Trying to put a neat and tidy bow on my recent trip to Japan – Tokyo and the Hokkaido region.

Image above was shot at dusk from my hotel room. Tokyo is such a great city and I hope to get back there again someday. Would love to be able to take my Wife and Little One(s) there so that they could experience it too. So dynamic. So colorful. So alive. I really, really enjoyed my time there. I look forward to the time I return.

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Shot the image at the airport walkway, as we were jailbreaking. Stephen, the AD, was headed to Thailand, me and Vicki and Jon, the photogs, were headed on to Beijing. A good deal of our trip, especially to the Hokkaido region, was spent pressed against the cold windows of a van. Not to be diminished, we all still shot, through foggy and sometimes wet windows, with our G9’s. Vicki continually argued that poles invaded her images…just a timing issue, that’s all.

I’m still trying to wrangle my G9. Low light is always an issue. But as we crossed a type of bridge in the airport, I snapped the above. Liked all the lines that it showed. And set it up so that the light poles were dead-center. Vicki…sometimes poles work, eh?

Here’s a photo slide show that I put together for my Japan experience. Crosses many days…but I hope you enjoy it. If you get the chance to experience Japan…GO!

© Mark V. Krajnak 2010 | JerseyStyle Photography | All rights Reserved
Unless otherwise noted, images captured with a Canon 50D, SanDisk digital film, finished with PS2 or PSE6 and Nik Software.

But she’s 16 years old, slow, and deaf as a post, so it’s hard to hold it against her. Especially since she looks so cute when she’s napping.

The only one that wasn’t completely unsalvageable due to “camera smile”.

Kent County, Delaware

The day after the blizzard ended. Kudos to DelDOT for getting the roads driveable!

Big snowstorm hit my area this Saturday. Strange….15 miles north of me, almost nothing. 25 miles south of me…bombarded.

Here in Central NJ, we received about a foot. First the shovel, then the camera….A few frames to keep me limber.

After the shovel time, in which my Little One complained of cold hands, I hung the 50D from my shoulder and went in search. Just around the corner, a simple snap as Moose Peterson likes to say. But I like it as an add to my Winterscape Gallery Series.

I worked on some slide shows today from my recent travels to the Far East. Also thought about some of the faces I’ll remember from that trip.

Stop back soon!

© Mark V. Krajnak 2010 | JerseyStyle Photography | All rights Reserved
Unless otherwise noted, images captured with a Canon 50D, SanDisk digital film, finished with PS2 or PSE6 and Nik Software.

Kent County, Delaware

I fully intended to go out rambling on foot and take more photos of the blizzard, but I never made it any farther than my property line. The snow was a minimum of knee deep, with drifts up to my shoulders in some places! The cat is an indoor cat, but with every significant snowstorm we give him a minute or two outside, just long enough to really piss him off. Note the ear position. And how deep the mailboxes are, and that the snow is still coming down hard.

Laurel to Greenwood, Delaware

On my way home from work in the morning. The highway went to hell just north of Greenwood, so no more photos after that. If you are not essential personnel, please, please, please stay off the roads. I passed a dozen abandoned vehicles, at least half 4WD, on my way home, plus two cars with occupants waiting for the National Guard to come rescue them sitting in the middle of the northbound lanes.

produkcja – PROSENS – sesja zdjęciowa Gdańsk

szczegóły – PROSENS – sesja zdjęciowa Gdańsk

produkcja – PROSENS – sesja zdjęciowa Gdańsk

szczegóły – PROSENS – sesja zdjęciowa Gdańsk

produkcja – PROSENS – sesja zdjęciowa Gdańsk

szczegóły – PROSENS – sesja zdjęciowa Gdańsk

produkcja – PROSENS – sesja zdjęciowa Gdańsk

szczegóły – PROSENS – sesja zdjęciowa Gdańsk

produkcja – PROSENS – sesja zdjęciowa Gdańsk

szczegóły – PROSENS – sesja zdjęciowa Gdańsk

Just north of Laurel, Delaware

11pm. Looks like we really are going to get a blizzard after all.

They were headed north, I was stopped in the middle of the highway headed south because there was no one else around for miles, so why not?

Ted Harvey Wildlife Area, Kent County, Delaware

Ted Harvey Wildlife Area, Kent County, Delaware

Cloudy and overcast foreshadowing the incoming blizzard, still with remnants of the last snow storm on the ground.

For more photos from Ted Harvey, click here.

Kitts Hummock, Delaware

I was up early for a planned session with another photographer, but due to the impending snowpocalypse, it ended up getting canceled. It’s not like I’m going to waste a perfectly good wide awake afternoon, so the hubby and I headed out to Kitts Hummock and Ted Harvey Wildlife Area for some photos before the blizzard started.

For more Kitts Hummock photos, click here.

Back home a couple of days now. Pretty much no jet lag to speak of. But it’s been nice to, after 14 days on the road, to hang out with my wife and little one. Took Liv to her preschool session today where she showed me all around her classroom. Then me and the Mrs went out to a NJ diner for some breakfast. The work emails were staring to ding more and more and I’ll be in the office on Friday, but it was a nice couple of days to rest up and catch up.

Not to mention put a hand to my wife’s belly to get a gauge on how Baby K 2.0 is coming a long. Very well, it appears.

Amazing to think that just a few short days ago I was standing at Ground Zero of one of the most serious acts of rebellion in the last 21 years. I was 19 when the Tianamen Square Protests happened (June 4th, 1989, hence Six-four), finishing my freshman year in college. I was two hours from home in a big city and Beijing, China, may as well have been on the moon to me. Still, I remember the news headlines and reading about it.

