Royal Photographic Society – My Portfolio

More of my pictures. These formed a portfolio I presented to the Royal Photographic Society for a Licentiate qualification. The panel went down well, and was published in the RPS book PORTFOLIOONE.

SKY Tate Modern, London

Taken at the Tate Modern, London, during a Kandinsky exhibition. I made a visual “joke” of part of the name.

Jet Trails and Jetliner.

I think I caught the plane in the perfect position. Looked better as monochrome.

View from Famous Tottori Dune

View from the top of Tottori Sakyu (Tottori Dune)

Tate Modern with Plane and Clouds

Another image featuring the Tate Modern and an aircraft.

Winter Joy at the Beach

Even in winter, the beaches around Britain are often enjoyed.

Pattern of Birds. Isle of Wight in the Distance

This is one of my favourites. The foreground is the sea wall at Pennington Marshes, near my former home. In the background is Tennyson Down on the Isle of Wight.

Bournemouth Pier with Clouds

One of the numerous “Pleasure Piers” that dot the British seaside.

Disused Beach Huts, Bournemouth.

Another picture in Bournemouth, a favourite hangout of mine on the south coast of Britain.

Tottori Dune with Tiny People

Another of my favourites. Same day as the other pictire above.

Canary Wharf Skyscraper with Cleaning Cradle.

Near my London workplace, Canary Wharf always fascinated me visually.

Many people seem to stick to a theme in their photos; I even saw an exhibition at Nikon’s gallery in Osaka, with about 40 photos of monkeys taken at a monkey park on one visit. I try not to see my pictures as records related to a theme, but as “pictures” that mean something to me emotionally rather than purely passing on information. If they touch other viewers then I am happy. That is my idea of my art.

When I presented this portfolio I was required to provide a “link” if not a factual “theme”, so I said they were “architectural”. Maybe you don’t see it, but to me there is a pattern in each that is architectural in my eyes.

my PORTFOLIOONE spread

And the World’s Champion Queuers Are ………..

On Saturday I went to the Hyogo Performing Arts Centre in Nishinomiya with my wife to meet her sister and niece who had attended a performance of the State Ballet of  Georgia. There was a queue of many hundreds of mainly women (of all ages, and mostly very smartly dressed), being harangued by loudspeaker and shepherded by men in uniform. They were queueing to obtain the autograph of Nina Ananiashvili, now artistic director and still performer of the company, and famous in her previous incarnation as a princiapal dancer for the America Ballet Theatre. I met a friend there, in a state of great excitement at having watched Nina dance, and rushing to join the autograph queue. Yesterday, I met this friend’s husband, and he informed me that she had queued for over three hours.

Queueing for an autograph

Having grown up in South Africa, I can only remember queueing rarely and briefly for movie tickets; computer reservations came there early.

In Israel, where I spent about two and a half years of my life, people wouldn’t queue if their lives depended on it.

I spent much of my adut life in Britain, famous world-wide for queueing. But I find this reputation rather overstated. It may have been true for a time after World War 2, when many goods were in short supply, but now long lines are mainly found outside department stores waiting to be the first to grab a bargain at the start of a sale, or outside an Apple store to be one of the first to get their hands on a new iPhone or iPad.

I saw queues in Moscow during Soviet times, people often not even knowing what they were queueing for, but everything was always in such short supply that a line would form on the rumour that “something” would soon arrive.

