Today was the 2 year anniversary of the magnitude 9.0 earthquake spawned a tsunami and a nuclear crisis in Japan. The news is filled with debates on alternative energy sources, reports of failed recovery and promises to speed up the efforts. I wrote a long post last year Remembering 3.11.2011 and the scary days that followed. It is worth a read if you haven't read it already. After too much travel lately I took off today so I could spend a bit of time at home, catch up with my family and some personal things at home... I love wandering Tokyo with my camera so a day off gave me a chance to play with my new Mamiya 645 that my friend David gave me over the weekend.

I went for a walk this morning to test out the new Mamiya and clear my head. I haven't had time to go for a walk in a while and I always find going for walks and simply wandering with my camera very refreshing. I decided to head in the opposite direction of my Train Station to see what I could find.

I stumbled upon this old and still operational battery vending machine. I'm sure this must come in super handy when Tokyo's 47,654 convient stores all close at once. I am always amused at what is put in vending machines in Japan.

Today's configuration: Mamiya 645 Kodak Portra 400 Film

あぶない！ Danger!

Me in the mirror Mamiya style...

I got some really bad lens flare with this shot. Some people are excellent at using lens flare in their shots to improve them but I haven't masters that yet...Thorsten Overgaard is one of those who know how to use it.

Make sure to check out his video with the new M. The combination of the Type 240 and shallow depth of field of the Noctilux is delicious. It makes me want to put the new M on my future purchase list...distant future as I bought too many cameras in 2012 and need time to learn all of the gear I currently have. I also have a wine fridge full of film to shoot!

This 'Estudio de Flamenco' was just in a regular neighborhood. This is one things that is really interesting about Tokyo. People take their hobbies and passions to the extreme. I think it a lot of other countries you might be considered in a geek but in Tokyo geek and obsessiveness is considered cool.

Now photographs shouldn't need to be explained but this one probably does. What looks like a house with a very interesting garden next to is is actually a house with a house next to it that was eaten by its' garden. The house and the walls were completely consumed by vines so much that it was actually growing onto the surrounding houses. I'm sure the neighbors must be pleased...

Now for those that have read about my obsession on the excessive use of cones in Japan (read: thought leadership) here is exactly what I am talking about... What purpose do those cones have?

I haven't realized how second nature shooting with my Leica has become. I am able to shoot without thinking most of the time. Unfortunately this means a few times I am shooting my new Mamiya without thinking. I ended up shooting this one at f/16 and got a really slow shutter speed. I am surprised it isn't more blurry.

I shot a few rolls of slide film and black and white that are at the lab getting processed. I'll get them back later in the week as these take a few days to process as they need to be sent off. Thankfully if I shoot color negatives I can get them back in a few hours as they process them right at Popeye Camera.

Typically I get a CD back with my negatives from Popeye Camera but surprisingly scans for medium format film are really expensive. I typically paid something like 600 Yen ($6 USD) for a CD of images from a roll of 35mm film however for roll of 120 film it is something like 10,000 Yen. I don't understand why scanning 120 film is so much more expensive than scanning 35mm film but I figured it was better to scan them myself.

I was surprised how poor the 'holders' are for 120 film for the Epson Scanner. It was really difficult to get the negatives to stay in place as the hole to scan through and the negative seem to be exactly the same size so the negatives just fall through. I already ordered myself a set of Better Scanning Plates for 120 film. I was also fighting the scanner and scanning software a lot today. I just wasn't getting the consistent results I am used to getting with 35mm. I think the scans came out OK but not nearly as good as I need to get them to. I am going to take my friend David up on some scanning lessons and work on my technique is getting better scans. All feedback and advice welcome as I am new in territory people!

Thanks for stopping by today...