Monthly Archives: January 2013

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Japanese Wedding at Meiji Jingu shrine

I had the fortune of coming across a wedding procession while I was visiting Meiji Jingu shrine earlier this year, somehow managing to be in the perfect spot to catch a few shots of this lovely moment.

I haven't seen many of these Japanese-style weddings, and usually when I've seen them, it's almost always been from a distance, so I was quite happy to be able to get a little closer and catch a glimpse of this facet of Japanese culture.

Hope you enjoy them, and good night from Tokyo!  🙂

#Tokyo   #Wedding   #Japan   #monochromemonday  

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Is there anything in particular happening in the hacker/brute-force attack world…

Is there anything in particular happening in the hacker/brute-force attack world lately?

This weekend has suddenly seen an upsurge in the amount of logon attempts to my website – over 20,000 logon attempts over Saturday and Sunday..

It's still ongoing, even MORE intensively actually – over 2,000 attempts in the last 10 minutes!

Is there some new vulnerability for WordPress, or some new hacking tool out?

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SOOC

This month's +Drink and Click™ / +Drink and Click™ Tokyo  challenge was to take SOOC (straight out of camera) shots.  Meaning no cropping, no editing in photoshop/lightroom/picasa/etc.  
Due to work, I showed up a bit late so I didn't take too many images.  
Then, upon getting home, I have to say that it a bit difficult to resist the urge to edit!  Generally I like to at least do a bit brightening/darkening/sharpening/noise reduction…

However, it is also rather liberating not to have to think about post-processing 🙂

These are all SOOC, just used ViewNX to convert the raw files to jpg, and resize – nothing else.  I think it was a good challenge, and I plan to revisit this challenge again personally soon because once you take out the possibility of post-processing (in any form), you do start paying alot more attention to the smaller details.

Thanks as usual to +Juan Gonzalez , and our sponsors +Think Tank Photo and +SmugMug !

#drinkandclick   #drinkandclicktyo   #sooc  

Reshared post from +Jeff Matsuya

Added photos to Drink and Click ™ January Chapter Wide Challenge – Straight Out of The Camera.

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Upwards

I'll be wrapping up my new year shots hopefully soon – just another couple dozen more to go through 😉

I got this one at Meiji Jingu shrine as well where I literally saw this out of the corner of my eye and spun around to catch this moment.

I watched them for a couple more minutes and sure enough, the kid begged for "just one more throw".  I got the entire sequence of the second throw (from first toss to the landing), but this was still my favorite because I just like how they're framed against the torii.

Sometimes I wish I could be like that kid!  🙂

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Tokyo's First Snow of 2013 – January 14

I hadn't planned to go out today at all… well, ok, I had made plans last week to meet up with a few G+ friends to shoot the "Coming of Age" activities today, but when I woke up, it was pouring rain so we canceled the photowalk.

I fully expected to stay home and go through my backlog when I got a call from +Claire SK , telling me that it was snowing!  I jumped up and pulled open the curtains… only to find that it was still raining in my part of town.  However, sure enough, an hour later I peeked out again and snow was coming down like the dickens.

I decided to revisit my earlier plan, and head out to Meiji Jingu shrine again to see what I could see.

Unfortunately, I only spotted a couple of ladies in the traditional kimono garb (and only got one of them in a photo because they were definitely NOT standing around in that weather), but it was still a pretty cool walk.  

This much snow (almost 10cm!) in Tokyo is still unusual (at least for me), and it really changes the entire landscape.  It was also rather dangerous because the weight of the snow caused many (including some very heavy) branches to crash down.  Some people got hit (fortunately by smaller branches) but a pretty big one fell only 20 meters in front of me (you can see it in the picture where a couple men with chainsaws are preparing to break it up).   So, protip for photographers shooting in the snow – don't stay under trees….

I only stayed out for a couple hours before coming back home due to the cold, but it was a great day nonetheless 🙂

#snow    #japan   #tokyo   #?   #??  

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More New Year shots

I think I've taken more shots of the New Year activities at Meiji Jingu shrine this year than in all my previous years in Japan – and there are even more to come when I've had time to go through 'em all!

I've really enjoyed it though – I think it is the first time I've really observed people, and even though I can't give a name to everything they're doing, it's been peaceful in a way that I can't quite describe.  

Still, I hope that these pictures give some of you (particularly those who haven't been to Japan before) a glimpse of the culture here.  🙂

If you have any questions, feel free to ask and I (or some of my fellow Gplussers) will try to answer!  

EDIT: Just noticed that for some reason the images are not in order… if you click on the primary image and try to go to the next image, it will just take you to the top of the album, so you need to go all the way to the end… weird 🙁

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Submission for the Plus One Collection Book

It's time for the next publication for the #PlusOneCollection2012 book and here's my submission.  🙂

It was hard for me to choose my favorite photo of last year since my tastes/preferences have changed a fair bit between January to December of 2012.  Where I once took primarily landscape shots, I've started preferring images that contain the "human element".  That's not to say that I'm giving up on landscapes – far from it!  I just find that I enjoy photographing the people around me just as much, and I chose this image because it combines both landscape elements as well as people enjoying the beauty of nature.

Big thanks to +Ivan Makarov for again taking this huge project on; you can find the details in his original post here: https://plus.google.com/u/0/106711803105103787711/posts/h7A4z7eTdNz

Everyone is free to submit an image so if you'd like to participate in a group effort for charity, check it out – you still have 3 more days to enter 🙂

To buy a copy of the limited edition of the book (or just get some cool prints + an ebook version of the book), check out the indiegogo page as well!  http://www.indiegogo.com/plus-one-collection-2012/x/332301?c=home

Good night!   🙂

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The "Hato Hunter" in action

For those who don't know (and I didn't know until last year myself), "hato" means "pigeon" in Japanese.  Now – I leave you to come up with the story here – anyone want to make a go at captioning this?   😉

Good night from Tokyo!

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New Year Prayers

Been away from shooting lately – only 2 days into work at the office this year, but they've been a hectic couple of days.  Luckily I was able to get out and shooting a bit before work started, and this was taken at Meiji Jingu shrine on January 3rd.

It's customary for people in Japan to visit shrines and temples to pray on/around the new year holidays (from Jan. 1st to 3rd).  During this time, it gets very crowded with lines of people waiting their turn to toss in a coin, clap their hands, and bow their heads in a moment of prayer.

I joined in a quick prayer of my own as well, but I won't tell you what I prayed for as that's a secret!  😉

I wish you all the best for 2013 – may it bring us peace and joy.

Good night from Tokyo.  🙂
#monochromemonday  

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