A hundred years ago, the most powerful man in the world – for all his riches and might – couldn’t have done this.

And yet today, we fly above forests of clouds, islanded amongst seas of white, uninterrupted sunsets lining the entire horizon.

I try not to take it for granted.

1. East Coast Night
2. This One’s for the Turtles

Continuing from Parts 1 & 2 of my recent photographic trip to Tokyo, Japan, where I continue my exploration of street photography.

After grabbing a quick breakfast at the convenience store right next to this junction, I hung around while waiting for a call. I noticed the light was lovely that morning, took out my camera and started shooting. There’s something I like about this one. Makes me think of my own solitary early morning commutes to work, feeling like the weight of the day ahead was already upon me even before I’d started.

This was shot at another crossroads, about half an hour later at Omotesando Street. I spotted this beautiful mother and daughter pair from across the road and snapped a few photos, feeling again that mixture of excitement at getting a good shot and nervousness at disturbing someone else’s privacy.

This was a happy accident. I probably didn’t think too much of the shot at the time, and only saw this result later back at home. It’s not the best of compositions, but I love how the overexposed sky elevates the star from a Christmas ornament to something altogether mystical.

Omotesando Street, if you’re not familiar with it, is one of the glitzier shopping areas in Tokyo, with high-end boutiques and beautiful shopping centers. Its stores are filled with exquisite items, which are usually pretty high-priced, and its streets are filled with beautiful people – I saw some of the best dressed people I’ve ever seen here.

When I saw this dapper gentleman I just had to take a picture. Later on, I realized this was part of what made taking pictures on the streets of Tokyo so much fun; there are so many well-dressed people there that you’d be hard-pressed not to snap an interesting photograph.

Talking about fashionable, even the motorbikes in Tokyo are full of style. I realized this while watching the traffic go by at a crossroad (yes, lots of crossroads for me that morning). Check out this girl’s funky red ride! She was looking pretty good herself, but I prefer this shot where you really get to focus on the details of her bike.

I was waiting for a friend at this crossroads for a good 40 minutes or so – turns out we were both waiting at the wrong place for each other. But I discovered something while waiting for those 40 minutes with my camera in my hands; lots of fascinating subjects pass by at crossroads. It brings to mind something a travel photographer said to me once: Sometimes you just park yourself at a street corner and shoot everything interesting that passes by.

This is one of my favorite photos from the trip. It encapsulates for me what Henri Cartier-Bresson describes as “…the harmony between subject and form that leads each one of those elements to its maximum of expression and vigor.” I love how the colors work in the lead subject; how the blacks complement the browns while contrasting with the purple and yellow. I love the purposeful stance he’s in as he looks out of the frame. I love how he’s positioned perfectly along the rule of thirds, while the background contains a nice, full crowd just out of focus on the periphery.

I realize that this looks like a perfectly ordinary photo to any viewer, but I suppose it’s one of those photos that have more personal meaning to the photographer than the viewer. I feel as if everything I worked for that morning, shooting on street corners, standing up, sitting down, climbing up, squatting down, twisting and turning, shooting complete strangers, came together in this little chance moment of time that might have missed my eye completely and been lost forever, if not for the instance-stopping frame of my camera.

I love that about photography; the ability to capture meaning and memory in a way which wouldn’t have been possible with the mind and eye alone.

1. Photographing Tokyo, Autumn: Part 2
2. Photographing Tokyo, Autumn: Lessons Learned
3. Photographing Tokyo, Autumn: Part 1

Continuing from Part 1 of my recent photographic trip to Tokyo, Japan.

The one day we went out of the city was the one day it kept drizzling. Instead of being disappointed though, I wondered if I could take advantage of the rainy weather. Sure enough, I realized that there were many beautiful colors and patterns in the umbrellas that people were carrying. In this shot, I love how the color of the umbrella complements the color of the temple in the background.

There was a price to shooting in the rain though. I realized very soon that I couldn’t shoot holding both an umbrella and a Canon 7D DSLR at the same time, so I abandoned the umbrella and walked around in the drizzle, tucking the camera into my jacket whenever I wasn’t shooting. Although it got really cold with the rain and the wind (around 10 degrees Celsius), I was more worried about the rain getting onto my DSLR than getting onto me! The Canon people assured me that the 7D was weather-proof, but I kept wiping raindrops off as fast as I could.

This is one of my favorite shots taken during the trip. I was wandering around the temple grounds when I noticed a spot where a few white birds were hanging around. I parked myself there and waited for them to start flying around, which they were quite happy to do every once in a while.

I wanted to achieve two things with these shots; one was to try and photograph an illustration of an idea, instead of simply photographing a pretty picture. Since my subject was birds, I tried to illustrate the idea of freedom with this series. The second thing I wanted to do was to catch the birds against the small temple in the background, so it could provide context to the picture.

