The Daily Shashin

2006-07-26T19:27:00.000+09:00

Goodbye Fukuoka

So, that's it! The time has come for me to leave Japan and with it must also end The Daily Shashin. It's been a fun little project and I'd like to thank all of you who have regularly visited this page and kept me motivated and encouraged by your comments and kind words.

I am now embarking on The Heneghan Half-World Tour which, after brief visits to Taipei and Hong Kong, will see me undertake the 14,000 km journey from Singapore to London by train and bus.

From Singapore I'll be passing through Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, China, Mongolia, Russia, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, France and finally the UK, so it promises to be a fantastic adventure, especially from a photographic perspective. I will leave Singapore on August 1st and I aim to arrive back in the UK in the first or second week of September. You can keep up-to-date on my trip via my other blog and I will try to make posts there as often as possible as I make my way home.

In the meantime if you want to see more photos please feel free to check out my Flickr page.

That's all for now, I'll be embarking on a new project in the autumn once I get back to sunny England!

Take care everyone!

2006-07-21T01:27:00.000+09:00

Shouchu barrels, Iki Island

2006-07-17T18:06:00.000+09:00

Total Body Balance

**There are only ten days left for me in Japan so there won't be many more posts from now on. Packing seems to be going extremely slowly and there are a million and one things I have to do before next week. Hopefully I'll get it all done without completely losing my mind!**

2006-07-15T20:40:00.000+09:00

The Hi-Tones performing at last week's Kyushu Baila festival

2006-07-12T15:54:00.000+09:00

I have lots of news! First, my Russian visa arrived to complete the set of four visas I'll be needing for my 'half-world tour' starting later this month (the other visas being Vietnam, China and Mongolia). My trip will involve over fifteen countries, lots of trains and three cameras! Can't wait to get started!

Second, in a remarkable twist of fate and rather miraculously back from the dead is my defunkt Sony Cybershot. I'd heard stories of people with damaged screens having them fixed for around 10,000 yen (approximately 70 euros) so I was eager to chance my luck. Imagine my surprise however when the staff at Kitamura Camera, one of the best camera chains in Japan, told me that due to widespread defects on the DSC-P92's CCD all units were eligible for repair at Sony's expense. Rather nice indeed, eh? So I got it repaired for nothing!

Now, if only I'd have known about this six months earlier! Never mind, the cranky old brick-like Cybershot is back in business and that's the most important thing. Now it feels like a small toy though compared to my hulking beast-like DSLR.

2006-07-11T17:40:00.000+09:00

Schoolgirl watching baseball

2006-07-10T20:11:00.000+09:00

2006-07-04T23:24:00.000+09:00

Last week I went to see Fukuoka Softbank Hawks, the local baseball team, play the Orix. When the Hawks win they open up the stadium roof and you can see the Seahawk Hotel in the background from the stands. It takes about 20 minutes to open but it was well worth waiting behind after the game to see it.

2006-07-01T15:03:00.000+09:00

2006-06-30T19:26:00.000+09:00

2006-06-30T01:36:00.000+09:00

Smoking corner, on a platform shot from the shinkansen

2006-06-29T19:35:00.000+09:00

Tokyo taxi

2006-06-28T23:11:00.000+09:00

Shibuya

2006-06-27T16:15:00.000+09:00

In a world of her own, Ginza

2006-06-23T15:12:00.000+09:00

2006-06-22T08:07:00.000+09:00

Girls on the Yamanote Line

2006-06-21T20:27:00.000+09:00

Shibuya night scene

Apologies for the lack of photos recently, I've been busy preparations for my upcoming 'half-world tour' as well as finding the time to squeeze in a four-day trip to Tokyo.

My time in Japan is coming to an end, and sadly with it so will the relatively short life of the Daily Shashin. "Ahhhhh! How sad!" I can hear you all cry. So, with only one month to go, I hope you all enjoy the last few weeks of my photos from Japan!

