black and white and grain all over.
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Do you see what I see? Yeah — a shit ton of grain. This is what happens when you don’t do a test roll of previously unexplored film (Kodak T-Max 3200) on an mostly untested new camera (Contax T2), but decide to bring 5 rolls of said film to Tokyo anyway. There’s a chance that this was the result of a terrible lab screwup, developing-wise, but at this point, I’m just throwing up my hands in frustration. Then again, these are the risks you take with film, so I guess I probably ought to be happy that they came out at all. But no, I’m still pissed, mostly at myself. Ah well.
But if you manage to see past the grain, you’ll hopefully spy some decent captures here and there.
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Also, if anyone has experienced Aquarium Dining, please do let me know.
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tsukiji market.
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When you plan a trip to Tokyo, everyone will tell you to visit Tsukiji Market — or more properly, the Tokyo Metropolitan Central Wholesale Market — where chefs go to get their fresh fish for the day’s meals. Everyone will also tell you to go to the tuna auctions, the highlight of the day, which start at 5:30 in the morning and run for about an hour. Everyone will tell you: Oh! You’ll be jetlagged anyway so you’ll be up at 5:30 so it’s totally doable!
Apparently maintaining one’s sanity is not everyone’s priority while on vacation. Me, when I go on holiday, I like my sanity. In fact, I go on holiday precisely for my sanity’s sake. I’m certainly not going to sabotage that for the sake of a 5:30 wake up call to stand in line in the hopes of seeing some fish, no matter how great an experience it is. Seriously, people. I like my sleep.
But here’s the thing: it’s still entirely possible to hit the market after the auctions. The wholesale operation is in full effect till early afternoon, and you can wander around both the inner and outer markets with your ridiculously big camera and take photographs AND AND AND get a sushi breakfast to boot. Yes. Sushi for breakfast. It was wonderful. The big camera was not on hand for that part of the excursion, which is all for the best: lots of delightful groaning and face-stuffing. SUSHI FOR BREAKFAST!
I digress. The market is pretty great, too. No, seriously. A gigantic indoor space for the fish, and the outer market is full of little alleyways and stalls selling all sorts of odds and ends. A wonderful way to spend a morning after you’ve slept well past 5:30am.
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One last photo, of our friend the Salaryman, just before we ducked in to Sushizanmai for our glorious breakfast. Salaryman is hungry.
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the view.
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It all started with this blog post.
I wanted a similar view. It was probably the only thing I specifically planned for in advance of my trip to Tokyo: I wanted a photo from that vantage point. Or something very, very close. I wanted to see — and capture — Tokyo from way up high.
It’s not a regular sort of thing for me, wanting the crazy birds-eye perspective of a city. And I live in New York City! I’ve never been to the Empire State Building, or even to the top of Rockefeller Center, even though I work just a stone’s throw away from the place. But it suddenly became a mission of sorts, this perspective, for the Tokyo trip.
And so if you want to know anything about how I travel, it’s this: I travel very, very lightly, personal-effects-wise. I forget to pack deodorant. I maybe pack 3 pairs of socks for a 7-day trip. No, what happens when I travel these days is that half my suitcase is taken up by film. No joke. (And you know what else? 45 rolls of film ends up being incredibly heavy.) And when I’m out and about, I carry two bags, stuffed with three cameras and at least 6 extra rolls of film. I’m neurotic about having enough film on me at all times. Neurotic. And I need to have all three cameras — Hasselblad, Leica, and Contax, all loaded with different film stock — so I can be sure to capture the right sort of mood. I mean, duh.
And so wanting this view became an exercise in just how much of a caricature of myself I could possibly become. Watch.
Tipped off by a photographer friend of Dom’s, we started out here. Yes, the city government office building’s 45th floor has an observation deck that you just need to queue up for. It’s totally free. It’s also, after we showed up there, excited, totally …. not worth it. Or maybe it is, and our expectations were too high. But it was a muggy day (for February) and Mt. Fuji was nowhere to be seen, and the observatory deck itself was maybe sort of wanting. Dom thought we’d be able to go outside. Nope. No such luck.
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But whatta gift shop!
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But I’d heard good things about Roppongi Hills Mori Tower, in Roppongi; perhaps this would be the view I had been searching for. And so on Wednesday afternoon, I set off from Dom’s place, not too far away, and timed it so that I’d make it to the building by around 4:30, with just enough time to capture the sunset. I wasn’t the only one with this idea. (Tourists! We’re a predictable bunch!)
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And the 52nd floor of the place proved magical, with an almost 360 degree view from inside the building. (It’ll cost you 1500 yen, about $17, but it also gets you into the Mori Art Museum, so it’s totally worth it.) While I waited for the sun to see I snapped some shots from inside, with all three cameras. Yeah, yeah. Shut up.
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And then, just after 5pm, it was time: nearly sunset. I’d bought an additional ticket for the SkyDeck, the outdoor viewing area above the 57th floor. You know what? It is windy when you’re up that high. Also: February — freezing. We — about a dozen of us — were only allowed to bring our cameras (limited to two, but well, hey, good thing the Contax is small and fits into my jacket pocket?), no bags, no extra stuff. Because again, WINDY.
