Squirrels

These cute little buggers were running all over Hyde Park in London, and were relatively easy to get good shots of because they were so used to the people everywhere.

ロンドンのハイドパークにはリスがいっぱいおった。かなり人間になれてたから比較的に撮りやすかった。

The Invisible Spectrum: Infrared Photography (赤外線)

I have been dabbling a bit in infrared, or IR photography. You use a lense which filters out everything but the near-infrared spectrum of light. The raw images look like this.



But with a bit of post processing (mostly just removing the colour), you end up with images like this. Infrared light bounces off foliage making it shine bright white. So trees or grass can look quite surreal in IR photography. I still haven't got it completely down, but I'm working on it.




IR Photographyって何？！（このリンクにクリックして）

Snow and Huge Mountains (雪山)

There is nothing quite like the stoke of getting into big mountains in the middle of winter when they are covered with massive amounts of snow. Every year my mates and I head to Nagano, home of the 1998 winter olympics, and spend a few weeks snowboarding and skiing. A mate owns a lodge in Hakuba (the olympic village) and it makes a great base to hit the many resorts and back country in the area. This picture brings back a lot of great memories for me. The mountains are really impressive! Most people don't realize just what Japan has to offer by way of snow, but there is a lot of awesome terrain and snow to be had. Check out the Snow Japan link on the right for a glimpse of what can be found. Or have a look at my Snow in Hakuba gallery on my website at http://giphsub.smugmug.com/ for more pics like these of the snow in Hakuba.

これは長野県白馬村から撮った写真だ。長野県の雪山は凄く奇麗で何回見ても感動する。この写真見たらまたボード行きたい！

Castles

One of the cool things about being in a country like Japan, having grown up in Australia, is that they have castles everywhere which are centuries old. My favourite castle has to be Himeji Castle. I have spent hours wandering around the grounds and inside the buildings. This pic, however, is Hiroshima Castle. It was actually obliterated in the atomic bombing, but they rebuilt it. It's only a small castle, but it is quite pretty when lit up at night

Black Kite

Here is another shot of one my favourite birds in Japan - the tonbi (black kite). Usually you see these fellas from below, so it is quite uncommon to see what they look like from above.

I've been spending the last few days tinkering with my photos website and changing bits and pieces. Check it out at http://giphsub.smugmug.com/ or click on the link for Giphsub Photography on the right.

Silhouette

Dragonflies are quite cool creatures if you can get close enough to take a look. I remember being terrified of them as a small kid, but now they are one of my favourite things to photograph. Check out the Dragonflies & Butterflies gallery on my site for more pics of these cool little beasts.

Forced Labor

When I started my job at a private high school here in Hiroshima a number of years ago, I was "placed" in a club as a komon, or coach. I grew up playing all sorts of sports and have no problem with the idea of helping coach a club, in fact I quite enjoy getting in and running around with the students. But I was told that I was going to be one of the coaches for the handball club! Handball? Isn't that a foul in soccer?? So not knowing anything about the game other than that it seemed to be popular in Europe, I designated myself as the team photographer. This April I was mercifully changed to another club. One which I know even less about! American football!! I'm an Aussie! What the hell do I know about this game! Anyway, I don't think I saw our team win even once in the whole time I was supposedly helping the team, but at least I got some good photos! ;)

Indian Sunset

I took this photo last year on a road trip through the SW of Western Australia with a good mate of mine. We got to see an awesome sunset over the Indian Ocean that night.

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The Unforgettable Fire

One of the things that my mates and I have enjoyed doing for many years now in Hiroshima, is going to the Peace Park and having a quiet beer or two while watching the people come and go. Yesterday I was in town and again it was sweltering heat. So I decided to go and buy an Yebisu and go and relax under a tree in the Peace Park. I was listening to my mp3 player when I remembered that U2's "The Unforgettable Fire" was inspired by an art exhibition the band had seen of the Hiroshima bombing victims. So, as naff as it seems, I flicked to that song and sat quietly and listened while enjoying my beer and looking at the Atomic Bomb Dome across the river. Lyrically I'm not convinced the song is about the bombing but I seem to remember hearing that they tried to create something of the feeling they got through the images depicted in the art (from memory, the art hangs in the Peace Museum and depicts awful scenes of people burning, skin melting off bones, etc. All images from the memories of the victims.). In any case, the music certainly fit the scene. It was kind of surreal.

