today i went to hannibal select opening in torino, via pietro micca 4f.
it’s great when you can meet friends, nice new people and stay in a beautiful place that sells stylish stuff and clothing.
you should really go there and take a look around, if you need more infos you can find everything on their blog, here.
canon eos 400d with sigma 30mm f 1.4 lens.

model: irene.
corset: stefania leoni.
canon eos 400d with sigma 30mm f 1.4 lens.

i don’t have eighty-six reasons for you. i neither do skateboarding.
eighty-six is the name of a shop where you can find anything you need for skate and snow boarding.
taken with canon eos 400d and 50mm f1.8 canon lens.

if someone ask you if you want to take some pictures of a beautiful girl in hot dresses you obviously answer yes, that’s why last week i went to help a young italian fashion designer, stefania leoni, for a bunch of shots of her creation.
i hope you like the result, photos are taken with a canon eos 400d with tokina 11-16mm and canon 50mm lenses.
model: irene.

Second attempt

My first timelapse attempt with my 400d

Finally i got it working! Video up soon

Should you have experienced the raw delight of changing the oil and filter on an engine where a leaky head gasket is allowing coolant and lubricant to blend, you might recognise the ominous colours of the sky in the picture. Those depthless and murky shades are what I recall when I look at this version of a Tokyo night.

The elements within this shot quite easily reveal its relation to an earlier post. The imposing dominance of overhead structures running towards a crowded horizon, cooperating with the roads below to create a sharper sense of perspective; the hot laser beams of now invisible traffic, searing lines on the image sensor; even the absence of people in an environment apparently full of activity. It is a striking arrangement but something about it, something within perhaps, threatens to make it less than what it is.

In my defence, it was taken on the wrong end of an already late evening. What started out as a wander in the happy-go-luckiest sense, became a bona fide session lasting hours and despite a smalltime drama with the cops, I found myself unexpectedly energized. I was on a roll, fired up, mooching around and feeling purposeful, eagerly trying out viewpoints, and finding what looked like, good shot after good shot. But I’d become tired and had a couple of celebratory drinks, and the killer haul I thought was taking away turned out to be thinner and less impressive the next day.

The problems with the above composition demonstrate this. They are the kind borne out of excitement and impatience. They are the kind, ultimately, that burden the experience and get in the way. Like ropey grammar might upset a piece of prose, the disappointment is one of a possible pleasure interrupted.

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Not used as well as it could’ve been: EOS 400D, Tamron 11-18mm lens, with settings at ISO100, f/4.5, 6

great friends + tattoos + alcohol = tnt.

yes, it’s true. i’m in love with the beautiful town on copenhagen.
i’m in love with its people, with its food, with its architecture, with its design, with its smørrebrød, with its pubs, with its buses, with its trains, with its animals.
københavn, jeg elsker dig!

There was no promise of money but Uncle Mike was insistent.

“Look, this is a great opportunity. You’ll be on the ladder, a homeowner. You won’t even have to live in it. It’ll just be an investment. You rent it out. A joint like that’ll never be empty. Perfect for a low income family. The Social pay the monthlies direct into your account. Sweet. And on that score, give students a wide berth. Just a bunch of noisy messy cunts, always late with the dough and the neighbours will be on your case around-the-clock, complaining about loud music and the smell of drugs. Trust me, I’ve been there. But listen, this is a good deal – people will always need a roof over their heads and there aren’t enough houses to go around. You can’t get a permit to build diddly now, too. And hey, as you know,” he said with a wink, “they don’t make land anymore.”

Hmm… Of this forthright summary many years back, that was the part that stuck. But the thing is, of course – it’s not strictly true. They do make land, just not in the Ice-Age Continental Drift sense. The new stuff is ‘reclaimed’ and despite being dredged off a sea bed and dumped in a pile, is often prohibitively expensive. There are examples abound and the above site is just one of many. In it, you can see River City 21 on Tsukishima (constructed island), a man made plot far inside Tokyo bay. In a previous despatch, I’ve openly admired the engineers of Japan for their uncanny knack of overlooking difficulties that would make others shy. Tsukishima demonstrated this ballsy can-do spirit over a hundred years ago when it began life as an iron works, forging a new more industrialised future. Now there’s not a smelting pot to be found, just columns of premier housing, a dry cleaners and a great view.

