Shannonvale Sunset
Post cyclonic sunsets are often spectacular. This is what we saw yesterday evening, after Cyclone Hamish kicked his clouds across the skies of Port Douglas. (The new Lumix has a lovely video feature that I haven’t made enough use of yet.)
I hope that Cyclone Hamish, now at category 5 (as strong as Hurricane Katrina) and being classed a 30 year storm, does not make land. That would be just devastating. Lordy, Australia is really having a tough year. Fires, floods, earthquakes, shark attacks, croc attacks, cyclones.
Id, 1965 – 2009.
I took this blurry pic (ripped off Jackie’s facebook album) in the backyard of my first ever share-house, back in 1985. Walker Avenue, Teneriffe, Brisbane. I lived there with my best friends Jackie and Dwayne (they were a couple at that time – that’s Dwayne on the left) and various others who passed through…..
The cool cat in the black beret with the bongo’s and the fag hanging out out the corner of his mouth died last week.
His name was Id, and he and I and all our friends went to Griffith Uni together, back in the day when it was a hotbed of all things alternative and political. That place and those times set us all on the very distinctive paths were are all on now. We were all crazy about music, and spent all our free time going to see gigs, or – if you were musically inclined, playing in bands. Id was one of the founding members of the late, great Dementia 13 (myspace page) – go take a listen to hacksaw, admire Alex’s almighty scream. Id was also in a zillion other musical projects, both here and in London when he, Jackie, Russell, Alex and Stewart lived there for a few years.
Id came out to us all a few years after this, and became the editor of Queenslands only gay and lesbian magazine, PRIDE back in 2001. He always astonishingly good with words. And he also has a great talent for photography. His Flickr page is full of great photography – some of them covers for the mag.
I haven’t seen him that much over the past 10 – 15 years, but he came along to my 40th birthday party in Australia last year, and set up a little studio in my uncle’s living room to take real portraits of people. Here is that facebook gallery (not sure if you’ll be able to see these if you aren’t his “friend”).
Last week he collapsed and died at home, it was either a heart attack or a stroke, he was only 43. He was such a lovely man, a hugely creative force and a good friend. His funeral is this Wednesday, at the Mt Gravatt Crematorium. The same day that Neil Young plays Brisbane. Some of his friends are, of course, giving up their Neil Young tickets as they’d rather be at the wake. It is going to be an enormous event, no doubt oozing with debauchery as Id would have wanted it. I’ll be there in spirit.
Id, I’ll miss you dear boy.
Technorati Tags: friends, Life & death
I’m having an exhibition – one night only – The Dr Sketchy’s Exhibition Party!
Dear Blog Friends,
I’m writing to invite you to my third (and perhaps my last?) photo exhibition in Tokyo, next weekend – Saturday November 22. This party/exhibition is the beginning of the end of my time here in Japan, the beginning of the sayonara process…. Oh how the next few weeks and months will fly!
Anyway, back to the exhibition party. I’d love to see you there.
The event will feature a 3 set performance incorporating 6 different shows by various dancin’ girls, and will run from 9 pm – 2 pm, with an afterparty at a different club afterwards. There will also be an art exhibition and a photo exhibition (mine), and 4 different DJ’s. I will be showing 15 different photos – half of them Dr Sketchy’s models, the other half various portraits I have shot over the past year, all printed on canvas at 28cm x 43cm. They will all be available for purchase, natch. We’re also making a calendar with some of the pictures from the massive haul I’ve shot over the past 7 months at the monthly Dr SKetchy drawing night (sooo much fun).
My involvement with Dr Sketchy’s Tokyo has been a truly special experience, and I’m proud to have been a part of the team alongside Lady Elle, Cherry Typhoon, Hilo, Toy and Toby. We’ve been working hard to improve the monthly event and its profile, as well as planning this big exhibition party (which is the result of a hell of a lot of work and long mid-week night meetings). It’s been a pleasure working alongside this lovely team of super-genki artists. Go Team!
Anyway, here is the spiel (and facebook event page here):
Dr.Sketchy’s Anti-Art School, Tokyo presents:
Dr. Sketchy’s Exhibition PartyDr. Sketchy’s is what happens when cabaret meets art school.
Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School, Tokyo is a cabaret sketch art salon. On Saturday November 22nd at La Boheme on Kotto Dori (Aoyama) at 9pm-2am the good Doctor will be hosting an art exhibition showcasing the work of Sketch Artists, and Sketchy Photographer Martine Cotton.
