the day: Chicken Bomber

25 Feb 2010 08:00 +0900

"Chicken Bomber". Founded by someone who swore that chickens could fly.

photo of the day: panda's nap time

24 Feb 2010 08:00 +0900

It took us hours to get to the zoo. By the time we found the panda exhibit, the poor animal was of course asleep.

photo of the day: chinese school children

23 Feb 2010 08:00 +0900

The lion statuary might not be an authentic antique, but the kids are authentic kids.

photo of the day: young love

22 Feb 2010 08:00 +0900

I purposefully kept my distance from a young couple I spotted in a park in Shanghai. Lost in her love, she's holding him close, has her head on his shoulders. He's similarly enraptured .. wait, no he's not. He's reading the text on the paper bag that came with the goods at a store.

Tsk. Boys.

photo of the day: Mind Thunderbolt

21 Feb 2010 08:00 +0900

How can one argue with this warning! I was told they're literally warning about lightning.

photo of the day: what's going on?

20 Feb 2010 08:00 +0900

Turns out there was a dude with a turtle in the basket of his bike.

photo of the day: eatery, barbershop and flowershop

19 Feb 2010 08:00 +0900

...and I think it was probably zoned as a garage. This is Shanghai, held out by many as the rising star of China and hope for economic growth in the region.

photo of the day: dancing with children

18 Feb 2010 08:00 +0900

"Gymnastics Day" is the big event in the calendar of Japanese schools.

Young Takumi-kun, centre, is by far the largest child in Kenny's class. He's also the oldest, and was by a long way the most competent in doing the dance the kids had rehearsed.

Winning the award for coming the farthest for the event is Sam, at right, who returned from Barcelona to be there for his kids. Naturally, they were also packing for a move to that distant city.

photo of the day: the 858 cat-and-worms door

17 Feb 2010 08:00 +0900

Are those pious worms? And skulls on the cat's paws? And leaves or birds?

A lot going on on this doorway in an eastern Tokyo neighborhood. I suppose the number is an address. Bless people who give their neighbors something to see.

photo of the day: gloomy doorway

16 Feb 2010 08:00 +0900

I enjoy the tones and textures that I get with black and white film. I also don't mind the slightly soft look I get with my 35mm lens (never a quality lens, I've since dropped it).

I took this as a grim Sunday October afternoon dragged along to its conclusion.

photo of the day: white nose and son

15 Feb 2010 08:00 +0900

Kenny and I share an ice cream treat at the Ueno Zoo. Wow do I have a big nose.

We were sitting under a canopy of leafy vines, so there are interesting little highlights from the Sun shining on our shirts, hair, and skin. Most noticeably on my giant nose. Nothing gets Kenny to play nicely like a snack!

photo of the day: balcony spider

14 Feb 2010 08:00 +0900

I wound up killing this spider because it tried to take up residence in the laundry on our balcony. It had deserted its nest when I tried to free a bunch of bees.

What a disaster. Sorry, my friend, I know you're one of the good guys. Never should have tangled with 'em bees though.

photo of the day: kenny loves books

13 Feb 2010 08:00 +0900

The boy delights in a book with his grandparents.

Some of the children's books that are around now are simply amazing. The one they're looking at in this pic is beautifully drawn and can be read forward or backward!

photo of the day: kenny shares a moment with an older boy

12 Feb 2010 08:00 +0900

I'm not sure who the boy was, but he and Kenny seemed to hit it off. Kenny always reacts well to older kids. And adults, for that matter, especially seniors.

photo of the day: the junior artists

11 Feb 2010 08:00 +0900

With a combined age of less than four years, Akari-chan and Kenny make art at the small table we bought for the purpose. The rug, too, became a medium for these junior artists.

photo of the day: girls on the ropes

10 Feb 2010 08:00 +0900

The day care had an "Olympics" event on the weekend in support of Tokyo's ultimately doomed bid for the 2018 games. Or 2016. Whatever.

These girls had come to see me on a rope tree made for climbing, because I had stickers they needed to collect.

photo of the day: ikushima-san

09 Feb 2010 08:00 +0900

Fumi-kun is handed some cotton candy by his mum. Taken at a festival at our shopping street in October, 2009.

photo of the day: the kids are all hiding

08 Feb 2010 08:00 +0900

Kenny hides behind our couch with his friends Akari-chan and Fumi-kun. Just a snapshot, but one that shows the three classmates together for one of their final play times before Akari-chan's family moved to Barcelona.

In the background is the virtually empty apartment building that now looms above the neighbourhood like Barad-dûr stands above Mordor in The Lord of the Rings. An empty building without tenants completed just as the market collapsed in 2008.

photo of the day: hina-chan, born to ride

07 Feb 2010 08:00 +0900

One of Kenny's classmates with a lovely dress, a nice hat, and a nice trike.

It was a curry-cooking day in a small park behind a grocery store. A fine time was had all 'round, except by the dragonflies eaten by the killer wasps.

Our boy wandered into the shot with a battered walker toy. Hina-chan is definitely the lovelier of the two.

photo of the day: the watchmaker's car

06 Feb 2010 08:00 +0900

Not sure why the brand of a maker of fancy watches should appear on the side of this car parked in our driveway, but it seems to be an old Triumph, a low-to-the-road two-seater.

Glaring logo aside, I like the lines of the thing.

photo of the day: lost toy

05 Feb 2010 08:00 +0900

A child had left the controller and charger for a radio-control vehicle in the park next to a school. Then it rained.

photo of the day: the king of giraffes

04 Feb 2010 08:00 +0900

photo of the day: Josephine and her mum

03 Feb 2010 08:00 +0900

Josephine is a little girl in my son's daycare. Her mum arranged some tickets for this boat cruise as part of a festival taking place on the long shopping street near our home.

photo of the day: not impressed

02 Feb 2010 08:00 +0900

I think this fellow protests too much.

Sure, his restaurant is made inaccessible by the miniature steam train running on the street, but c'mon!

photo of the day: your palanquin awaits

01 Feb 2010 08:00 +0900

At a festival on our shopping street, I spotted these two runners with their palanquin.

I should have asked how much they charge!

photo of the day: the kids are all right

31 Jan 2010 08:00 +0900

Three little ones playing in a space between houses. I know two of them, at least.

Such narrow strips are actually laneways in this city; the houses behind young Fumi-kun (standing) have their front door on that stretch of broken stones.

photo of the day: gelding .. gangster?

30 Jan 2010 08:00 +0900

The fellow's name is Gelding Gangster. Yes.

photo of the day: shrine with color

29 Jan 2010 08:00 +0900

On our shopping street, there's a little shrine.

I've never seen anyone praying there, and I don't know who is taking care of the place, but it seems well tended-to. The rainwater brings out the colours so nicely.

photo of the day: who's chopper is this?

28 Jan 2010 08:00 +0900

There's a shop near my home that makes custom motorbikes. I took this at night, pushing my poor little rangefinder's meter to the limits.

Tokyo's a motorcyclist's city, with lots of broad avenues, narrow streets, and light traffic.

photo of the day: hooded monk

27 Jan 2010 08:00 +0900

A fellow wearing traditional monk's garb came to the street festival. Among the costume was an unusual hood that hid him as effectively as it attracted attention.

photo of the day: proud mamas

26 Jan 2010 08:00 +0900

The kids were climbing onto a miniature steam train. The mums were ready with the cameras.

photo of the day: phoney

25 Jan 2010 08:00 +0900

"Phoney"? If you say so!

photo of the day: giant train map

24 Jan 2010 08:00 +0900

This is a joint map of both train and subway lines in greater Tokyo. Even after three years, I carry a map book to navigate the city.

photo of the day: can't you read?

23 Jan 2010 08:00 +0900

Kenny's parked his carriage (honestly!) between two No Parking signs. You'd think he couldn't read.

photo of the day: Fumi-kun and Mare-chan

22 Jan 2010 08:00 +0900

Small kids enjoying a boat cruise.

photo of the day: Fujisan sunset

21 Jan 2010 08:00 +0900

A hazy sunset from Tokyo's inner western suburbs.

photo of the day: Mare's mum、花絵

20 Jan 2010 08:00 +0900

From a boat cruise, it's one of the mums from Kenny's day care.

photo of the day: carousel

19 Jan 2010 08:00 +0900

This is a carousel in the small park at the end of our street. Like most of the parks in Tokyo, it's wedged into a seemingly left-over space of strange shape and placement—in this case between several railway tracks on the one side and the street on the other.

Several months ago, this carousel featured in my one and only dropping of a camera. It was Kenny's approach of this carousel while it was spinning that prompted me to hastily shove my camera in its bag, only to have the ill-seated thing topple out. The camera landed lens-first on the rail of the carousel, then landed hard on one side in the gravel. It's still not working properly, and I've had to shelve it.

photo of the day: hide and seek (with a door)

18 Jan 2010 08:00 +0900

Kenny learned how to use the sliding door of the kitchen before he was a year old. Months later, he'd occasionally use it to play hide-and-seek.

photo of the day: ta-kun chasing bugs

17 Jan 2010 08:00 +0900

Kenny's little cousin ta-kun at age 24 months, chasing insects with a net.

photo of the day: small boy in big shoes

16 Jan 2010 08:00 +0900

The boy models some big sneakers.

photo of the day: akari-chan and friends

15 Jan 2010 08:00 +0900

This is one of my favourite pics from the various get-togethers we've had with the local families and their children. Little Akari-chan here is something of a girlfriend to Kenny.

photo of the day: riding tandem

14 Jan 2010 08:00 +0900

I've never understood how people stand on the rear axel of a bike like that. Then again, I've got enormous feet and weight a lot. Neither of which seem to be a problem for this young woman.

