Tag: photography

A week of important decisions and output

There is something about the corner of this 50-storey building that thrills me. It’s so sharp. So determined to cut through the air. So confident. You can’t help but admire an attitude like that. It’s the corner of a building bordering Hamarikyu Gardens, photos of which you’ll find below. But before we get into that, […]

Saying RAAAAAA to life

A week between Mumbles…. how about that?! I think Twitter‘s to blame. I wonder what the global impact of Twitter has been upon blogging? If my performance is anything to go by it’s not insubstantial. Is this a good thing? I’m inclined to think it is, and it isn’t. The nature of Twitter means it […]

Woken by the warmth of the sun

Not a great photo, but one of the first blossoms I saw this year. It’s been a super-productive day today. It started on a really positive note, with the warm sun streaming through the trees, through the glass doors that make up a whole wall of our bedroom, and onto my face. It made me […]

Conformity, Eric Clapton and tiltshift taxis

I’m sitting in one of the two Starbucks near Kudanshita station. Whilst the one outside exit 2 is a place for colleagues to go and chat, this one is definitely for reading and studying. All around me there are salarymen and women buried in their books, some with highlighters in hand, marking passages and copying […]

Teddy on the slopes

When coming to Japan last year, I had to make some harsh decisions, such as what to leave behind. One victim of BA’s baggage limit was Teddy. Not wanting him to get lonely, I left him in the very capable hands of mum #2 in Monmouth. Since then he seems to have got up to […]

Tiltshift Sunday

It’s been a great day, during which I’ve been fortunate to spend time with my two best mates in Tokyo. Whilst I’ve managed to get up at 6am every day this week, last night’s ridiculous experiment to see if I could run four operating systems at the same time on my old MacBook made sure […]

Epic B&W Tokyo Sunset

I’ve decided to re-post the black and white shot of yesterday’s sunset over Tokyo, and also upload a much bigger version should people want to try and find their houses 🙂 View / download the Big Picture here. I particularly like the way the new skyscraper in Naka Meguro stands out, with its two little […]

Sunset over Tokyo

Note Mount Fuji rising above the Kanto horizon These were taken from the roof of the 53-storey Mori Tower, Roppongi Hills. The skydeck reminded me of a ship. Big sky, and a huge sea of buildings. Admittedly you don’t tend to get many buildings in the sea, but nonetheless… You can just see Mount Fuji […]

Nail Job

I used to think that having fake nails was a sure sign that you had finally become a slave to modern fashions, sacrificing your ability to do practical things like pick loose change up off a table, or scratch your arse without the necessity of thought. However, having now spent several hours looking at fake […]

The guitarist and the taxi

Whilst it’s not unusual to see buskers on the streets of Japan, it is a little unusual to see them playing in the middle of the road. This chap in Osaka seemed to really be enjoying shouting a few songs, including ‘With or Without You’ (U2), and several Beatles tracks.

Salaryman Ninja Squad

I arrived at Kudanshita a little early this morning, and was astonished to stumble across the legendary Salaryman Ninja Squad. Managed to sneak a shot of them holding their Chou-rei (morning meeting) without getting my head sliced off by one of the razor-sharp computer keyboards they all carry under their coats. Needless to say, Pepe […]

Kobe Luminarie

Last week whilst in Kobe on Christmas Party business, we had the chance to see Kobe’s incredible Luminarie. They say that this is the last year they’ll be doing it …although they say that every year! “Kobe Luminarie (神戸ルミナリエ, Kobe Luminarie?) is a light festival held in Kobe, Japan every December. It began in 1995 […]

The last autumn leaves

A series of photos I took in Yoyogi park recently. Can’t quite get over how beautiful nature is.

Cats and choppers

Today, following a 9.3km run with Tom at 7am, I headed out to see Bibi and his wife (and cat), who live up in the mountains of Western Saitama. One of the reasons for the visit was that I wanted to play with Bibi’s big chopper, which some mumblers may recall me talking about a […]

quick check-in

It’s been another of those non-stop weeks. Work has been dominant, with my learning more about what my role at the company really is, something which had been a little unclear. We also had our end of year party last night, at which I did the half-yearly drinking-way-too-much thing – I was still plastered this […]

A walk to work

The other day I decided to get off the subway one stop early and walk the last bit to the office. I took a few photos along the way as I circumnavigated the north-west corner of the grounds of the Imperial Palace. Clever map thing courtesy of the iPhone & Everytrail (click to open walk […]

