ζ±δΊ¬
-
travel from germany to japan
i flew to tokyo via beijing with air china. the flight from munich to beijing lasted approximately 9 hours and 45 minutes. two and a half hours later, my flight to haneda airport took about 3 and a half hours.
on the first flight i gave a portion of my lunch (a sausage with two spoonfuls of potato salad) to my chinese seat neighbor. i could tell he was very pleased because, despite thanking me, he audibly laughed shortly and said, "yes, ok." when i asked him if he wanted it.
after landing in beijing, i met a young german couple who were on the same plane and also transferring to tokyo. the guy was 30 or 31 and she was around 27. together, the three of us found our way to the correct gate. they are staying in japan for two weeks. on the plane to tokyo, i had a young italian woman sitting next to me. we talked a bit about japan; it will also be her first time in japan.
i took exactly one picture while i was in tokyo, from the main train station. (i also got my first γγ stamp there)
i wouldn't return to tokyo until the 22th of june. (see: niigata-ken 2024)
22th june:
big thanks to hanna for taking me to all of these places. without her, my first (real) time in tokyo would've probably been a lot more chaotic! haha. we met up in ueno park, so the first pictures were taken there.
after we walked through the park for some time, she took me to the bunkyo civic center observation deck. from up there, if you look at the picture on the left (to the right of the larger black building), you can see - just barely - mount fuji. next time, i'll bring my 105mm zoom lens instead of my 35mm carl zeiss landscape lens! haha.
later in the afternoon, hanna took me to probably the most frequently photographed railway bridges ever (^-^), and afterward, we checked out the hustle and bustle at shibuya crossing. what a beautiful first day in tokyo!
23th june:
on sunday, i spent time with aiden, my roommate here in japan until now. in one or two days, he will return home to oregon, usa. i will miss him :) we mainly explored akihabara and i also showed him ueno park, which was a lot of fun. i used some of my 100 yen coins in those ubiquitous gachapon machines.
while i was out, i wished i had taken my 35mm carl zeiss lens instead of my 58mm helios 44. i took the helios in the morning because yesterday i would have preferred it, but today turned out differently. a wider lens would have been nicer to capture more of akihabara.
9th july:
on my second visit to tokyo, noah (my new roommate from london) and i spent some time with lya one last day before she went home to belgium. she was only visiting oijya for a week, as she had been here five years ago and wanted to catch up with all her friends here, but we will both miss her nonetheless. :')
the entire time i carried around my 50mm 1.8, the only one i had back in france, and most of the time i liked that i mounted this lens, except when i wished i had taken my 35mm carl zeiss jena. for example when the three of us went on a pedal boat (that looked like a swan) on the lake in ueno park. in that tight environment, it would've been nice to have had not only the 20cm minimum focusing distance from the carl zeiss but also the wider angle that lens provides. i knew it would be a bit of a stretch because the 6d doesn't have a flip screen, but i tried to take some pictures of the three of us on the boat (turning the camera around and stopping down the aperture) regardless. unfortunately, it didn't work with this lens. :( in the end, lya were able to take much better pictures with her phone :)
in the evening, we went to a karaoke bar, an ideal setting for this lens. with its wide aperture of 1.8, it excelled in the dim lighting, creating a soft background.
thanks for that beautiful day you two :)
10th july:
the next day, i wandered around the shimo-kitazawa station area, doing the 'bocchi the rock' pilgrimage. i also saw the entrance of the underground music venue 'shelter.' since they don't like people taking pictures there, i respected their wishes. it was cool to see the place in real life, though, and i hope to return some evening so i can go inside and listen to whatever band plays that night.
i just had to take the picture on the right for my electrician friends and my dad. ^^'
28th july:
i spent most of the day in ueno again. i'm not entirely sure why, but i really like the park, the surrounding area and the big cemetery. while i was there i found myself wanting a 50mm 1.8 automatic lens. shooting manual is fun and all, but sometimes i just want to take a sneaky picture of an old grandma feeding birds and ducks without having to manual focus for 10 seconds, haha ^^'
29th july:
when i transferred at a subway station, i noticed a lonely chair and table. the place had an eerie and somewhat depressing aura, but i found it to be an interesting and aesthetic shot. in the afternoon, hanna took me to another high place again :D
10th august:
for the old corner building, i had the right lens on, but for the lantern festival in the evening, i wish i had brought my helios lens :')
11th and 12th august:
on the way to big sight, i practiced "shooting from the hip," meaning i tried to fill the frame and keep the shot straight without looking through the viewfinder or at the screen.
i went to comiket 104 to experience the peak of nerd culture that japan has to offer. however, there was a bit too much 'questionable stuff' on display for my taste. π¬ i guess that's the weird side of japan. but this site is dedicated to photography; and i'm pleased to say i took away some valuable experiences after the two days.
i've been reflecting on the mushoku tensei cosplay photo. firstly, i need to become both calmer and faster when photographing. i was stressed about not only inconveniencing the cosplayers but also disturbing the people around me if i took longer than a few seconds to take the picture. secondly, it may sound simple, but for me, it's crucial to ensure that i capture everything in the frame next time. (@yukimugi59) eris is cut off in the photo because i had already mechanically zoomed in on (@A_erukun) roxy's eyes before making sure i had fully captured everyone. additionally, there was about 20% extra space next to (@maso_cos) sylphy in the uncropped image. thirdly, i'm not fully satisfied with the bokeh. i went through all this trouble of mounting a manual lens before heading to the c104 instead of using my automatic one in the morning to achieve a softer bokeh. if i had gotten closer to the cosplayers, the bokeh effect would have been more pronounced, and i wouldn't have wasted 20% of image next to sylphy.
similarly with the rem cosplayer (@ruje1913), i need to take a bit more time in the future to properly frame the shot, which means stepping a tiny bit forward. this would have resulted in a stronger bokeh effect - though i'm not sure if it would have improved the image. i need to figure out how to deal with boring, plain backgrounds. or better even, how i can make her pose look interesting even with a blank background.
a guardian robot out of castle in the sky (@kikyoya3uraaka) and 'denken' from sousou no frieren (@mastersphere). the same applies here and to the most of the following pictures, i want a softer bokeh.
dude, i can't even imagine how many days they spent preparing their jack sparrow (@jackmagician323) and captain barbossa (@barbossa_828) cosplays. not to mention the hours it must have taken to get everything ready in the morning - totally impressive! i also saw this cheeky little shark - such a cute gura (@iked0402) cosplay. :3
last but not least i saw shigure ui (@Ladybeard_Japan), asuka (@MARiE9197) and unit-05.
even though none of you will ever read this, i want to thank all of you regardless for your time! you all did an awesome job with the cosplays.17th september:
i think it would be wonderful to visit asakusa-temple around 4:30 am on a summer day. not only would there be fewer people, but the early sunrays would likely make the place look stunning.
the tokyo metropolitan government building and the view on fuji from the observation deck.
22th september:
it wasn't planned, but today was one of those days when i just wanted to take pictures of trains! :D
...oh and the carl zeiss is perfect for food photography.
28th and 29th september:
i wanted to spend my final hours at the coast, so i looked at google maps to find an interesting place. while looking at the coast south of haneda airport i noticed a train track that wound through densely populated areas, passing through tunnels and even functioning as a streetcar at one point. and thats how i ended up in kamakura (ιεεΈ).
this railroad crossing was so cool. its only function is to connect to a shrine. since it was already dark when i first saw it, i returned the next day to take another shot. but again, in situations like this, i really wish i had a 1.4 autofocus lens.
i put my japan summary at the bottom of niigata-ken 2024.