I took this picture one cold and sunny morning in early Spring. I was out cycling – a twenty-five miler – going wherever the road looked nicer. Perched on the side of the blue Eitai bridge, the image framed very well in the 35mm lens and looked too good to ignore. I took a couple of pictures.

EOS 400D, Canon 35mm EF f/2 lens, 1/320, f/6.3, ISO100

lens flare, light beams and a building ready for lift-off

Where do I start? Mmm…yeah, random thoughts. It’s like this. The dominant feature of this shot is undoubtedly Mode Gakuen, otherwise known as the Cocoon Tower, finished last year (2008). To the left is the Sompo Building, an older though altogether a more beautiful piece of work, but that’s just me. Now then, not having firm grasp on architectural trends over the last decade or so could weaken my next observation.

Once in a while, something is constructed that, not just because of scale, secures the attention (and affection) of the public. Mode Gakuen, primarily a building that houses a university fashion school, is such an example. It’s easy to understand – unorthodox, funky, a curved thing, no less, in an environment full of imposing, often dull, geometric plains. However, it is the flagrant borrowing from other, less recent, but brighter stars of architectural ingenuity that irks. Yes, I know, we all borrow and inevitably today insures that tomorrow will be alike. I just think that even with the cursory browse through professional and popular publications, it is both surprising and disappointing that not one review mentions either the Swiss Re Building (The Gherkin) or The Beijing National Stadium (The Bird’s Nest) as influences. As templates, too, the former provides the shape and latter provides the shell. A Google image search might assist those not in the know – check them out. Although this demonstrates that the culture of plagiarism in Asia extends beyond dodgy Louis Vuitton handbags and the car industry, the Skyscraper District in Shinjuku is a better place for it.

Apart from that, in the space of a day, I’ve grown to like the above picture. When I took it, I winced, ‘…damn, forgot the lens hood.’ But the radiant flares, redolent of planetary rings, are an accident that amiably accompanies the the futuristic rocketness of the leaning tapering tower. So, too, the halo of soft beams that rain down on the scene. From cursing to smiling, the happy snapper.

Used my Canon for this shot, with Tamron 11-18mm glass, mounted on a lightweight Velbon tripod.

...except there's no traffic

Oji is a town just inside the northern boundary of greater Tokyo. There’s nothing there. It’s an in-between kind of place. Maybe Lonely Planet could find something meaningful to visit, they usually can, and in fairness, there’s a nice park that brushes up well in Cherry Blossom season but that leaves 51 weeks of thumb twiddling, and the nagging sense that all your friends have got a better deal in cooler places. I know, it’s where I live.

This picture was taken at a normally busy junction. I went there first when I was apartment hunting (clearly not knowing any better). The second time was an evening visit, armed with proper tools, anticipating a visual feast of streaky crisscrossing tail lights mixed with the bold lines of the overhead civil engineering; it was, I thought, a photograph waiting to be taken. The results, though, just didn’t cut it.  That happens sometimes. It’s a disappointment one becomes familiar with. Anyway, I went back a couple of days later and took this shot. Handheld, quick framing, no fuss – click.

EOS400D, f7.1, 1/80, ISO200, Tamron 11-18mm

Image 5 in the series – shot in Hamilton at a wedding venue preshoot.

One day while teaching my Advanced Photography class we headed down to a small pier to discuss the Rule of Thirds – making and breaking the rules.  This was one of my resulting shots.

The second in my B&W series – this was taken in the Hamilton Gardens before the repaint – I love the weathering!

Light Setup:

Ein Speedlight (430ex) auf der rechten seite der Kamera.

Light Setup:

Geblizt wurde mit zwei Speedlights (430ex).