Two days ago, on the fifth day of the fifth month my little boy James turned five. He fills my days with joy. Here we are together looking into a puddle, in a shot inspired by fellow Apple World Gallery photographer, Cielo De La Paz.
Happy Birthday
This shot was taken last week with the Fuji X100T in London. Did not shoot a lot with this camera while in London. The iPhone was much more employed.
The music may have stopped, but the dance continues
Two more shots from the short trip to Tokyo again today. I was there for only four days and it rained so much. The first time I had been in Tokyo it also rained a lot. Being a real Irishman, I never feel the need to get an umbrella. Umbrellas and rain gear are really just for tourists when they come to Ireland. The rain in Ireland comes mainly in showers and having to carry an umbrella around is a pain in the ass, to be honest. But in Tokyo when it rains, it seems like it never ends. Back in 2012, when I met Michael Kistler one of the first things we did together was to enter a convenience store and to my surprise Michael bought me an umbrella – a transparent one. OK, I thought. Why not?
Now when I am in Tokyo I make sure to get a transparent umbrella. Why? Because it allows me to get these beautiful shots of Tokyo through the transparent umbrella. Here is one of those I got in 2012.
This one I am posting today was shot on the Fuji X100t on an early Friday evening in Shibuya. I like the girl making eye contact on the right of the frame.
Keeping Dry in Tokyo
The iPhone image was shot on a Saturday morning – when it was not raining – in Ginza, which to my surprise has the main street pedestrianised at weekends. I had been in Ginza a few times, but had never really liked it that much in comparison to other Toyko districts. But being able to wander around the street unencumbered by traffic was a great experience.
I am always drawn to lines (pun intended). I found these diverging lines and I knew how I wanted to compose the image. I wanted a couple to approach and part on either side of these lines. Now, this is much easier to imagine in the inside of my head than to actually occur, what with me lingering on the line waiting to snap the approaching passersby. I had to pretend I was talking on the phone. I saw this couple approach and like so much of photography – patience met luck and as they came to the line they parted and walked on either side of the line. Click! I got the shot.
This divide between us will be filled with love or loss
I wish I had more time to sit down and document all the things that have happened recently, but I seem to be playing catch up with so much at the moment. Hopefully, things will calm next week and I will get around to recording all the great things I have experienced in recent weeks.
Here are two images from the recent short trip to Tokyo. Is there anywhere in the world where the people are as obsessed with keeping dry as in Tokyo? Everyone, except this for this guy it seems, carries an umbrella.
Conform?
This iPhone shot was taken late on my last night in Tokyo. It had been raining for more than 24 hours solid. These young people are handing out flyers to passersby to attract them into their nightclubs and bars. They didn’t hand any to me. I must be getting old.
Shibuya Night
Things on my mind today:
1. Fuzziness – after a marathon journey 26-hour home from Tokyo, I am super jet-lagged.
2. I am behind in the work I need to do.
3. I have so many images to work through and so far it looks like I will be doing a lot of deleting.
4. That is normal.
5. First impressions in photography, should not be taken too seriously .
6. To be confirmed….
Here is an iPhone photograph of my photo on a billboard in Harajuku, Tokyo. It was a beautiful experience to see my image in different locations around Tokyo. Unbelievable to actually believe I have a photograph on display in Tokyo.
Harajuku, Japan
I got my Fuji X100t back from the repair shop. Well, actually a new one to replace the old one. I used it a lot in Tokyo and had fun. I should update my review some time soon. This one had me in a dilemma – black and white or colour. My jet-lagged head says colour. Might change to black and white upon readjustment.
Shibuya, Tokyo
News: I won the Mira Mobile Photography Prize. Super happy, as you can imagine. Thanks to all for the kind words and congratulations!
What I like about the Fuji x100t is that what you get straight out of the camera is a top class image quality. The few shots I have posted to Flickr with it have all had minimal post processing, which is a good thing. Looking back at older photos, I do see when I over-processed images, and you know it makes me cringe. But that is the journey. It is all about learning and evolving.
This x100T image was created in the Duomo in Milan. The world-famous cathedral. Like many cathedrals and churches they have become tourist sites, but still are places of worship. I was struck by this man’s composure and demeanour. I studied him for a while as he sat in front of the altar deep in prayer. I envy people who have faith, because the feeling of being loved is the most special feeling of all, and I can only imagine what the sensation must be to feel the love of a god, a creator. When I was a child, I felt God’s presence and never doubted it. When I entered adolescence, that feeling left and it has never returned.
I got a few shots of this man in prayer, both with the Fuji and the iPhone. Then I lit a candle for my friend Liam who had recently passed away, said my own little prayer. Thanked God for the many blessings I have and continued on with being a tourist in a church.
Being Heard
The iPhone image was also taken in the same cathedral. It shows more tourists.
God’s Tourists
Have been so taken up with the Apple ‘shot on iPhone‘ experience that I have not posted new photographs on here for a while. Since buying the new Fuji x100t, I have been out a few times with it. I still need to get control over this camera but I am happy with some of the shots I have managed.
This first one is one I got on Cork’s Grand Parade (what a fancy name for a street – I would guess when they were giving it its title they had images finely dressed ladies and gentlemen sauntering along on sunny summer days in mind). The building the guy is standing in front of has been derelict now for a long time. I like that we cannot see this man.
This future is now. Kiss it!
The second photograph is another Fuji one and part of the ongoing series of images of reflections I am working on. This was shot into the venetian blinds of the windows of a bank opposite a church in the city centre of Cork.
Cork
And on to some iPhone images. Advertising works! Inspired by some of the landscapes shots on the Apple World Gallery I found that when I was out I was framing landscape shots and thinking could I do that? Don’t know if I want to, but I do know I like trees. And we all know what trees need to do.
Trees need to cheer the fuck up
The most recent iPhone shot is one that was lying in the archives until it popped out when I was looking through them. Not sure how I missed this one from Taipei last year. I love the colours.
Taipeie
I will post an update to ‘The story of my ‘shot on iphone’ photograph’ on Monday.
First of all, a very big thanks to all who passed on their good wishes to me yesterday in relation to my photo appearing in the Apple iPhone World Gallery. I really appreciate it. Thanks!
If any of you are in any of these cities, you might get to see my shot. If you do, please send me a photo of it. I’m told it is on display in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Charlotte Lousiana, Bogota Colombia, Berlin, Hamburg, Milan and Kuala Lumpur. I still cannot believe it, to be honest.
Back to my daily posts to Flickr. Here is a shot I got in Dublin the weekend before last. I am still learning with the Fuji, but I do like its colours. With this shot, the strong shadows and the vivid colours of the shop display caught my attention. It wasn’t the easiest of shots to get because it is on one of the main streets heading into the city centre in Dublin and the traffic, as you can imagine was very heavy. I like the shadow of the little boy who had just run across the street.
Dublin
This iPhone image is another in my series of reflections. I have been to this location in Cork a lot and still am not fully happy with the shots I get. But isn’t that what it is all about?
River Lee Reflections