The straightest line in the world

I think it had to be the straightest line I’d ever seen painted on a road. I found it in Shin Kiba, on one of the man-made islands in Tokyo Bay. Here’s a satellite image of the place it was taken, as I know you are desperate to see my squatting pose. See how it […]

Why I’m happy Obama will be president in a few hours from now

Wow. Kinda feeling ecstatic tonight. Been reading the news about the US election, and getting very excited. Whilst having Obama as president doesn’t necessarily mean huge changes for the better in US policy (such the entire defence budget being redirected towards peaceful solutions / humanitarian projects / environmental protection), it does give me hope. For […]

My dad plays God

Photo courtesy of John Dinnen He’s back on the stage, this time playing God in a ‘Modern Mystery Play‘. Not quite the image I was brought up with – shows how times change 🙂 The reviews are now coming in, and by all accounts it was a sterling performance.  Well done dad. 

Autumn in the park

The view from my jogging track. 500m mark. For some truly beautiful autumnal (Japanese) pictures, I recommend you head over to www.Bastish.net. (If you’re squeamish you’d better not look at the ones of the calf being born). Kevin and Tomoe are truly remarkable photographers, and they provide me with a great deal of inspiration. It’s […]

Little Runners

I was sitting in Kitanomura park at lunchtime, eating my carrot and daikon salad, whilst watching the children play. I wondered what the view from my bench might look like at other times of year, so I tapped the screen of my iPhone once, and a few seconds later was presented with a whole collection […]

The Pig Guardian

She, and many of her friends, can be found guarding the footpaths of Komozawa Park

Think I’ll take the next one

(part two) What amazes me is how most of the time everyone does actually fit in when the doors close. Having said that this morning there was a whole leg sticking out of the next, which made the carriage look like some kind of hybrid centipede…

Autumn leaves

I’m really glad I picked up photography again last year. The purchase of my Nikon D40x in July 2007, following years of making do with little Sony models, really turned things around for me – since then I’ve got enormous pleasure from composing and processing. I’m now trying to make more use of some of […]

Living Goldfish Earings

Just met this chap in Shibuya sporting the most unusual earrings I've ever seen – two mini goldfish bowls, each with three living (and no doubt somewhat confused) goldfish in!

The Streets where we live

Here’s the stables I was twittering about yesterday, just along the road from our house. Am amazed by Google’s coverage of Tokyo. View Larger Map

The procession – from behind

A few photos taken today on the streets around our house *Twinkle*s off to Kansai for a few days. It’s going to seem quiet around here…

Japan from above

A few more photos from the flight: First sighting of the Japanese coast (near Niigata) A lot of people tend to associate Japan with skyscrapers. However, about 80% of the land-mass is mountainous (that’s mini-mountainous on the whole). Here’s a couple of shots of what I consider to be ‘typical Japan’. And finally, Japan from […]

England from above

Thought I’d post a few photos from the journey: First up is mum and dad through the train window at Hereford, Pepé at Heathrow Airport, and my last look at England. Scandinavian islands – not a bad shot considering it was taken from 33,000 feet

Won’t Sell

This is what happens when Mrs Dribblethwaite of 56 Leopold Avenue refuses to sell the family home. (As seen in London yesterday)

Photos

Our thanks to John who will be taking photos for us at the wedding (so that I don’t have to pause proceedings in order to take a photo of us – although I’d like to!) Here’s one he took yesterday in the garden 🙂 If you’re coming to the wedding, don’t forget you can upload […]

Why I love Adobe Photoshop Lightroom

I’ve talked about this before, but I want to talk about it again. A few days back I was asked by a friend if I’d give them a bit of training in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, the most wonderful photo-processing software ever to have created for people who work with RAW images, or find Photoshop a […]

National Sheep Day

To celebrate National Sheep Day, this morning I jogged up Garway Hill in order to get some shots of Horace, the sheep that starred in last year’s best-selling Hollywood action film Revenge of the Wooly Jumpers. I asked Horace if he’d mind re-creating the scene where he’d just been attacked by the Mighty bear, and […]

Day in snapshots

I’ve had this camera follow me around all day. It’s been taking snapshots of my thinking. Kinda strange. I developed the film, here’s what came out. It’s 5.45am. My phone alarm goes off. I think about whether I want to wake up – i think, “well, the interview isn’t until 8am, I can sleep till […]

Awards!