But I have no doubt as to who are the world’s champion querers: the Japanese. After witnessing the ecstatic crowds of autograph hunters, the four of us proceeded to nearby Nishinomiya Gardens for an earlyish dinner. What did we see on arriving on the fourth floor, home to the restaurants designed to feed the hungry and tired shoppers, but queues of varying length outside every restaurant. By far the longest line was outside the deep fried pork specialist, but there was not an eatery without a bunch of diners, quivering with anticipation of the feast to follow their wait. Luckily, we had booked, so were shown past the row of occupied chairs at the entrance, directly to our table. Why had the others not reserved? I see this repeatedly. When we visit the local Toho multiplex, we always book tickets online, enabling us to collect them from a machine, without queueing when we arrive, just like we did in England. Why are there always scores of people queueing up at the ticket counter? I think that I have the answer: Japanese people love queueing, in fact they seem passionate about it. Another example that I see fairly frequently is at the Hankyu Department Store where I work in Kawanishi. There is a “Pick-up Bakery” there that sells product from different bakers from time to time: every time they have pre-sliced bread from Takarazuka Bakery, the town seems to quiver, and then people descend on the store from all directions in order to form a long queue that stretches out of the door. Passion for sliced bread, or just another opportunity to form a long line? I leave it up to you.

Queuing for bread

Rainbow Over Osaka Bay

After the Storm – A Rainbow Over Osaka Bay

I had never intended to make this a photo blog, but that’s what it seems to be morphing into. Most of my exciting moments here in Kansai seem to be visual. And many of these seem to be from my balcony in Nishinomiyahama, overlooking Osaka Bay. Rather sad, don’t you think.

I only recently resumed using my Nikon D3 SLR, having spent many months weighed down by my iPhone 4. The iPhone is great for letting my friends and family on Facebook know what I’ve been up to, but my real love is art, and I have long tried to make “pictures” with my camera rather than take photographs.

After being reasonably successful at making pictures while living in England, this has rather dried up since I have been in Japan. I’m not sure why this is; maybe lack of time, maybe the huge difference in distance from nature that living in built-up Kansai has brought to my life, I’m not really sure. I’ve done a few good things, mainly pictures of birds, but for many months did not even take my camera from it’s bag until the great event of the recent solar eclipse, when circumstances of sun and cloud let me produce a single image that I loved.

I have thought long and hard about what I need to achieve to produce pictures that I like. I even started reading the highly recommended “The Art of Photography” by Bruce Barnbaum, which I quickly gave up. He recommends taking photographs based on your interests, and using the photograph to communicate something about you interest to the viewer.

To me, producing a picture is to capture some element of beauty in the world in a way that moves me, and hope that it moves some others too.

Today, after a cloudburst, two beautiful rainbows appeared over the bay. I took a quick photo with my iPhone, then ran for my camera. How lucky that I’d been enjoying the rain from my balcony.

This is the first photo taken on my iPhone 4.

2 Rainbows – Taken on My iPhone 4

This rainbow moved me, I hope it touches some of you.

Typhoon in Nishinomiyahama – Almost

Coasters Sheltering Near Nishinomiyahama

Yesterday I stayed home waiting for a typhoon. The weather forecasts had warned me of 90 millimetres of rain and winds gusting to 125 kilometres an hour. So I had thought it wise to cancel my day’s work and stay tucked up at home, and out of danger.

Well, the typhoon passed our little corner of Japan out to sea, and the threat never really materialised. It rained on and off, but never really heavily. It blew a little, but never gusted above about 50. But the sky got quite dramatic, so I hauled out my trusty old Nikon and took a few photos late in the day, from my balcony in Nishinomiyahama as usual, then tried to make pictures of them (Yes, I confess, I use Photoshop). I liked the feeling of the coasters (little ships, not the kind you put your glass on) sheltering in Osaka bay, their twinkling lights glowing in the haze. There were also a few pleasure-craft sheltering in our local marina.

View Over Shin Nishinomiya Yacht Harbour

I also took the opportunity to update my business web-site, which gave me a sense of achievement at the end, but much confusion while I was doing it. I must admit that using WordPress has allowed me to create a bilingual (Japanese -English) site that looks good without having a lot of techie ability.

So that was the day of the typhoon that wasn’t.

