J-Frog A.K.A Detail Demon

My companion and brother in arms during long high way stretches and dusty diner stops. He just wouldn't stay out of that corner in many pictures and I realized that it gave the whole composition a more reachable scale to lean your eyes on. Many times when the big empty was just that, big and empty, J-Frog became the rule of third....always there somewhere in the view finder, lurking with some obscure angle in mind.









Check his blog on : http://wall-op.blogspot.com (There's some great stuff there!)

Thanx for not getting too pissed off when I almost killed us both twice in the same day on the HighWay...that dead angle could have been a death angel bro.

California Uber Alles...

From Long Beach to Salton Sea and Bombay Beach to Salvation Mt on the way to Yoshua Tree to North Hollywood, Venice & Down Town L.A via Bakersfield and Santa Barbara.

I don't have much to say about either Bakersfield or Santa Barbara except that where the self proclaimed upperclass have made their playground the edge of things getts dull. Safe but dull, like the knife your parents let you play with as a child, no real purpose. In a hangout in Bakersfield I met a Mexican man who with pride showed me a photo of his 5 year daughter branding a loaded machine gun while a girl named Lisa felt a certain bond between me as a Swede and herself since her grandfathers family came from Limerick. In Santa Barbara I met an Irish man (Limerick?) who taught all realistic black&grey tattos were made by Kat Von D and I had a great ice cone (Rockyroad / Cookie&Cream) while some Mexican dudes caught mackerel from the pier just to feed the sea lions who were to well fed to eat them anyways.

It's at outposts like Bombay Beach, Mecca and Ludlow life starts to make sense in a strange kind of ways. From one more extreme environment to another i.e. Tokyo downtown or somewhere on State Highway 58 doesn't really matter as long as you keep it real. The desert in California is a world away from what you think you know about this sunshine state. Sure, it's sunny alright, but the sun doesn't give you only that "nice day" out here, it gives you MORE, it kills. It kills the colors and luster of any material, it kills in form of heat that drills through any crack. It's a spectacular thing to see and be in, I loved everyminute I could spend out here in the open nothingness of the high desert. Trivial stuff like you opt for in general gets a whole new meaning out here. Colors and compositions can not be found anywhere than in remote areas like this. Outback Australia has the same feel to it. Man is that sky blue or what?

Another thing that sneeks up on you as the days goes by is this, how can you beat the life enchanting feeling to know that you don't have to live in Los Angeles, I thought China and then especially Shanghai was tacky with it's poor taste & quality. In LA I had the pleaseue to hang with some of the best people I have ever met over in the States, that was really cool,. But it's the shallowness of the core culture of everydaylife other than friendship that kinda gets to you like a bad taste that just doesn't wash away. One thing that the Gringo Americanos (This is Mexicoland, remember?) know how to do is to make superb sidewalks, skateboard paradise. I was rolling down Hollywood Blvd one afternoon on a brand new SantaCruz board when I saw George Orwells "star" imbedded in the black pavement. I wonder what he would have said if he knew that the minnions of the "Big Brother" State of the world trampled with tired feet on his name day in and day out? I think he would have liked some rebellion even in the form of a solo skateboarder breaking some petit rule and holding the free will intact by his actions. But that's just me thinking out loud. Maybe he would have enjoyed being pissed and puked upon as a sheer metaphor. I might be back in the land of the free, home of the brave within short, also this a road trip following the spectacular Pasific Coast HWY 1, a job for a major airline.

Here is a farrago of images from some of the places I visited and stopped up to spend a couple of MB or so on. California Uber Alles....Hallelujah i.e Allah Akhbar!

I'll Be Back... -Tour C.A 2007-

Between June 7 - 22, please contact me on : NISHITAKA@HOTMAIL.COM

Later Blader Hater

Virgin Voyage Venture

5D II proved to be a good buy for $1000 less than the full priced one at the big camera ashram in Shinjuku i.e Yodobashi Camera, the worlds biggest camera store. Even though being second hand (A-rank) the camera had not a scratch on it and hadn't been used by a photographer before me. Second hand here in Japan means many times that the camera/lens or whatever it may be has been taken out from it's original box. For $1000 I can do other creative stuff so the small risk of getting a piece of junk was worth to take. I did though found a small dark spot on some overexposed images in the lower corner of some of the images. CMOS sensor cleaning is under way. These three images was taken in the same area within an hour in West Shinjuku, my favourite "city" in Tokyo. Here you have in the West corner some of Japans coolest skyscrapers (love these kind of buildings and I spend time among these giants whenever I can) nicely blended with a homeless camping ground of Chuo Park, in the East corner is Japans by far dirtiest and grittiest redlight ghetto and bar/restaurant area. In the South two of the best selected bookstores in Tokyo. What more could you ask for?

