I was asked to photo a friend’s wedding which was scheduled for March 20th. After the earthquake and tsunami occurred on March 11th I thought the wedding might have been postponed. After calling to couple to confirm they

Reki & Haruna

After spending 10 years living in the center of Tokyo its a nice change to be surrounded by the vast skies and endless horizons in Australia.
Lately there has been quite a bit of rain which has produced some amazing rainbows in the sky. Also the cloud formations and colors in the sky at sunset are purely inspirational.

Here are a few of the images I have captured so far and will upload some more as I capture them.

Beautiful rainbow

Double rainbow

Storm brewing over the Gold Coast

Burning skies

First light

Since moving back to Australia from Japan life has taken on a completely different pace. From the hustle and bustle of central Shibuya to the laid-back beaches of the Gold Coast things happen much more slowly here. Also I have a lot more time to just chill out and enjoy all the beach lifestyle has to offer.

Sunrise @ Palm Beach

Byron Bay

I have been back in Australia for exactly one month now. I decided to get away from Tokyo for a while after the earthquake and tsunami to spend time with family in Australia and have a look at options in Australia.
I am staying on the Gold Coast with a beach view. Here are a few images I have captured so far.

Gold Coast sunset

Sunrise on the Gold Coast

I just got back from a night at Mt Haruna in Gunma Prefecture. A friend has recently opened a campsite so I went to check it out to see the feasibility of running some Yoga/Tao workshops there in the near future.

It took roughly 3 hours to get there by train and then bus. It was nice to escape the concrete jungle of Tokyo and be surrounded completely by nature. The weather was perfectly warm and sunny after a very long winter.

The campsite is very simple, with 5 bungalows accommodating 5-6 people in each. There is a small stream nearby with a man-made waterfall and  lots of space to practice Yoga or Chi-gong. Nearby is the beautiful, historical Haruna Shrine which is around 1400 years old.

I put together a plan with Patric, the manager of the site, to offer a workshop in mid-June. Below are some images I took over the 2 days.

As part of the work I’m doing for the HelloYoga community in Tokyo I photographed Shivani O’Brien who has her own unique style of Yoga and Chi Gong practice. Soon to be moving from Tokyo to Bali to run a retreat, she is an amazing person and full of energy. Please check out her web-site for more details on her practice and workshops.

This shoot was done in Shinjuku Gyoen on a fairly overcast day. All images were shot in the natural, available light so there is some slight movement in some of the photos.

With the Cherry Blossom season almost in full swing the amateur photographers are out in force in the parks around Tokyo. Armed with more gear than most professionals they can be found scouring the parks looking for that perfect shot. There is a real obsession with the Cherry Blossoms in Japan. I thought capturing this obsession was much more interesting than simply photographing the typical cliché images of the much revered Sakura.

Cherry blossom obsessed photographers in Shinjuku Gyoen

Cherry blossom obsessed photographers in Shinjuku Gyoen

In the coming week I will be shooting portraits of various Yoga instructors involved with the HelloYoga! community in Tokyo. In the meantime, just the other day, I took some shots of Ashtanga instructor Momo during her demonstration at the opening of a new dance studio in Roppongi. This image was taken in difficult light.  It was very dark in the studio and I didn’t have a tripod or flash so I had to rely on hand-holding the camera for a 1/15sec exposure. Also the background was not so aesthetically appealing however I have left it mostly “as is” with only minor adjustments in photoshop.

Ashtanga Instructor Momo

Hila in the Child’s pose

Dylan and Mari in Acroyoga

Mimi in meditation

Last year I did a series of photos loosely based on “The Pillow Book”, a movie by Peter Greenaway. Essentially the concept was to cover the model’s body in Japanese calligraphy and shoot various images in a minimal setting utilising the available natural light.

A more comprehensive selection of the images can be seen here.