Travel Diary: Osaka Part 2

Maybe I’ve not been selective enough with my cull of images, but I couldn’t get enough of shooting the streets of Osaka. And this is a blog, not my portfolio, so I’m a bit looser in my picks for better or for worse. Not every image needs to be the show stopper…..Which kind of leads me to a point on how I shoot these days. Often times in travel photography, it’s waiting for that ONE moment. And don’t get me wrong, I do that quite a bit, but the little times in between are just as meaningful in my travel experiences. Showing ONLY the iconic shots is kind of doing the whole experience a disservice. I’ve talked about finding beauty in the mundane and slowing down and how I’ve kind starting shooting differently now with this smaller set up in the Fuji system, so I wanted the images to reflect a more documentary feel. This is personal work and I want to show my experiences for what they were, not just the best shots from the most well known locations… It’s more than that. In any event, here’s part 2 of the Osaka series.

Travel Diary: Osaka Part 1

On a whim, I found a cheap ticket to Osaka for a sneaky weekend and hopped on the redeye from Saigon and woke up at 8:30 am in Osaka. Gotta love time travel. I’m absolutely smitten with Japan and the opportunity to spend a few days in Osaka was too good to resist. With the yen at a 35 year low, there’s no better time to take advantage. With no real agenda aside from going to Universal Studios for some rollercoasters and Mario goodness (stay tuned for those images) I just wandered, rode trains, ate all the food, and took pictures of every nook and cranny of this incredible city. I only took my Fuji x100v and the ease of shooting definitely reflected in the mountain of images I had to sift through when I got home. Maybe I need to temper that itchy trigger finger so I can limit these posts to just one part? Maybe not. This will be part one of three so stay tuned for more later in the week!

Recent Work: Editorial Furniture Photography for Spazio Bressan

Something must be in the water. In the last few shoots, we’ve been given a metric ton of creative control and while that’s incredible, to whom much is given, much is expected. We were tapped to create some editorial style images for furniture designers Spazio Bressan and after just a short chat, it was pretty clear we were going to have some fun with this one. Hard light, shadows as compositional elements, graphic…all the good stuff. Immediately excited, I ran off to start creating mood boards. After using some new AI tools to create the moodboards, we had a clear direction and execution on the day of the shoot was a breeze.

We wanted to make super clean images and really lean into shadows as compositional elements to create mood and direction in the visuals, so we used hard light to make those shadows CRISP. It was an absolute pleasure and so much fun being able to put something different out into the world. Thanks to the fantastic team at Spazio Bressan for the trust and I cannot wait to see how the projects evolve in the future!

Recent Work: Kashew Cheese

A few weeks ago we got a call from the folks over at Kashew Cheese requesting a meeting to discuss shooting their new dishes and specifically their new pizzas. For those of you in Saigon, Kashew Cheese makes plant based alternatives to lots of your favourite dairy products and oh man I wish they were around when I was Vegan in the early 00’s. Atlanta was super vegan friendly, but even as a pretty adventurous omnivore, I happily eat Kashew Cheese’s offerings on a regular basis. The little kid in me destroys their chocolate cashew milk. Anyway, the conversation about the project quickly evolved into a chat about art, life and design. My type of meeting and I knew this was going to be a fun one. Aesthetically, they loved the way the sun peaked through the trees at one of their locations and wanted to showcase that light in the work. While I love natural light, I don’t like waiting around for it and then it disappearing minutes later. In travel photography, I don’t mind it because its the journey not the destination…. or something like that. But when there’s work to be done and a limited timeframe to get it done, the need for consistency and controlling variables are super important. So, naturally I responded, “Oh we’ll just make our own sunlight and play God.” With a chuckle and a raised eyebrow, they gave us some leeway and off we went creating some really fun images. All of these were lit using my studio strobes and we had such a good time making some interesting lighting setups. We wanted an inviting casual feel and opted for pretty minimalist styling to let these dishes sing without any distractions.

We’ve opened up the books for more food projects in July, so reach out and let’s tell some stories!

The Week in Photos: Vol.3 - Rainy Season's Arrival

It looks like rainy season has decided to make an entrance. Cue thunderstorms, unexpected downpours, and slight inconveniences in travel - read ridiculous traffic. While most lament the rain, photographically I’m loving it. The light right after a storm, drama in the skies, reflections… its a new season and it’s nice to have something different to photograph. While I don’t have the seasonal changes like I did in my upbringing, I love having the demarkation of time through different weather. I’ll take what I can get. No waxing on poetically this week, just the images of the week. Complete with the obligatory reflection shots, and they ain’t stopping any time soon…so get used to it until the rains cease in around 6 months. There are some randoms from the day to day sprinkled in as well for good measure.

