Sydney Harbour - 5:50am
The view of Sydney Harbour from our hotel one morning this past weekend. I don't want you thinking I've become some kind of early-bird ... I mean you can if you want to but it's just not true ;-)
This was taken leaning out of the window a ways to get the left pylon of the Harbour Bridge in shot. It's also shot handheld at 1/30th of a second with an aperture of f/2.8 and ISO 6400... I mention this only because it demonstrates my laziness in that I didn't use my tripod which was sitting on the table next to the camera ... mind you the tripod wouldn't have got the camera out the window so anyways ... err.. was there a point to this story?
Here's a second picture taken at sunset the previous afternoon from the ferry between McMahons Point and Circular Quay. There must have been a bushfire burning inland which brought the smoke across the sun and created the haze visible beyond the Sydney Opera House in the sunrise picture.
In an interesting aside I posted this image on Google+ on Saturday afternoon and by last night it had been viewed over 60,000 times ... I guess people like it :-)
Oh Japan 3 - Tokyo
Today I'm presenting some of my favourite images of Tokyo from a trip made in early July. This post is the third in my Oh Japan mini-series. First up some 'archi-stracty' and city based pictures. I loved walking around with a camera at night. It rained the first few nights were there and this made the streets nice and shiny and reflective ... perfect for neon colour goodness!
In terms of people pictures ... well my goodness there were an awful lot of people! In the picture below of the business man walking through an alley in Shinjuku, he may look like the only person around but, directly behind me was one of the busiest intersections in Shinjuku and there were literally three or four thousand people crossing and or going about their business!
Coffee started out being an issue upon arrival in Japan ... there was always Starbucks if things got desperate ... but then we discovered BOSS Coffee! Sold in supermarkets and as shown here in refrigerated vending machines everywhere, BOSS Coffee changed our Japanese experience utterly. Comprising one or two shot of espresso (with or without milk or sugar) in a little can ... these were fantastic! Can't find out how to buy them in Australia ... there'd be a massive market for them here.
And then there was the escalator wonderland underneath the Tokyo SkyTree! What an awesome space this was... like a drawing from MC Escher!
Oh Japan 2 - Kyoto
Kyoto ... a two hour journey from Tokyo on the Shinkansen (bullet train) was beautiful. Less hectic than Tokyo and steeped in history, The original Imperial capital. However, I'm presenting today one of my favourite pictures from the trip.
We arrived in Kyoto early in the evening and after settling into our hotel and taking advantage of the traditional Japanese hot bathing facilities at the hotel we ventured out for some dinner in the old town. Walking back toward our hotel after unsuccessfully trying to find some nightlife ... the place we were recommended was closed(!) ... we came across these cavernous markets the Nishiki Market (錦市場, Nishiki Ichiba). They stretch across five blocks and at midnight when we came across them they were largely deserted. We could then only imagine what they must look like during daylight trading hours ... which we did upon visiting them the very next day :-)
This place was huge and we walked the length of this particular covered street.
During the day we sampled local foods in the Nishiki food market ... like the picture above but packed with food shops. I sampled this delicious grilled octopus on a stick ... the head had been stuffed with a quail egg and it was utterly delicious ... would you try one?
Oh Japan
Oh Japan indeed! In the first week of July I took a spontaneous trip to Japan. When I say spontaneous I mean that it was less than 24 hours from deciding 'hey, let's go to Japan!', booking tickets and driving to Sydney at 2am to catch the flight! It was a blur but oh so rewarding. For reasons unbeknownst to me I have waited nearly four weeks to share this and some of the images from the trip.
We flew from Sydney into Narita, Tokyo and spent the first 3 nights in different districts of Tokyo - Asakusa, Ginza and Shinjuku before taking the bullet train to Kyoto and spending time in and around Arashiyama and the city of Kyoto. I have long had a fascination with Japan, the culture, food and design all have special places in my heart. Also the idea of being immersed in a place that is so foreign to my own. Oh and I love neon lights and the cities did not disappoint ;-)
I took loads of pictures, some of which are presented below and some which will be posted in future posts. Those of you with whom I communicate regularly will know I have been in somewhat of a creative doldrums of late ... personally I blame winter(!) but there are deeper reasons than things seasonal. I'm bringing you some pictures today from in and around Arashiyama, a smallish city northeast of Kytoto.
This first picture was taken at Arashiyama Station at sunset as we arrived back from a day in Kyoto.
This next picture was the view from the balcony of the traditional Japanese-style place we stayed in in Arashiyama ... sunsets eh? The place was amazing and we had shared some very special moments here.
