365 Project

Partly due to the general lack of inspiration over the past couple of months, I decided to focus my efforts on a 365 project; one photo per day over the course of a year. The aim is to develop technique and vision, so even if the pictures themselves are largely meaningless they should each represent a progression of style and part of the learning process.

Picture number 1 (above) has already been posted to the dedicated site. This was experimentation with fill flash using an off-camera unit. Although I normally use all manual settings, I only had a limited time frame to set up so I left the flash unit set to auto, and under-exposed by one stop. Camera was on a tripod at knee height, flash unit was off to the left (my right) at neck height and diffused through a standard plastic diffuser. Colour balance was set using the same custom setting grey card setting I use for indoor bounce flash, which gave the picture a slightly colder impression as my wallpaper has a hint of beige.

Please bookmark the site below, and feel free to comment on technique and composition.

http://365.restall.org

PUDDLE of LUST / 緋色の陰

Premium art performance

Exploring an ecology of the modern Japanese artistic expression.
A blend of visuals, sound & movement designed to stimulate the senses, while at the same time explore the boundaries of art and performance. Bringing together top international and local performers for the first time.
Featuring Koto, Shamisen, Industrial Noise, Butoh dancing and Video art, with body painting.

このプロジェクトは日本独自の現代芸術である舞踏、琴、三味線、書道を今の日本に暮らしてる人達、海外の人達に見て、体験して欲しいです。それは一見アバンギャルドかもしれないけど実は今の私たちにとって自然に出てくるもので提示する必要があります。素晴しい感性をもったアーティストたちと濃厚な作品を創りたいと思っています。
ただの`アート`っぽいビデオではなく 五感を刺激するミュージックビデオ作品を様々な表現者と製作。


Online booking for advance tickets - http://www.super-deluxe.com/2009/6/18

Details

* Thursday, June 18 19:00 to 22:00
* At Super Deluxe
* Price ¥2000 in advance, ¥2500 at the door
* Homepage: http://www.image-mill.com/lust/

Chaos

Chaos
Originally uploaded by 神酒 Coal

I originally had much more serene piece of music in mind from the Mishima soundtrack by Philip Glass, but as I searched for it in my music library I came across this much more chaotic piece which I felt really complemented the visuals.

This was shot as a series of timelapsed 2 second exposures in JPEG with the white balance set to 4500 Kelvins and a custom picture style. With exposures that long, there was no danger of the buffer filling up, so I put it in burst mode and locked the cable release. This meant there was only a split second delay between each exposure, allowing me to compress 15 minutes of action into just 30 seconds.

Kimono Party Vol. 2

At the request of the organiser, I was the official photographer for Kimono Party Vol. 2 held in Shimbashi on 14th February. She was fully aware I don't do generic well, and that my usual "style" would be more than suitable. Got some pretty good food prepared by professional "food therapists" into the bargain too! See the pictures in slideshow fashion below.

New Pictures

As a proud owner of a 5D Mkii, I decided to get back to basics a little to really tune up my eye and camera skills. So on Saturday, I met up with some other FTPS members for a photoshoot around Harajuku and Shibuya, where I spent the entire time shooting fully manual with a 50mm lens in B&W JPEG. Shooting off a variety of different kinds of shot in this manner helped me to better understand scene lighting while ignoring colour, to better understand how exposure relates to light meter readings for different circumstances and colours. It also made post-processing a breeze as all that was needed (or indeed possible) was a slight contrast enhancement to make the blacks look a little darker on-screen. All in all a useful experiment and one I shall be trying again.

Some shots of the day.

Kamata Illuminations

Kamata Illuminations
Originally uploaded by 神酒 Coal

Hastily threw together a video using my new Canon 5D Mark ii's 1080p video capabilities. Given time and arsed I'm sure I could have done better, but I'm pretty pleased with the way it came out.

Why Buy a 5D Mark ii?

5D Mark ii and DOF
Originally uploaded by 神酒 Coal

Threw together this little strip extolling the Mark ii's virtues relative to crop sensor DSLRs and digital compacts. Not sure where the bunny costume came from, but suspect it was indicative of the deep affection only found between a man and his full frame DSLR.