I shot this from my own bike, unframed and zone-focused. I am pleased with the results. This photo appears in a forthcoming photo book that I've put together. The theme is "streets of Tokyo".

photo of the day: sailor Kenny

13 Jan 2010 08:00 +0900

The boy again. (e_e)

This time, running the deck of a faux ship that was (painstakingly) built for kids to run around on in one of the countless little concrete parks that dot the water's edge in Tokyo.

photo of the day: LEGO Douglas DC-3

12 Jan 2010 08:00 +0900

I like making toy planes for my son out of LEGO. This one's a Douglas DC-3, as I'm sure I don't have to tell you.

photo of the day: rust fungi

11 Jan 2010 08:00 +0900

The fingerprints on this weather-ravaged metail wall are the finishing touches. It's like someone was trying to get out of the place before the rust brought it down around their ears.

photo of the day: exhaust vent

10 Jan 2010 08:00 +0900

I love photographing run down old buildings, and Tokyo affords a seeming endless variety of interesting subjects.

photo of the day: the boy

09 Jan 2010 08:00 +0900

This is the first photo—taken when Kenny was 19 months old—where I realized that Kenny was a boy now rather than a toddler.

photo of the day: comfort service

08 Jan 2010 08:00 +0900

Wearing no pants, and with what appears to be a lampshade on his head, our little boy tries to warn us that he's going to grow up to be quite the partier.

photo of the day: blurry family

07 Jan 2010 08:00 +0900

My family outside an atrium housed in glass.

photo of the day: nihombashi

06 Jan 2010 08:00 +0900

This is one of the famous bridges that dot the parts of Tokyo that are near to the bay. Sadly, the actual nihombashi (Japan bridge) was buried by an expressway built during the architecturally wretched 20th Century.

photo of the day: green, blue, and rust

05 Jan 2010 08:00 +0900

This seems to be a defunct warehouse or factory in Shinagawa. Curiously, it's in a busy location immediately across the street from two shopping areas. Tokyo zoning habits continue to amaze me.

photo of the day: fishbowl

04 Jan 2010 08:00 +0900

This giant fishbowl was part of an aquarium event in Roppongi.

photo of the day: small dog, long tongue

03 Jan 2010 08:00 +0900

It seemed to me that this little dog's tongue was too long, that the thing wouldn't fit back in its mouth. There was dirt on the tip of the tongue!

photo of the day: Kenny and the cortisone cream

02 Jan 2010 08:00 +0900

At 08:45 one morning, I came to collect Kenny and found that he'd gotten into the cortisone cream intended for his inflamed mosquito bites.

We were pretty late for day care that day.

photo of the day: coat-hanger crow's nest

01 Jan 2010 08:00 +0900

This is a crow's nest that's visible from our balcony. It's not in use this year (nor was it last year) but the thing intrigues us and many of our visitors because it's made of coat-hangers!

photo of the day: hidden frogs

31 Dec 2009 08:00 +0900

Beneath a leaf-strewn embankment, a pair of concrete frogs in a shelter.

photo of the day: wrapping expertise

30 Dec 2009 08:00 +0900

My darling wife has a knack for wrapping gifts. It must be in the blood.

photo of the day: the little boy and the big bottle

29 Dec 2009 08:00 +0900

Um, Kenny, you probably shouldn't be playing with that bottle of schochyu.

photo of the day: girl taunts lion with orange

28 Dec 2009 08:00 +0900

Lions are easy to lead. You just need an orange.

photo of the day: rainy railing

25 Dec 2009 08:00 +0900

Waiting at the light one morning.

photo of the day: parked in a laneway

24 Dec 2009 08:00 +0900

I love finding new ways through familiar neighbourhoods. There's always so much to see in a city whose every assumption is foreign.

photo of the day: my son and his friends

23 Dec 2009 08:00 +0900

Another daycare drop-off shot.

My son is not a small boy. He's right at the top of the height charts. But Taku-chin, to Kenny's left, is only four months older than our son and yet Kenny only comes up to his eyes. He's going to be a big man some day! He never says a word to me, but I'm told he has a very high voice.

photo of the day: chance encounter

22 Dec 2009 08:00 +0900

I don't think much of advertising, but sometimes it's got its uses.

photo of the day: Kenny's coming through

21 Dec 2009 08:00 +0900

This photo, weirdly lacking in contrast thanks to the fluorescent lights, is one of my favourites of all time. Kenny had found a hat he liked (much to our surprise) in a discount floor sale and was tearing about the place with the other kids. You'd never guess that he wasn't yet eighteen months old, or that he'd only been walking for about seven months.

photo of the day: Kentuky Ken and Akari-chan

20 Dec 2009 08:00 +0900

Our boy Kenny, who was mistaken by the local mums for a girl. And his girlfriend Akari-chan, who was mistaken for a boy. It seems that the morning might have been a bit early for both of them.

photo of the day: let's get out of here!

19 Dec 2009 08:00 +0900

I picked up my camera to photograph these two fellows, and it seems they thought better of being photographed hanging around the street in the middle of the morning.

They're looking both ways before dodging down a side street.

photo of the day: drinking from the sidewalk

18 Dec 2009 08:00 +0900

Kenny will drink almost anything. Not the first Ken Werneburg of whom that could be said, perhaps.

photo of the day: kids in the daycare

17 Dec 2009 08:00 +0900

My camera was behaving badly but I still managed some interesting captures. This one was at the daycare; Kenny's friends liked to gather 'round the doorway whenever I came to leave him in the morning.

photo of the day: Kenny, overexposed and badly focused

16 Dec 2009 08:00 +0900

My camera was dying, but I still managed to get some interesting images from the old thing (it's of the same vintage as me). I love the delighted amusement in this image.

photo of the day: for the dead

15 Dec 2009 08:00 +0900

This fellow was sorting and cleaning plants that are intended to be left at tombs. He had a good laugh when I asked if they were food, but didn't elaborate. It was only later that my wife told me what they were.

photo of the day: Kids playing with the curtains

14 Dec 2009 08:00 +0900

This one might have been taken by Matsura-san, age four. I love it.

photo of the day: the ghost dance

13 Dec 2009 08:00 +0900

At a matsuri (festival) in the park at the end of our street, a stumbling dance is carried out. My wife commented that with their arms before them, these people look like like the Japanese depiction of ghosts.

photo of the day: Goofy frightens Kenny

12 Dec 2009 08:00 +0900

We were at Disneyland. Goofy (or possibly "his son", I'm told) came to see us. Kenny didn't seem to appreciate the gesture.

photo of the day: cafés bore the boy

11 Dec 2009 08:00 +0900

Eh...

photo of the day: tired from travel

10 Dec 2009 08:00 +0900

Kenny looks a little run down on this trip. But we've only just set off, heading to the airport to visit his mum's family.

photo of the day: roly poly bright and cheery

09 Dec 2009 08:00 +0900

It's no wonder so many children's rhymes are silly. The target audience is, too.

photo of the day: kenny and ta-kun fighting

08 Dec 2009 08:00 +0900

The two littlest boys squabble over what seems to be a piece of transport equipment. The older boy does nothing, naturally.

photo of the day: grandma and grandson

07 Dec 2009 08:00 +0900

Kenny's a bit out of sorts after a flight. The mosquito bites were terrible that summer.

photo of the day: bottle car

06 Dec 2009 08:00 +0900

I spent countless hours making a wooden pull-toy for Kenny. He liked it, and plays with it from time to time.

But the toy I made out of two pieces of bamboo skewer, a PET coke bottle and some bottle caps. Well. That's a toy that gets used every day!

photo of the day: favourite house

05 Dec 2009 08:00 +0900

This is my favourite house in the neighbourhood where Mari's parents live. I think it's the situation of the house more than anything. Curiously, I think the people who live there are running a pachinko (gambling house) from the home!

photo of the day: small boy watching

04 Dec 2009 08:00 +0900

Kenny watches his cousins play ball.

photo of the day: eastboy making faces

03 Dec 2009 08:00 +0900

photo of the day: sunset over nichinan

02 Dec 2009 08:00 +0900

Kenny's cousins play ball as the sun goes down.

photo of the day: four boys and three mums

01 Dec 2009 08:00 +0900

At least .. I don't think the young lady on the left was with them.

photo of the day: the spaces between

30 Nov 2009 08:00 +0900

Tokyo has countless spaces like this. I doubt I could find this particular one again.

photo of the day: Sunset over shibuya

29 Nov 2009 08:00 +0900

This part of the city is really something at night. It comes to life at sunset.

photo of the day: Shinagawa shrine

28 Nov 2009 08:00 +0900

With a big festival approaching, Shinagawa shrine was doing some preparation. Arriving to find the staff burning brush, I got this photo amid the smoke.

photo of the day: man with tiny dog

27 Nov 2009 08:00 +0900

The urban duo.

photo of the day: nobody told me it would be so boring

26 Nov 2009 08:00 +0900

Maybe I should have stayed in school.