I shot a lot of photos at this spot, and I could have happily stayed there for the rest of the day just shooting away, trying to catch as many decisive moments as I could. But unfortunately I only had 15 minutes before I had to leave. I got quite a few usable shots in those 15 minutes though, and I remain convinced that I wouldn’t have gotten as many without the quick 8 frames per second ability of the Canon EOS 7D and a fast Sandisk Extreme Pro CF card, both of which I was lucky to get on loan. It really made me understand how important good gear is when you need to place high demands on it.

Most of the shots I took in Japan the previous year were of inanimate objects; architecture, interiors and still life. I wanted to challenge myself to shoot photos with more emotion and life this time round, as well as a more human sense of Japan, so I started to shoot street candids. This was something I’d never done before I went on this trip, so it was a real stretch for me!

We were waiting for the bus and I noticed the pedestrian crossing ahead would release streams of people our way every once in a while, so I stood right in the middle of the street, pointed my camera forward and started shooting away. I was part nervous, afraid someone would scream at me, part embarrassed, not sure if I was being rude, and part excited, because I was getting some really good shots. This was one happy accident that happened (see what I mean by those umbrellas?).

I’m not sure if it’s a cultural thing, but I noticed that Japanese people weren’t as adverse to having their photos taken by random photographers as Singaporeans, in fact some of them were quite game and posed for my camera. Maybe looking like a tourist helped! In either case, I realized that the ins and outs of being a street photographer was something I was only beginning to learn.

This is another shot I particularly like, and I have to thank Paul-Henri Cahier for the inspiration behind it. Before I saw his beautiful impressionistic photographs of the F1 night races, I thought all photographs had to be picture-perfect sharp. The moment I saw this car at the crossing, I knew I wanted to try my hand at making the same effect.

By then, I’d missed too many shots and learned it was much better to travel with the camera in my hands, even if it was cumbersome and made me look like a snap-happy tourist. Which was lucky for me, because I probably had 3 to 5 seconds from the moment I saw this car to when it drove away.

That’s it for Part 2. Look for Part 3 coming soon, where I really start exploring street photography in the streets of Tokyo, Japan.

1. Photographing Tokyo, Autumn: Part 1
2. Photographing Tokyo, Autumn: Lessons Learned
3. Photographing Tokyo, Autumn: Part 3

I was in Tokyo a couple of weeks back for a short 6 days. Besides the event I covered for work, I was there for a second reason: to take as many photos as possible for future use in the photography section of the magazine I write for.

Even though I started with my first manual SLR and digital camera in the late 90s, I hadn’t taken photography seriously since I left school. But it’s something I’ve been really getting into lately. I pushed myself in Tokyo to take better pictures than I’d taken before, and I’d like to share a few I’m particularly pleased with.

Note: I shot everything with a Canon EOS 7D with a kit 18-135mm lens, which was on loan from Canon (and is a dream of a camera).

Chris was our tour guide during the event days. I first met him last year during a similar trip to Tokyo, he’s from Taiwan and speaks fluent Mandarin, Hokkien, Japanese and English. A funny guy, and I love the way he was standing in the rain with the twin umbrellas as he tried to herd us into the bus.

I like this one, but this is one of the rare few shots of architecture I shot this time round. Before I left for the trip, I looked through the photos that I’d shot in Tokyo last year, and most of them were of inanimate objects; architecture, abstracts and still life. I realized that I’d grown used to shooting photos like that and I wanted to challenge myself this time round to shoot differently.

Instead of cold, inanimate buildings, I wanted my photos to convey a depth of feeling and that involved capturing people and their expressions as best as I could. I wasn’t too sure about how to do that, but I did have some ideas, and I took it as a big learning trip to learn how to capture the decisive moment as much as anything else.

I shot lots of hands the night I took this shot, I shot these, I shot a flute player’s hands, I shot a koto player’s hands, I shot a friend’s hands. I don’t know what my sudden fascination with hands was all about but hey, when inspiration strikes, I suppose you just have to run with it. The background behind this maiko was horrible where she was standing, but by zooming into her hands I managed to capture the lovely details of her kimono. Really love the warm colors here and the way her hands are folded is just perfect.

Last one for part 1. Another instance where the background wasn’t working, and zooming into the detail really helped – lucky I had a telephoto lens attached! I love the complementary cool greens against the warm reds here, and again, so much beautiful detail in the kimono. Ah Japan, so full of color and detail, such a pleasure to shoot.

1. Photographing Tokyo, Autumn: Lessons Learned
2. Photographing Tokyo, Autumn: Part 2
3. Photographing Tokyo, Autumn: Part 4

Just back from Taiwan.

I spent only six days there, but I think I can quickly sum it up in one sentence:

With its great food, Taiwan is the place to go to get fat.

1. Unleashing Your Creative Monster: Say One Thing Strong
2. If You Want to Get Creative, Get Bored
3. My Grandmother’s Prayers