After dreaming and talking for so long about Japan and all it has to offer I was finally able to visit it and the country did not disappoint. A little bit of everything but especially interesting for me was where the old meet the new. A place that successfully mixes traditional dress, buildings and way of life from hundreds of years ago with vending machines on every street corner that sell everything you could imagine has to be admired in my opinion.
I have read before that the local people's attitude towards foreigners can be racist but I found nothing but respectful and polite people. Of course all the good things you hear about the food are all true and the one regret was that we were not able to simply spend more time tasting more dishes but this alone is a good enough reason to return.
For a street photographer the country is also a paradise of interesting and unusual subjects and although I never went to Tokyo I hear its the place to grab your wide angle lens and get some great shots. From a photography point of view this trip was a bit frustrating and I will explain why. Originally my plan was to shoot both digital and 35mm film only black and white but when I arrived I started to feel that color was the way to go so I shot both. At the end of it I had a whole lot of crap or average black and white film photos which I was disappointed with. Also for me I am really trying to to minimize my travel kit, in fact it is one of the reasons I was drawn to Fuji for the smaller sizes and excellent picture quality but on this trip I found myself lugging around 2 cameras and five lenses of which I probably used two. So, from now on I've told myself to choose before hand if I am shooting digital or film and stick to one camera and one lens. Ok ok, two bodies with a lens each and thats all!
Although we saw plenty of beautiful temples and shrines you will see that I don't have many photos of them here. it's not that I didn't take any, rather that I didn't take any that you couldn't already find anywhere on the internet so instead this post will look more like a street photography post.
I may do a second post just to show you the film shots and you can give me your opinion on which was better, color or black and white.
As Always I hope you find the photos interesting
Chad
Look closely, if only I could read minds, what would these tell me?
The men in black.
For me this image could have been good if not for the car.
The ghost in the darkness. Again another potentially interesting photo missed, this time because I wasn't quick enough to change my camera settings.
Just me channelling a bit of Bruce Gilden style photography.