You know, I really did sandbag this poor guy. But then, he was so out of it that he let me get off my bike, approach him and take a few shots to get this one.

photo of the day: the unfashionable east side

25 Nov 2009 08:00 +0900

Barred windows, graffiti tags, crumbling concrete. Welcome to the east side.

photo of the day: Shinjuku has a run-down side

24 Nov 2009 08:00 +0900

I think the stairs should have been left uncovered.

photo of the day: tiny shrine

23 Nov 2009 08:00 +0900

I spotted this tiny shrine wedged between a coke machine and a small eyewear store.

photo of the day: preparing for the rush

22 Nov 2009 08:00 +0900

A restaurant sets up for the night. They didn't have windows, so I stuck my face in and took this shot.

photo of the day: tokyo streets are busy

21 Nov 2009 08:00 +0900

...but then again, this was Ginza.

photo of the day: waiting for the train

20 Nov 2009 08:00 +0900

Commuters wait a station too insignificant for the express trains.

photo of the day: the mikoshi down the stairs

19 Nov 2009 08:00 +0900

A team hauls a mikoshi down the long set of stairs at Shinagawa shrine.

photo of the day: oosaki at night

18 Nov 2009 08:00 +0900

This is the river that passes on the far side of the hill from our home. This section is just behind the Oosaki station.

One of the first photos made with my new "Gorillapod", a small flexible tripod that grabs onto things rather than standing on the ground.

photo of the day: gotta get to work

17 Nov 2009 08:00 +0900

A flock of umbrellas migrates.

photo of the day: two species

16 Nov 2009 08:00 +0900

Competing for sunlight and seemingly pursuing different strategies.

photo of the day: shotengai

15 Nov 2009 08:00 +0900

This is a shopping street on one of my cycle routes through the city. Taken with a camera that's dying at the tender age of 38 years.

photo of the day: cycling into the sun

14 Nov 2009 08:00 +0900

photo of the day: yano-san, bicycle man

13 Nov 2009 08:00 +0900

This is Yano-san (formerly) of Azabu cycle.

He's the knowledgeable fellow who sourced and built my custom bike. He's a decent fellow to work with, and has been in the cycle business for twenty years.

photo of the day: a cemetery in Azabu

12 Nov 2009 08:00 +0900

I found this cemetery in an unexpected place; atop a hill in pricey Azabu!

photo of the day: waiting for the parade

11 Nov 2009 08:00 +0900

This is a team preparing to carry a large mikoshi (mobile shrine) through the streets of Tokyo's east side.

photo of the day: Azabu station

10 Nov 2009 08:00 +0900

Amongst the bikes and commuters, some statuary.

photo of the day: birds on a railing

09 Nov 2009 08:00 +0900

They're only cast metal. But so nicely done.

photo of the day: everybody wants in

08 Nov 2009 08:00 +0900

These people barely seem to have room to breath.

photo of the day: a cycle courier

07 Nov 2009 08:00 +0900

A street courier joins me in waiting at the light.

photo of the day: busy place

06 Nov 2009 08:00 +0900

Shibuya is always like this. This is just the chore of trying to get out of the train station!

photo of the day: an early morning

05 Nov 2009 08:00 +0900

As the city awakes.

photo of the day: two photographers

04 Nov 2009 08:00 +0900

I saw the one fellow crouching in shadow and the other standing in light. How could I refuse?

photo of the day: a lone cyclist

03 Nov 2009 08:00 +0900

So much traffic infrastructure in this city. Great for its cyclists.

photo of the day: the barber shop

02 Nov 2009 08:00 +0900

I stuck my nose (and camera) into this shop as I passed.

photo of the day: training day

01 Nov 2009 08:00 +0900

Someone's day just got that much smoother.

photo of the day: taking doggy for a walk

31 Oct 2009 08:00 +0900

I'd hate to guess at the name they've given the poor dog in a button vest that can't roam free.

photo of the day: watching the actors

30 Oct 2009 08:00 +0900

Down in the square, 150 people were in a movie or television shoot. It was really a large scene. Naturally it attracted dozens of watchers ringing the square.

photo of the day: waiting on the light

29 Oct 2009 08:00 +0900

My two-wheeled brethren waiting with me at the light. One of those rare ones on my commute where I "had to stop" if you know what I mean.

photo of the day: grungy place

28 Oct 2009 08:00 +0900

This photo has it all. Graffiti, grime, electrical wiring. Half the frame's underexposed, the whole thing seems to be out of focus. Oh yeah, it's a favourite.

photo of the day: I'm guarding what.

27 Oct 2009 08:00 +0900

Someone pulled punishment duty.

photo of the day: Kinnear'd in Kawasaki

26 Oct 2009 08:00 +0900

Yikes! I Kinnear'd this young lady.

photo of the day: heel!

25 Oct 2009 08:00 +0900

Not sure she'd have much getting these beasts back on the leash if she needed to.

photo of the day: tofuya

24 Oct 2009 08:00 +0900

This couple runs a tofuya in the Mita area near Azabu-Juban. We'd run by there once or twice a week when we lived in the neighbourhood.

photo of the day: sunset over tokyo shopping street

23 Oct 2009 08:00 +0900

Another shopping street, this time in Azabu. The combination of a yellow filter, a focus on the immediate foreground, and the backlight from the setting sun give it the unearthly look.

photo of the day: waiting for their women

22 Oct 2009 08:00 +0900

I spotted these gents in a department store.

photo of the day: kendo mask

21 Oct 2009 08:00 +0900

This is protective gear for the sport of 'kendo'. In which two guys beat the hell out of each other with sticks, I'm told.

photo of the day: hack hack hack

20 Oct 2009 08:00 +0900

I like the style of Tokyo's Graffiti artists. Very minimal.

photo of the day: knots and sticks and cracks

19 Oct 2009 08:00 +0900

I love the countless textures of wood.

photo of the day: onions in the window

18 Oct 2009 08:00 +0900

It's always harvest time for onions.

photo of the day: power drinks

17 Oct 2009 08:00 +0900

There is an incredible lack of public garbage cans in Tokyo. People make do.

photo of the day: works of man

16 Oct 2009 08:00 +0900

Man should know by now

that all of our works are

nothing to nature

photo of the day: tag, you're demolished

15 Oct 2009 08:00 +0900

This building was torn down almost immediately after this photo was taken. Coincidence? Or the Werneburg factor!

photo of the day: kawagoe's bell tower

14 Oct 2009 08:00 +0900

A working bell tower in the town of Kawagoe, Japan.

photo of the day: oni ga soto!

13 Oct 2009 08:00 +0900

This bit of voodoo had been pinned on the wall of an unused building, along with a several others that hid in the nooks and crannies.

It's a ward made of a stick, some leaves, and yes a fish head. "Oni ga soto! Ogres out!"

photo of the day: a house with a goldfish moat

12 Oct 2009 08:00 +0900

Kawagoe is an town with plenty of interesting architecture. This house seemed to be taking things a bit further, but still manages to be tasteful.

photo of the day: fashion sewing smell

11 Oct 2009 08:00 +0900

There's no smell like a fashion sewing smell, I suppose.

photo of the day: old Shinagawa houses

10 Oct 2009 08:00 +0900

A row of old houses in Shinagawa. I used a 55-year-old camera for this.

photo of the day: my wife the singer

09 Oct 2009 08:00 +0900

A promo shot that I did for my wife upon her second performance as a jazz singer.

photo of the day: crosslighting the way

08 Oct 2009 08:00 +0900

A delivery man does his thing in an alleyway lit by sunlight both direct and reflected.

photo of the day: standing in shadow

07 Oct 2009 08:00 +0900

They call the hour before sunset the Golden Hour, but the hour before that is pretty good for photography as well.

photo of the day: hanging bones

06 Oct 2009 08:00 +0900

I can't name another city where I could find an outdoor .. advertisement? .. for a restaurant that is fashioned out of animal bones suspended on a taught chain.

Hooray for this endlessly weird city.

photo of the day: tsukiji morning

05 Oct 2009 08:00 +0900

The vast hangar of the Tsukiji fish market's main building. It's a busy place, and just about perfect for throwing a visitor into the noise and bustle of the city.

photo of the day: meiji shrine's entrance gate

04 Oct 2009 08:00 +0900

This is the torii at the entrance of the meiji shrine in Tokyo. A nice place to visit if you don't mind the crowds.

photo of the day: hook

03 Oct 2009 08:00 +0900

I spotted this in a museum.

photo of the day: tomb

02 Oct 2009 08:00 +0900

A tomb in a cemetery in Shinagawa. I suppose it's the tomb of a wealthy family.

photo of the day: pipe nest

01 Oct 2009 08:00 +0900

In Tokyo you often see such nests of pipes and meters and electrical boxes on the outside of buildings. In "the old country" such pipes (if they contained water) would be ripped apart by ice during Winter, so you never see such things.

photo of the day: a good surfer will not get wet

29 Sep 2009 08:00 +0900

Kenny shouts as a shinkansen ("bullet train") passes beneath a bridge.

photo of the day: the jazz pianist

28 Sep 2009 08:00 +0900

A pianist plays while the crowd looks on. Music sheets piled in the foreground.

photo of the day: my wife's first gig

27 Sep 2009 08:00 +0900

My wife's first public singing performance. Sadly, it was my first experiment with a new flash.

photo of the day: kawaaaaiiii

26 Sep 2009 08:00 +0900

Living in Japan, you occasionally run into people who want to take their photo alongside you. Such was the case with these slightly drunken ladies one fine afternoon.