The event will be peppered with cabaret performances by a variety of Dr. Sketchy’s muses which include Tokyo’s own Ms. Exotic World Champions Erochica Bamboo, Cherry Typhoon, Safi and The Murasaki Baby Dolls. Hoop star Deanne Tonking will also be doing a show, alongside a salsa dance troupe led by Dirty Dancing Diana.
Among the featured artists are Josh McKible creator of the Nani Bird series recently on display in Shibuya Station courtesy of Art Below, Laura Hammer an artist who found the magic in Crayola and turned it into artistic alchemy and a whole host of professional and amateur young artisans.
DJ’s include Evil Penguin, James Carstensen, Bambi and Norishirocks.
Please email rsvp@drsketchytokyo.com for cheap entry (It’s \3500 at the door, \2500 if you RSVP)
_______________
Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School, Tokyo is a community life-drawing event that takes place once a month at the Pink Cow, Shibuya. We search Tokyo to find sexy people who model for you for about three hours. In between poses there are contests with cool prizes, sexy performances, drinks and all sorts of mischief.
Technorati Tags: friends, Japan, Photography, Dr Sketchy’s, Tokyo
6 years of frangipani….. and some news.
On Nov 7 2002 – this day, 6 years ago – I wrote my first blog post here at frangipani.info.
My my, how things have changed. What an amazing 6 years it’s been.
It is a suitable day to announce some big news in my world. After 6 wonderful years in Japan, it’s time to move on. At the end of Jan/early Feb, I plan to move all my worldly possessions to the place where reef meets tropical world heritage listed rainforest; the multi-coloured birds are annoyingly loud; supermarkets and pharmacy’s have product ingredients listed in English; internet connection is slow; coffee is excellent, and the local residents population is around 4000 while the transient population of tourists is around 10 000. It’s a place very dear to my heart not just because my brother and his family live there, but also because when I think of “a better life”, it always looks like this area.
Guessed where it is yet?
Port Douglas, Far North Queensland.
I just can’t wait. But I have a few things to do here first…..
M xo
Technorati Tags: Japan
BiZ Nite (Monday, October 20)
10/20 sees the Biz Nites team move on back to Daikanyama Tableaux after last months Photo Nite. Thanks to all 180 of you who attended Photo Bite despite the pouring rain – wasn’t it an inspirational night! Thanks for the support.
So, this months event is supposed to be running with 30% Hawaiian content but it remains to be seen if we will achieve that. Hawaiians are a rare breed in the megalopolis, it seems! 
We do have the guys from the Uni of Hawaii coming along to do a table and a bunch of excellent non-Hawaiians making presentations, including the snarkily brilliant Dave Gutteridge from the Tokyo Comedy Club talking about the comedy scene in Tokyo.
Other presenters include the Japan Times illustrator Chris Mackenzie, who’ll be talking about illustrating for newspapers and magazines;
…and Artist/photographer Matthew Messner who will be discussing a digital video installation he created that involved the use of multiple video and rapid imagery projections through thin, translucent material in addition to live camera footage and two-way mirrors;
…and Richard Lane from DI.fm, which is the largest fully licensed dance music radio network in the world. They broadcast free internet radio to the world and are 100% fully licensed with soundexchange in America. DI’s daily listenership peaks at over 70,000 simultaneous listeners and is listed prominently in Apple’s itunes radio, AOL music, and windows media directories.
…and our fabulous resident DJ James Carstensen who will help you get your boogie on between presentations.
There are some more juicy surprises being planned and I will be updating the facebook Biz Nites fan page with details over the weekend….
As usual, Tableaux are offering Biz Nites guests drink specials (700 yen drinks) and their delicious buffet (1300 yen). Remember, Daikanyama is just 5 minutes from Shibuya on the Toyoko – directions can be found here.
See you on Monday night, doors open at 6 pm – 11:30 pm
PS – if you are a Tokyo blogger, please do me a favour and make a mention of this event on your blog – (love viral advertising)
Technorati Tags: BiZ NITE, Japan, Tiger Music, Tokyo
Yearbook Yourself
1952
1958
1962
1964
1966
1972
1974
1984
1988
Thanks to Tracey for the silliness. Yearbook yourself – go on, I promise you you’ll waste at least an hour of your valuable work time. Personally I think 1966 is a good look for me…. 