Nishinomiya 西宮 Through an iPhone (and Kawanishi 川西)

Purple Clouds from Kawanishi Noseguchi Hankyu Line Station

As I mentioned in my last post, I hardly ever take out my Nikon D3 these days. Mostly I take photos around home in Nishinomiyahama　西宮浜, where I also work on translations, or in Kawanishi, where I have a small English conversation school.

Clouds – From my balcony

Although I do take some photographs to record events, as an aid to my ageing memory, what I really enjoy doing is making pictures.

Moon and Clouds

With the limited functionality of the iPhone as a camera, I use some apps. to try to make some of my photos more like pictures (know what I mean?)

More Clouds

I use Camera+, mainly because I find it simplest to work. I occasionally use Photoshop Express, and even less often iPhoto (which I find rather complicated).

Near Shin Nishinomiya Yacht Harbour

So most of these pictures are taken from my balcony or the sea shore (Osaka Bay shore) nearby, with a recent one from the Hankyu railway station in Kawanishi.

Osaka Bay – Hazy Day

For the Birds

Little Tern About to Dive – Nishinomiyahama

Before moving to Japan, while living in the south of England, I always seemed to have plenty of time to indulge in my many passions: music, photography, reading, walking, visiting galleries, going to the movies, eating regularly in restaurants etc. etc. Considering I had a daily commute into London of about 150 kilometres each way, I could say that my life was pretty full and quite exciting. I was always running out of paper and ink for my huge, professional A2 printer, and had time to exhibit my prints.

Somehow, in Japan, time works differently. My commute is only about 16 Km, and my hours are shorter, but I seldom have time to go to movies or concerts, visit galleries or go for long walks. One part of my life that has suffered is my photography, and apart from a couple of parties and family gatherings where I provided the ‘snaps’, my Nikon D3 has rested snugly in my old Crumpler bag. Occasionally I would take a shot of some interesting clouds, or something I’d cooked, for my Facebook page, but these were with my iPhone. My SLR lay dormant until the recent annular solar eclipse.

Cormorant Taking Off – Nishinomiyahama

For the first time in years I felt the excitement of producing a picture that moved me, so I have taken out my Nikon a couple of times recently, and am getting back into practice. There is not that much that excites me within a short journey of my home in Nishinomiyahama 西宮浜, but I do like making pictures of the terns, gulls and cormorants I see around here.

In my approach I like to be as natural as possible, maybe rather Wabi Sabi 侘寂, looking for beauty in things that are transient. I hope I succeed.

The Annular Eclipse May 2012

A View of the Solar Eclipse from Our Balcony

This morning I set my alarm for 6.30. Twice before I had been in a place where a solar eclipse was due, once in South Africa, and once in England. The South African event had been a complete washout, and the one in England only a partial success: viewed through high cloud.

So would it be third time lucky. Would I be wasting good sleeping time, or would the sight of this annular eclipse take my breath away. It would probably be my last chance to experience a total solar eclipse; the next one visible in Japan would be in about 300 years time (or so I was told by CNN). I doubt I’ll be around to see that one.

Well, as 7.00am passed, the area surrounding our home in Nishinomiya became rather gloomy; eerily so, it seemed. But was it the long awaited eclipse, or the clouds that seemed to be thickening. I captured an image through a pinhole in a piece of cardboard, as the BBC website had advised me to do, but this was a less than breathtaking half a centimetre or so. So I took out my faithful old Nikon D3 and took a few shots as the ring appeared. Lo and behold, one of them looked like a beautiful Japanese ink painting, and my day was made. I hope you like the image.

Golden Week: and Two Certainties. Part 2

So, to the second certainty (after a break): Souvenirs.

At tourist attractions, transport terminals, motorway service areas, hotels, department stores, in fact almost anywhere a tourist may be, he or she will be faced with a temptation to partake in one of Japan’s great traditions: OMIYAGE (お土産). This custom of taking gifts home for colleagues, family, friends  teachers, helpful neighbours etc. when one makes a trip, whether business or pleasure, is huge business in Japan.