Arashiyama is famous for, amongst many other things, it's giant bamboo groves. This place, like so many others in Japan was bristling with people but there weren't so many in the frame when you turned your gaze upwards ;-)
There's a river (the Hozu-gawa River) that's simply beautiful with long boats used for cormorant fishing and of course ferrying visitors around.
Anyways I hope you've enjoyed this little photo tour of this part of Japan... I'm currently working out how I can get back there :-)
I'll be posting more pictures over the next little while (now that I appear to have released myself from my writer's block!) so please stay tuned :-)
Have you been to this part of the world? Did you like it? Have you never been but always wanted to go? Do tell me in the comments below :-)
Trust in your intuitions
Once I gave the headphones a thorough once-over exam, I tried them on. As I mentioned, they have a classic over-the-ear style and just looking at them, the padding on the ear pieces seem adequate and the peak of the headband seemed to be a bit lacking, but you don’t really know comfort unless you try on the product. So, I slipped the headphones on and found them to be exquisitely comfortable. Once I gave the headphones a thorough once-over exam, I tried them on. As I mentioned, they have a classic over-the-ear style and just looking at them, the padding on the ear pieces seem adequate and the peak of the headband seemed to be a bit lacking, but you don’t really know comfort unless you try on the product. So, I slipped the headphones on and found them to be exquisitely comfortable.
If no one hates you, no one is paying attention. If attention is what you want for vanity, confidence, or, hell — to make a decent living — then know that it’s not instantaneous. Every single person that you’re currently paying attention to, at some point in their lives, was in your exact position.
You need to be
true to yourself
Just like every other human on the planet, I have epically awesome days and days when life just shits on my face. And while I can’t stand most self-help (see: tired quotes over stock photography on Instagram), sometimes I need a little pick-me-up. And most of the time, in order to get out of a slump (because my brain leans more into math/science than anything else), I need to drop a logic bomb on my ass.
Yes, this is a long article. But here’s the thing — if you’re reading this in your inbox and are already like, “fuck this!” delete it. No hard feelings. If you’re reading this in a browser on a website, and you see how tiny the scroll-bar is because of how far you still have to scroll to get to the bottom, close this tab and go back to 140-character tidbits of advice. Still with me? Phew. Just had to weed out all the folks from points: #1, #4 and #8. Welcome friends, onward we go.
Remember to
never give up
If no one hates you, no one is paying attention. If attention is what you want for vanity, confidence, or, hell — to make a decent living — then know that it’s not instantaneous. Every single person that you’re currently paying attention to, at some point in their lives, was in your exact position. They kept at it and worked enough so that others started listening. Also know that if no one is watching, you can experience true freedom. Dance in your underwear. Write entirely for yourself. Swear like there’s a going-out-of-business sale on “fucks” and “shits.” Find yourself — not in some coming-of-age hippie way involving pasta and ashrams— but in a way that helps you draw your own line in the sand for what matters and what doesn’t. Do what you want to do, just because you want to do that thing. This will build confidence that will come in handy later.
Once I gave the headphones a thorough once-over exam, I tried them on. As I mentioned, they have a classic over-the-ear style and just looking at them, the padding on the ear pieces seem adequate and the peak of the headband seemed to be a bit lacking, but you don’t really know comfort unless you try on the product. So, I slipped the headphones on and found them to be exquisitely comfortable. Once I gave the headphones a thorough once-over exam, I tried them on. As I mentioned, they have a classic over-the-ear style and just looking at them, the padding on the ear pieces seem adequate and the peak of the headband seemed to be a bit lacking, but you don’t really know comfort unless you try on the product. So, I slipped the headphones on and found them to be exquisitely comfortable.
If no one hates you, no one is paying attention. If attention is what you want for vanity, confidence, or, hell — to make a decent living — then know that it’s not instantaneous. Every single person that you’re currently paying attention to, at some point in their lives, was in your exact position. They kept at it and worked enough so that others started listening. Also know that if no one is watching, you can experience true freedom. Dance in your underwear. Write entirely for yourself. Swear like there’s a going-out-of-business sale on “fucks” and “shits.” Find yourself — not in some coming-of-age hippie way involving pasta and ashrams— but in a way that helps you draw your own line in the sand for what matters and what doesn’t. Do what you want to do, just because you want to do that thing. This will build confidence that will come in handy later.
Melbourne across the Yarra - Tiny Planet
I learned how to do a 'Tiny Planet' image from an existing panorama last night. This was taken last year in lovely Melbourne. Shot from the south bank, it's a view of Melbourne across the Yarra River. A 5-shot panorama stitched together in Photoshop before being 'planeted'.
The tutorial I followed was this one published by www.photoguides.net and it was ridiculously simple to produce something gorgeous.
Go and give it a go and be sure to let us know how you got on :-)
