Frankfurt Airport 5AM

My 12 hour flight from Tokyo went very smoothly.   I boarded the flight and like clockwork I was fast asleep before the door even shut.   I slept 9 hours straight.   That is longer than I sleep any night of the week.  I was able to get about half way through my

Two for Tuesday

I just finished packing and have a 1am flight to Frankfurt with a connection to Dublin.    I know a lot of people don’t like red eye flights but they really are perfect for me.    I sleep really well on planes.   It is a 12 hour flight to Germany, I have a 5

The mean streets of Jiyugaoka

I hope everyone’s year is off to a good start.  I can feel mine beginning to pick up after a nice break from travel with a trip to Dublin later this week and London the following.   I am very excited as I have never been to Dublin before and it is a place I have

Starting Early

I have been to the office pretty early so far this year.  I tend to be a pretty early arriver to the office.  Usually I just jump right into replying to emails and getting started on my day.  I have decided to spend the first hour of my day focused on finishing

Always carry your camera

I was watching an interview with the great Jay Maisel on KelbyOne the other day.   Jay is an iconic photographer and has been in the business for 60 years and is a wealth of wisdom.   He is retired now and teaches photography workshops in NYC.   In the interview Jay

In search of colors and light

I was sitting back after setting my goals for 2015 and announcing them on ShootTokyo and letting the gravity of the goals sink in.    A first I feel a bit bold for setting such aggressive goals.   Then I think about the goals a bit more.  Then a mild panic attack sets

Welcome to the future

Happy New Year!    Welcome to 2015.   I hope you enjoyed your New Year’s celebrations.   Mayumi and I just stayed in and enjoyed each others company. For those of us in my generation we grew up watching the movie Back to the Future.   In Back to the Future II

The year comes to an end

I love this time of year.   Japan shuts down at the end of the year and I have some time to myself so I can close out on all of the unfinished things in my life.  I finish any paperwork I need to get done around the house, I empty my email boxes, I go through my

Another day in Tokyo

Two of my friends Marysol and Dennis were in Tokyo from Texas.   Dennis was kind enough to be one of the seven big backers on my Kickstarter Project that helped me to fund the creation of my ShootTokyo Book.   We first caught up for long lunch and then a personal

Street Photography Basics

Being a blog owner I get all sorts of email.   Can I do a guest post?   Can you do a review of [insert product name here]?   Is ShootTokyo for sale?    Can you write a guide book on photowalks in Tokyo so I can sell it along with my others?   Can you translate this

It's been a while

I’ve had the song “It’s been a while” from Staind stuck in my head for a few months now.  I love that song… December and January are fantastic months for viewing Mt Fuji from Tokyo.   The sky is very clear, especially in the morning.  I

Finding Temples

One thing I love about living in Japan is finding temples to explore. There are some really amazing temples in Tokyo.   After living here a while you find yourself going back and fourth to the same temples over and over again.  One of my favorite temples to explore is

ShootFukushima

I have finished my ShootFukushima project last week.   If you haven’t gotten a chance to check it out please do.  It comprised of 9 posts of the trip that have been shared more than 4,500 times!  As a photographer is it really good to work on projects sometimes

Lunch in the Clouds

My friends Stephen and Laura were in town from Taipei this weekend.  My wife Mayumi and I caught up with them for a long and casual lunch at the New York Grill on the 52th floor of Shinjuku’s Park Hyatt Hotel.    The bar in this restaurant became famous in the

The Panasonic Lumix Smart Camera CM1

A few weeks ago Panasonic released the Lumix Smart Camera CM1 in France and Germany and is expanding to the UK.  I was lucky enough to find my way to one.    This is being positioned as a Smart Camera or a Compact Camera with Smartphone Technology.   It is a full

Goshikinuma Lake

So I have reached final post in my ShootFukushima series.    This was a great trip and I really enjoyed learning about the area.  I’ll have a video coming in the next few days. I’m glad I have been posting all of these up over the past few weeks.  It gave

Kitakata Sake Brewery

The next stop was to Kitakata Sake Brewery.   I love Japanese Sake.  Its one of the really good things about Japan.  As we approached the brewery I saw this older man filling water bottles from the stream out from.  I asked him why it was doing that.   Apparently the

Tea and Crafts

After getting our fill of cats we headed over for some green tea and crafts.   We were speaking about the difference between Japan and other countries.  One of the things that really strikes me about Japan is how people focus on one thing looking for perfection.   At

Neko Jinja

After lunch we headed over to check out this little shop nearby that has a Neko Jinja (Cat Shrine) on the second floor… Today’s Configuration: Leica M9-P with a Summilux 21mm f/1.4 and a Ricoh GR The crew… The Neko Jinja is an entire replicate of a

The Kanji Master

After a great bowl of Ramen in Kitakata I stopped off to visit a Kanji Master. I haven’t ever been to a Kanji Master before so I didn’t know what to expect… Today’s Configuration: Leica M9-P with a Nocitlux