STREET PORTRAITIST

SixtyEight & SixtyNine

My timing has been lovely as of late. Seem to bump into people or cool stuff wherever I go. Maybe it is more induced than anything since I do stuff like get a different train to work everyday and end up riding on a different carriage each time. I also walk home and to work via different routes depending on my mood and go to lunch at a different time everyday. My life is pretty random…
Based on that I seem to end up changing my fate or something. I suggest you do the same and see what happens ;p

Anyway, last week I tried to go to one of my regular spots for lunch but for some reason I couldn’t get in. I decided to go to a different spot and headed towards Meguro river. Just before I got to the traffic lights I see the dude in the above picture crossing the road.
Light bulb goes off, I know this guy… Lol my first day out shooting street portraits in Tokyo back in September at Yoyogi Park I took a photo of him. I saw him and thought, “Woah dude looks cool”. I stopped him and with an exchange of very few words took his photo and thanked him.
Unfortunately the photo was complete garbage and despite all the cropping in the world it was unusable.

As he got to the other side of the road the light changed and I couldn’t cross. Thought meh, can I really be bothered to wait for the light to change then run after him when the place I am heading to is in the completely opposite direction? However, when he got to the other side of the road he stopped to take stuff out of his bag or something.
I stood and observed, the light changed to green and he was still there.. If that is not some sort of sign or something I dont know what is..

I flash across the road and say, “Yoooo”. And tell him that I took a photo of him like 6 months ago. I study his face and it goes from a blank expression to a “I recognize you” expression.

He was like, “Wow you recognized me?”. Im like, “Lol dude I doubt anybody who met you before is forgetting what you look like”.

Ask him whats up and he says he lives not too far and is off to work. He works as a web designer. I give him my card and tell him to catch me online.

He adds me on twitter and we speak some.

Yesterday I needed to pick up my business cards near the station at lunchtime and I see him tweeting he is near Meguro station eating Ham tabehodai (all you can eat). I holla at him and say yo if you got time let me retake your pic!!!!



We meet at the station and he is with his chick. They both are blacked out, wearing sunglasses and look ridic cool. I apologize for calling him out while he is with his chick and he is like its fine they got no plans and are off today.

Do an intro with his chick and she says she just graduated yesterday. I congratulate her. She says that she does ballet. I was like “Cool, would love to see you rock it sometime”.

Compliment her on her cool jacket and she said that her bf picked it out for her. Take the guys pic first and then look around for somewhere to take the girls photo. Interesting thing about the above photo, before I would probably never have taken a photo of someone in the middle of the day getting hit by afternoon sunlight, normally I look for shade. But I guess after a while you realize that not everything is as simple as soft light = good and harsh light = bad.
Next I need to take the girls photo, I spot a green bridge that is really nice and decide to take the photo up there.
Was actually interested in seeing how the green would be rendered, came out better than I thought.

So after taking both of their photos I ask them if I can take a photo of both of them together. They said sure and we head towards the station to look for a spot.
I asked them what they had planned after and they said that they are gonna go furniture hunting ( would love to see what type of furniture they have…). The girl tells me that my jumper is cute and I say thanks in an nonchalant way, but on the inside do a couple of fist pumps. Was feeling pretty uncool hanging out with them lol.

Find a decent spot and tell them to stand next to each other. I suggest maybe they hold hands. They give a shyish laugh and then connect hands.



The End.

Oh well, weather is on the come up. Current plans, do a bunch of lighting stuff and try get a few more street portraits (along with a few mini projects). If all goes well will try make a Street Portraitist book sometime within the next 6 months…

SixtySeven

Not a stranger this time, a cool lady who lives in my neighborhood who I became friends with. She has the most adorable children. Since there is no back story to the encounter allow me to entertain you with a little anecdote.

I cant actually remember how we met, I know I moved to the area about 2 years ago and would randomly walk around and see her. She is one of those friendly people with a good aura and we would kinda smile at each other when we would see each other kind of thing but never actually spoke.

I think one day we ended up getting on the same train to work and ended up speaking. Pretty sure we got the same train together for quite a few months. 

After maybe 6 months or so I realized that I didnt know her name. One of those situations where you meet someone new and never exchange names? Or I just forgot since im retarded?

