Exploring Ebisu

We decided to head from my office to Ebisu to shoot for a little while.   I love the few blocks surrounding Ebisu station.  The streets are often pretty quiet but packed with lots of little restaurants and bars that make for great scenes for photography. 

Odd Hours

I have always been someone who kept odd hours.   I'm usually the last person to go to bed.  I tend to retire around 1 or 1:30AM.   I also tend to be the first person to the office which means I'm getting up around 6:30AM or so.   

Los Angeles

This week I had a short trip to Los Angeles.   I left Tokyo on Tuesday afternoon and I'm currently on the Saturday 1AM return flight.  With the time changes I arrived in LA on Tuesday 11AM

Jet Lag

I stayed up until 10:45PM last night and sure enough I'm wide awake at 1:40AM.  I tried everything I could fall back sleep.  After 2 hours of staring at the ceiling I decided to do some work.   

Familiar Places

I love going back to places where I have spent a lot of time in the past.  I instantly feel reconnected. My mind fills with memories of past adventures in the area.   I worked in the area for more than two years and had a lot of great meals in the area.  

Coffee with Steve

My friend Steve was in Tokyo from Taiwan last week.   We always try to get together when he is in town but I have missed him the last few times.   I wasn’t able to get out for shooting with him but he was able to stop by my office for a coffee and a chat.

Snowy New York City

I had a short business trip to New York City last week. The East Coast of the United States was hit with one of the worst storms in many years and with all of the flight delays the trip ended up being a little longer than planned.

Film for a while

I think I am going to go back to shooting only film for a while. I really like the look and feel I can get with film. I like the focus that it brings to my photography. I have such an excess supply of film. Focus, great images, I only see upside.

Fresh and Focused

The new year is here so it's time to shake off the holiday attitude and be fresh and focused for a fast start to the new year. I always try to think about how I want to focus myself in the new year and this period is a good time to do that.

They Don't Serve Ketchup

I found the best burger place in Tokyo but shocking they don't serve ketchup. It doesn't matter. This is probably the best burger I have ever eaten. It was nothing short of amazing. I can't wait to eat here again.

My New Project

I get emails constantly by companies offering free gear.  Sometimes they just offer free gear and sometimes they are looking for paid placement on ShootTokyo through my posts.  I have said no every time as I am not a gear review site and I am not looking to have

5 Years

Five years ago today I sat down at write my first post here on ShootTokyo.  This is my 735th post.   I had very little knowledge about my camera and what I was about to start when I sat down to write the first post.  This is a journey I’m glad I took and

Four Prints

I was contacted a few months ago by a law firm in DC looking for a print for their new offices.   Most of their work is with Tokyo based clients so they were looking of a print of Tokyo.   After a bit of back and forth they decided on a print of my photograph of

War Against War

There has been a building debate in Japan as its current Prime Minster plans to modify the current pacifist constitution and the debate is specifically around the modification of Article 9. Here is a good summary of the issue from the US Library of Congress:

Unproductive Weekend

I had an unproductive weekend, sort of.  Netflix just launched in Japan last week.   It’s a little hard to say that since I worked on Saturday but stay with me.   As someone who tries to be as productive as possible at all times it’s embarrassing to say I

Analog Sunday

I woke up this morning wanting to buy some new photography equipment.  I’m not sure why.  Perhaps it was because my friend John Hall Blog let me try his Leica Q on Friday night.    That is a pretty amazing camera.  I checked availability but nothing is available

Staying Balanced

Another busy week in Tokyo.  I am working really hard to keep everything in my life balanced.  It easy to get really busy or focused on one thing and have something else end up falling over.   For the past few weeks I felt like I have been able to maintain a very good

Sell Your Soul

Another busy week in my life.  I think I am finally finding a good balance of my work schedule, Japanese study, photography and family (at least this week).  I hope I can continue to balance this and maybe find a little more time for exercise.  I have been watching

Reinstated

I have had a lot going on lately.  Wow it’s been almost a month!   I think this was the longest I haven’t posted on ShootTokyo but life sometimes goes that way.  I have been super busy with some family things that needed my attention.  It just wasn’t