The Backup

I added a new member to the m.w.c.p klan the otherday, a secondary back-up body in form of Canon's 5D, a camera I've got used to and now really enjoy working with. Nice to have that extra insurance with a back-up and lens changing doesn't have to spoil that crucial moment anymore. My normal set up for 35mm (1V & 1N) was just the same, one body with primarily a 16-35mm and the other with a 24-70mm, this got me a nice coverage of stuff. The fisheye and tele zoom (70-200mm) have to go in the camera bag. That old worn Domke is heavy like lead now again and if a bag slasher only knew the value of the stuff I have in it he would wet his pants. Better bring that good 'ol baseball bat with me on next shoot.

Check Post September 3rd 2006 and you will see that the 2 gloroius 35mm, the 1V & 1N has been replaced with the two 5D's. The 20D has been sold for peanuts and a fisheye fullframe 15mm has been added and has proved it self worthy of being part of the m.w.c.p setup. A FUJIFILM GA 645 medium format is now also a steady member in the family on longer trips and on special occations. A luxury peeve then occurred, what do I do with my +40 rolls of 35mm FUJIFILM stored away in the fridge?

To Keep Your Objective (BTW, My 100th Post...)

Celebrations in the House, m.w.c.p has managed not to give up this very time-eating blog site for 100 posts. Maybe not the most full of insight and deeprooted posts all of them, but never the less, 100 is a number worth a note. I haven't got many comments during the year it has been up so I guess I do it mostly for my own ego, the usual trio of me, myself & I doing stuff together and sharing it like true brothers.
Here are three small anecdote from how things can be done in the life of a man (much like my self), a man who belives that the small, simple things in life should be treated seriously, and the big, complicated things should be treated lightly. These anecdotes are a set of three incidents from three different locations and times but has the same core objective, that is to keep just that, the objective. Do you find yourself in this man, I did.

One of the most sought-after bands in his careere would play that night and after many delicate strings pulled the presspass was a fact, free to run. There was just one thing on his mind behind his actions, only one thing that had to be done, and that was to find a good enough band who would pull the most hardcore audience. The audience was the target, not the band who he had every CD of and was more that thrilled to see live, finally a(nother) dream come true. To shoot the audience in full swing with a no-rule i.e fuck-you-up-for-real mood in the air was his objective and his actions was based on this fact all day long. To his astound peers not one single shot was taken of his favourite band even though he was feet away from the stage, those shots had to wait till his decicions were set on them, which could be never, so be it.

Foolish you think? Maybe?

One day this man was in a frost bitten New York City in a deep need for a toilet, and his mind was set on a very special one, a toilet many long blocks away, one that was sorrounded by art and art minded people, all set in a upperclass more posh setting than the ones he frequented at gritty fast food hangouts and dingy subway stations. He knew that he had to be more than direct in his actions to fool the guard and in stealth with the air of a staff member in bad mood just walk in through the doors, past the waiting minions and use the establishnments clean and warm restroom. The Guggenheim Art Museum's shit house is worth a deep minded objective such this one. He didn't see a single piece of "art" even though he slipped in for free and could have roamed the quiet corridors together with the other sheeps as long as he wanted. He would have queued in the cold for a ticket if he wanted to see the "art". He had money and didn't like to get things for free, if he taught it was worth payng for.

Foolish? You think about it...

In Paris his single minded objective was set on the Mona Lisa, behind her protective "art" killing plexiglass shield. He bought his ticket after a long wait with tired obese North Americans and chain smoking Euro trash. Found a floor guide and set of to the most seductive smile in the history of men. Soon after with fast steps he reashed the exit and made the most of the beautiful day in the real world .This paradise city of cities had real "Mona Lisa" smiles in ever cafe and street corner, without the plexiglas.
He had heard that Louvre, this giant feast of humanity and "art" has more fantastic paintings than can be on display and that he could spend days slowly killing time with all of them, both the dead and the living.

Foolish not to?


Focus and objectivness. The man knew what he wanted, but even more so, he knew what he didn't want as well.

No comments on this one (either) are needed.