Too much time passed so I was like hmm its a bit lame to be like “hey btw whats your name again”?

Time for some Espionage. I told my GF that if we are together and bump into her, ill introduce you and then you should ask her what her name is so I can obtain the information.

We bump into her on the train one morning, I do the introduction and my GF plays the role perfectly and asks her for her name. My GF then turns to me (in front of her) and says, “Her name is xxxxx”…..

Cover blown, mission failed, #headexplode, doh….

SixtySix

Hmm, too cold to get motivated to go on any sort of wandering outside all day type of missions.

So, of late I either go studio, do nothing, or do nothing + spend an hour in the park behind my house.

I have hit the park for the last 3 weeks in a row now. I normally go at 3pmish when the light is starting to get good. First week I took pictures of trees, second week I took nothing, and this week I took the above photo.

As usual the park was mainly populated with babies and little kids. Seeing that I brought my large format camera out, trying to take photos of young kids is out of the question. And I guess even asking someone if I can take a pic of their kids is kinda opening up a can of worms anyway.

I go deeper into the park and walk past the skaters and keep on going. I think in the past I tried talking to them before a few times, but they weren’t really welcoming, so I don’t even bother anymore.

Get to the top of the hill and look at the sky for a while when an elderly lady with really nice grey/white hair and a shade of pink lipstick that really suited her walked by and said hi.

We spent a good 15 minutes talking to each other. She told me she used to be an editor for a football magazine and her favorite team was arsenal.

We then spoke about a range of football topics from the Robbie Fowler era, to the whole William Gallas and Ashley Cole doing ridic stuff like jumping around to different London teams and how back in the day teams like Man City were fighting relegation every season.

I asked if I could take her photo and she said she is embarrassed. I told her its cool there’s nothing to be embarrassed about and she said thanks, but that she is worried if I put it online people who know her might see.

I gave her my card and wished her a good day.

Walked around a bit more and saw someone I wanted to take a photo of. But for some reason I hesitated and let the chance pass by.

About to give up and go home when I saw the guy in the above photo. 

Went over and said “Sup” and told him I liked the yellow of his guitar and asked if it was expensive.

He laughed and said no its a really cheap one. He is a soloist and if my memory isnt failing me I think he has been playing for maybe 8 years (or was it 15? lol).

He mentioned that he thought he isnt getting any better and I suggested that maybe he should try and practice with some other guitarists to try and get a different perspective. He smiled and said that he would give it a try.

He said I can take a photo and I started setting up. He seemed pretty intrigued by the camera. He said that his brother studied photography. He was interested in knowing the difference between this camera and a normal one, how much it cost and what all the different parts were.

After taking the pic I let him look through the camera and he seemed pretty excited by it.

I asked him what he had planned for the rest of the day and he said he was going to the studio later. 

I told him I was gonna pack up and go because its freezing (sun had gone down) and he said he is going to stay a little while longer. I asked him if he wasn’t cold and he laughed and said that he often comes to the park at night with a can of beer to keep himself warm…

He told me he is at the park every week and that I should come check him if I am ever around.

SixtyFive

It is midnight and it is raining pretty hard. Suprisingly I am still awake. I am on my way home from some function when I see this guy swinging a bat outside the entrance of my building.

Flashing back I think I have seen him a few times practicing. However, on those days it wasnt raining so he was a bit further out from the exit.

I never really knew if he was old or young or anything since the few times I saw him I would just kinda glance a little and keep on going. As safe as it is in Japan, my roots from London kinda have me thinking that if you see a guy in all black with a baseball bat at midnight then there is a good chance your time on earth will be up soon…

As I walked past him I noticed that he noticed me. I say whats up and ask him what he is practicing for.

He tells me that he plays amateur and that sometimes he plays in games at Hikarigaoka park (the local park).

We start off speaking in Japanese until I ask him about his adventures abroad and he says he stayed in Australia for a while. I asked if he can speak English and he says yes and we switch over to that.

He is a University student studying Nuclear health something, something. The title of the course had a bit too much hardcore Japanese in it so neither of us could decipher what the English for it was. I think he said he wants to be a DR/Scientist type thing and I heard him mention CT scans, MRIs and an array of words I have heard from the show Greys Anatomy.