2006-06-13T07:18:00.000+09:00

2006-06-12T21:24:00.000+09:00

2006-06-08T19:54:00.000+09:00

I was just taking random shots in Hakozaki Shrine on Monday when a young girl wandered into my line of fire. I realized she was a member of staff at the shrine souvenir shop and at first, thinking it would be a boring photo, I hesitated to shoot. But then I changed my mind, pressed the shutter and forgot about it...until today. And when I saw the photo this afternoon I was all of a sudden glad I decided to take the shot because I think I captured quite a nice moment, especially considering the background of the shrine disappearing into the distance and the fact that she's holding a big box of Asahi beer.

2006-06-06T23:35:00.001+09:00

I've been busy these last few days. I went down to Oita to perform at the Concert on the Rock music festival (which was great fun by the way) and I was also asked to be one of the event's 'official' photographers. So all in all it was a pretty cool weekend for me! The above band is one of the best bands I've seen in ages, Aquabomb, who seriously rocked on Saturday night.

Another great band and good friends of mine, Nanbanjin

And a few more good friends of mine, Miwa, Kaori, Mika and Kiki

If you want to see more of my photos from the event, please go here.

2006-05-31T23:37:00.000+09:00

2006-05-30T23:55:00.000+09:00

Small car in the road

2006-05-29T23:29:00.000+09:00

Heineken

2006-05-26T21:57:00.000+09:00

This is one of my favourites from the Avispa vs FC Tokyo match last weekend

2006-05-25T23:49:00.000+09:00

Avispa on the attack

2006-05-24T23:09:00.000+09:00

FC Tokyo goalkeeper Hitoshi Shiota

2006-05-23T23:20:00.000+09:00

It was sports day at junior high school this past weekend. As always I took a lot of pictures and this one was my clear favourite.

2006-05-20T18:02:00.000+09:00

Coffee can in dirty pond

2006-05-19T23:57:00.000+09:00

2006-05-18T23:11:00.000+09:00

Portrait of a pigeon

2006-05-17T20:50:00.000+09:00

Peanuts

2006-05-16T17:29:00.000+09:00

Fukuoka nightlife

2006-05-15T22:28:00.000+09:00

2006-05-14T21:18:00.000+09:00

Mitsuya Cider

2006-05-12T23:46:00.000+09:00

Dam

2006-05-10T20:34:00.000+09:00

小倉駅　(Kokura Station)

2006-05-09T23:29:00.000+09:00

Keitai life

2006-05-08T20:36:00.000+09:00

中州タクシ

2006-05-07T21:36:00.000+09:00

This is the last set of photos from this week's dontaku festival in Fukuoka

2006-05-06T16:10:00.000+09:00

I ♥ 祭り

2006-05-05T23:57:00.000+09:00

I ♥ sticky apple

2006-05-04T23:06:00.000+09:00

I ♥ Japan

Fukuoka's dontaku festival takes place May 3rd and 4th. It involves parades, yakitori and lots of fun in the street. I managed to take about five hundred photos, so over the next few days I'll be posting my favourites.

2006-05-03T19:04:00.000+09:00

Not really sure what this is, but it looks suspiciously like dried natto. I came across it on a sea wall on Himeshima. Doesn't really bare thinking about, does it?

2006-05-02T19:05:00.000+09:00

春の花

2006-05-01T18:06:00.000+09:00

Sakura, lead singer of the band Roi Schaider

2006-04-26T23:03:00.000+09:00

The journey to work

2006-04-20T23:55:00.000+09:00

アサヒスーパードライ

2006-04-18T23:54:00.000+09:00

I spotted this lovely little and extremely fast moving bird yesterday in Higshi-koen. I'm not sure what it is, but I think it's a great tit.

2006-04-17T23:54:00.000+09:00

The man-made waterfall in Fukuoka's Higashi-koen provides a welcome distraction from life in the office!