Now here I was, almost 21 years later, on a bitterly cold Tuesday morning on my last day in China. Heading to Tinanmen was almost an afterthought. We had thought about doing a photo shoot there…and I actually raised the point “Do we really want to? After all the people that lost their lives there, is this really the place we want to exemplify Beijing?” That swayed the team and we decided to not shoot there, and I’m happy for that. Still, wanted to see it, and not just from the back seat of our van.

I like the photo that leads off this post. Chinese Army? Um, no. More like Rent-A-Cops that seemed to be getting “official” photographs in the Square. We saw their coats being worn by store security guards later in the day. If you look closely at the photo above, you can see the discolored sleeve of the last gent on the left side. My thinking is the coat has been passed down. They were all trying to be all focused in line, waiting for their photo. Me and others on my team just stepped in and starting shooting them, reportage style. Again, I like the scene I caught. They were kids, basically.

Professionals? Probably not, as noticed by the details.

It just amazed me that there were SO many people here. I don’t know….Tianamen Square has such connotations…yet whole school trips, groups, families, etc were taking it in. As I was walking around, I saw this developing and saw the shot I wanted materialize right in front of me. Yes, I blew the sky out, but I really like this image and what it signifies.

For all the people taking photos and whatnot, it was still pretty closely monitored. After a while, my goal was to get one of the Chinese soldiers to hold Flo while I made a portrait. I struck out, three times. Though I did get to engage one in conversation as to why I wanted the photo with my “toy” as he called it.

“Because it would be a fun photo. And you look very military. Can you hold it?”

“No. Not at all.”

“Just a quick portrait.”

“NO. On Duty.”

“Can I do a quick portrait of you then? Without the toy?”

Pause.

“Yes.”

Two frames. I liked this one.

Did I get a shot of Flo the Pig in Tiananmen Square?

Is Bruce Springsteen from New Jersey???

Mao and all…

© Mark V. Krajnak 2010 | JerseyStyle Photography | All rights Reserved
Unless otherwise noted, images captured with a Canon 50D, SanDisk digital film, finished with PS2 or PSE6 and Nik Software.

Clouds can make a sunrise quite dramatic.

Seen at one of the beaches in Pondicherry.

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I’m back home in the Great State of New Jersey now. It’s late. Or early, depending on how you look at it. A brief doze-off earlier has brought me to this spot now – tired, but not sleepy. It’s been a long day. Woke about 7:30, breakfast in Beijing, a last spin around Tiananmen Square and the Silk Market. Off to the airport with Jack (more on him tk), catch a 5 pm plane on Tuesday only to arrive on Tuesday at 5:15 pm in the Newark Liberty International. As we were descending, I saw the New Jersey Turnpike on my left, as well as the Statue of Liberty, Lady Liberty, guiding us on home. It was a long journey, but I’m happy to now be home. Sitting in my office with a bit of Yamazaki to my right and snow falling outside the window behind me.

It’s nice to travel. It’s great to be home.

Undeniably, one of the most fantastic parts of my trip happened last Saturday, when we got to tour a section of the Great Wall of China. There are a number of accessible regions of the Great Wall. We opted to head to Mutianyu which is a little less crowded than the more popular Badaling section.

From the car park you can either take a cable car to the top, or hike it. If you do the latter, you have to head through the throng of tourist shops along the way. All kinds of trinkets are available.

The guidebook I had says “the nearest point on the Wall is a steep one-hour climb from the car park…” Well, it didn’t take us one hour (maybe 30 minutes) but yes, it WAS steep. I was stopping to suck air a few times. Made the climb to the Elephanta Caves look like child’s play. Still, the views were worth it.

And then we got to the Wall it self.

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Such a spectacular place to be. Quoting my guidebook again, Mutianyu was not part of the main Wall, but a barrier wall shielding passes to the north towards Zhandjiakou. It is part of major Ming-dynasty renovations completed in 1569.

1569. Let that sink in for a bit….

But probably the best part about seeing and hiking this part of the Wall was the special moments. Of course, Flo made the trip…and a portrait had to be done.

I also had the chance to meet a very cool couple out on of a visit to the Wall.

Think they happened upon me as I was trying to get all artistic with centuries old hunks of rock.

Chara, from Beijing, and Naresh, an implementation analyst from the city of Chennai, India, were also hiking the wall. We had a chance encounter in a very nice section of the wall, and they graciously agreed to let me shoot their portrait.

Naresh is a Nikon shooter that has fallen on hard times since his D90 was stolen. He was doing his shooting with a PnS and no doubt getting some good frames. We walked and chatted for a bit. The light was so nice, and they were so nice, I couldn’t help but click off a few more frames.

As great at the Wall was, we all were like giddy schoolkids when we saw we could take a luge-like slide down to the bottom. Jon, the photog’s assistant, shot video and if he ever posts it, I’ll repost it here. It was great fun. Better than the hike up to be sure!

Honestly, this was a spot I never thought I’d get to in the world. I’m going to remember the views, the Wall, Chara and Naresh for a long, long time.

Here’s a quick vid shot with the G9:

© Mark V. Krajnak 2010 | JerseyStyle Photography | All rights Reserved
Unless otherwise noted, images captured with a Canon 50D, SanDisk digital film, finished with PS2 or PSE6 and Nik Software. Video capture done with a Canon G9.

Port Mahon, Delaware

More frozen Port Mahon photos.

For even more Port Mahon photos, frozen and otherwise, click here.

Port Mahon, Delaware

It’s been below freezing for all but a few hours of the past week, so it was pretty icy. The ice goes “shhhhhh” as it slides over and under the other ice, and standing on the end of the boat ramp watching it is like seeing plate tectonics in action.

For more Port Mahon photos, click here.