Books, books, books had found the secret of a garret-room piled high with cases in my father’s name; Piled high, packed large, where, creeping in and out among the giant fossils of my past, like some small nimble mouse between the ribs of a mastodon, I nibbled here and there at this or that box, pulling through the gap, in heats of terror, haste, victorious joy, the first book first. And how I felt it beat under my pillow, in the morning’s dark. An hour before the sun would let me read! My books! – Elizabeth Barret Browning Seigoshi gold …
Dreamland in Outdoor Japan
The Nov/Dec edition of Outdoor Japan features an article with photos by me about Nara Dreamland. I wrote about it on my site here, but the version I wrote for OJ was quite different, emphasizing the adventure, tension, and exhaustion much more. It’s always great to see your work in print, especially with photos. They did a beautiful job with the layout- using the silhouette parts of the Corkscrew ride for text. I’m really pleased. This page on the OJ site tells you where you can pick up your copy of the magazine.
The Toyo Bowl in Sandals
This is the seventh part of my new series of Daily Haikyo Photos. See the first in the series for an explanation. This week’s theme is photos with me in them. This is one of my favorites- somewhere I’d love to have taken a model. Unfortunately it’s (I think) demolished now. The atmosphere was awesome, eerie, calm, and very ruined. I’m wearing sandals in this shot and probably regretting it, since the floor is studded with nails, presumably once in place to keep the alley slats held in place. I almost stepped on one a few times- probably it would …
Blinded by the Light in Negishi
This is the sixth part of my new series of Daily Haikyo Photos. See the first in the series for an explanation. This week’s theme is photos with me in them. With this shot you get double your value- two Mikes at once. It was probably taken around 2am in the morning, after we had spent hours dithering outside the Negishi Grandstand waiting for the nearby base to fall silent and dark. Inside it was pitch black- all the windows were thoroughly blocked up, so that explains other Mike’s extreme shock at the brightness of my camera’s flash. Probably he’s …
Car-capering at Sports World
This is an oldie but a goodie. Who could resist standing on a ruined car? In this instance I stood on them all, especially enjoying being atop the upside down one. The only other chance you might have to do this is in some kind of riot. Much better to have the calm of Sports World to enjoy it in.
Representing the Wildcats in Saurabol
This was a great location for shooting, one we found totally by accident while staying at in the Chongmun resort zone on Jeju Island, South Korea. It was totally overgrown, with some kind of grouse lurking in the bushes. One of them burst out of the undergrowth at my feet- unfortunately I couldn’t catch it on camera. I have another shot of me leaping in this same spot, but perhaps that’s a bit frivolous (for the first week of this daily photo-posting, at least 😉 ). You can see more on Saurabol here. See more Japanese ruins (haikyo) in the …
Ironic Posing at the Russian Village
This is the third part of my new series of Daily Haikyo Photos. See the first in the series for an explanation. This week’s theme is photos with me in them. I think I never posted this shot anywhere- it’s just too much like a regular tourist shot, though I think I took it ironically. I also took a photo
Looking out of Sun Hills
This is the second part of my new series of Daily Haikyo Photos. See the first in the series for an explanation. This week’s theme is photos with me in them. This is another shot taken by Su Young, this time in the Sun Hills car park. We headed out to Sagamiko Lake in Kanagawa hoping to find the ruined hotel still standing. What I’d been able to research on the Internet suggested it would be very smashed-up, dilapidated, and cool. What we found was the place it had been, and the car park it had used. Lots of sheer …
Surveying Ashiodozan
I’ve got 1000’s of haikyo photos I’ve never used. Occasionally I dip into them to put together a combo post, but for the most part they lie fallow; maybe because I’m in them, or other people are, or they’re not quite as striking as other shots in the set. Still, I think they’re informative, interesting, and I want to use them. Here’s my idea- I post one (usually new) photo a day, for as long as I have good photos left to post. Each week there’s a theme that pulls that set together. It could be that they’re all photos …
Haikyo 2011 Calendar
My haikyo 2011 calendars have arrived! I ordered 5 for the whopping cost of about $60 (with a bulk order discount), and a shipping cost of $30 to Japan. I’m really pleased with their quality- they’re on good stiff card, the print is sharp, the design is clean, and they’re plenty big enough to scrawl all your necessary info onto. For those inclined to buy- here’s a link to the lulu page. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. And if that’s not enough to convince you- check out my video walk-through of one sample calendar, giving you a great idea …