2006-04-13T22:19:00.000+09:00

Red-eye

2006-04-12T18:33:00.000+09:00

JR Yoshizuka Station

2006-04-11T18:06:00.001+09:00

Jamie taking photo of sakura

**Okay, I've had a lot of people ask me how I take these swirly shots and people mistakingly assume I use some sort of computer programme, but I don't. I focus on the subject and take the photo using flash. But I start to spin the camera 180 degrees before I press the shutter and continue the spin direction until a fraction of a second after the flash has fired. The flash is important because it helps to freeze the foreground but at the same time it's not powerful enough to have any effect on the rest of the shot, hence the background will become completely 'swirled'.

As for one of the photos posted below (Falling self-portrait) I created the illusion by firmly holding the camera out in front of me, locking focus on my face and spinning around at high speed. Even without flash my face remained sharp in the photo whilst the background, in comparison, seems to be spinning around at a high speed. Try it yourself, you don't need a particularly good camera to achieve these effects, you just need to be able to fix the shutter speed at around 20-30, depending on the speed of movement and available light.**

Apologies to Jamie, I think she's getting a bit sick of me taking photos of her whenever we go to the office, haha!!

2006-04-10T23:30:00.000+09:00

Downtown Tenjin at night

2006-04-09T23:58:00.000+09:00

My friend Kiyo's Konica EE-Matic (first produced 1963)

2006-04-07T17:48:00.000+09:00

My friend Jamie

2006-04-03T21:49:00.000+09:00

Spinning sakura self-portrait

2006-03-30T17:10:00.000+09:00

A rare sight in Japan - a Mercedes-Benz

And don't be fooled, this is actually a 1971 Volkswagon Beetle with a Mercedes-Benz badge attached to the front, an even rarer sight

2006-03-29T17:53:00.000+09:00

Falling self-portrait

2006-03-28T22:28:00.000+09:00

My friend Rie

2006-03-27T17:20:00.000+09:00

Tenjin yatai

2006-03-26T23:55:00.000+09:00

Kanji practice

2006-03-24T19:13:00.000+09:00

Locked

2006-03-24T17:03:00.000+09:00

So I finally bought a new lens, a Konica Minolta 17-35mm. It's a bit shorter than what I'm used to but it has a really nice quality about it and so far I've been really impressed by its performance. I'm really looking forward to putting it through its paces!

2006-03-23T17:28:00.000+09:00

Okay, as I've been a bit too busy to post any photos lately, I'm going to treat you to a small selection of shots from the last week to make up for it (it's super-photo-bonanza-Thursday!!)! All these photos were taken using my 75-300mm...

Mallard at sunset, Ohorikoen

Daurian Redstart, Maizuru-koen

Mamesakura. Ohorikoen

Gulls in Ohorikoen

2006-03-19T20:07:00.000+09:00

Daurian Redstart

2006-03-18T23:56:00.000+09:00

So, why no photos lately? Well, here's your answer...

Earlier this week my main lens (28-70mm) started acting funny and making lots of weird noises. It was clear that one of the mechanisms inside it had broken so I took a screwdriver to it in a bid to try and sort it out. Needless to say I made it worse. So now I need a new lens, which actually may turn out to be a blessing in disguise as the broken lens was not quite perfectly suited to my new digital SLR anyway (18-50mm would be more appropriate for a digital SLR). Anyway, by this time next week I should have a new (and much better) lens to use.

As a result of all this I've only had my zoom lens to use this week which has somewhat limited the kind of photos I could take (I had to take the above photo with my zoom lens and a tripod at a distance of three metres).

Meanwhile I could just delve into the archives...

2006-03-11T14:14:00.000+09:00

アサヒカメラ (Asahi Camera) - a popular photography magazine in Japan

2006-03-10T17:53:00.000+09:00

iPod mini set

2006-03-08T18:22:00.000+09:00

Wallpaper

2006-03-07T23:36:00.000+09:00

Takamine

2006-03-01T22:29:00.000+09:00

Well, a bit of history! Today's the first birthday of The Daily Shashin! Has it really been a year?