(oh all that hairspray!)
Technorati Tags: yearbook yourself
Stepping back into the ring.
Todays pics were all taken on Sunday, when Sandi, Jeff, M & D & I hit the Muay Thai championships at Differ Ariake, out at Odaiba. So much fun! (zillions more pics to come) Thanks for the tickets, Chisa!
I remember at the beginning of the year writing about my dissatisfaction with life in Japan and how I had decided to try to plug into the foreign community scene some more, to try to get more things happening in both my freelance photography and personal worlds.
In places like Shibuya or Harajuku, I would walk past groups of interesting looking people (Japanese and foreign alike) all hunched over a pile of papers or laptops, excitedly discussing ideas, and it would make me feel so disconnected from the rattle and buzz of this cities’ frenetic underbelly of creative industries. Back in Brisbane, that world was my life: making things happen – events, festivals and festival stages, tours, media PR, planting seeds of opportunity, etc etc etc. I realised just how fulfilled that kind of work used to make me feel. I certainly needed a break from the burn out of those last few tours, but I think 5.5 years was perhaps a tad excessive.
Anyway, earlier this year I hauled my arse out from under the radar, and started going to events and parties – often to photograph them (using my existing network of friends and their contacts), and started meeting new people. In that one simple choice, “getting out there”, I managed to plug myself back into a vibrant active community of stupendously magnificent creative people who are all about the same thing: getting things done and making things happen. The opportunities being presented to me are so exciting that lately some nights I can’t actually get to sleep. I feel utterly alive. Of course, I am also hopelessly weather affected and now that summer is here, the time is right for dancing in the streets.
But this post was never meant to be an ode to how I was lost (erm on holiday) and now I am found. Far from it. It’s to talk up the first of the events I have helped co-ordinate with Tiger Music. And to say to those of you who read this blog and need to meet some people and get things moving in their lives, to please revise the notion that networking is a dirty word. Networking is your friend. Networking plants seeds of potential everywhere because you never know how each person is going to pop back into your life with a proposal or suggestion or introduction that could change your professional and personal life. Step into the ring…. (do you like the way my story kinda oh-so-cleverly segues into the pics…?) But I’m going to do that in a separate post now….
I wonder how it’s all gonna go?
Technorati Tags: BiZ NITE, Daikanyama, friends, inspiration, Japan, parties, Tiger Music, Tokyo
The Fringe Benefits of Failure and the Importance of Imagination
Photo: Getty Images
“The best presentations, the best speeches, the best advice are usually about what people learned from their failures. Steve Jobs’ legendary Stanford commencement address lifted so many hearts because he talked about his failures.”
Actually, I lifted large chunks of his speech to use as public speaking exercises with my advanced class in the high school last year – exceptionally inspirational words that helped my shy teenaged students speak out confidently and hopefully gave them hope.
Recently, J.K. Rowling gave a commencement speech at Harvard that also emphasized the power of failure and the importance of imagination. It is a powerfully impressive speech (watch or listen) and something that added an extra inch or 2 to my stride this morning.
The fact that you are graduating from Harvard suggests that you are not very well-acquainted with failure….
I think it fair to say that by any conventional measure, a mere seven years after my graduation day, I had failed on an epic scale. An exceptionally short-lived marriage had imploded, and I was jobless, a lone parent, and as poor as it is possible to be in modern Britain, without being homeless. The fears my parents had had for me, and that I had had for myself, had both come to pass, and by every usual standard, I was the biggest failure I knew.
Now, I am not going to stand here and tell you that failure is fun. That period of my life was a dark one, and I had no idea that there was going to be what the press has since represented as a kind of fairy tale resolution. I had no idea how far the tunnel extended, and for a long time, any light at the end of it was a hope rather than a reality.
So why do I talk about the benefits of failure? Simply because failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me. Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena I believed I truly belonged. I was set free, because my greatest fear had already been realised, and I was still alive, and I still had a daughter whom I adored, and I had an old typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.
You might never fail on the scale I did, but some failure in life is inevitable. It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default.
Failure gave me an inner security that I had never attained by passing examinations. Failure taught me things about myself that I could have learned no other way. I discovered that I had a strong will, and more discipline than I had suspected; I also found out that I had friends whose value was truly above rubies.
