Fires are set by local communities and families who work on the rice fields in the hope of a good harvest for the coming year. They stack up large bamboo bonfires for a few days before lighting them and roasting sweet potato, rice mochi and drinking hot drinks or beer in the cold winter air to keep warm.
I'm always amazed by how Japanese people embrace traditional methods of working in this technological era and how much effort and dedication they put into a craft that has been forgotten in western society. This man was cutting big blocks of ice into cubes, dipping them in water and then bagging them up for sale with a lot of care and precision. The shop sells frozen kakigori (Japanese slush puppies). As it is January I wasn't ready for one, but I bet they are the best around in summer!
The perfect cup (Aeropress method)
https://m.facebook.com/haycoffeestand/?locale2=en_GB
Found the best place for coffee in Kagoshima for early mornings. Hay coffee stand is open at 7 and it's an inspiration to see the coffee begging made with every aspect of the brew weighed and times to perfection!!
Bare foot in January but unflinching.
Thanks to Daniel and his videographer for the video from our September shoot showing me missing all the cool stuff while setting up equipment and lying on the floor a lot. :-D
http://www.v-d-blokk.de
Was lucky to go to an indoor Christmas market this weekend and get a quick family portrait done which is really cool and unique by V.D. Blokk.
The artist at work!
Hand of time
Every year, I hope to take loads of photos of autumn leaves. There's a small window of opportunity for about a week where the leaves are bright and still on the trees and I expect to have plenty of time. Then before I know it there's been torrential rain and gale force wind... And there's nothing left. Maybe next year...
Magnetic personality
Mike was fishing in the Main river but unlike everybody else he was hauling out metal with thick type instead of fish. This time, he'd caught a rusty bicycle, an empty safe and a skateboard. He said he'd caught hand grenades and other weapons from world war two in the past so I was glad there wasn't any explosives when I took his photo!
Medieval festival in Burg Hayn, near Frankfurt. Great display of falconry with a variety of birds.
It's not often you get to take photos with a talented performance artist and an assistant.
Daniel Blasco Marcos is a talented diabolo performer and stage artist with a lot of skill for juggling. Even though the weather wasn't great we worked to get some shots that might show case his talents.
Behind the scenes. It may look like I'm just lazing around on the floor but diabolo photography is hard work!!
This has to be one of the first times I wished I could do video as still photography doesn't quite capture the art and finesse of Daniel's tricks.
Frank
A group of Japanese dancers with taiko drum performing various regional Bon odori festival dances in the middle of Frankfurt today. The drum beat and atmosphere took me back!
There was loud music playing somewhere near my place this evening so went to have a look what was going on. A crew of Harley Davidson bikes, black Benz's and entourage of muscle men were making a music video. They had two camera men, a drone, a crowd of onlookers and some perplexed residents who were not able to get past the spectacle for 20 minutes or so. They must be pretty famous and important as the police came... Then went with a smile. Although they were against people taking photo or video I got this shot during a quiet moment. If only I knew who they were...
It's been a while since I got my macro lens out. A dark rainy day and nothing much to do was a perfect recipe for testing out bouncing on camera flash off a white umbrella (regular one, not photographic).