I ask if I can take a pic when he is finished practicing and he says yes. 

I run up to my room, grab the pentax67, a tripod and some portra 800 and come back down. The lobby area is boring, it has some ugly grays and yellow lights which would make for some weird skin tones.

I look around for some sort of potential shot idea but there wasn’t much going on (night time sucks).

I walk past the elevator and a really small light bulb goes off and I decide to gamble on it. It was hard to setup the shot because in front of the elevator there is a bike area was blocking the way and if I went further back I would be outside and the camera would get rained on.

Positioned it as good as I could then lurked around waiting for him to finish. 

He finished and I asked him if he is ready to take the photo and he said, “No, I want to talk more”.

I was like “oh, cool” (kinda threw me off). Ended up standing around for maybe 20mins or so just kicking the shit.

It was funny because its past midnight and you have got me (a foreigner wearing a hoodie) and him in all dark colors with a baseball bat posted up next to the elevator of a residential building.

Cant remember too much about what we spoke about. I know he told me he was born and raised in the block and he is an only child and that he has plans to go back to Aussie after he finishes university.

Talks winded down and he said that he was ready and then stepped into the elevator.

SixtyFour

The objective of the day was to go to Nikon Gallery, kick down the door, find out who is in charge and get them to explain why my pics aren’t on their walls.

After that I would go to pentax gallery and tell them to give me a free pentax67II since im repping pentax on my site (delusions of grandeur).

After that I would spend the rest of the day taking photos.

I get to Shinjuku and pass through a camera shop and find a polariod back that I want for cheap. However, it is attached to a big junk camera that I dont want. I buy it and tell them to hold it for me because its too big to walk around with.

I finish checking the galleries and decide to walk around and take photos. Since I need to pick up the camera from the shop I decide to stay local because I dont want to have to come back later. I walk around a bit and its cold, crowded and all the walls are littered with stuff on it.

I really hate busy crowded areas, the sort of photos I want to make cant really be made there.

I give up and decide to go home (only 1pm and suns still out, first time).

I get to the camera shop and get a message from Mijonju saying he will be in Shinjuku in a few (5 mins later I woulda been gone).

I kill sometime, then go to the station and wait for him. While waiting I bump into this young lady at the station.

Our eyes meet and we both smile. Pretty rare occurrence. I find a lot of non-Japanese people out here try to ignore each other.

I say hey and ask how she is doing and what’s her story. 

She is living in Japan and is currently a university student studying Japanese. She is from Las Vegas. I make a lame joke saying, “Arent there only casinos and deserts there?” 

She laughs and says, “nah, there are suburbs too”. 

In her spare time she likes to play with swords (iaido). I think there is some good potential for a photoshoot there. 

So, we are both waiting for a friend at the station. I tell her about my day and explain why I have this massive camera around my neck. I ask if she wouldnt mind me taking a photo while we waits and she says lets do it!!

I find a clean spot and just as I am about to take a photo the sun comes out and ruins the shot I wanted to do.

At that point Mijonju comes.

We hang around for a while talking, waiting for the sun to go behind a cloud or a building to take some pics.

It disappears, and as I am about to shoot again it comes back (the sun be throwing head fakes yo)…

We joke about it and I apologize for making her wait so long. 

Her friend comes, we do the whole introdcution thing, and then she goes off to grab a snack.

The sun finally dissapears, and I take nearly a whole roll worth of shots of her. 

With one shot left I ask her friend (who had just come back) if she wants a shot with her friend and she says no…

I look behind me and notice Mijonju is lurking in the distance. 

I transform into Scorpion from Mortal Kombat and yell, “GET OVER HERE!!!!!”

SixtyThree

Met up with twocutedogs the other day and he was with two guys who were visiting Japan.

One of them was a photographer (the shadow on the right) and is part of a group called Burn My Eye who do some good street photography.

We hit the streets to shoot a bit and stumbled upon an area that had some really nice light and decided to take a photo.

The guy in the photo is a really cool dude. I asked him what he does and he said that he used to be a paramedic but since then had moved to working with youth.

Flashing back to my childhood, I have a lot of respect for people who work with young people. Those youth centers where you could go to and play pool, table tennis, basketball and stuff instead of doing dumb stuff on the road did a lot to help keep kids out of trouble.

