Apr 8

Apr 8 Cherry Blossoms in B&W

I can't resist heading to Nakameguro when the Cherry Blossoms are in bloom. I decided to try the Cherry Blossoms in B&W this year. I have been trying to shoot a lot more Black and White lately but haven't found the best way to process to get the look I want. I got lost the other day for a few hours in Danish photographer Thorsten Overgaard's website where he mentions that he shoots his Leica in RAW as well as in Fine JPEG in B&W. He mentions that mostly uses the Black and White JPEGs right out of the camera. I gave it a try and it's exactly the look I want. It is interesting to see the images in both Color and Black and White as images I might have passed up in color I love in Black and White. I need to rethink my workflow a bit now as I have twice as many files to deal with but all in all a great tip.

A father and daughter enjoying the Cherry Blossoms...

I found this a bit amazing... someone was selling Cherry Blossom branches. He wasn't amused when I asked him if they were from Nankameguro. 中目黒からですか？

My friend Mark Esguerra was in town from LA and came along with me shooting. Check out Mark's blog. His friend Fumi joined us for a little while...

I love the Noctilux 50mm f/0.95. When you nail the focus it's just beautiful. Check out Fumi's eyelashes!

Samurai dinning...

I love their expressions...

A neat and random thing happened today. I got a friend request from Andreas Kaufmann on Facebook. I get a lot of friend requests so I approved it and went about my web surfing. I kept thinking 'why do I know that name...?' I did a quick Google search and turns out he is the Chairman of Leica! How cool is that?

Andreas - I love your cameras and lenses. I hope you become a reader and fan of ShootTokyo! BTW - Nice M9 Titanium in your profile pic.