Kenny's got a look that seems to attract people. They uniformly start gushing "kawaii" meaning "cute". I'm sure he'll grow up thinking it's his name. I hope it doesn't go to his head.

photo of the day: Sam and Ma-chan

24 Sep 2009 08:00 +0900

Performing some last minute surgery on the helicopter and charging it before it takes flight.

photo of the day: naked boy, doped

23 Sep 2009 08:00 +0900

The boy seemed a bit out of it because of the flu bug (that he thoughtfully brought home for us all to share). While trying to change him, he offered little resistance but little assistance, too.

He looks a bit like an Iggy Pop album cover photo with his near nudity and long hair.

photo of the day: chocolate covered what

22 Sep 2009 08:00 +0900

Yes, chocolate covered potato chips. Note that the box on the left allegedly contains 'white cheese' chocolate potato chips. For the decadent society that has everything.

photo of the day: whoops

21 Sep 2009 08:00 +0900

Small child meets box of q-tips.

photo of the day: sitting for a portrait

20 Sep 2009 08:00 +0900

Kenny's grown up with the sound of camera shutters going off, but he only occasionally sits still and poses for a portrait.

This one's got his long curls just before his first real haircut. And it's got the bandages he needed because of all of the mosquito bites he was enduring during the rainy season.

photo of the day: still sleepy

19 Sep 2009 08:00 +0900

Kenny doesn't sleep well at night, waking frequently and needing attention before he'll get back to sleep. Sometimes in the morning, none of us is rested.

On this morning, Kenny seemed too tired to eat breakfast.

photo of the day: smoky walkway

18 Sep 2009 08:00 +0900

These izakaya sit back to back under a train line.

photo of the day: laneway with izakaya

17 Sep 2009 08:00 +0900

There's a great little duo of laneways across the street from the Shibuya JR station (just to the north-east of the Hachiko exit). These laneways have a number of small izakaya in them, of the post-war style that have only a handful of seats and seem to serve nothing but regulars.

photo of the day: shinagawa alleyway

16 Sep 2009 08:00 +0900

Tokyo has countless alleyways that are heavily used for for foot traffic at certain times.

This one's located in Ooimachi in Shinagawa-ku.

photo of the day: little Kenny and the blossoms

15 Sep 2009 08:00 +0900

Kenny goes running among the fallen petals from the cherry blossoms.

God I love black and white film.

photo of the day: toddling through the petals

14 Sep 2009 08:00 +0900

With a necklace made at the daycare hung 'round his neck, Kenny navigates a sidewalk covered in fallen cherry blossoms.

photo of the day: Kenny wants to sing, too

13 Sep 2009 08:00 +0900

Little Kenny joins mum as she rehearses for an upcoming live performance.

photo of the day: marunouchi sunset

12 Sep 2009 08:00 +0900

The sun sets over Tokyo's financial district.

photo of the day: dancing boy

11 Sep 2009 08:00 +0900

He only looks like he's dancing. Actually, he was about to have a tumble because he'd failed to negotiate the concrete whatsit.

photo of the day: defence!

10 Sep 2009 08:00 +0900

Shintaro-kun mans the defensive line while the play coalesces at the other end of the miniature field.

photo of the day: scenic old homes

09 Sep 2009 08:00 +0900

Not far from my son's day care is a row of old houses. They are designated a special scenic site. Not that that stopped someone from tearing half of them down a couple of months ago.

Anyway, I really like the collection of jumble in this space between the two buildings, and (for instance) how the two homeowners agreed on how they'd handle the (nasty, plastic) awnings.

This is at least my third attempt over the course of some months to photograph this properly, and I think I finally got it right.

photo of the day: hang on tight

08 Sep 2009 08:00 +0900

In my four years in Japan I've never seen the subway guards pushing people onto trains. But it is routine for people to try to squeeze themselves into spaces where they just don't fit. They simply back into the train car and use a hand to hang onto the door frame as a means of propping themselves there.

All three of the people in this train's doorway did this trick, easing themselves backward into an already packed train.

photo of the day: what's out there?

07 Sep 2009 08:00 +0900

Our son Kenny loves trains. We were on an express trip to Izu that used cars with extra-large windows.

photo of the day: stream at sunset

06 Sep 2009 08:00 +0900

A small stream in the central hilly region of the Izu peninsula in Japan.

photo of the day: on the Izu peninsula's west coast

05 Sep 2009 08:00 +0900

There is a rugged coastline on the western side of the Izu peninsula that's dotted with islands.

photo of the day: ocean cave

04 Sep 2009 08:00 +0900

A view out the entrance of a cave at the water's edge. On the western coast of the Izu peninsula.

photo of the day: someone else's art

03 Sep 2009 08:00 +0900

I really liked this note-perfect carving, found in Tokyo's museum of art.

photo of the day: the market winds down

02 Sep 2009 08:00 +0900

The fish market, winding down at the end of the day.

photo of the day: binding

01 Sep 2009 08:00 +0900

In some places in Japan you can still find old techniques that predate plastic and rivets. The result is invariably more appealing.

photo of the day: white wedding, smoky shrine

31 Aug 2009 08:00 +0900

A young couple was having their wedding photography done at the shrine when I took Kenny there to pray for a friend who's not well.

photo of the day: rusty nails, old wood

30 Aug 2009 08:00 +0900

I spotted this aged board on the side of a house in my neighbourhood. I love the textures and lines and shades.

The digital camera makes a halfway good effort with the black and white JPG images (a kick I'm on these days to save the cost of film development).

photo of the day: through the dark gate

29 Aug 2009 08:00 +0900

This shaky pic looks through the gate in front of the large Buddha statute in Kamakura.

photo of the day: Dr. Zaniewski in Japan

28 Aug 2009 08:00 +0900

I had a fine experience in the Spring of 2009. My old University roommate (who I hadn't seen in a decade) came to visit us in Tokyo. It was a weird break, like one of those dreams where you're somewhere strange with someone familiar.

photo of the day: Shibuya sunset

27 Aug 2009 08:00 +0900

Taken during an evening in late May.

photo of the day: kids behind glass

26 Aug 2009 08:00 +0900

The kids in our son's daycare seem to be planning a jailbreak.

photo of the day: listening for trains

25 Aug 2009 08:00 +0900

I took Kenny to watch the trains fly by beneath a bridge close to our home. I like the big bright eyes peering over his shoulder to see the approaching train he can hear.

photo of the day: bags and suits

24 Aug 2009 08:00 +0900

A gaggle of salarymen waiting for trains that seem to be approaching this crossing in north Shinagawa from both directions. I wonder if they weren't traveling as a group.

photo of the day: busy traffic cop in tsukiji

23 Aug 2009 08:00 +0900

This guy's got his work cut out for him.

Shot with a yellow filter. Love the sky!

photo of the day: the grind

22 Aug 2009 08:00 +0900

Lining up to get into the office in the morning. Every morning was the same.

photo of the day: eggs and lots of 'em

21 Aug 2009 08:00 +0900

photo of the day: Shibuya at night.

20 Aug 2009 08:00 +0900

Foreigners tend to stand out, even in Shibuya.

photo of the day: Tokyo streets

19 Aug 2009 08:00 +0900

I found this trilogy of cell-phone-typing women amusing.

photo of the day: dancing

18 Aug 2009 08:00 +0900

Another view askew. I found this dance troupe practicing under a pedestrian overpass. It was very repetitious, but I guess that's what practice is all about.

photo of the day: fashion dude waits on a traffic light

17 Aug 2009 08:00 +0900

Fashion dude wasn't very tall but he was certainly dressed for the locale, which was Tokyo's central Azabu.

photo of the day: considering flowers

16 Aug 2009 08:00 +0900

Mulling the choices at the hanaya, the man in the suit tried to remember whether his wife liked or disliked daisies.

photo of the day: bird on a wire

14 Aug 2009 08:00 +0900

The mighty Meguro river, coursing through the city of the same name. A lone pigeon watches the water lazily drift to the sea.

photo of the day: a tiny eatery in Shinjuku

13 Aug 2009 08:00 +0900

Tokyo has a number of cramped alleyways that feature seemingly innumerable tiny eateries. this is one such, in the warren just to the north-west of the gigantic Shinjuku station.

photo of the day: Nishi-Shinjuku

12 Aug 2009 08:00 +0900

This is western Shinjuku, a land of skyscrapers and broad sidewalks.

photo of the day: cleavage in the overpass

11 Aug 2009 08:00 +0900

Tokyo is a city of sprawling, intersecting, and multi-leveled overpasses, some times as many as four layers deep and going into the tens of kilometers in length. Sometimes they make for good images.

Usually not so much.