Had an interesting conversation about working with kids. Basically with guys they relate more to structure whereas with girls its more relationships. So by default working with a girl who has no relationship with you would be more harder than a guy since a guy would see you as a more authoritative figure (older etc).

Pretty interesting since I used to be pretty into psychology and stuff.

Biggest shocker was hearing about where they were from, Winnipeg. I have heard of the place but never knew how bad it was.

Murder capital of North America

Arson capital of Canada

Car Theft capital of Canada

Slurpee captial of the World ;D 

Probably has a few more titles, but not too sure… Seems like shit is real out there…. 

The guys are currently travelling Asia (envy envy). I need a holiday…

SixtyTwo

I saw this guy posted up outside of the station. I stopped and looked at him and thought to myself, “Dude looks cool, I should ask him for a photo”. After looking for a few seconds I decided not to and walked off. I stopped again after a few steps, looked at him and once again decided not to. As I was walking off for the second time I stopped took a deep breath and said, “Screw it, lets do it” and walked towards him.

Not really sure why I hesitated to speak to him, I think it was a mixture of exhaustion and lack of faith (pic sucks, too many mistakes, not sure wtf im doing, etc) that was messing with my state of mind.

I went up to him and asked in Japanese if he speaks English and he replied, “no”. I normally ask people this because you would be surprised at how many people can speak enough English to hold a little conversation. Also it gives them that rare opportunity to practice their English.

For some reason when he said no I was about to give up and walk off…

He then turns to me and in Japanese asks, “Are you ok? Do you have any sort of problem you need help with or anything?” 

That kinda put a smile on my face and restored my drive. I told him I take photos of strangers and I thought he looked cool and asked if it was ok to take him and he said sure.

My camera was in my bag and I didnt even have film loaded in it (completely off my game). I asked him if he could wait a little for me to get setup and he said no problem that he is not in a rush or anything. 

I told him that he looks like a musician and asked if he belongs to a band or anything and he said yes (I haz psychic powaz).

He is part of a band called PlasticZooms. On the 11th January (today) they will be releasing their second album called “STARBOW“ which will be on sale at Tower Records. They will also be doing a Special Exhibition at Tower Records where they will have their stuff displayed. Alongside their music they also have their own clothing line.

I congratulated him and told him it was inspiring to hear about what he is doing. Most people don’t really do anything with their life’s, so seeing him living/chasing the dream put a smile on his face. I asked him what he was gonna do after the album release and he said that his band had a countrywide tour scheduled.

I wished him good luck and he thanked me saying that he felt really happy that we met  first thing in the New Year and I took his photo. We swapped info and I told him I would send him the photos when I get them processed.

I asked him what today’s objective was and he said that he had a date :)

If you live in Tokyo go Tower Records in Shibuya and check out what they are doing. Here are some of their details:

Website

Facebook

Twitter

Blog

SixtyOne

I was out in Odaiba last week with a group of people who like taking photos. The lady above is a friend of Mijonju. She was a really nice and chilled person. She shoots a form of photography called “half frame”? The concept being every shot that you take gets split down the middle and forms two separate photos. I asked her what you need to take into consideration when shooting half frame and she said, that the frame ends up being long so you need to shoot with that in mind.

She works as a graphic designer and in her spare time likes to climb mountains (she has done Takao, Mitaka, Mitou and half of Fuji).

Hopefully I didnt annoy her too much taking this photo. I initially took the photo using Kodak Ektar. I then realized that I wanted to use it for my series, so we went back to the spot and I retook it using portra which is my main film.

We all went to Starbucks and were thinking of going home because it had gotten cold and cloudy. All of a sudden the sun came out, the light got good and it got really warm. I then dragged her back to the spot for the third time to retake it because of the nice light that had appeared :D

Catch her on twitter!

Sixty

I saw this lady sitting on a bench by herself using her phone. She didn’t seem like she was going anywhere anytime soon so I quickly did a lap around the area looking for a better spot to take her photo.

I found a spot a few seconds away then came back to her and did the goofy thing I do sometimes where I say, “Hi” while raising my right hand up like a student asking permission from a teacher to answer a question.

I complimented her on what she was wearing telling her that I really liked the pallete and showed her some photos I took on my phone and asked if I can take her.

