Window Seat

Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy driving. At least in principle, if not always in practice. It's just that the conditions for driving enjoyment have narrowed over the years. Fundamentally, it is because the number of cars on the road has increased exponentially while our infrastructure has followed a weak linear trajectory. Once you are comfortable giving up control and letting someone else drive, there are photographic benefits of sitting in the passenger seat. Once in a while you may even get a decent shot out the window of the moving car. 

That California Light

I took this photograph in San Francisco back in the day using a Canon Powershot G9. I really thought that little camera was the bee's knees! Looking at my images from that trip again, I think the engineers in Japan did a fine job calibrating the color response of the G9. As a native Californian, my eyeballs and brain are pretty attuned to the quality of the West Coast light, and I have to say I think my set of images is spot on.

The Streets of SF

The 'Streets of San Francisco' was a television show that my father used to enjoy way back in the day. As there was only one little screen in the house, the whole family got to watch. Out of nostalgia, I checked out an episode on Youtube, and the main impression was the excruciatingly slow pacing compared to modern television programs.

The Powershot G9 is a slow camera by modern standards, but I really enjoyed using it as a travel and general walk about camera back in the aughties. These old digicams and their funky colors are popular again among the generation of kids born at the turn of the century. That purple-ish blob is a jacaranda plant by the way.

 

Conventional Wisdom

The conventional wisdom is that the golden hours before sunset and after dawn are the best time to photograph, but the fact is that we spend most of our time while traveling dealing with whatever light happens to be present. In a two or three week visit, you can't be too picky about light or you'd come home with only a handful of images. Fact is, there can be interesting light at all times of the day, you just need to be sensitive to it.

 
Another bit of conventional wisdom is that the plastic-y zoom lens that came with your camera is a total piece of rubbish. Many folks sell them ASAP on the second hand market. Thanks to this particular bias among photographers, I picked up a pristine copy of a 24-105 mm zoom for a mere $200. It ended up being the perfect travel companion, a more than decent imager, feather light, and easily tucked away in my carry-on bag.

Insect Architecture

There certainly were plenty of interesting and new-to-me aspects of Japanese culture to experience on my recent visit. But, if I'm honest, I also became a bit obsessed with some of the more obscure stuff. The hornet nests tucked away in the eaves of many temples and shrines, for example. You most definitely don't want to perturb these insects, but since they are dormant in the winter, I decided to document their architecture, as I'd never seen anything quite like it before. The photo shows an example of a small nest. When I go back to Japan with my wife, we are going to have to remember to bring plenty of epi-pins. 

Street Food

Just a photograph of street food being prepared in Tokyo for your enjoyment. (The photograph, I mean, not the food.) Ha! I am afraid the jet lag has kicked in.

Good light to you this weekend, fellow traveler.

 

Saying Goodbye to Tokyo

It is time to say goodbye to Japan after a fun but cold visit. One great feature of Haneda Airport is the outdoor promenade from which you can observe the skyline of Tokyo. I don't know offhand of any US airports where you can stroll outdoors after passing through security. But anyway, it was good to take a look at the city one last time before the 12 hour flight home.

Off The Wall

This unique temple is an easy walk from my brother’s place near the town of Komoro, but since it was so bloody cold, we drove instead. I was a bit nervous about going up there, but didn’t really understand how precarious it was until I came to this spot. 

Breathtaking

We drove up a narrow single track road with plenty of switchbacks, ice, and potholes to finally arrive at a coffee shop in the mountains from which breathtaking views of the Alps could be had. The air was sparkling, with just enough clouds to keep things visually interesting. I’m not sure a photograph can record an experience in any meaningful way, but I’m still pleased to have snapped a few anyway. 

Free Coffee

On a cold winter morning, we drove up Mt. Asama to a place with a pretty spectacular view of the mountains and the city of Saku, which is located in a wide valley. When the air is especially clear, as it was on this day, you can sometimes see Fuji-san, which lies some 200 km to the south. It was a phenomenal view. Plus, on days when Fuji is visible, coffee refills are free. Nice! 