(Sometimes you also see oddly placed emergency phones, too.)

photo of the day: mejijingu grounds

10 Aug 2009 08:00 +0900

This is the large grounds around the Meiji Shrine between Shibuya and Yoyogi.

photo of the day: tree trunk of madness

09 Aug 2009 08:00 +0900

I think the title -- and the trunk -- speaks for itself?

photo of the day: Yoyogi

08 Aug 2009 08:00 +0900

Yoyogi park, taken one fine day during the cherry blossom season.

photo of the day:

07 Aug 2009 08:00 +0900

photo of the day: Kenny, tumbling

06 Aug 2009 08:00 +0900

Tokyo had these places you can go to let your kid play with all kinds of amazing toys and do all these great activities. We put Kenny into a giant rolling inflatable tube despite his tender age at the time. He seemed to cope with it.

photo of the day: my checkered driveway

05 Aug 2009 08:00 +0900

After the rain had let up for a while and the brick had started to dry, I happened upon the pattern left behind.

photo of the day: sauntering in the sun

04 Aug 2009 08:00 +0900

My son learned to stand, then to toddle, then to saunter.

photo of the day: dragging snoopies

03 Aug 2009 08:00 +0900

Kenny's got two plush "Snoopy" dolls. One's big, the other's small. One fine morning he took them both for a stroll.

photo of the day: Kenny eating leaves

02 Aug 2009 08:00 +0900

Tired out from trying to walk, Kenny rests on the grass and tastes a leaf or two.

photo of the day: boys versus girls

01 Aug 2009 08:00 +0900

A clever way of depicting boys and girls with a two triangles, two dots, and a circle.

photo of the day: harvest of gold

31 Jul 2009 08:00 +0900

Leaves, collecting in the low places among the roots of a tree in Autumn.

photo of the day: Kyusyu flower store blossoms

30 Jul 2009 08:00 +0900

Taken in a family-run flower store. God I love black and white.

photo of the day: gimme speed

29 Jul 2009 08:00 +0900

Taken on route back from Narita.

photo of the day: blah day on the train

28 Jul 2009 08:00 +0900

The Japanese wear masks to prevent the spread of disease. Looks like "one of those March days".

photo of the day: LNG barge

27 Jul 2009 08:00 +0900

A liquified national gas barge (I think) on the Pasig, the large river that cuts through Manila.

photo of the day: vivid, hazy Ken brushes his teeth

26 Jul 2009 08:00 +0900

This intriguing photo was taken with Mari's grandfathers ancient (1954 is ancient for cameras, anyway) TLR camera.

The thing is virtually impossible to use, so any halfway presentable photo is a hit with me. But when combined with Fuji's "Pro400" film this thing can still make some interesting pics, no matter the rust, mold and obscure controls.

photo of the day: useful chair

25 Jul 2009 08:00 +0900

This athletic-looking father had brought along a collapsing stool for his young son's use. Presumably the boy would get some practice on the chair while watching dad play ... badminton, I'm guessing.

photo of the day: Victoria sheep

24 Jul 2009 08:00 +0900

This fuzzy critter came to see me as I photographed its brethren in a yard in the city of Victoria, BC.

photo of the day: abandoned structure, BC

23 Jul 2009 08:00 +0900

This is a decaying structure standing at the water's edge.

One of the things I'm getting used to with the long-term sleep loss is that I now can't place this photo, exactly. It's on Vancouver Island, and I believe it's in Lilluet.

photo of the day: my two Kens

22 Jul 2009 08:00 +0900

My son and the man after whom he's named; my brother.

photo of the day: wagon wheels

21 Jul 2009 08:00 +0900

These wagon wheels adorn a house near the one that Mari's family has in Nichinan, Kyusyu.

photo of the day: the van

20 Jul 2009 08:00 +0900

The van was still sitting in the empty lot. No one had gone near it in days.

photo of the day: family portrait

19 Jul 2009 08:00 +0900

This is a year-end portrait taken in Miyakonojo in Miyazaki. I love it down there, such a great place to visit. In the lower left is Mari's uncle Toshinori-san, whose place we'd all descended on. His wife (centre of top row) is the gaijin trail-blazer in the family.

A healthy batch of little ones in this family, but as you can see nowhere near the replacement level.

photo of the day: hanging radishes

18 Jul 2009 08:00 +0900

These are Japanese radishes (daikon) hanging to dry on a farmer's field. I've encountered about six forms of food prepared from daikon. Yummy!

photo of the day: Autumn sky over Victoria's harbour

17 Jul 2009 08:00 +0900

This was shot in Victoria, the capital of British Columbia. I like the sweep of the clouds and the way the masts of the boats seem to salute the passing clouds.

photo of the day: delicate reflection

15 Jul 2009 08:00 +0900

Tokyo harbour as the sun came up one fine Autumn day.

photo of the day: shoulder problems

14 Jul 2009 08:00 +0900

Check out this guy's shoulders. He's got massive swelling, possibly caused by the wholesale destruction of his shoulder muscles (if not his lungs). He is one of a population that follows the Summertime matsuri circuit, carrying the mikoshi (portable shrine) bouncing along on bare shoulders.

There were a number of men and woman with similar lumps on the shoulders at this one site. Perhaps it was the 80-100 stairs that made this one particularly gruelling.

photo of the day: Japanese/Senegalese fusion

13 Jul 2009 08:00 +0900

The Senegalese ceded the floor to their Japanese friends, who combined music with dance.

photo of the day: I fell into your open arms

12 Jul 2009 08:00 +0900

have mercy! been waitin' for the cab all day.

photo of the day: gotanda got graffiti

11 Jul 2009 08:00 +0900

A pedestrian underpass in Gotanda.

photo of the day: elevator ceiling abstraction

10 Jul 2009 08:00 +0900

Fun with tones, texture and lines. This was taken inside an elevator, pointing up.

photo of the day: this vehicle is done to weaken an air conditioner

09 Jul 2009 08:00 +0900

Found in a Toei subway.

I think I know what they meant to say, but I applaud their damn-the-torpedoes approach to posting English signage.

photo of the day: lost urban

08 Jul 2009 08:00 +0900

I like the way this lost passport photo is situated. It's like the man's looking from a window of a building, or perhaps a maze.

photo of the day: shadow over Harumi bridge

07 Jul 2009 08:00 +0900

Shot as the sun wandered toward the horizon. Not easy to get a shot of a busy bridge with no vehicles.

photo of the day: Yurakucho

06 Jul 2009 08:00 +0900

Taken from under the railways so there's not a lot of light in the foreground. I like the effect.

photo of the day: dynamic tension?

05 Jul 2009 08:00 +0900

Two guard railings and a fence.

photo of the day: opportunity awaits

04 Jul 2009 08:00 +0900

I likes this grab of the commuter waiting his chance to cut into traffic. I found his waiting place, in the shoulder of a highway a few tens of meters from the intersection, a little strange given that it was going on under the eye of the traffic police. Things are a bit different here.

photo of the day: my boy and me

03 Jul 2009 08:00 +0900

A pic taken by Mari with my brand new (used) 85mm f/2 Minolta portrait lens.

photo of the day: cafe lunch

02 Jul 2009 08:00 +0900

I love this pic of my wife despite the odd framing and slight camera-shake blur.

photo of the day: sound effects

01 Jul 2009 08:00 +0900

When the boy was little, he was pretty easy to entertain with simple sounds. The "pop" of a mouth was perfect.

photo of the day: waiting for the light

30 Jun 2009 08:00 +0900

On most commutes, there's that light that you never catch. So it was for my cycle trip from Shinagawa to Harumi. The confluence of two six-lane avenues near Tamachi always resulted in a delay.

As the say, 'make hay while the sun shines'.

photo of the day: the face of IT

29 Jun 2009 08:00 +0900

This young man doesn't seem to be terribly ecstatic about his lot in life. Which is a shame, because he's really good at what he does for a living.

photo of the day: please do not feed the gulls

28 Jun 2009 08:00 +0900

There's one in every crowd willing to feed seagulls.

photo of the day: shadow portrait

27 Jun 2009 08:00 +0900

Shot on my way to work one fine Winter morning.

photo of the day: indoors infrared

26 Jun 2009 08:00 +0900

I shot this in the building where I was working at the time. Infra-red black and white is tricky stuff to use, and I'd never used it indoors before.

I'm pleased with the result of this experiment.

photo of the day: infra-red palace grounds

25 Jun 2009 08:00 +0900

Shaped trees near Tokyo's imperial palace grounds, in black and white infrared film.

photo of the day: infra-red luncheon

24 Jun 2009 08:00 +0900

Overexposed, perhaps. But it's lunchtime in Tokyo's Marunouchi.

photo of the day: cheap film, strong filter, good sunset

23 Jun 2009 08:00 +0900

Yup, the blister on the horizon is Fujisan

photo of the day: tears of ... joy?

22 Jun 2009 08:00 +0900

Well, the parents can't win 'em all. Sometimes a child comes to tears.

photo of the day: spinning child

21 Jun 2009 08:00 +0900

I took this pic by establishing a longish exposure (maybe 1/16s) and spinning the camera about with a flip of my wrist as I took the photo.

photo of the day: children under glass

20 Jun 2009 08:00 +0900

These kids were at a gym, anxiously waiting for lunch. I know these children. They're always like this.

photo of the day: Fukuoka at night

19 Jun 2009 08:00 +0900

One night in Fukuoka, we went for Korean food (many Koreans live in the west end of Japan, unsurprisingly) in part of the city's centre, and I took this photo from a bridge.

photo of the day: volcano in the mist

18 Jun 2009 08:00 +0900

This is a semi-active volcano that overlooks a resort town in the north of Kyushu. I managed to get this photo (despite a malfunctioning camera), just barely capturing the remains of the morning's low mists.

photo of the day: slender waterfall

17 Jun 2009 08:00 +0900

This waterfall was visible from a broad suspension bridge that's open to tourists for a few bucks. It's located somewhere in northern Kyushu.

