K-chan with our friend’s baby, Kai. Weekend before I left Japan..

K-chan visits me in England – yatta!

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Eat – drink – pay

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My first shots taken on Efke’s black and white infrared film. I used an opaque R72 filter to block visible light and thus heighten the dramatic infrared effect. Consequently, sky and water are rendered as greys and blacks, skin and leaves appear to emit a ghostly, etheral effervescence.

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]]> http://jonathanhillhouse.com/2009/01/09/wednesday/ Thu, 08 Jan 2009 16:47:26 +0000 Jonthan Hillhouse http://jonathanhillhouse.com/2009/01/09/wednesday/

I took the day off work on Wednesday to take photos around the island. Starting out in Nakatane, I traveled by bus and on foot to Nishinoomote in the north. I encountered several abandoned buildings along the way. A favourite subject of mine, there is a certain beauty in their decay and the remnants of a life left behind.

Towards the end of the day I met up with Keiko who was kind enough to model for me at Yokino beach and on the swings and slides of a deserted playground.

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Happy New Year! I wish everyone all the best for the new year. 2008 went so fast for me and now that we are into the new year, it won’t be long until I have to leave Tanegashima in search of a job in photography. Gulp.

Today I uploaded new photos to my Flickr site and I have posted some of my favourites here. I really like these shots so I refrain from referring to them as the “dregs” of 2008, maybe an OM4Ti grande finale of some kind!

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Here are the last photos of my recent infrared series. I love this Aerochrome film although it’s pretty exepensive both to buy and to develop. I think I’ll try some black and white next..

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Excuse the lack of updates, my laptop finally gave up the ghost and then a bottle of wine was spilt all over a machine I was borrowing. Glug, glug, glug – fizz – ( 屮゜Д゜) 屮

I now have a new machine and have been scanning a lot of photographs taken from the last couple of months. All the images can be viewed on my flickr page but I’ve posted some of my favourites here..

This time last year my interest in film photography was in its infancy and I had just invested in an OM-2 SLR and some nice Fuji Natura film (see this blog post).

My love for film is still as strong as ever and am always looking to experiment with new techniques. The below photos for example were taken with a cheapo Holga camera, but loaded with 35mm Velvia film to create some highly saturated colours and the crazy sprocket hole effect.

Autumn is the season for sports here in Japan and as this is my final year in Tanegashima, I made sure I attended several of the festivals. The largest was held at the town’s sports ground where all of the Minamitane’s villages competed for glory – ファイト！

Once every two years, a group of guys from my neighbourhood perform the “bou-odori” (literally “stick dance”). The dance has a very long history and is performed to thank the gods for the year’s plentiful harvest. I have participated in the dance twice before so I was able to enjoy this year’s performance a bit more, not worrying too much about making any wrong steps.

Several other neighbourhood groups performed that day, each wearing distinctive clothes and in one case, some very creppy masks. We all danced at various shrines in Minamitane. The main event was at Kawachi, hidden away in the woods and accessible through a series of wooden gates.

I shot the below photos with Kodak Aerochrome infra-red film. The film is no longer in production but a photographer in Germany is making his own rolls from the original film stock. As you can see from the photos, infra-red photography can result in some very cool colours – the extravagant costumes and masks of the bou-odori were given a heightened sense of the other-worldly!

The film was originally designed to be used in aerial photography to chart such things as plant growth and the effect of forest fires. Armies have even used it to distinguish camouflaged vehicles and weaponry from surrounding vegetation.

And a few more polaroids, just because.. （＾o＾） /

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I’ve been shooting with the Mamiya for a fee weeks now and wow, what a camera! The brilliant 100mm f/2.8 lens is super sharp and creates some great images, both on 120 and polaroid films. I love the interchangeable backs, meaning I am always ready to shoot, be day or night, in colour or in black and white. All in all, a great camera!

P.S. Going to Yakushima again in a few weeks – mountain photos coming soon!

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I attended several summer festivals this year at small villages all around the island. The most impressive was held in my town –  Minamitane’s Rocket Festival, this year celebrating its 30th anniversary.

The festival opened with the firing of ancient Tanegashima muskets. Tanegashima was the first place in Japan to trade in firearms when in 1543, Portuguese traders were shipwrecked to the south of the island.)

Mikoshi (御輿） is the name given to portable shinto shrines. Each village in Minamitane makes their own mikoshi which is carried around town by elementary and junior high school students,  all the while shouting and laughing hysterically.

Shop owners, gas station attendants, firemen (basically anyone who could get their hands on a hose) sprayed water over the children to keep them cool under the hot mid-day sun.

It wasn’t just children who got to carry the mikoshi. Every year Minamitane’s surfer community get together to construct a mikoshi of their own!

