Ramblings from my weekend

I hope everyone is enjoying the new ShootTokyo design.   The last of the little clean up work was finished today and it is working as I want.   You have to constantly sweat the small stuff if you want to end up with a very clean site.  It is easy to lose your will power and let this or that go and suddenly you have a very piecemeal looking site.   This is were my perfectionist obsessive personality is very useful.

I also launched an eBook over the weekend which I am giving away to subscribers of my newsletter for FREE.  This one is a portable version of my post ‘How I shoot’.  Its success far exceeded my expectations with more than 1,200 downloads in the first few days.    The feedback I have gotten from people has been excellent and very encouraging.   Information on how to get your copy here.

I am thinking of a couple of topics for future eBooks but would love to hear your thoughts. Here is what I am thinking:

1. Street Portraitist – Photographing Strangers

A lot of photographers don’t know how or aren’t sure how to approach a stranger to take their photo. This is something that people always struggle with. It’s something that comes naturally to me that I have had a lot of success with.

2. My Digital Workflow

I have been spending a lot of time this year reading everything I can get my hands on regarding digital workflow so I can work out a fast and effective system for managing my images, making them easy to find in the future and protecting them online. I know many people struggle with this topic so I think this could also be another good eBook.

Any other topics that you think would be good to cover? I would love to hear your thoughts…leave a comment and let me know.

I also launched my ShootTokyo T-Shirts.  They are in the store and available for pre-order.

I found a few shots from when my brother Mark was visiting me in Tokyo a few weeks back…

I am very excited that I sold another print.   I don’t proactively try to sell prints but will work with my printer in Tokyo if someone contacts me and wants a print.   I am very happy with the image I sold as it was one that I needed to really work on shooting the same scene over and over until I got what I wanted.   I talked about the process in ‘Working a shot’.  It pays to be persistent.

Back at my favorite ‘Bake Shop‘ in Jiyugaoka.  I just love this place, especially all of the crazy little decorations.

I am I not sure if these are weeds but they were growing in a crack in a drive way so I am going with weeds.   I am always surprised how nice the weeds are in Japan.

Meet Nabona… I don’t know how the Japanese make things this good that only have 145 calories in them.  These things are just awesome.

Let’s just say these are fueling my house right now…

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I headed out last Friday to meet up with some photography friends but stopped off in Shibuya for a few shots on the way…

This guy thought it was pretty funny that I was photographing his shirt.   Some shirts say the funnest things in Japan…

I am very conflicted after reading this one… should I stay or should I go?

Boy Bands live in Japan…

I finally upgraded to an iPad3 3G from my old 1st generation.   It slips nicely into my camera bag and it is nice to have something bigger than a phone to browse on when I am on the go, check social netoworks, and read my Wall Street Journal, I meant photography magazines…

I am not sure you have a ‘Happy Family Life’ if you are buying your condoms out of a vending machine on a street corner…

There are Samurai everywhere in Japan…

My friend David Ventura pulled together a group of photographers for a get together…  Photographers seem to be doing this all the time.  This is one thing I love about photography.   David just did a recent series on photographing Japanese barbers.  Check out his portfolio to see the series.

We hung out at a cool place called Masuotei.  I love places like this.  It was more like we were hanging out in someone’s living room.

David without the phone in his face…

Meet Joanne…a photographer and Scientist.

Meet Jeff…another photography (see the theme).

It was a lot of talking shop and talking gear…

We finished up in time for last train…

Always fun people on the train at this hour…

I skipping photographing the eclipse and watch it with my family…

I realize the expectations are high for me and I can’t simply skip an event like this so I wrote up a tutorial of how to photograph an eclipse:

1. Hold glasses up to the sky
2. Hold a point and shoot camera up to the glasses
3. Press shutter

This is my first eclipse photo…I am very proud.

I headed to Shimokitazawa to see what it is all about.  I have actually never been there!    I actually just wanted a soup but got sucked into all of this…

If I was in charge… there would be a sale on Blue and Orange paperclips next week….

I love standing bars… it reminds me of Kichijoji.

Lots of interesting things to see in Shimokitazawa…

Meet Happy-chan… my 6 year old’s American Crayfish (ザリガニ).

Thanks for stopping by today… don’t forget to check out the eBook, leave me your thoughts on topics for future eBooks and check out the new ShootTokyo T-Shirts.   I am off to Boston in the morning.  Join me for Sunday’s Photowalk if you are in the area.