Comments

I was just told by someone who wanted to leave a comment that only registered users could leave comments. I have changed that setting now so feel free to leave comments without registering :) Coming up tomorrow, "The Unforgettable Fire"...

Which ones are the monkeys??

In January I went to Nagano for my annual snowboarding trip with a bunch of friends. Maybe you have heard of the snow monkeys in Japan. They took over an onsen (hot spring) area years ago and have since become quite a tourist drawcard. You often see pictures of them sitting in the hot springs with snow piling up on their heads! Anyway, being so close to Hakuba, where we were staying, we decided to head on over and take a look. It is something I had wanted to do for years but had never had the chance. Unfortunately it was a bit overcast and not snowing at all - Japan had a shocking snow season this last winter - but the little critters didn't disappoint! My mate and I followed the little monkeys all over the place. They were totally unafraid of the humans invading their space. It was amazing watching them getting in and out of the onsens, and I would highly recommend a trip to Jigokutani onsen near the Shiga Kogen ski resorts if you are ever anywhere near Nagano Prefecture in Japan. While my mate and I were fascinated with the monkeys, it seems that my girlfriend was fascinated with the monkeys taking pictures of the monkeys!

Sandankyo Waterfalls

Today my girlfriend and I went for a drive up to the mountains to try and escape the heat that has been hitting most of Japan over the last few weeks. We went to a place called Sandankyo, or the "three level/tier gorge". Sandankyo has some amazing, deep, crystal clear pools and some beautiful waterfalls. I couldn't pass up the chance to try and take some pics, so out came the trusty camera, and away I went. I must admit that most of my shots were over exposed (I was shooting in full manual operating mode and experimenting with shutter speed and aperture). Most got binned, but a few came out all right like the one above. At the end of our hike we dove into one of the pools and it was beautiful and cool. Below are a couple of snaps from my little waterproof camera, and a shot of the sunset we caught on the way home.

Miyajima - World Heritage

I have just added some new pics to my site from Miyajima Island in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. You have probably all seen pictures of the famous red torii gate which sits out over the water (above). It is one of the most photographed scenes in Japan. I live in Hiroshima and am lucky enough to have been able to get out there a number of times. It is a truly beautiful place to spend the day wandering around. If you want to see some of my pics like the one below, then go to my site at http://giphsub.smugmug.com/ and have a look. Or click on the link on the right to Giphsub Photography.

Anything that moves!

Well as I said, I love to get out and take photos, but the subjects I get the most fun out of (and find most challenging) are living things. Anything that moves, scuttles, runs, crawls, jumps, squirms, rolls or flies. If I can find it, I'll have a crack at catching it on film (or memory card!). So todays picture is of a small frog I found at the edge of a rice paddy in the middle of the inaka (countryside) in Hiroshima Prefecture. I love the way it's little head is just peaking up out of the water.

First attempt...

Well this is my first time at blogging, and seeing as I enjoy getting out and taking photographs, I thought I would make a bit of a photoblog. Not really being a writer by nature, I thought I'd let my pictures and photography do most of the talking. I hope to be able to update this quite frequently with some of my favourite pics I have taken and will take. So here is the first splash. This is perhaps one of my favourite photos in my collection. It is a tonbi, or black kite. I took this up in Tottori Prefecture in Japan, which sits on the Sea of Japan, facing out towards the Korean Peninsular. I love these birds, and was very happy to have gotten this shot.

Any comments, hints or advice on my pics are definitely welcome. If you like my pics, then link my blog to your site! I'll happily reciprocate.