During the summer in Minamitane, a string of beautiful lanterns run down the main street. As the sun sets, they light up and create a beautiful atmosphere for all those attending the festivities.

Come evening, everyone moves to the town’s sports ground where a wide variety of acts entertain the crowd – shamisen groups, traditional Japanese theatre, even some body popping!

Around the perimeter of the ground, a wide range of stalls are set up selling fried chicken, fried octopus, fried potatoes (it’s really healthy!) as well as an assortment of children’s toys.

A popular summertime treat is kakigori (かき氷), shaved ice flavoured with fruit flavoured syrups. So many choices…

A trademark of Japan’s summer festivals is the wearing of the yukata (浴衣), a casual form of the kimono. Decorated with a wide variety of colours and patterns, they look beautiful and are worn by men and women of all ages.

I was very lucky to be able to play several gigs this summer with Wakasa Hime (Princess Wakasa), a rock band based in the north of the island. Almost every Saturday we would meet up in the afternoon for a small rehearsal and sound check, baking under the hot sun. Things got cooler towards the early evening when we would play a mixture of original Japanese tunes and some covers of rock classics (Eric Clapton, Eagles, Beatles etc).  Here’s a small clip of the band playing an old Ventures tune..

And for the grand finale, a gigantic firework display to bring the festivities to a close. I’m not really a fan of conventional firework photographs so I used two very last lenses, the Zuiko 55mmf/1.2 and Noritar 80mm f/2 to create some sparkly bokeh…

So some great times at this year’s summer festivals, for me the highlight of the Japanese calander. Phew, drumming and taking photos can be tiring in this heat. Time for a beer. Or how about some ice cold Danish schnapps at Moon Bar?   またね！

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]]> http://jonathanhillhouse.com/2008/08/15/town-hall/ Fri, 15 Aug 2008 12:24:42 +0000 Jonthan Hillhouse http://jonathanhillhouse.com/2008/08/15/town-hall/

School is out and tourists are flocking to Minamitane’s beaches for sun and surf. Although I have no lessons, I still have to go to “work” everyday, meaning I have to sit at my desk at the town hall and keep myself busy.  There is only so much Japanese study and net surfing you can do in one day so I break up the days by scouting the building for nice light and then returning, camera in hand.

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I’ve finally finished constructing my Mamiya Press Camera after buying the parts from several different locations around the world (arigatou ebay). My first two photos, shot on Polaroid 690 film (ISO 100) – self portrait and Keiko with ice ceam. . om nom nom.

]]> http://jonathanhillhouse.com/2008/05/28/recently/ Wed, 28 May 2008 12:50:40 +0000 Jonthan Hillhouse http://jonathanhillhouse.com/2008/05/28/recently/

Whilst wandering around Minamitane town a few sundays ago, taking photos of things that caught my eye, I came across a scrapyard that I normally wouldn’t give a second look to. The sun was low in the sky and its golden rays were shining into an empty garage. I love the way anything can look beautiful under the right light – even a pile of junk!

]]> http://jonathanhillhouse.com/2008/03/23/%e6%98%a5/ Sun, 23 Mar 2008 03:35:36 +0000 Jonthan Hillhouse http://jonathanhillhouse.com/2008/03/23/%e6%98%a5/

The weather has been getting warmer and the cold winds from Yakushima seem to have subsided, could it be that spring has arrived? Although it’s not as if everyone can enjoy the pleasant weather before the humidity and insects arrive – March and April are a very busy time here on the island.

Sugar cane needs to be harvested, rice needs to be planted. Teachers, some of whom are my colleagues, will be changing schools and moving to the mainland. Consequently, it’s the season of the leaving party and the drinking of the beer.

It’s not just teachers that will be leaving their schools, my students at both Junior High and Nursery School (pictured below) are moving on to “big school”. It was sad to say goodbye but I’m looking forward to teaching new first graders!

With spring comes spring vacation for the students. No lessons means no work and so I’m taking some paid leave next week to spend some time in Yakushima.

]]> http://jonathanhillhouse.com/2008/03/18/sonnar-180mm/ Tue, 18 Mar 2008 10:30:03 +0000 Jonthan Hillhouse http://jonathanhillhouse.com/2008/03/18/sonnar-180mm/

I’m not going to be running the Tanegashima marathon this year as I pulled a muscle while playing way too much football at school. However my legs are genki enough to cycle and so I’ve been out and about the last few weekends, taking photos of everyday life here on the island.

Shooting with my new gigantic 180mm Sonnar lens can be a struggle. Weighing almost 2 kg, it’s a bitch to haul around on your back but is capable of some very sharp and bokeh-tastic images – more next week!