Unlike souvenirs bought in the West, which are often cheaply produced trinkets, Omiyage are frequently edible, and are often delicacies from the area visited. Matsue,(松江) where we visited, is very proud of its seafood, and a very popular gift is cooked and packaged tiny fresh-water clams called 蜆 shijimi from Lake Shinjiko.

Bizenyaki Tea Bowl

However, being in Matsue for only a very short time, we bought our souvenirs as soon as we arrived, so that we could spend some time doing some shopping that we enjoy more: visiting dealers who specialise in crafts and antiques bought mainly from local farmers and residents of small villages in the area. We especially like Japanese pottery, and on this visit were lucky enough to find a tea ceremony bowl or chawan (茶碗) from Bizen in Okayama (岡山). Called Bizenyaki (備前焼), this beautiful pottery is among the most ancient in Japan. It is not glazed, and the markings are caused by pine ash from the kiln. This piece goes beautifully with a Bizen vase that we already own.

Our Bizenyaki Collection

So, all in all an enjoyable and successful, if short, trip to the Japan Sea coast.

Golden Week: and Two Certainties. Part 1

Daisen 大山 from the bus

Golden Week, Obon and New Year are three holiday periods in Japan when two certainties persist: millions of Japanese people stuck in their cars in huge traffic jams, and millions of Japanese people flocking to souvenir stores to buy traditional gifts (お土産　- omiyage in Japanese) to distribute to friends, relatives, colleagues, teachers etc. on their return.

During these times of  family get-togethers, there is a huge movement homeward of members who have left the nest to work or study in different parts of Japan, and the time taken to make these journeys through packed highways provides conversation pieces for months (until the next mass migration approaches).

Last year we attempted the Journey from our home in Nishinomiya 西宮, here in Kansai, to my wife, Megumi’s family home in Matsue　松江, Shimane Prefecture, on the Japan Sea coast. This journey of about 270 kilometers took us about seven and a half hours on the return leg, including about two hours for the “legendry” stretch from Sanda to the Takarazuka Interchange, a distance of about 14 kilometers.

So this year we decided to go by Highway Bus. The journey took even longer, but at least we could read, watch the really lovely scenery go by, doze, blog (Megumi did, anyway), and observe car drivers occupying themselves by reading newspapers, texting, watching TV or eating and drinking while driving (or not driving). I observed one driver with a cigarette in one hand, a cup of coffee in the other, and using his knee to steer.

Sharing just one clear day with family in Matsue seems a fairly poor reward for two days of travelling, but from what some of my students tell me, this is typical. And observing the joy on Megumi’s face when she is with her family makes the effort worthwhile. I also enjoy the great differences in the scenery, food and atmosphere betwen Kansai 関西 and Sanin　山陰, but that’s for another blog.

Cherry Blossoms 2012: a Postscript

Another Kind of Cherry Blossom

They say that the Japanese people love Sakura (cherry blossoms) so much because their life, like that of the Samurai, is transient. Unfortunately, this year in Kansai, the cherry blossom season was more transient than usual. Cold weather and then heavy rain conspired to ensure this; the peak of the bloom, the time when all are anticipating their annual Hanami (literally, looking at the blossoms, but usually picnicking under the trees), was brief and occurred midweek. Many were robbed of one of their annual highlights. The majority of my students and friends admitted that they had not picnicked at all this year. But now, several of them seem to be seeking a solution. They are travelling to other parts of Japan where latitude or altitude delay the blooming of the cherry trees, so Hanami that had been missed can belatedly be enjoyed.

Several of my students have planned trips to Yoshino, one of Japan’s most celebrated locations for viewing cherry blossoms: here the trees bloom progressively starting at the foot and finishing at the peak of the mountain, over the period of a month. One is even chasing the “Sakura front” as far north as Tohoku.

Another possibility is to enjoy the Sakura pattern on the exquisite spring kimono in my photo above.