I like the way I captured the many tones of the hazy landscape with this one. Long live black-and-white film photography!

photo of the day: Panda hitch-hiker

16 Jun 2009 08:00 +0900

I put the panda, one of Kenny's favourite plush toys, into the hood of his suit. At first he just ran about in circles trying to see what was there. But soon he made peace with it and then carried it about with him for the rest of the evening.

photo of the day: child eating dirt

15 Jun 2009 08:00 +0900

I suppose it happens in every child's life. The ritual tasting of sandy soil.

photo of the day: the boy likes balls!

14 Jun 2009 08:00 +0900

We dumped the kid in a big place full of balls. At first he didn't get it and was upset at the way they'd roll underfoot and so on. But he quickly took to it.

photo of the day: self-portrait with boy

13 Jun 2009 08:00 +0900

The boy and I await Mari while she shops for yarns. My beloved son and my beloved rangefinder camera!

You can tell I was still working at the bank, then: more grey hair!

photo of the day: family-chan and the manta

12 Jun 2009 08:00 +0900

We took the boy to an acquarium. He loved it.

photo of the day: leaping dolphin

11 Jun 2009 08:00 +0900

Shot in an aquarium near Shinagawa station in central Tokyo.

(the flash on my Pentax DSLR is amazingly strong -- quite hopeless for portraiture, but just the thing for adding highlights to a dolphin that's 12 meters away)

photo of the day: nishi shinjuku

10 Jun 2009 08:00 +0900

Japanese architecture astonishes me. I'd always thought of Japan as this futuristic land where everything is neat and orderly and there would be no chaotic or rundown jumbled stuff lying around.

Holy moly was that impression wrong! This is the land of living junk, where buildings aren't maintained because they are torn down when they hit thirty years of age regardless of their condition. And then there's the dodgy wiring and profligate use of short lengths of tubing.

I love it.

photo of the day: casting a long shadow

08 Jun 2009 08:00 +0900

In February, the shadows are long. this is my shadow as we wandered along after Kenny through his first-ever park visit.

photo of the day: ironwrought kanji

07 Jun 2009 08:00 +0900

This is a flag-pole holder that I photographed in the waning light of an afternoon in February. We were in Ebisu to visit a friend who'd just given birth.

I like this one for all of its mixed textures, tones, and shapes.

photo of the day: reflections in Harumi

06 Jun 2009 08:00 +0900

I took this shot while trudging into the office one fine morning. A happy coincidence of the sun's rays, the passing commuters and the angled wall panels.

It's one of my favourites from '08.

photo of the day: working woman

05 Jun 2009 08:00 +0900

Women in Japan are expected to do a lot of heavy labour. I guess it's part of the greater Asian attitude.

I passed this woman on the street and doubled back with my trusty Olympus rangefinder to catch this. It's one of my favourites from '09.

photo of the day: ginza street crossing

04 Jun 2009 08:00 +0900

Shot as the sun came up over Ginza one fine Winter morning. I'd had to go to our Marunouchi office very early that morning (to confide in my staff that I was resigning, IIRC), then over to the other office (to continue the carnage).

This shot proved to be the highlight of the day.

photo of the day: mochi equipment awaits the day

03 Jun 2009 08:00 +0900

These are the implements used in making mochi, a tacky rice paste that's eaten in Japan as is or baked. To make the mochi you start with cooked rice and beat the daylights out of the stuff with the mallet and reinforced carved wooden whatsit, in which the rice is hammered.

It's hard work, and good fun. Then you get to eat the mochi, sometimes with sweet beans, sometimes with other stuff altogether.

photo of the day: high wire cleaners

02 Jun 2009 08:00 +0900

These gents were standing atop tall scaffolds to clean the ceiling of a building's outdoor lobby. Foyer? Not sure what it's called.

The reflection in the ceiling is the strong element that draws me to this photo.

photo of the day: lonely transit cop

01 Jun 2009 08:00 +0900

I asked this transit cop if I could take his photo. He agreed, and while I was framing the shot he spun away from me. Must have changed his mind for some reason.

I liked the results anyway. Even if it is blurred by his motion and the camera shake introduced when I tried to follow his movement.

photo of the day: Mariko and Geoff

31 May 2009 08:00 +0900

Way, way back in the middle of the crowd at SARStock, Geoff, Mariko and I parked ourselves somewhere that the stage was barely visible. It turned out to be a really good show. Just us and 450,000 friends.

photo of the day: don't take that photo!

30 May 2009 08:00 +0900

I was taking a photo of a gas station attendant selling drinks and ice cream from a freezer in front of the station. The attendent didn't like that, and came running out to stop me. This is the photo I wound up with.

photo of the day: Filipino bus driver

29 May 2009 08:00 +0900

The spare tire is bald, the bus is partially made of scrap, and the driver needs the protection of bars on the window. But at least he gets smoke breaks when traffic's standing still.

photo of the day: everyone scream!

28 May 2009 08:00 +0900

Haya-chin, the boy on the left can really scream. I don't just mean wailing when he's unhappy, but really bellowing just for the hell of it. And his skull-rattling noise would encourage Ken, who's usually not much of a shouter, to join in with his own shriek.

Here everyone was getting into the fun. Even Kimura-san.

Later the boy would below at Kenny and me so loudly that literally could feel the vibrations in my jaw. I'd say that kid's shout (a sustained cry like a cockatoo with a bullhorn) could be used for sand blasting or crowd control. Naturally Kenny started to cry in response.

photo of the day: end of the century

27 May 2009 08:00 +0900

This is one of my all-time favourite photos. It was taken in Shinjuku's "Golden Gai", a warren of small laneways that feature many tiny (mostly private) izakaya-style eateries.

photo of the day: reflected conifers

26 May 2009 08:00 +0900

A small stream in western Vancouver Island, not far from Ucluluet.

(I exposed for the reflected scene rather than the trees themselves, giving the branches an overly-bright appearance that I like.)

photo of the day: broken bench

25 May 2009 08:00 +0900

This bench was given over to the weeds and the harbour vista in Esquimault, British Columbia. We were there to look for sea lions (successful) and deer (not so much)..

photo of the day: Alberta high country

24 May 2009 08:00 +0900

In the foothills of south-western Alberta, one of the most beautiful places I've found anywhere.

photo of the day: Alberta songbird

23 May 2009 08:00 +0900

One of my favourite places is the south-west corner of Alberta. While there in the Spring of 2002, I spotted this migratory songbird among the buds of a tree.

photo of the day: alpine wetland

22 May 2009 08:00 +0900

Freezing frost drifts above an alipine wetland already liberally frosted during the previous night.

photo of the day: alpine meadow flowers

21 May 2009 08:00 +0900

Various brilliant flowers in a high alpine meadow. In the distance is a lower stretch still dotted with trees.

photo of the day: frosted conifers

20 May 2009 08:00 +0900

In the Autumn of 2001, we went to Mount Kobau in the BC interior to take in a meteorite shower. On the way back we found an alpine wetland that had been frosted over the night before. This is a detailed look at some of the (cedar?) boughs in that wetland.

photo of the day: 1/8s rapids

19 May 2009 08:00 +0900

This is one of the first long-exposure shots I ever did. I've always been pleased with the results. I think it's the composition that makes it work.

photo of the day: frosted mountain wetlands

18 May 2009 08:00 +0900

These wetlands had frosted over with the approach of winter to the BC interior. I can't place the locale anymore, but I'll let the photo tell the story.

photo of the day: Kenny dines out

17 May 2009 08:00 +0900

While teeth, Kenny would chew on anything. Even at a restaurant he'd prefer to chew on something inedible.

This was shot by my brother, also named Ken (we're an original bunch).

photo of the day: baby spots daddy

16 May 2009 08:00 +0900

My family, enjoying a ferry trip across the Georgia Strait. Kenny seemed to think that it was great fun to see me on the outside of the ship. I managed to get a smile out of both of them by playing hide and seek with Kenny just out of site of Mari-chan, then appearing before both of them.

photo of the day: moss-grown trees

15 May 2009 08:00 +0900

At Cathedral Grove in British Columbia.

photo of the day: fence

13 May 2009 08:00 +0900

A collapsable fence somewhere in the west side of Tokyo's inner city.

photo of the day: the child maze

12 May 2009 08:00 +0900

I found this maze for children in a park in Tokyo. I doubt I'd be able to find it again, so I'm glad I snapped this pic of someone else's kid running the gauntlet.

photo of the day: urine monkey

11 May 2009 08:00 +0900

Ah, fatherhood. Some days you're the urinator, some days you're the urinal.

photo of the day: Kenny in Nanaimo

09 May 2009 08:00 +0900

At the tender age of 8 1/2 months, our boy was on the verge of being weaned from his pacifier. But he still knew nothing of that (entirely painless, actually) day. No, in mid-October he was still living the carefree lifestyle of a baby. As seen here in downtown Nanaimo, British Columbia.

photo of the day: Kenny at six months

08 May 2009 08:00 +0900

When Kenny was six months old, he had few concerns and fewer curly locks.

Both would come later.