But totally worth it. Did I get the same view? I don’t think so. But hey! Mt. Fuji! And just a lot of other good stuff.
To wit – the Hasselblad + Portra 400:
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With the Leica + treasured Agfa RSX 50 expired slide film that I’d been waiting eons to use:
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The Contax T2 + Fuji Neopan 400:
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My favorite of the lot (and well, three cameras, there’s quite a bit to choose from):
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Neuroses: Getting you the perfect photograph since I don’t even know when.
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parklife.
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I hadn’t planned much of anything to do for my week in Tokyo — and if you know me at all, you know that I plan like nobody’s business, so this was an entirely and simultaneously liberating and frightening state of affairs for me — so a trip to Yoyogi Park, near Harajuku Station in the heart of Shibuya, was not exactly on my to-do list. (Well, to be sure, I had no to-do list to begin with.) But Dom, my host (and a much more consistent and persistent planner), had told me that I ought to go see the Meiji Shrine. And so I did. (As did quite a few other people.)
I had no idea, though, that there would be such a delightful park for me to walk through in the process! The people-watching was great. And such a quiet, calming place in the middle of the city.
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tokyo sampler.
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I spent one glorious week in Tokyo, eating marvelously and seeing the sights. With three cameras in tow, it’s no wonder I came home with 22 rolls of film that needed developing! As I work my way through both the jet lag and film scanning, I figured I’d show a few of early photos already scanned onto the computer. Many, many more to come.
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the latest addi(c)tion.
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In advance of the Tokyo trip, I bought myself a Contax T2. Yup. A point-and-shoot film camera. With autofocus. And you know what? It has been scandalously, deliciously liberating.
I needed to take a quick test roll to make sure everything was working properly, and much of yesterday was overcast and glum, and I mean, it’s not like there’s much to photograph when you work in midtown Manhattan, so the end results of said test roll were limited at best*, but: good times, my friends. You just snap a photo, just like that! No fiddling with that focus ring! It’s CRAZY. Also: the camera fits in my coat pocket. NUTS.
I’m on photo quarantine between now and Saturday, when I finally arrive in Tokyo, and will likely not post anything until I get back and have at least some of my rolls developed. If you live in Tokyo and see a crazy lady lugging around three cameras and asking in broken Japanese where Yakitori Alley is: that’s me. Fun times await.
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[* I promise that my Tokyo photos will not be predominantly of people’s legs. Promise.]
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the weekenders.
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It was a most excellent weekend, with friends old and new.
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(Mike is improving, slowly but surely, with Leica focusing!)
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3200.
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It’s pretty wonderfully versatile, Ilford Delta 3200 speed film. Indoors, outdoors, daytime, nighttime: it’s got enough leeway to capture nearly everything.
1. Andy (Sorry about making you pose outside during that snowstorm! Thanks for being a trooper.)
2. Mike (“Look pensive! Stand still!”)
3. Celina and Justin B. (Yay!)
4. Justin M. (“You’re not going to give me a smile, are you?”)
Off to Tokyo in less than a week. With any luck, I’ll also have a new (old) camera in tow.
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a wee hiatus.
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It occurred to me the other night, while I was scanning a few rolls of recently-developed 120 film from the Pittsburgh trip, that I hadn’t cracked open an actual book in something like six weeks. I mean, I’ve been reading the weeklies, and lord knows I’m addicted to what shows up on my Google Reader. But actually sitting down with a book: how — dare I say — novel.
So I’m going to take a mini-holiday from the blog, and from photographing in general, so that I can rediscover the wonders of the written word. Such a journey won’t take me too far afield, I assure you; it’s not like there isn’t a stack of books on my nightstand taunting me as it is. In the meanwhile, go forth!, enjoy whatever it is that you enjoy, and do it with aplomb. If you’re feeling so inclined, wander over to my portfolio site, where I’ve posted a series of recent work (many of which I’ve posted in one capacity or another over here at the blog, over the last six months).
I’ll be back soon. I’m heading to Tokyo in a few weeks (!!!!!), and there will surely be a treasure trove of photographic delights to indulge in while I’m there, and hopefully to share with you upon my return.
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bittersweet trumpets.
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I have a thing — to be sure, everyone’s got a thing (don’t deny it!), and my thing is the very lovely sound of bittersweet trumpets. You might think it sounds like this, but oho, no no no, my dears: those are gorgeous, triumphant trumpets. And they are perfect, indeed, but when the mood strikes you — and the mood strikes me, apparently, quite often — I need something a bit more minor key, a bit more … plaintive. Something a touch more elegiac. Something like this, perhaps. (Wait for the horns at the end; so very, very worth it.)
Courage, my love. The trumpets and these words are the mantra of the new year, I suppose. Smiles amidst glorious, but still such difficult, harmonies. Something like that.
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[Photos taken with the always-errant Lomo. I am contemplating delving into a Contax point-and-shoot universe. Will keep you posted!]
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hong-an tran 