Most of these were taken on the Fuji x100v, but I snuck in a couple from my Sony kit too. Can you tell which ones they are? Put your guesses in the comments! Also, everything edited in Capture One or is straight out of the camera with most of the Fuji shots.

The Week in Photos: Vol. 2

Busy with commercial work this week, I’ve not had too much time to come up for air. That said, in the downtimes, I’ve made an effort to find some time for myself at least once a day to disengage and walk around so I can keep a clear headspace. Even if I’m not managing to make it far, I’m trying to see things I’ve seen countless times with new eyes. Shoot places multiple times in different light, different parts of the day, different angles… dig a little deeper and slow down a little more to really look at things rather than merely strolling by. Finding beauty in the mundane.

The older I get, the more I feel like boredom is more and more my own fault. Focusing on the details around me and paying more attention by slowing down, I find beauty and interest in what I’ve glossed over a million times. When I first moved overseas, like many, I went through an existential crisis and had to make sense of this new reality I had chosen for myself. I wasn’t really all that happy and I couldn’t figure out what the deal was… I was living on a tropical island, I was chasing my passion of becoming a photographer, life was relatively good… on paper. What was I to be unhappy about?? But, I was often bored, I wasn’t inspired, motivation was fleeting. Something was missing. I was always thinking about what was next and it was kind of a grass is always greener type situation. Nothing was good enough. One afternoon I was complaining to a friend of mine and he casually said, “you alone are responsible for your own happiness” Cue the record skipping as I tried to make sense of this short and to the point sentiment. I’m not sure if he was saying it off the cuff, or was repeating his own personal opinion, but it’s stuck with me after all these years. That phrase can be interpreted in myriad ways, and I think about this mindset in varying ways when it comes to the different areas of my life. But as it pertains to the day to day, I often look back on this encounter and realise there are rarely times that boredom is inevitable, but rather it’s my perspective that isn’t right. Maybe I’ve needed to step back, or forward, or maybe sideways, to look at things in new light (pun intended). Maybe I needed to choose to see the beauty and appreciate my immediate surroundings. To take note of the present, appreciate the moment in time, notice my breath, feel the wind move, listen to the bugs… and more often than not, for me at least, take pictures of the little things that make up my life.

I realise I’ve written about this sentiment in the past, but I think its important to reflect back. On work, on life, on the little and the big things. In the past, while I’ve more or less felt this way in general, the execution or following through with it was often forced rather than a part of an every day routine. I’d have to remind myself to do these things and it was often after weeks of grinding out job after job and it was the eject cord to keep myself from burning out. I’d get my fix and then right back into it…and the cycle repeated…work work work, realise things were going pear shaped, stop and smell the roses, love life, and then right back into the fire… It took me far too long to understand that it wasn’t a “thing to do” to keep from burning out, but rather a way of looking at the world in general that maintains balance. Instead of always looking forward to the next big thing, finding these moments of beauty every day is tantamount to having smooth seas rather than trying to right the ship in the midst of a shit storm.

Okay, enough of all that. These were the moments, downtimes, and photographic evidence that have nothing to do with my work. Just happy snaps from the day to day.

The Week in Photos: Vol. 1

Now that I’ve got a camera on me all the time, I’m faced with the fact that I have all these images I’ve taken mostly just for the sheer enjoyment of walking around and shooting. I mentioned before how the final image is probably secondary at this point to the process and being present when I’m shooting. I guess it’s a sort of mindfulness… mine is just with a camera instead of a mantra or a pair of yoga pants. That being said, I want to be able to archive these too, but they’re not from some epic trip or incredible assignment. It’s just my life. I suppose I could put these on a hard drive and just come back to them, but I’ve got this platform, so why not share? So here’s the birth of “The Week in Photos.” This is Volume 1.

New Work: Cameron Foggo Design

The folks over at Cameron Foggo Design contacted us a while back to create some images of their new line. Immediately after seeing their pieces, I got excited. Modern, yet still retaining a sense of comfort and all I could do is imagine my house filled with these pieces. We wanted to create some directional light to show the shapes and let shadows play to give a sense of morning light peaking through the window. Really happy with how these came out and what a fantastic team to work with. It’s always so good to work with a team when there’s a sense of collaboration and a complete lack of ego. The best work always comes out of these situations. Trusting the process and knowing that bright minds are in the room just makes for the best shoots.