She asked if I was sure if I wanted to take her and I said absolutely. I took her to the spot and sat her down. She said it was a bit embarrassing since it feels like she is trying to be a model.

I said its cool and that she looks great, but if she is uncomfortable we can move somewhere else, she said it was ok and we took a few pictures.

She is from Osaka and was in Tokyo for 3 days visiting some of her family. She lives in Osaka with her mum, her granma lives in Tokyo and she was waiting to meet her granma and cousin to go for dinner.

She said her life is pretty busy working as an office lady doing long hours and not getting much holiday (think she might have started work on the 2nd or 3rd). 

However, in the little spare time that she has she likes to go to onsens and watch movies. She had just seen the new Mission Impossible 4 movie and recommended that I go and see it.

FiftyNine

Walking around the Shibuya area and saw a diva looking lady wearing a leopard jacket sitting on the ground using the phone. Decided to lurk around and wait for her to finish so I can try and speak to her. While waiting I saw this kid walk past.

I put some music on while I waited and closed my eyes for a few seconds and when I reopened them the lady had disappeared hehe.

I decided to move on and as I walked past an alleyway I saw the same kid I saw a few minutes ago sitting there eating.

I was actually a bit worried and was wondering if he is homeless or something. I went up to him and asked him if he speaks English or wants to speak in Japanese.

He immediately jumped up (think i scared him) and said English. I asked him if he is ok and he said yeah he is just on lunch break.

I was like ok cool, are you doing your baito (part time job) or something? He said no, that he is 15 years old and then explained to me that you cant do baito at his age, you have to wait till you get to high school.  He was on lunch break from Juku (study class thingy) where he was learning English from a Japanese English teacher.

I asked him what he wanted to be when he grows up and he said, “A Scientist!!”.

It kinda touched me, where I am from at the age of 15 if I asked most of the people around me what they wanna be when they grow up I doubt I would hear anything positive. Most of the people I used to have around me were mainly selling drugs, doing A.C’s ( a form of bank fraud) in jail, just coming out of jail or about to go in, ringing cars (ringing  car means stealing it then changing the plates with a legit cars plate of the same make so if stopped by police the car wouldn’t show up as stolen) and various other shit. Just goes to show the crazy contrast of life around the world is. Shits pretty sad.. Anyway Im digressing.

My Japanese let me down, I wanted to ask him what area of science interested him, Biology, Physics, or Chemistry but I couldn’t remember the words.

I tried to explain physics to him by talking about measuring the speed of a car but he just looked at me blankly lol. So I explained Chemistry to him by talking about medicine. He said Chemistry is what he wants to specialize in.

Lastly I asked him why he wanted to be a Scientist, with a proud look on his face he said, “Because my Dad is a scientist”.

He finished eating and had to go. I wished him good luck and told him to become a good Scientist.

Hopefully he will have some cool tales to tell his buddies about getting his photo taken by a foreigner, wearing a weird hat, in an alleyway.

FiftyEight

view large picture

Was walking through hongosanchome when I saw two girls who looked touristy taking photos of each other. I was pretty intrigued by the way she was posing.

Posing isnt something anybody can do well, its something you have to learn and practice. The way she was moving her body, shifting her weight and bending her limbs impressed me, I was thinking, “woah, girl got moves”. 

I walked past them and they were looking at the cam to see the shots they had got. I looked back a few times because I was thinking about asking if they want me to take a photo of them together so they dont have to take one of those lame, put the camera in front of you and try guess type photos.

She notices me looking back and starts walking towards me and asks me if I want her to take a photo of me with my camera.

I laugh and say you know what, I was gonna ask you the exact same thing. I take their camera and take a few photos of them together, and she takes a few photos of me on hers. 

I ask if i can take a photo of them for my site and they say yes. The girl in the photo tells me that she is a flight attendant for JAL, and she visits Japan frequently. Her friend was a Forensic Doctor studying in University and are both from Thailand.

She speaks fluent English and is translating a bit for her friend who is not so fluent. I took a photo of the Dr first and the flight attendant was helping me pose her and get her into position. Unfortunately I messed up the photo (doh :( ..)

