I am packing this morning and heading off to Sydney for a few days of work. I feel like I never seem to stop lately as I only got back from Las Vegas less than a week ago. I can't decide which cameras to pack. I am going to be doing a few of my $10 Head Shots for Charity while in Sydney so I need to pack my M9. Most people want a headshot in color but I want to explore a bit in the early morning if I have some time and I want to use my Leica Monochrom M to do that. I haven't updated in a while on this project but I have been able to raise $8,000USD taking head shots! It is a great way to meet people and to raise money for a charity you care about.

I also donated 3 large prints for an auction they were holding to raise money to build a hospital and they sold for $5,000USD! It is amazing that I have been able to raise $13,000 to help Cambodia. A few people that lost at the auction actually contacted me to buy prints as well!

The first print I donated is one of my favoriate shots from last year. I took this from my friend Richard's apartment in NYC after we attended the Jay Maisel Workshop together. One of the things Jay really drilled into us was about working a shot and finding the shot that no one else is seeing. Everyone was shooting the views of Central Park and missed the great reflections in the side of the building. Richard said after all of the years living in the building he had never seen that view. I am really proud of this shot. I have it hanging in my office at home and I sent a print to Richard as well.

The second print I donated was a shot of the Merlion in Singapore. Since the auction was being held in Singapore I figured it was a good piece for the auction. I really like this shot as well. I took this on a business trip to Singapore. I got up every morning and kept working the shot until I got what I was hoping for. I actually sold a print of this the day I took it!

Last was a shot I took in London a bunch of years ago. I don't do much HDR but I think it really works in this shot.

Today's configuration: Ricoh GR Digital IV

If I stand up from my desk this is what is directly behind me. You can see Shinjuku off in the distance. I love looking out this window and seeing how busy Tokyo is. I can see helicopters landing at the US Army barracks below, cars racing down the express way and the occasional window washer goes. The window washer usually scares the hell out of me if I am not expecting to see him when I turn around.

My company has the entire floor we I can get a 360 view of Tokyo!

It can be a bit creepy when it starts to rain and the sky whites out. This example isn't so bad but sometimes all you can see is white. It reminds me of those Sci-Fi movies where you lose the alien and then he (it?) presses against the glass...

The sunsets are pretty amazing as well...

Living overseas you often find yourself wanting or things from home. Certain foods, magazines, TV shows, etc. iTunes and my iPad has simplified at lot of this as you can get just about any magazine on your iPad and I download some shows on my iTunes. Thankfully I am not a huge TV watcher. I choose to use my time more productively...on the Internet.

Over time you lose the desire for a lot of things and pick up a desire for new things. You celebrate some holidays and not others. You kept true to some customs but have adopted new ones in your life. You become a bit of a hybrid of both cultures. You don't feel 100% like the country where you come from but you also don't fit in 100% in your adopted country either. It is an interesting position to be in and one of the interesting things about living overseas.

I was very excited to find News Cafe just around the corner from my house. I mentioned it in my last post and got a lot of questions so I thought I would share a little more. It is a very small cafe that servers American cuisine. It is run by a Japanese woman named Kayoko who seems to love all things American. While she stays true to the menus she modifies them just a bit to make them not has heavy as their traditional American counterparts. I leave very satisfied but without that very heavy feeling I get when I eat when I am in America. It is my slice of America in the middle of Tokyo...

My wife Mayumi and I have gone here a few times and it has quickly become our favorite place.

A pretty typical menu...

Documentation tools...

She has one of those boards where people put pins to note where they are from... Clearly we need to drive some demand generation from Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador for her.