Yipppeeeee! I just won a university photo competition, my prize being a £200 digital camera! I’ve missed having a small point-and-shoot as I gave mine to mum and dad at New Year so they could play with digital photos with their new Macbook. Unfortunately though, the one I gave them was a Japanese language model. […]

Spring, Surveillance and coaching course call one

It’s been a great day today. First off, it was the beginning of Warm Spring. You could feel it brewing over the weekend with the muggy rain. It’s been an astonishing 72 hours, with a complete transformation of the trees in the churchyard opposite my house – just like that! Like a switch being flicked! […]

IBL Staff-Student Symposium

Full day of work today, from 8.30am to 4.30pm. I say ‘work’, but it was more like hanging out with friends. CILASS friends. Today was the 2nd CILASS Inquiry Based Learning Staff-Student Symposium. Some people may remember me talking about giving a presentation via Skype from Tokyo at last year’s event – well, this time […]

Magical Jiggery Pokery

The random image thing on the right of this page is supposedly, er, random – so how can one account for things like the above happening? Here, I blogged about my mum’s painting, and hey presto! It randomly appears on the right too! It’s not as if it’s unusual either, I’ve seen matches like that […]

The Sun Sets

Right, everyday at around this time, the sun sets. Funny that.

A great week for photographers

[apologies for lack of links – written from train to Sheffield on which internet is not too reliable (i.e. non-existent.) Google is your friend] It’s been a productive journey so far. I’ve removed the yellow testicle from my patchwork jeans, after it was pointed out to me that it could also be mistaken for a […]

A Day of Wedding Planning, and King Cats

Met this Cat King this morning. Never met a Cat King before. He was pretty extraordinary, had these piercing pink ears that pierced. Having a cat seizure Very productive day. Got a fair bit of translation homework done first thing. Then it was on to wedding planning: found a beautiful converted barn for myself and […]

Multicolour tadpoles

Yesterday, mum decided to take her easel outside and draw some inspiration from our pond life. Currently, it’s playing host to thousands of tadpoles, who are happily developing the most extraordinary gills and reabsorbing their own tails. Yesterday afternoon however, the tadpoles were in for a rude shock, as mother tripped over a paving stone and fell in the […]

Sunday morning stuff

Woke up feeling a bit sad today – is it due to the ‘loss’ of one hour as we enter British Summer Time? I think not, as it’s no loss at all. Decided to tackle the sadness and so went for a jog up to the top of Cole’s Tump from where one can see […]

Second major photo shoot: Simon

I got a call early this morning from my agent asking that I ready my camera for another photo shoot for a major client. This was really exciting, and a major step up from my first assignment in February which saw me focus upon dead fish. The photos are to appear in next month’s Cosmopolitan […]

Tagging and my Photo workflow

This year I’ve started keywording my photos. Until now, I’ve simply renamed them upon import, but you can’t describe all that much with a filename alone.  This month I finally broke through the 20,000 photo barrier – that’s 20,000 photos that actually mean something to me and are not blurred / underexposed / of nothing […]

After 14 years they rose again

Anne Tame the artist, at work I’m back on the Welsh garden Project site today. It’s good being here and doing some physical work. My hands smell of cow skin, and I have a delicious feeling of knackeredness. Thought I’d take advantage of the lack of rain and get the chainsaw out; spent an hour […]

Bank Holiday stuff

Every time I come back to my parent’s house I make a point of a) eating mum’s home-made chocolate cake, and b) sorting through the stuff under my old bed to see what of my belongings can be given away. As time passes so it becomes easier to dispose of stuff, and it’s now reached […]

Orcop Skies

Garway Hill, as seen an hour ago Meanwhile, they’re selling the fields around our house for development…

Humankind vs. Nature

I dare humankind to create something as incredible as this: ah, ok, so this is pretty close.

Remains of the Steering Wheel

The past week has seen my daily exercise routine somewhat curtailed by temporary responsibility for my friend’s car (which as no doubt you are tired of hearing, requires a lot of attention). But this morning, the car park refreshingly free of flat tyres, yellow tickets or vehicles supporting such accessories, I was able to get […]

The ups and downs

I’ve been playing with my zoom lens. 1 second exposure, zoom out whilst the shutter is open. This was yesterday… Strange feeling of finality today. It could be due to my having taken part in my last ever SEAS open day, an event I always enjoy a great deal. As with every time, it was […]

Remote control of camera (and parents)

Beautiful day today. I was up at 6am, and together with my flat-mate Ali headed out to Ponderosa Park. I’ll be off to the IC soon to start writing this dissertation introduction (the one that has been turned upside down by yesterday’s discovery of some new legislature governing NGOs in Japan due to come into […]