The knowledge that you have emerged wiser and stronger from setbacks means that you are, ever after, secure in your ability to survive. You will never truly know yourself, or the strength of your relationships, until both have been tested by adversity. Such knowledge is a true gift, for all that it is painfully won, and it has been worth more to me than any qualification I ever earned.
Given a time machine or a Time Turner, I would tell my 21-year-old self that personal happiness lies in knowing that life is not a check-list of acquisition or achievement. Your qualifications, your CV, are not your life, though you will meet many people of my age and older who confuse the two. Life is difficult, and complicated, and beyond anyone’s total control, and the humility to know that will enable you to survive its vicissitudes.
Source: KK
In other news: Last nights Photobiz was a fun event, great to catch up with photographer friends like Alfie, Ben, Thong and meet a bunch of new folk: Mark Oxley, Ryan Bruss, Will Robb, Yariv Revah from Nippon News to name but a few. Books were handed around, hands were shaken, tattoos compared…. ha, a fun, if shambolic event indeed. Looking forward to the next (better organised) one. Thanks to Jon Lynch for being so ambitious in trying to bring such a huge event together. Apparently 200 people turned up.
Oh, and I am so excited that my phone carrier, Softbank, has been chosen to carry the iphone when it launches here in Japan next month [JULY 11]. My crappy phone’s been playing up a lot lately and I have been on the verge of throwing it under a frikken train going in to get a new one for a month now. Gonna wait till next month now…. Hope it survives the distance.
Technorati Tags: inspiration, video
What is my “visual integrity”?
I’ve been working on building a number of portfolios for a while but keep getting stuck. I need to write a positioning statement. I know I want to do primarily portraits (I think that’s where my strength lies) and events mostly, with some travel, street and live performance photography on the side.
But I’m stuck. I need help. I need YOUR help. I’m too close to it all, and I can’t step back to get a broader perspective.
Please consider these questions, and respond in the comments. Please be gentle folks – keep it constructive and positive.
Do I have a well defined vision? If so, what do you perceive are the common elements in my photography?
What words, phrases, feelings would you use to describe my photography?
If you have the time, please tell me which do you think are my 3 best photos? And why?
Technorati Tags: portfolio, visual integrity
Walking the four corners of Japan
Images © Tyler Ensrude / Outdoor Japan
Ian (hereafter called Ivan) and I were at uni together some 20 years ago – both studying Film and Media at Griffith Uni back in the days when Griffith Uni was the coolest campus in Australia (It’s true! It was such a great campus!). He was a few years older and way cooler than me and so I was always a little scared of him. He had this cynical, acerbic tongue and wasn’t afraid to use it. The singer of a psychedelic-garage-punk band called Dementia 13 (who represented that particular mind-altering epoch for a whole bunch of us), he went on to bigger things when he moved to Sydney, with some fairly seminal bands like Nunbait who supported Nirvana on their ’91 tour of Oz. Found this great quote about them:
Nunbait “The Hub” EP ‚Äì Amphetamine fuelled, violent music. “The Hub” was a classic early ’90s release from this Sydney band, and while this recording never did the band justice compared to what they were as a live act, they were quite the ensemble to behold. A band that appeared visually to possess a very short fuse.
Anyway, fast forward quite a few years and miles, and Ivan is now living round the corner from me here in Kichijoji, preparing for an adventure far more punk rock than any Oz Pub Band. He’s going to walk solo across Japan, from its most easterly point in Hokkaido, to its most westerly point. Don’t panic – he’s done some massive walks before and survived to tell the tale in his inimitably enjoyable acerbic style. He’s a brilliant writer.
And there’s a cool zesty-lemon tangy twist to this adventure: his buddy Chris – another brilliant writer – is also walking solo across Japan, but from the most southerly point to the most northerly point at the same time. They plan to meet half way… it’s all – in the warm spirit of reckless adventure – for charity (and a toasty inner glow), and they’re gonna blog the whole thing. Read on, friends.
Happy New Year!
Happy new year! 2008! Holy cow. How time flies.
Wishing you all a fresh year of delight, joy, mischief, adventure, love, travel and satisfaction.
I will probably be leaving Japan this year, so if anyone has plans to come and visit me there, you’d better do it soon! Still haven’t decided where I’m going next – anything is possible.
In the mean time, I have a week left in Australia and I’m having a great holiday. Hope you are/did too….
