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We’re nearing the end of our current round of travels so the cities and countries are rolling in fast. In Hong Kong at the moment and it's always a joy to marvel at the incredible dynamism of the city.
Capturing such dynamism on film is always a difficult task but I think the shot above works extremely well (it took a lot of patience to get the light trails as you see them).
If the rest of Asia follows this lead, the region looks set for a truly stellar 21st century…
We’ve only been in Japan for four days and the country has already influenced me profoundly.
The Japanese familiarity with visual techniques (particularly via the historic use of brushes rather than pens) has made them particularly sensitive to aesthetics. Certainly, the textures, shapes and sheer symmetry of the cultural design ethic has delighted my mind's eye.
My father is an architect and I always remember him noting that great design favoured exclusion over inclusion. Having recently immersed myself in the national obsession with form and function, I now believe that he was secretly Japanese!
The Japanese have coined the term ‘muda’ for ‘waste’. Such is that pathological focus on ‘muda’ that many corporates such as Toyota and Sony, for example, have legions of workers solely responsible for its removal.
Photographers should heed this note. Whilst I’ve always had many ‘muda’ principles in mind (i.e. the removal of all non-coherent detail, singular focus etc), it has taken a trip to this design-obsessed nation to clearly resolve them in my mind.
There is a story that one day an observer asked Michelangelo how he went about carving his famous David statue. The artist replied that he acquired a large piece of marble and removed everything that was not David.
I believe that Michelangelo was also Japanese...
I am in Australia at the moment gently reminiscing on a dizzying month in this incredible country.
Although I know I will soon return to these shores (the current book project is now heavily underway), there is always a touch of sadness whenever I leave Australia. The highs have included aerial tours over the Great Barrier Reef and Uluru, whilst the regrets include not spending more time in Sydney - arguably one of the greatest cities on Earth.
Still, I head off for Tokyo for the first time ever tomorrow and that should ease the pain slightly. An update from the Land of the Rising Sun soon…
The environmental debate is raging in Australia with news coverage saturated by stories of water recycling, desalination plants and climate change around the country.
With due note to the irony, we left a drought-ridden New South Wales for a very flooded Queensland the other week. The aim was to visit the Great Barrier Reef for some aerial photography around both Cairns and the Whitsunday Islands.
However, upon arrival we were greeted by some of the most fierce rainstorms I have ever encountered (they eventually coalesced into Cyclone Nelson which, in turn, bought havoc to the region). After waiting patiently for over a week, the local helicopter company gave a tentative go-ahead and we managed to get just over an hour’s worth of shooting in the bag.
No words can describe both the power and the fragility of the reef. Although I haven’t had a chance to process the panoramic film camera results yet (I used a polariser to cut straight through the water but lost a pretty hefty 2-stops of light as a result), I’m pretty sure they will be spectacular.
With a casual shrug, Australia then proceeded to top the Reef with Uluru. After three days admiring the magnificent monolith, it is my opinion that only America can match this country for sheer variety and beauty.
More on this Great South Land soon.