2006-02-28T20:50:00.000+09:00

Coming in to land

2006-02-27T17:43:00.000+09:00

Arty farty ー tiles on a shrine wall

2006-02-26T23:15:00.000+09:00

Rusty

Thanks to everyone who came out to the F4 event last night and especially to those who took an interest in my photo slideshow, 私の日本 (My Japan). It took me two weeks to put together and the eleven minutes seemed to go by really fast but it was well worth it! And a big extra-special thanks to all those who approached me afterwards and expressed an interest in my photography and in this site. Thank you all for your kind words. I had fun talking with you all and I'm really happy that you enjoyed my photos! 本当にありがとうございます！

2006-02-25T00:05:00.000+09:00

Reflection

2006-02-23T22:43:00.000+09:00

Fukuoka Tower

2006-02-22T18:38:00.000+09:00

Hiro and Mayu

2006-02-20T22:17:00.000+09:00

The kick-ass-rock-chick-bassist of BugHyper, live at Drum Logos in Fukuoka last Saturday night

2006-02-19T13:23:00.000+09:00

Fukuoka Urban Expressway

2006-02-17T17:22:00.000+09:00

2006-02-16T18:05:00.000+09:00

Eeny meeny miny mo

Smiley students

2006-02-15T17:43:00.000+09:00

Mina Tenjin

2006-02-14T17:40:00.000+09:00

Blur?

2006-02-13T22:42:00.000+09:00

The first plum blossom of the year

2006-02-12T16:50:00.000+09:00

Apple Store, Tenjin, Fukuoka

2006-02-11T23:58:00.000+09:00

Advertisement for BIC Camera (ビックカメラ), Fukuoka Subway

2006-02-11T20:23:00.000+09:00

Hurry! Don't let the doors close!

2006-02-09T20:57:00.000+09:00

2006-02-07T23:57:00.000+09:00

James, come and get your cheese!

2006-02-06T18:50:00.000+09:00

Kitamura Camera

2006-02-06T18:44:00.000+09:00

Nanbanjin

2006-02-05T22:58:00.000+09:00

Nishitetsu Tenjin-Omuta Line

2006-02-05T22:29:00.000+09:00

Tractor marks on a beach, Cádiz

2006-02-04T10:55:00.000+09:00

Along el paseo, Cádiz

Cádiz Cathedral, viewed from la Playa de la Victoria

Cádiz Cathedral up-close, a potentially good photo ruined by maintenance works in a nearby building. Why does this always happen to me? Still, I thought I'd post it anyway seeing as I'd been waiting a couple of years to go back there and take the photo. Right place, wrong time!

Ronda

Puta

2006-02-03T22:45:00.000+09:00

Beautiful Ronda (from el Puente Nuevo), Andalucía, Spain

2006-02-02T19:50:00.000+09:00

¡Camarón vive!

I took this photo on la Playa de la Victoria in Cádiz, Spain, a few weeks ago. He probably means nothing to most people, but for many Spaniards Camarón was the greatest flamenco artist of all time. He died of lung cancer in 1992 at the age of 42 and in Spain at least, his legendary status probably exceeds that of even Elvis Presley. He was from the town of San Fernando just outside Cádiz so in this part of the world his legend is even more keenly felt. For those of you who don't understand Spanish Camarón vive means 'Camarón lives!' It may not be a groundbreaking photo, but for me it says a lot.

Y para los españoles que leen esta página, estoy seguro que no hace falta explicar.

2006-02-01T23:07:00.000+09:00

Casa sin nombre (House with no name), Vejer de la Frontera, Spain

2006-01-31T16:15:00.000+09:00

Canary Wharf, Docklands, London

2006-01-30T23:58:00.000+09:00

Sunset at the beach, Cádiz, Spain