This photo came from The Silver Factory Childrens component of the Andy Warhol Exhibition at the Brisbane Gallery of Modern Art, and features the delightful faces of my nephew Darcy, my dear friend Jackie and her third child Angus and moi. A fabulous photo from a fabulous day!
The eagle has flown
Phew. Think I’m gonna sleep for a week. The eagle (the surprise visitors ie my brothers family) has flown and I actually went home early last night sober and had tim-tams, vegemite toast and tea for dinner. What an amazing week it’s been. Hectic, frenetic, fabulous, drunken, laughter-filled, adventure-filled, crazy and utterly wonderful. Think I wanna turn 40 every year, it’s so much fun!
Thanks to everyone who helped organise and/or participated in the celebrations!
I’ve been going through the zillion photos and started editing, but it’ll take a while. Here are a few from yesterday – my families last day. More soon.
A great big hotpot full of love-lentils….
Just a quick one. I’m at work and have an unexpected free period so thought I’d take this time to offer a quick photo-less update as to why things have been so quiet around frangipani.info…
Ha, where do I start? With the great big hotpot of love, I guess. The perfect antidote to the coldness of Tokyoites that has been getting me down (again) recently: a huge surprise party thrown by my dear friends and family to celebrate my impending 40th birthday.
I was kidnapped (willingly) and taken to Ohama Beach, down near Shimoda on the Izu Peninsula and surprised – one by one – by my brother David, my sister-in-law Elissa and god-daughter Evie, my nephews Darcy and Fraser and then the “official babysitters” for the trip, Elissa’s parents Bert and Nerida. I had NO IDEA! The extended surprise is all on video and I plan to post it here as soon as things settle down again (tho I don’t know when that will be…).
It was a huge weekend, and I had the most wonderful time. Christian, you are the best friend a girl could ever have – how can I ever thank you for everything you have done for me and my family? Helen and Tracey – you two divine planners, thank-you, thank-you, thank-you! I love you. Ashley, Sandi, Jeff, Su-san, Kevin, Yuiko: thank-you for making the long trek down to Izu to be a part of it all. So very special. Photos, of course, to come.
But it doesn’t end there. My great buddies Mirko, Seja and Simon, from the band Sekiden, are on tour in Japan and have been staying at my place. They left this morning for Nagoya after a lovely dinner last night.We didn’t get much time together due to the big surprise Bday adventure, but my brother and I did catch them playing in Shibuya on Sunday night.
As if things couldn’t get any more frenetic, I have a few other surprise friends in town (Andrea Innocent, for one – the other yet to be un-covered and I’m dying to know who it is!) and am trying to fit all this in with my regular work schedule and the few other extra bits and bobs I need to do for my exhibition currently showing at Araku. Actually, we’re all heading out to Araku tonight so if anyone needs an excuse to go – tonights a good night to visit. AND! I leave for a one month trip to Oz in 11 days.
Glad the hotpot of love-lentils got served up on the weekend, must say that that kind of nourishment is immensely powerful. Must go, it’s almost time for my next class and the photocopying must be done….
Room for Rent, Tokyo. Oct 1, 2007…
** UPDATE**
Looks like we have a taker, ladies and gents. Thanks for your inquiries…
___________________________________________
Anyone want to move in here?
My current room-mate, Fuku-chan, is heading back to Berlin to continue her baking studies. She’s out on October 1, and we need someone to take on her room. I’m hoping for a more long-term person this time – I knew that Fuku would only be here for a while, but as we had already lived together and knew each other so well I was happy to have her back again. It’s such a drag to hunt for a new room-mate that I don’t wanna have to do it again for a while….
Anyways, I’m hoping for a vegetarian non-smoker (I know they exist), or at least someone who can cope with a vegetarian kitchen. Someone who likes a drink, music, the internet…
The room is a large, parquetry-floored room with floor-to-ceiling sliding doors opening to a lovely garden with grass. It’s about 13 mats in size.
The house is fully-furnished, with all the usual mod-cons and wireless internet, and the room has some furniture in it too: a double futon, shelves and hanging rack, floor couch and table, TV and vcr and misc lamps, laundry stuff and a shopping bike. (All yours for ¥10 000)
Rent is ¥75 000 pm, there is a small deposit to pay, and all utilities are extra.
