A rainy Tuesday in Tokyo. I cannot think of a better way to start your day than to sit down and relax with a coffee. Sit alone, collect your thoughts and plan your attack for your day. My day quickly becomes consumed absorbing information from every angle. I read The Wall Street Journal daily on my iPad or Online. I read a handfull of blogs daily. I keep up to date on my social networks; Google+, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and various photography forums. I keep up with all of the correspondence regarding ShootTokyo. I am also constantly filling my head with new information on photography and blogging. I am also constantly trying to study Japanese. I keep up with professional and industry news. I am shocked that I am able to keep up with it all sometimes...this is where caffeine and a tireless drive is really helpful to me.

Today's Camera: Ricoh GR IV Digitial

Cafe Americano...low fat cold milk on the side.

I have been following the recent Leica annoucements closely over the past week and finding some people's reactions pretty amusing. There are a few different camps. Some that think that making a monocrome only camera is ridiculous. I think those people simply don't understand what Leica is trying to do. The Online Photographer has written a great article on "Why Would a Digital Camera Have a B&W-Only Sensor?". It is well worth the read.

Another camp is complaining that Leica has 'sold out' and become a 'luxury brand'. A lot of this is being driven by the price tag of the new 50mm APO Summicron f/2.0 lens at $7,000. I suggest if you think it is too expensive then don't buy it. Buy the 'normal' f/2.0 for $2,300 or the f/1.4 for $1,300. It seems a bit strange for a company like Leica to announce what they consider the 'best lens they have ever made' in 100 years of lens making and everyone is complaining it is way too expensive. The reality is prices are often determined by what the market is willing to bear and my guess is this lens will be sold out for months.

The last camp is saying The Edition Hermes is just ridiculous. A lot of people do not realize that Hermes 'rescued' Leica in a sense when they were having financial trouble. The former President of Hermes Jean-Louis Dumas was a huge supporter of Leica and a Leica photographer so this edition is to honor that friendship. The camera in this set is accompanied by three lenses: a Leica Summicron-M 28mm f/ 2 ASPH., a Leica Noctilux-M 50mm f/0.95 ASPH. and a Leica APO-Summicron-M 90mm f/2 ASPH., all featuring a stunning silver-anodised finish.

One thing I notice more and more lately is no one is ever interacting...everyone is on their mobile devices.

Except this guy who looked up from this mobile device to see what I was taking a picture of.

Now how often do you get to see a 30 foot high metal spider?

Anyone who knows me well knows I always have a million little projects going on at once. I am taking a few weeks of vacation and finally have the time to catch up on many of these projects.

I stopped by Aoyama Book Center to check out some photography books. I am doing a little more research for my photography book I mentioned yesterday. I have already chosen a book designer to help me with a layout. I am currently going through my entire Lightroom catalog and cleaning it up a bit, completing all of my meta data and as part of that selecting my images for the book.

If you remember one of my goals this year was publish a book and I think I am tracking to be able to do that. I am happy that I also got published in Guy Kawasaki's 'What the Plus?' and The Plus One Collection charity book but I won't be satisfied until I have published my own book.

I have been meaning to restart my ShootTokyo Newsletter. My previous platform was just too difficult and time consuming to produce the newsletter in a reasonable amount of time. I was very happy to find a platform that I can create a newsletter in a reasonable amount of time. I have also been working on a small eBook with some tips on photography basics that I will be giving away to subscribers of my Newsletter. You can subscribe at the bottom of this post.

I have been working on an overhaul to the interface of ShootTokyo. The new ShootTokyo is clean, slick and streamlined. It should be completed in a few days and will be live on ShootTokyo!

Lastly, I have been looking for a better way to bring you my ShootTokyo than printing in Japan and shipping from Japan. This just makes it too expensive for everyone involved. I have worked out a solution and you should expect to see the store back stocked with T-shirts in a few weeks. Like I said I never sleep!