But at six months he didn't even bother to keep his head upright. So I tended to take his photo with my camera on the same askew angle!

photo of the day: sunset over Harumi bridge

07 May 2009 08:00 +0900

Summer in Tokyo is for staying indoors and trying not to die of heat stroke.

But I'm out there on my bike admiring the runny pavement and oven-like air. And some hazy sunsets.

photo of the day: what the duck and loving it

06 May 2009 08:00 +0900

Kenny sports his "what the duck" sleeper. Such a happy little tyke.

photo of the day: cute, cute, as a button

05 May 2009 08:00 +0900

The boy holds a pose for his dad.

photo of the day: tough baby

04 May 2009 08:00 +0900

Japanese inoculation scars look like a tattoo or purposeful scarification. Adds a bit of daring-do to the boy's image. Not bad for six months old.

photo of the day: Kawasaki infra-red

03 May 2009 08:00 +0900

This is an indoor shot taken with black and white infra-red film. The person in the photo is emerging from stairs leading in from the outside. Plenty of infra-red light was reflected in following their assent.

photo of the day: subway approaches

02 May 2009 08:00 +0900

A TTC subway approaches in this long-exposure shot.

photo of the day: subway mirror

01 May 2009 08:00 +0900

Taken in Toronto. I managed to catch a passing subway.

photo of the day: blackout hikers

30 Apr 2009 08:00 +0900

During the August, 2003, power blackout ini eastern North America, the subway system in Toronto wasn't running. Many people caught downtown had to hike back up to where they lived. Many of these people were wholly unprepared, for instance women with high-heeled shoes.

The drinking fountains did a booming business. Happily there was water pressure even without electricity.

photo of the day: Manitoulin cliff, trees and water

29 Apr 2009 08:00 +0900

photo of the day: Manitoulin vista

28 Apr 2009 08:00 +0900

On Manitoulin island in Lake Huron, the Niagara escarpment forms a sheer cliff face. It's possible to hike right to (and along) its edge in places. Here's my mother taking in the view.

photo of the day: tiny forest frog

27 Apr 2009 08:00 +0900

photo of the day: Manitoulin mist

26 Apr 2009 08:00 +0900

This was taken just off of Manitoulin island, the largest freshwater island in the world.

photo of the day: homeless uptown

25 Apr 2009 08:00 +0900

I paid this fellow - who lives on the street in my neighbourhood - $2 to take his photo. I'm pleased wit the result.

photo of the day: brambles

24 Apr 2009 08:00 +0900

I swear there was a bird in this photo.

photo of the day: die-in

23 Apr 2009 08:00 +0900

In the early part of this century, I began to notice die-ins at protest rallies. I can't remember what this rally was about, but given all of the 'dead' I have to assume it was the war in Iraq.

photo of the day: shock and awe

22 Apr 2009 08:00 +0900

This shot was taken at a protest against the Gulf War, in March of 2003. There were many clever slogans on placards in the crowd, but this one stood out.

The fellow's earnest expression and his direct stare lend some weight to his message: he doesn't seem to be simply screwing around.

photo of the day: frozen twig in snow

21 Apr 2009 08:00 +0900

This is a twig lying under some snow in the Mount Pleasant cemetery. The shot was taken early one morning following an ice storm that had started with strong winds and light snow and had progressed to freezing rain.

These conditions had set up a situation where plenty of twigs had been torn off of branches, to fall among the new snow that was falling/blowing. There, the light layer of ice had entomed them. This is one such twig.

You can make out the tips of the twig's fingers, which are under the thin layer of ice atop the snow. I think it makes this shot!

photo of the day: pet rats

20 Apr 2009 08:00 +0900

This fellow evidently lived on the streets in downtown Toronto with his rats and cigarettes.

photo of the day: past the play

19 Apr 2009 08:00 +0900

In 2004, I joined an informal group from work that played soccer on weekends. It was brutal, with the devotees from other countries literally running circles around us Canadians.

After I'd managed to injure my foot, I took to photographing the play from the sidelines. Keeping up with the play could be tough!

photo of the day: still life?

18 Apr 2009 08:00 +0900

Back when I lived in Canada there were plenty of times when I didn't have a lot going on. During one of these periods I decided that the various shapes and tones of my living room could be put to use to create an interesting composition.

I'm not sure it's "interesting", but I've always rather liked this.

photo of the day: the government's girl

17 Apr 2009 08:00 +0900

The woman in this photo worked for the government's "Parks and Recreation" department. She was attempting to ski to the top of Citadel Hill in Halifax in the aftermath of a one-in-a-lifetime blizzard that had dumped a full meter of snow on us the day before.

The only other person crazy enough to be out there was of course yours truly. When we met I told her, "I've just run out of film." She handed me a role and said, "gratis the federal government."

photo of the day: a man and his goose

16 Apr 2009 08:00 +0900

Exploring Japan with my new Pentax MX and pancake 40mm lens, I came across this man and his goose. I suspect that the goose lived in the park and had become used to the man's attention (who knows, maybe he worked for the park).

photo of the day: tokyo trees in Autumn

15 Apr 2009 08:00 +0900

When I was first settling in the city I had a small manual-focus camera setup that I carried everywhere (until it prematurely fell apart). This pic reflects my abiding love of trees.

photo of the day: fishmonger

14 Apr 2009 08:00 +0900

This fishmonger at the Ueno market helped my wife pick out something suitable for a 'nabe' dish she'd be preparing that same day. He was a colourful character.

The fish stalls at the Ueno market seem to be giving ground to the sellers of cheap vinyl junk. It's a pity.

photo of the day: Akihabara

13 Apr 2009 08:00 +0900

Akihabara is an odd place. I understand that it's been in flux for some years now, but the business of 'maids' and the otaku who love them seems to still be going strong. I took this photo back in late '05 when all of this was very new to me.

You'll note that I took the colour of out most of the pic and then restored the colour to a few of the notable character that make up the scene.

photo of the day: kamakura daibatsu

12 Apr 2009 08:00 +0900

Probably one of the most photographed objects in Japan, the giant copper Buddha in Kamakura is one of those must-see items around which a daytrip can be made from Tokyo.

This was the first representation of the Buddha that I ever noticed to have a moustache.

photo of the day: guard dog detail, Tokyo temple

11 Apr 2009 08:00 +0900

I took this during one of my first walkarounds in Tokyo, a foreigner with an old Japanese camera and no Japanese language skills.

I was a bit overwhelmed when I first arrived in this gigantic city. Everywhere you look, there's a new downtown thrusting up into the sky. And every corner seemed to house a temple like this one.

photo of the day: bond boat, thailand

10 Apr 2009 08:00 +0900

Aboard our "Bond boat", an overpowered ferry that would take us to the floating market. Our guide -- "Mr. Paaaann?" -- was shouting something to us as we charged through the canals.

photo of the day: bangkok's china town

09 Apr 2009 08:00 +0900

This was the best at half a dozen attempts at this shot while Mari wended her way through an uncharted maze of retail adventures in Chinatown. Another shot capturing something of our experience in Bangkok; vehicles, flooding, business.... The small vehicle on the right is a tuk-tuk; an open-sided three-wheel ticket to a location known only to the driver, by a route... known only to the driver.

photo of the day: wedding day photo

08 Apr 2009 08:00 +0900

Mari's composition and photo. Those are the error-riddled notes from which I spoke at the ceremony. Yes, I spoke in halting Japanese.

photo of the day: my bride on our wedding day

07 Apr 2009 08:00 +0900

One of my favourite photos from my ~20 years with a camera. We'd spotted these flowers along the track (we were walking back to the road after our van got stuck in deep sand), and decided that it would make a good scene for a couple of pics. I encouraged Mari into the flowers, and our wedding organizer/photographer suggested she crouch down among them.

Before I dove in to join the fun, I managed this pic. I'm very pleased.

photo of the day: fishing boat, Thailand

06 Apr 2009 08:00 +0900

A fishing boat heads out to the islands. I like working boats in general, but the Thai fishing vessels have an interesting combination of traditional styles and raw oversized outbooard engines that I find compelling.

photo of the day: mari and michael in the park, 2006

05 Apr 2009 08:00 +0900

This shot was taken at arm's length with a cool little plastic "Lomography" fisheye camera given to us by our friend Joon. We were lounging in unseasonably warm weather, planning our upcoming wedding reception.

photo of the day: bamboo forest, Kyoto 2006

04 Apr 2009 08:00 +0900

This is one of my all-time favourites, and is currently hanging on my living room wall. It took quite a while to arrange due to the many people that were passing by the spot. I was also fighting the fading light and my fading batteries. I'm pleased with the result.

photo of the day: sunstruck ravine -- nikko

03 Apr 2009 08:00 +0900

The sun was just peeking over the wall of this ravine when I was photographing the waterfall at the head of the ravine. I looked around for other things to see, and spotted this one tree that had caught the morning's first rays.

photo of the day: Roppongi crossing

02 Apr 2009 08:00 +0900

This is Roppongi crossing, in the heart of the gaijin party town that is Roppongi.

photo of the day: street festival scene

01 Apr 2009 08:00 +0900

I took this one a few doors away from my apartment building during a street festival. It's a traditional scene in which a spirit beast is tempted with an orange.

photo of the day: outside Nichinan, in rural Miyazaki

31 Mar 2009 08:00 +0900

A typical scene in rural Miyazaki, in southern Kyushu. This prefecture is called "an island within an island" because of its lack of major freeways and fast trains.

photo of the day: Mari turns 30

30 Mar 2009 08:00 +0900

You shouldn't, as a rule, photograph your girlfriend with a wide-angle lens. But I couldn't resist. We were on our way to dinner for her 30th birthday.