2 lines are close by – the Chuo line (Nishi-Ogikubo station is 15 mins walk / 8 mins by bike) and the Inokashira line (Mitakadai station is 10 mins walk / 4 mins by bike), and Kichijoji is 20 minutes walk, or 10 if you’re riding. Close to Inokashira Koen, 3 supermarkets (including an international shop), a post office, dry-cleaners, bars, etc etc etc. It’s a lovely, quiet area with lots of greenery.
Pictures can be seen here.
If you’re interested, please email me at mc.outside@gmail.com, and feel free to forward this info to friends who might be interested.
October 1 is only 25 days away… crap. Hope there is someone out there!
Mr Sharma’s 8 things you didn’t know about me…
I’ve been invited to participate in numerous tell-all blog meme’s over the years and have always delicately refused participation. There’s really quite enough about me on the net (via this blog) already rendering me quite transparent, and in hindsight, possibly dangerously exposed should I be forced to suffer the whole horrible fresh job-application process in a world that now googles every applicant for anything….
But in Jodhpur, Ryosuke and I enjoyed a 15 minute sitting with the charmingly dry, eccentric, nonchalant “world-famous” Merangarh Fort astrologer and palmist, Mr S.L. Sharma, and I thought I’d share some of the things he told me about…. well, me.
So. Here are 8 things you didn’t know about me, as according to Mr Sharma. I’ll let you guess which points may be vaguely correct or completely wrong or bleedingly obvious….:
Fun fun fun
The past week has been an alternating blur of fun and stress…
I wanted to post all about my plans and the weekends parties but my computer kinda had a malfunction that was made more troublesome than it needed to be through my own stupidity and so I haven’t been able to do much blogging at all. On top of that my new croc’s have given me substantial blisters on the undersides of my feet and I can hardly walk which is a tad onerous considering from next Monday I’ll be pounding the pavement in Delhi and half of India and lots of S.E.Asia every day for the next 6 weeks or so! Not to mention the fact that it has made all my last minute running around a pain in the arse.
Oh, and did I mention the typhoon that’s due to hit Tokyo Sunday morning, when our flight is scheduled to depart…
Hahahahaha. If life wasn’t challenging it would just be so dull, wouldn’t it.
More pic’s up at Flickr.
[posted with ecto]
Career Development [correction]
My good friend Sarah is hosting a very cool career development seminar in Kanda tomorrow [WHOOPS! The seminar is on Saturday, the 26th - this weekend, NOT tomorrow] and tells me there are still spaces available.
See what anchors you in Tokyo and in life, and take the plunge with our experienced coaching and consultant staff.
Find out what moves you to passion, and what passion can bring you to your career today!
Consultation, career perspectives, and networking opportunities with food included all for \5000
Saturday, May 26, 14:00-16:30
E-mail event@7seas-consultant.com to make a reservation today
It is a retrospective look at our career choices, what motivates us to make the decisions we make, as well as using this self-insight to inform our choices in the future. I have been through this process myself, and have found it really interesting and informative with respect to my own choices. All the people I know, I think would really enjoy this process. No magical formula, not telling you what to do, just a good look at the decisions we have made in the past.
Not only that, but it is a great opportunity to network.
Go to her website for more details.
Maria Cross: polychromatic
We stumbled on a quick Maria Cross [warning, very drab website, all in Japanese] performance in Shinjuku on Friday night, just before the cops shut him down again…. There are a heap more photos to come from that night, and no, it’s not all Maria Cross… Hopefully I’ll get a chance to edit them a little this week but I have another busy week ahead of me so I don’t know if it’ll happen any time soon. I’m loving shooting at 1600 iso and getting deep grain for my night street shots. Probably a little overkill but, hey, it’s fun. You can see some more fabulous Maria Cross action at Youtube here.
[posted with ecto]
Technorati Tags: canon, canon300D, japan, shinjuku, sigma17-70mm, streetphotography, tokyo, web
Conspiracy theories
I love this. I want to give it to one of the guys who works with me. You know the type: f*cked gaijin who’s been here too long and replies to your polite self-introduction with a “Hi, I’m busy” and stealthily strides around the corridors with his don’t-frikken-talk-to-me ipod headphones on and a serious I’m-way-too-busy-to-smile-and-say-hey look on his face and has a million and one conspiracy theories cluttering his youtube account and his English classes. I despise everything about him. I suspect it’s mutual. He wants to teach the high school kids that human-generated Global Warming is just a big conspiracy theory. “It happens naturally” every millenium or so. Ha. So quickly? I don’t think so.
