Moments from A Homeport

How do you describe a continent, something so abstract like Asia in a couple of images? And how do you describe something that is your home and part of yourself? How do you describe something that makes so much sense to you that there never been any need for an explanation. The colors, sounds, smells and moods? You can't do much more but to scratch the surface, you can give a small taste of it through what you have seen and focused on through the lens even if it would make sense to no-one but yourself. I was 18 years old the first time I ever set my foot in Asia and I realized at that same moment the doors to the real world outside the airport opened to a steaming hot day, that this was where I belonged and that it was something that I could cope with . All the knots of worries from a life back in the gray world loosened up and even if total chaos ruled it was something I could understand even though have being brought up in a completely opposite environment in Northen Europe. Now when I look back on all those journies I have done through all of Asia since then I have almost only great memories to look back on and take out when the day gets dull. Even the really bad ones have turned into something good and I have thanks to them been able to shape a new life and have a better understanding of things, it all got me more aware and responsible in a way. I love to see the photos of Steve McCurry and read the lines of Paul Theuroux and am getting my inspiration and power in knowing that there are people out there sharing the same love I do for life, the life you have chosen by following some simple routes of understanding of people and places. These images were all taken with varoius 35mm SLR cameras (Minoltas & Canons) that I have used during the years and its in these cameras my true love for photography lays. Images from a ferry journey in Myanmar, early morning and the light made the image dreamlight, the bored face on a train in the Gobi desert, bees filling the sky in central China and so on. To fill a word like Asia you need more, you need time traveling though it and experience it all on your own. Travel through it with open eyes and a clear mind, travel through it with the knowledge that it is here the colors, the smells, the sounds and moods of the day come to play a huge role each, one that matters, even for just one day at a time. I'm home.

J-Frog Snap - Josh 8:18

Joshua tree (noun) a yucca that grows as a tree and has clusters of spiky leaves, native to arid regions of southwestern North America.
• Yucca brevifolia, family Agavaceae.ORIGIN mid 19th cent.: apparently from Joshua (Josh. 8:18), the plant being likened to a man brandishing a spear. (?)

P.S This is the actual tree that U2 used for thier album jacket photo to their "Yoshua Tree" platinum album.

South East

I miss my retreat from time to time...just now is such a time.

KNIFE Magazine

The new issue of KNIFE, Japans one & only came out recently and as usual my photo column "Global Focus" represented the travel pages of this high quality bi-monthly collectors/aficionados magazine. Next issue will be focusing on Down Town L.A, the prevoius issue on Thailand, this one on Japan (first time, running out of ideas?).

Having been a knife nerd myself since when I can remember this is truly a great honor to have my own 2 pages in one of the most sought-after knife magazine in the world.

KNIVES MC

A small bricolage of a nightly raid in Tokyo's downtown.






To the members of KNIVES : Thanx for letting me!

D.I.Y?

I used to spend hours on my Mongoose commuting between Kinkos, Yodobashi Camera ("My Ashram" to quote Mr. Philip Jones Griffiths) and Create (the local pro-photo lab) to develop film, make prints, buy film and other post photoshooting materials. It was a great exercise but it took it's toll on my budget, thats for sure. Then came the digital camera and even if it was crap in the beginning it definitely saved me and my three-man (me, myself & I) show both money and time. As digital cameras became better and more reliable film is becoming history...almost. Since I still shoot 6x4.5 and the occational 35mm because I love it I still have to make that journey to the lab and camera store once in awhile but less and less often as the years goes by. As a freelance photographer you will never be 100% self-sufficient. There will always be some stuff you need to do your job that requires shops like the previous mentioned, but you can and should make it into an last retreat if you can. To go DIY has become a reality that just 10 years ago was something that would be close to impossible to do.

But what is it we get for our hard earned money? Just mass produced junk many times, isn't it?
Take this as an example, just 3 years ago a 1GB Flash Card would cost you ¥15.000, now you get a faster, higher quality card for ¥5000. The same cards will soon be free, but then the market will find out a new technique that requires some other pricey plastic gadget you just have to have to take that high resolution image for some publication that actually doesn't give a shit in the end. The guys and gals at Canon and other great companies are not digging their own graves by making us self sufficient, thay are going to make sure that we keep that close relationship in the future as well, guess we all depend on eachother in a weird way. Well, thats the way it goes, learn to adapt to the trends and you'll be fine I guess, just that I hate to be so easily deceived by what the trend is according to what some big company says it is. So to go full circle and fall headfirst in to another trap I went the other day to "The Ashram" and got me a Canon MP690, a printer, scanner, copier and you name what, all in all (the gear freak in me made me, I just call it an investment if anyone asks!). Lets see what this machine can do for us at m.w.c.p in the future. A small price to pay for being able to be master of your own destiny...?







Gotta go, have to get inkjet color cartridges and more printing paper and...................!

King Of The Road Says's You Move Too Slow....

Already the middle of July and the time just continues to slip away like sand between your fingers, away into the void. Summer always makes me feel kind of empty because so many things are suppose to be done and seen but then all you get is a nervous tick and headache. I don't consider me a person that gives up easily, but when the summer mood sets in it's hard not to just stay home and surf the You Tube all day with cup after cup of strong coffee. Maybe get lost in a couple of fat books, at the same time. Let's see, this summer doesn't have a lot of interesting projects but I will be busy anyway, shooting for money, pay that rent you know.

Another thing I have noticed lately is that, if you can "don't eat where you shit" (or was it the other way...). Living a 100% true life and your bussiness life will cross paths with your private life and to hold that balance in order takes alot of straight attitude. If you have chosen to lead the life you do there is a reason for this most times, right? It might be because you feel at home in that life and know where you are, where you stand. To get as a professional freelancephotographer really good work on film you need time with the subject you work with. So if you shoot stuff from the life you lead and people you live with you will find out that the "stuff" you get back is almost always of a really high quality, top work, real insider materials. But then this predicament pops up like Jack-in-the-fuckin box; you are making money out of your life style. Nothing wrong in this for sure, a dream for most. But when you have to chose between work/making a living and friendship the table is turned. I value friendship highest on any list and I know that real good friends are rare as snow in hell (that's why I have only a handful of real friends). I am pretty sure that most true freelance photographers have met this obstacle that it's so hard for non photographers to see, to understand the world we see it, in pictures and moments as well as in a livelihood worth fighting for. Sometimes you have to back down and take another route just to save something that can never be mended, not to compromise between what your life stands for, but juts back down and seek another better option. And that option for another route might mean that some people that never meant to be your trusted friend in the first place will get that right hands middle finger firmly outstreched, right in their face, so be it, life goes on with or without both you and me.....summer blues sucks!

Keep On Dreaming sonny...

El Demonio - D.F.F.D -

I had the pleasure to meet and work with one of Tokyos coolest crew the other day. El Demonio is a club that has been around for over 10 years and with their riders philosophy and Tokyo "style" bikes i.e. slim, they are going to represent the big city with 2 other clubs in a foreign magazine in a near future.

New Boards

New boards don't make me fall less hard but at least I can do it with style now.

New Okubo Ghetto Style

Renowned owner and brain behind Tokyos true underground culture center "The Ghetto". Mr.Ako in person.

Queen Mary Ink Bash

4th Annual International Ink & Iron Festival 2007. What is there to say except "Otsukare sama deshita...Yoroshiku!!"