Tasting notes: Photograph taken with the telephoto lens on an iPhone 14 Pro in RAW format, and cropped some in post. Count me impressed.

Strawberries in the Shadow of Asama

The snow covered peak on the right is Mount Asama, an active volcano, as seen from a parking lot near my brother’s place. In the photograph above, the fluffy white stuff in the sky is a combination of clouds and steam from the mountain. Strawberries are grown in the fields in the foreground.

The Grid

Apparently, from what I have heard and been told, classic wooden structures like this one are disappearing quickly from the Japanese’s landscape. That said, I found and photographed an interesting example near Nagano the other day. Grids and greenhouses are two of my favorite things to photograph. 

Near Ueno

Photographing on the street is a little easier here in Japan, I think, for me any way. The sheer size of the crowds and the number of other visual stimuli all around are certainly factors. Regardless, people seem less concerned about invasions of their personal space in public spaces, so as an introverted photographer, I feel much more comfortable including humans in my photographs. That’s my initial impression anyway.

Islands

Pretty much anywhere, you’ll find holdouts of various kinds. Throughout Tokyo, there are any number of these architectural islands to be seen — older structures, usually homes, surrounded by an array of modern buildings. The colors and lighting here were what appealed to me the most on a cold and very windy day. 

Tokyo

After a 14 h flight, my skinny ass was pretty damned sore, and I was definitely ready to stretch my legs and walk. But my brain was jet lagged and in the end, I ended up only making a few photographs. This is the one decent one. It appears that some form of sub-conscious attention is required for what we do.

Traveling to Japan

Albus & Fergie World Headquarters will be temporarily relocating to Japan for the next two and a half weeks. I hope to post some images as I travel. In the meantime, this photograph was taken by my mother on a trip she made to Japan in the 1950s, before I arrived on the scene and before she was married. Enjoy! 

Traveling Light

About a decade ago, we had the opportunity to purchase a little condo from which we could easily walk to the Appalachian Trail. It is obviously a beautiful place to chill, hike, and take photographs, but the sweet little home away from home was kind of in the middle of nowhere. Super, super boring in other words. Likewise, we've often discussed owning a travel trailer, but if you aren't careful, you can end up with a real millstone around your neck. Plus, neither one of us wants to be in charge of emptying the poop. Cameras, backpacks and hiking poles turn out to be more our style, I guess.

Out the Window

When I was a kid I always wanted to sit in the window seat; these days, I'm an aisle man 100%. I'll take the extra wiggle room any day of the week. On this flight, however, I was stuck next to a window with a fixed lens camera and did what I could to come up with something interesting on the way from ATL to SFO. The windows are not designed with optical excellence in mind, so a monochrome presentation ended up working the best.

But Mine

As a younger person, I would never have ventured anywhere near 'the barn' or any other well known photographic or tourist landmarks. It seems I had a real aversion to such places back in the day. As I've gotten older, though, I find that my so-called standards have dropped quite a bit, and, in recent years, I have actually sought out some of the more famous spots. My touristy shots still aren't my favorite images, but I have to admit that the view of the Tetons was spectacular from this location. In fact, my favorite photograph from this day doesn't include the barn at all. Hmm, somehow younger me overlooked that possibility... The crowds weren't as bad as I feared either, and now I have a series of images of the barn I can enjoy in the privacy of my own home. No one ever need know I did the tourist thing.

Iced Cap

Going on a cruise wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, but it was strange in ways I hadn't foreseen, too. It turned out that what I liked best was cruising the open sea between ports, feeling the power of the ocean as it pushed the floating hotel around. And the iced cappuccinos. I'd never had one of those before, sweet tea and Mountain Dew being the preferred options in my neck of the woods. At any rate, I found this sweet spot on one of the lower decks where you could look out and watch the ocean go by while nursing an iced cap. The view was kind of distorted by the plastic material used for the windows. It was my vibe for sure, and I took a number of frames to be certain I got one that resonated with me back home. I'm damn glad I did, too, because these days I have pretty much lost all interest in being on a cruise ship ever again.

Tasting notes: Olympus EPL2 digital camera with the 20mm lens.