Such a d*ck. I would like to file a bug report with the gods on this one.
Another excellent webcomic piece from xkcd.com/.
they seek it here, they seek it there, that damned elusive…..
Riding to my first lesson of the day early this morning, I passed by this ‚Äúfreshman‚Äù office worker stuck with the job of setting up and guarding the office posse’s spot for the annual cherry blossom (sakura) viewing piss-up. No doubt he was given this job a couple of weeks ago when it was announced that the sakura would be out by the 18th. Ha. Despite a few deep bows and profuse apologies from the mistaken sakura bureau chief, most companies were already, sadly, stuck with their long-before-scheduled day of debauchery, despite the lack of blossoms…. I really wouldn’t mind this job. Laying about under the trees in the sunshine waiting for the office crew to arrive…
Anyway, I completed my first lesson and sat with Daz in the morning sun for a bit, shooting the breeze as you do, when one by one, all plans for the day fell apart with each incoming text. At a loss for something to do, I figured today was as good a day as any to go on the hunt for that damned elusive first-sakura-blossom-of-the-season. Bear with me as I share my story in pictures….
*sigh. Doesn’t look good from here.
Technorati Tags: funny, inokashirakoen, japan, parties, hanami, tokyo
Money. That’s what I want.
Picture generated from Big Huge Labs Flickr Toys Warholiser…
Technorati Tags: davidbach, unexpected, financialplanning
The flap and fluster of putting on your own show
Oh shite, whose bright idea was it to have an exhibition? I’ve just realised I know NOTHING about how to produce and exhibit a photo exhibition. Yeah, yeah, I got all the nice papers and stuff, chosen the pics, bought the lovely frames…. now I find that different print settings on different papers radically alter the photos appearance and I can’t decide which ones I like best, and half the frames I bought need to be re-matted to fit the photo sizes and… and…. and… oh crap. I’m in a not-so-mild panic. With only 3 more nights – with 2 fullish teaching days between now and Saturday eve -, I don’t see myself getting a lot of sleep. It’s all been pretty cool in terms of learning – just wish I had more time. But don’t we always. Hope I can pull all this off by Saturday evening. Wish me luck!
Technorati Tags: B&WPhotography, events, japan, kichijoji, life, news, photography, tokyo, toycameras
mOnOchrOmic: an exhibition of B&W photography
mOnOchrOmic
an exhibition of
B&W photography
by Martine Cotton
2007/2/10 – 28 @ mikorin
1-25-2 Kichijoji-Honcho, Musashino-shi, Tokyo 180-0004
I’m really happy to announce that I have finally gotten around to organising an exhibition of my photos. Holy crap. What a feat! It’s going to feature about 20 or so medium format (square) B&W’s taken in Japan, Thailand, Taiwan and Australia, using a Holga 120N.
Recently I’ve been drawn much more to black and white film, which is surprising me because until now I’ve always loved deeply saturated, vivid colour in photography. There is something beautifully ethereal and timeless about black and white film photos, particularly medium format film shot on old or toy cameras.
I actually had the foresight not to publish some of my more recent film photos here or at my holga album at Flickr so that this exhibition would actually have some unseen material. The prints at the exhibition will be available for sale, and will be printed on achival A4 sized paper using archival inks. Unfortunately the scanned image above was done hastily on my old crappy scanner before I sent the prints and negatives away…. I’m really embarrassed by the low resolution image but hey, I still gotta promote the show so…. forgive me!
The place where the exhibition is being held is my friends little nomiya – a small Japanese style bar with room for about 10 customers, open from 6 pm till midnight except Thursdays. Of course there’ll be a party on opening night – Saturday 10th Feb, but the show will be open for two and a half weeks and I’ll be there every Saturday, Sunday and Monday night for the duration. If you can’t make it down on the 10th, please try to come by sometime later. If you email me, I’ll try to meet you there, but if I can’t – please don’t be shy! Mikorin is a very cool bar run by a good friend who shares the same name as the bar. She speaks some English and enjoys chatting with foreigners so please support her by buying a few drinks (or herbal tea if that’s your thing) while checking out the photographs.
Wow. My first ever photo exhibition. I’m so chuffed. Hope I sell something!
Technorati Tags: B&WPhotography, events, japan, kichijoji, life, photography, streetphotography, tattoo, toycameras, travelphotography