I asked the flight attendant to stand in between the pathway on the line. I took a look at how she looked and asked her to cross her feet and she was like “yeah i get it” and crossed her  feet in a pretty cool way. I looked up and she had her arms crossed and had a really good expression on her face and thought to myself, wow this chick is frickin cool lol. 

FiftySeven

I was out exploring my local area, doing a bit of location scouting etc for the future. On the way back I saw this elderly lady sitting alone, she smiled at me and I stopped and asked her if she was ok. She said she was good just relaxing.

I asked her what she was gonna do today and she said she is retired now so the only things she does is walk her dog and cook and for breakfast she likes natto and vegetables.

Her dogs name is Atomuu. A few seconds later a bike goes past with a dog on it and Atomuu starts barking. Funny part is, after the dog was already long gone, Atomuu started barking and chasing his own tail with an angry look on his face like he wanted to kill it lol (dont know much about dog behaviour).

I asked her if she doesnt mind telling me her age, she laughed and said she doesnt remember. But she thinks 77-78. We both laughed. I asked if she wouldnt mind me taking a photo and she said fine, grabbed Atomu and tried to get him to look at the camera (fail).

She asked me my job, age, what country im from and if photography was a hobby.I replied “Computer job, 27, UK and yes a hobby”.

Talked for a little bit longer and she asked me what my job was again. I laughed and said “Computer job” again, I thought maybe she was getting a bit forgetful since she is elderly.

Spoke a bit more, then she asked me my my job, age, what country im from and if photography was a hobby again in the exact same order…

I stayed with her a little longer, and during the course she asked me my my job, age, what country im from and if photography was a hobby 5 times.

It was kinda like we would speak to a certain point, then someone would press rewind and we would relive the same moment over and over.

I thanked her and left to go home. Pretty crazy encounter, for some reason it kinda scared the shit out of me….

FiftySix

I was walking to go get a late lunch when this dude suddenly popped up next to me and said in English “Gooo Kamara”. I laughed and thanked him. I asked him if he was a photographer or something and he said no but said that he shoots with a Sony. I asked him something in English but I dont think he understood. We walked past a yellow shed and my eyes kinda got big and I gestured with my camera and asked if I could take a photo. He said yes.

While I was setting up I asked him what type of photos he takes. He didnt understand my English. I asked him in Japanese and he didnt answer… I waited a few seconds and asked again and he answered but im not sure what he said…

I asked him a few more things in Japanese but I couldnt really make out what he was saying. I’m not sure, but I think he might not have wanted to speak to me in Japanese or something…

I took his photo and walked down the road together. I asked him where he was off too, he pulled out a bottle of some sort of wine or champagne and said he is off to meet his friend for some drinking.

FiftyFive

Got into the elevator of my work building when this lady jumped in. She was pretty small and had a cute ribbon on her head. I told her, that her ribbon looks cute and she smiled and said thanks.

The doors of the elevator were about to shut and I thought maybe I can try asking her for a photo.

Logistics problems. I wanna ask her for a photo, we are in an elevator and I work on the 2nd floor lol. Got like less than 5 seconds to try pitch something before we reach my floor.

So I just come straight out with it and tell her I have a website where I take photos of people I meet in the street and would like to take photo of her sometimes.

Noise goes off and we arrive at my floor. I get out of the elevator pull out my card and tell her to look at my website, check out the type of pics, and email me if interested.

I put my arm into the elevator to give her my card, she lets go of the button that she was pressing to hold the elevator doors closed to take my card and the doors shut and my arm gets stuck in the elevator (made for some giggles).

Later that day I was going for a late lunch, left my building took a few steps, looked back and saw her outside on a break.

Awkward moment, do I go say sup or just wave and keep it moving? I didnt really wanna rist inconvenience her so was gonna just wave.

She notices me and surprisingly starts running towards me. She said she liked the pics and is down to take one sometime at lunchtime.

We met the next week to take some pics at a spot I walk past and noticed.

Asked her what she does and she says she is graphic designer for products. However in her spare time shes plays video games. She is currently trying to clear Zelda on Wii.

I was gonna upload the pic as soon as I got it back, but for some reason I decided to mail it to her and show her first. I told her I wanted to use the close up of her I took, but she said its a bit embarrassing because its too close up and that she would prefer I use the one where she is smaller in the frame.

Good thing I emailed her first hehe..