Valentine Smasher

(I like this one the best…!)

A wolf amongst the lambs, legendary RxKxBx trasher 

Valentine metal feast in Shinjuku. As always when talking live metal photography, closer is king and even though Belgian Blast death Metal gods headlined I set out to shoot the local bands last night. A scene I have now been following and shot for 6-7 years. The Japanese underground metal scene is just unbelievably intense and full of creative life.  ABORTED being one of my favorite metal bands and I felt that I had to "see" them and not shoot them, two completely different things. Them being famous and first time in Japan doesn't matter, I know when I should be a spectator and when I should be focusing on my photography. When shooting a live gig of this intense level you have to be "inside" the inner circle to get the best shots and I seldom can both enjoy the music and get the shots I want, either do photography full on or not at all has proved to be the ticket. I can spend a whole night shooting and come out just drained and not have a memory of who played what. I decided to skip chasing images of Aborted and for once enjoyed the gig 100% with an open mind, being able to hear and indulge the raw power the music delivers, man, they were just great. The first 8 shots are of HEMORRHOID CARNAGE (great name!), then GOTSUTOTSUKOTSU (Samurai Metal), From Perth/Australia DEVOUR THE MARTYR and then Shinjuku aggressors OGRE and the ogre freak devil Mao. Awesome to being able to photograph these guys ad also priceless to finally see ABORTED live in Tokyo, I hope you guys come back soon.

p.s All shot with a 5D Mark Nil, 16-35mm f/2.8, 580EX. None of these images has been retouched, tempered with by any imaging software. Straight from the camera to the screen. 

4649

Ok, here is one shot of ABORTED…one of the best live gig's I've ever experienced…somewhere up there on the scale with Slayer, Napalm Death, Black Dahlia Murder and At The Gates. I'm glad I put down the camera and saw this full on. Sometimes you just have to. Music is Life.

snafu

TKO x III

New Horizon

Studio

Someone told me once -"Whatever you do, never use a white background for B/W portrait photography!" 

Why not? It works and looks pretty funky to me. 

snafu

Brother Kohama

At Rew 10 Works today

Gnocchi Or Die

Forgot to shoot the food though I had my camera sitting next to me on the table…it's that good stuff.  Got a fast snap of the dessert before devouring it in a maniac greedy way. Chanti in Sazasuka (since 1972) is probably my favorite Italian in Tokyo.

Destroy Everything...

…seems like the only option!


My latest photobook "find"! Was blown away from the first image I saw, just opened up a couple of random pages and just had to get this one. You know when you have a gem in your hands, doesn't take even a friction of a moment to see that this is what it's all about, the whole idea and meaning of you always carry around that expensive, fragile precision instrument wherever you go. The result of doing just that for Ricky Adam (Northern Ireland) is his Destroy Everything. If you don't have this book in your inspirational collection of photobooks you are missing out big time…so fucking spot on good that I almost just wanted to put away my gear and pursue another route in life, migrate to some desolate high altitude plateau and hide away from reality in some musty cave like Jean-Baptiste Grenouille did in Perfume…it's that fucking superb!

Made my day, that's all I should say!

A couple of lines from the introduction by Ricky Adam :

It's not a book about 'BMX' or a book about (for lack of a better word) 'punk'. It's a collection of photographs of people who do their own thing their own way and live life from the heart, no matter what the consequences. 
They say the heart rules the mind. It's the only way to live my life…

snafu

CP+

Well well, what can I say. Hit the CP+ (Camera/Photo expo) in Yokohama the other day. As expected, lots and lots of gadgets for the needy. But after all, a tripod is a tripos, a lens is s lens and all in between. Feels a little like photography and the market has moved in the direction since I was at the expo perhaps 10 years ago into this housewife's spare-time snap shooter thing. Told my self strolling between the vendors that I would not rant in a negative way about what I felt about it all…but, fuck it…actually a little embarrassing at times. Canon and Hasselblad had some serious stuff to share to us all, even some oldschool print and film vendors seemed to have made a comeback in a small but noticeable way. But mainly it was all about compact cameras and all the trillion little attachable gadgets you can buy to your little sharpshooter. Then as always when the real geeks gather and the corporations wants their attention, there has to be a "sexy" (!?) looking little bunny standing and displaying her goods, in more than one way. Well, don't we all like girls with little clothes on…but why here... Kind of funny at first to see all these army of UniQlo clad "otaku" geeks, nerds and old men with their either over-the-top excessive armory of a camera with all the cords and stuff money can buy, that or mobile phone shooters. First circling in on the pray fumbling with their gear and then in an gathered effort move in for the kill on some completely unaware-of-what-she-is-displaying miniskirt part time anime wet dream wannabe gal trying to please the drooling grey/brown minions. Hey, it's a job and everyone gets what he or she wants in the end of the day. The geek gets to shoot a cute (?!) girl up close without being arrested and the part time bunny gets to show her goods, build up her CV for upcoming more advanced adult stuff. What all this has to do with the most prestigious camera/photo expo in Japan I do not know. Shit, now you get me going…then you have the presenter doing a power-presentationor "seminar" of some "new" wonder thing, always seated on a stage with a professional looking mic headset and talking to the same dudes that by now would have a whole collection of high resolution "cospurei garu" (Japanese for Costume Play-girl) on their flashcards. BUT, she is not talking like an grown up to grownups, instead she (mainly a woman) has the aura of a kids TV program leader. Explaining how fun and playful the new pocketcamera is, how colorful and "crazy" the images can become if you use the new settings and modes already programed into the camera, all for your creative side to explore. Did we become that stupid and dull? And to top off the CP+ convention walking tour the organizers had thrown out this wild-card and displayed a section dedicated not to the gear but to photography (often a secondary thing when talking about "photography" in Japan, weird isn't it). New upcoming photo enthusiasts (pro/amateur…I don't know, I don't care to be honest) had their work on display. Now I could see in person how the industry rub off on the market and influence whom ever is up to buy the products on sale and follow the guidlines. Some of these young boys and girls had nice stuff, those that had wondered off the beaten track and thought up something personal and done it their own way…perhaps. However, 90% was just either fun, crazy, colorful and inspiration taken from a manual of a pocket camera, that or sinister sado-erotic feel based on some garu in multiple half naked poses, kind of purposeless and boring if I can say so. But yeah, the bunnies do play a big role in Japanese photography apparently who could have guessed? Anyways, it is what it is and will always be what it is, I kind of knew what to expect just, I hoped that I could take home a little bit of knowledge, something inspiring…maybe next expo? Hard to imagine though!