This is one of the most popular photos on this site, and I'm pleased about that.

photo of the day: Nikko, infrard black and white

29 Mar 2009 08:00 +0900

Nikko Japan, in IR-sensitive black and white glory.

photo of the day: two girls in Shibuya for Y100

28 Mar 2009 08:00 +0900

I paid these girls a hundred yen a piece to take this shot one day while we were huddled for shelter against the rain.

photo of the day: Hiroshima, Japan

27 Mar 2009 08:00 +0900

This is the castle at Hiroshima, which was rebuilt after the destruction of the "A-bomb" blast. I liked this one for the surprising clarity and contrast throughout, which I think suit the subject matter quite well. I also like the way that the tourist showed up to serve my photo with some sense of scale.

photo of the day: The Yoda wedding

26 Mar 2009 08:00 +0900

"Princess Ranko"'s wedding to young Yoda-san, 2007/12/01 in a fancy locale in Omotesando.

photo of the day: a night at Alhambra

25 Mar 2009 08:00 +0900

We attended an evening of musical and dance entertainment. Flamenco, Belly Dancing, Brazilian... all with Spanish food.

photo of the day: a night at Alhambra

24 Mar 2009 08:00 +0900

We attended an evening of musical and dance entertainment. Flamenco, Belly Dancing, Brazilian... all with Spanish food.

photo of the day: a night at Alhambra

23 Mar 2009 08:00 +0900

We attended an evening of musical and dance entertainment. Flamenco, Belly Dancing, Brazilian... all with Spanish food.

photo of the day: niagara falls in the morning

22 Mar 2009 08:00 +0900

Niagara Falls as seen from the viewing platform. Despite having grown up in the area I find this a compelling place to visit and I recommend it to anyone visiting Toronto or upstate New York.

photo of the day: on lake Ontario

21 Mar 2009 08:00 +0900

This was taken on the shore of Lake Ontario in the town of Niagara-on-the-Lake ("nottle", as it's known in the region). I liked the combination of elements, here. You can't lose with a sky like that!

If I recall correctly, I metered on the grass in taking this, figuring it best to keep the foreground detail and lose the distant sky rather than the reverse.

A favourite for the year (2007) and certainly a pleasing result for a cheap lens from a developing country. Go Belarus!

photo of the day: the farm, 2007

20 Mar 2009 08:00 +0900

These are pics taken on the farm where I lived as a child. It's still a working farm (woohoo) but people no longer live there. The grapes are all gone, too.

In fact, the place has changed so much (the course of the road was even altered during a re-grading, it seems) that it was a bit hard to get too nostaligic about the scene. But I like this pic for the way it captures the turgid weather and pulls together some of the idyllic cliches.

photo of the day: Jeffery-san

19 Mar 2009 08:00 +0900

Throughout the latter half of 2007 I took Japanese lessons. One of the unfortunate fellows who had to suffer through my verbal assault on the language is pictured here.

Looks like quite the diligent student, doesn't he.

photo of the day: ki-kun's five-year mission

18 Mar 2009 08:00 +0900

While visiting with Mari's family in Miyazaki, we attended young Ki-kun's five-year ceremony. Pictured here are Mari's mother (far left) and father (far right), along with her sister Maki (next to dad, holding the newborn Ta-kun), her husband Nori-chan, and the five-year-old in question.

Ki-kun's garb is the very same that his grandpa wore for his five year ceremony.

photo of the day: Mita 1-chome at night

17 Mar 2009 08:00 +0900

This is a detail of one of the older houses in the neighbourhood. In fact, it's likely one of the buildings taken from another part of the city and relocated to Mita 1-chome before the war. I like the way the lone source of light picks out the details in such sharp definition.

photo of the day: Mita 1-chome at night

16 Mar 2009 08:00 +0900

Once again, I tried the trick of walking into the frame with the blinking light on my hip. As you can (somewhat) see, there was enough light in this area to make the faintest of ghostly impressions of me.

WooooooO^oooOoo

What a shame that this neighbourhood no longer exists. The condo towers they threw up in their place are ugly. And with the economy tanking, I doubt they'll ever really be properly occupied. Sad, really.

photo of the day: Roppongi cycle race

15 Mar 2009 08:00 +0900

Taken just off the shoulder from Roppongi Crossing, I managed to catch a variety of bikes and motorbikes taking a short-cut around the congestion.

photo of the day: windy sculpture in the Marunouchi

14 Mar 2009 08:00 +0900

I took this in the Marunouchi area of Tokyo, a built-up bankers' district that has seen some rather good outdoor art installations.

photo of the day: The captain goes to the net

13 Mar 2009 08:00 +0900

Our team's captain goes to the net.

photo of the day: the young lovers

12 Mar 2009 08:00 +0900

My now-wife Mari and me in our first apartment in Mita. She'd just bought me the Olympus rangefinder for X'mas and I was tinkering with it when she came along.

photo of the day: construction site

11 Mar 2009 08:00 +0900

On "Pentax Day" in 2007 I was kept indoors by miserable weather. It didn't stop me from taking this photo of the construction site next door, through the thick glazed window of our apartment. The building going up next door was wrapped in green tarp. The gloomy sky and grey buildings in the background supplied the other colours.

photo of the day: yoyogi tourists in a line

10 Mar 2009 08:00 +0900

I like being unemployed for a variety of reasons. Chief of these is having the time to do what I like. And I like to take photos.

I spent a few hours one afternoon on the bridge between Yoyogi Park and the train stations. I was mostly just people-watching, as it's a great place to see all of the preening scenesters as well as a mix of tourists and those going to pray at the shrine.

photo of the day: commuting in Kita-shinagawa

09 Mar 2009 08:00 +0900

These two fellows were waiting for the trains to pass. A long-standing pass-time in a neighbourhood cut in two by a railway carrying several busy routes (including the Haneda express).

Happily, I was in the right spot at the right time, and managed to shake out a paint-by-numbers rule-of-thirds framing on this one that seems to work.

photo of the day: a Michael photo

08 Mar 2009 08:00 +0900

This is what my wife calls a "Michael photo". A collection of things that no one usually looks at, in black and white.

Can't argue with that, I've built up quite a collection of just that sort of thing. But I like this one in particular for the records of stuff that's caught here: tennis practice and the laying down of concrete.

photo of the day: Mari and child

07 Mar 2009 08:00 +0900

A very early portrait of my son, in the arms of his wonderful mother. We were on our way to the shrine for a sort of shinto equivalent to Christianing called "omiyamairi". Instead of getting splashed with water he got waved at with some branches.

photo of the day: Vietnamese in Gotanda

06 Mar 2009 08:00 +0900

Gotanda is one of my favourite locations in Tokyo. It's a busy place but not one of the ritzy neighbourhoods that get on my nerves (like Daikanyama). I know a number of small restaurants in the area, and among these is a Vietnamese place that's tucked away in an ally under some railroad tracks.

This simple record shot was made in that restaurant. I've always been pleased with the great way that the Zuiko lens rendered the background in this photo: it's wonderfully soft. I think it particularly suits the girl's distant stare.

It's also a fine momento of my son at a very early age.

photo of the day: going to school

05 Mar 2009 08:00 +0900

This is one of my favourite from 2007. I take this to be either a whole family taking the girls to school, or two families each with a single daughter that were walking side by each.

The washed-out yellow colour comes from a Y2 filter that I was using in conjuncture with what is currently being sold as "Centuria" film here in Japan. It's not the old Konica Centuria, though, which was a lovely film; it's relabeled Kodak Gold -- a lackluster film with poor colour rendition that I find suitable only for shooting with a wacky filter and my fire-and-forget Olympus rangefinder.

photo of the day: Tokyo canal reflection

04 Mar 2009 08:00 +0900

Between Tokyo Bay and the inner city there is a maze of canals. These are fed by the tides and by the sad, concrete-walled streams that trickle beneath highway overpasses. I assume that these canals once served warehouses and factories, but they now mostly seem to serve residences and office towers.

I shot this while on my way to work in late 2007, framing a reflected building against a pylon. I like what the rippled surface does to the reflection.

photo of the day: yamanote girl

03 Mar 2009 08:00 +0900

This was taken in Shinagawa station as I waited for the Yamanote line. It’s the train that does a circuit around the various built-up "downtowns" that make up inner Tokyo. The woman with the umbrella is one of 900,000 passengers to move through the station every day.

I liked the girl's stance with the umbrella just so, and framed it horizontally to a) get the continuation of the reflected shadows below and the superstructure above and b) so that she wouldn't get too lost in the endless crowds lining the platform.

photo of the day: grey day umbrellas

02 Mar 2009 08:00 +0900

Commuting on foot through Tokyo with the disgorged population of a subway car, it occurred to me that the inclined heading toward a bridge made an amusing sight for someone a little taller than the average umbrella-holder. I set up my camera, hoisted my own umbrella high, and captured this gloomy view of the masses on another trudge into the office.

photo of the day: three dogs in a basket

01 Mar 2009 08:00 +0900

Three little dogs in a basket on a bike in Asakusa.