Following on from my last post, it struck me that one can either return to a location and see all of the changes, not help but make comparisons to how things were (for good or for worse), or the location remains exactly how you left it. It’s usually the manmade world that will change the most in a period of 10 years, though natural disasters and erosion can also drastically impact the natural world, of course.

Walking around Tokyo, much is the same as when I lived there, somehow now over 10 years ago. Differences are that the number of foreigners has increased dramatically, there are far more western and Chinese tourists all around Tokyo. There are more queues for “attractions”, or rather, places of social-media “interest” (i.e. places that everyone saw whilst doomscrolling instagram, and decide they must take a photo at this location, or make “content” for reels and shorts. Tokyo’s opening hours have also changed due to the pandemic and things are either slowly recovering, or we are now in a “new normal” (i.e., they’ve changed). I think it’s the latter, that we will not return to many situations “pre-covid” as it marked such a huge shift in many countries around the world. The rest of Japan still has the tourist influx – a special shout out to Kyoto 京都 – but for those brave enough to venture out of the smartphone-recommendations, there’s a lot more to explore.

I am aware of some of the irony in having a photography blog when I so clearly chastise social media and those running from location to the next to post the next photo/video. I suppose many of the locations we visited were either completely sporadic or at the very least did not come from a list derived from an “influencer”. I guess there’s nothing wrong with learning about places or finding out things from social media, but it does feel much more satisfying to stumble upon something using methods a little more “old school” (word of mouth, simple maps, etc) and take out your camera accordingly.

So, these rocks have looks like this for thousands of years. For hundreds of years, this location has unfortunately been a famous suicide spot in Japan (there are many). Interestingly, the game *Pokémon Go* has been credited with drastically reducing suicides (all around Japan) as people are using their phone cameras to locate the Pokémon in the augmented world, and I guess if you’re so low that you’re going to kill yourself, you don’t really want to have a load of people filming you. So, there’s a big plus for smartphones.

It’s unsurprising that something that’s been here for *millions of years* looks the same as when i saw it almost exactly 13 years ago. Perhaps the surface of the rocks has changed ever so slightly, but I couldn’t tell you. I have a different camera, though. My eyes are worse, but the camera is better. Go figure.

I first came here en route to a field location for a research lab I was visiting with my colleague, and one thing I did notice, is that the surrounding shops were far less numerous, and far less busy. I felt a little sad for the locals here - they rely on crab fishing and tourism, with the latter probably peaking in the 1980s. No new buildings have been made since the 1960s or 1970s from what I could tell, and upkeep stopped in the 90s. This is the case for much of rural Japan, as much of the domestic tourism has completely dried up and people now fly to Korea, Southeast Asia, or China for their holidays.

Tōjinbō (東尋坊) is a series of cliffs on the Sea of Japan in Japan. It is located in the Antō part of Mikuni-chōin Sakai, Fukui Prefecture. The cliffs average 30 metres (98 ft) in height and stretch for 1 km (3,281 ft).[1] The area is part of the Echizen-Kaga Kaigan Quasi-National Park.

The cliffs have an official website, and much like everything else, the way the Japanese “do the internet” is very… Japanese. Which is a polite way of saying that Japanese websites are pretty awful to look at, but, and it’s a crucial but, they are heavily text-based and have good readability (if you read Japanese). This is not something that can be said for the general “western” internet, which has large images, slower loading times, big amounts of data etc, all to look “modern”. I guess the Japanese thought, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. On the other hand, we can see the copyright for that website is 2002-2006, which tells you everything.

This post marks the first post written entirely on my iPod (iPad Pro, 13” M4). It’s quite an interesting journey, starting on this very trip to Japan. I got the iPad to edit photos on the go, and to use for blogging. Mission accomplished! Though it has been a somewhat painful journey. I would have saved myself an awful lot of time if I would have purchased a MacBook Air instead, but there are reasons—aren’t there always? Firstly, I have a 12” MacBook. It has an i5 processor, and is great for its diminutive size and weight, truly. The 13” iPad and Magic Keyboard are larger and heavier by quite a margin. Where the iPad wins, is a) touchscreen and pen, b) raw computing power. The M4 chip is underused in this machine, but it means that there’s never any lag, that editing 62MP, 150 MB RAW files is fast and trivial. Opening them on the little 12” MacBook I’ve not tried. The time i will save editing photos and blogging on the iPad will make up for the setup time. Secondly, the new MacBook Airs are great machines and very capable, but ironically they’re somehow too big for me. Somehow that is a ridiculous statement, as the iPad 13” is the same size and weight, with the keyboard. But there’s the hook—the iPad can be just a screen, and last days on its battery. The catch with that hook? iOS. A great software, no doubt, but quite clunky when it comes to coding and programming, or when the user wants to “get things done”.

There are some very good workarounds, and some clunky ones. In another post, I will detail the process, as well as share my iOS Shortcut that allows me with one click to publish a post directly from my minimalist and distraction-free editor, *[Bear](https://bear.app)*. I’ve used Lightroom for over a decade, and though I am now a user of the iOS app, the desktop version is the better software. The things with the iPad, is that you have the Apple Pencil (Pro, yay) which was one of the main reasons I wanted to go into this rabbit hole in the first place. I can import RAW files directly into the iPad and edit them *on the go* rather than wait until I get home to the Mac. This is great when travelling, and the idea was that I would blog “on the road”. That completely failed, as it’s January 2025 and the photos here, bar one, are from October 2024. Small steps, I guess.

The big news, the gherkin under the bun, is that after 13 years I am leaving Squarespace. The costs have crept up year after year, to my current plan which will now be just under $200/year. That was the straw that broke the camel’s back. There are many other reasons I am leaving Squarespace, which I will go into at length, but in short I have migrated my entire website over to GitHub. This was not a painless task, and took many hours. Then I needed to find a way to write posts for the blog, which is quirky enough when using GitHub but is almost comical when using an iPad, which is basically a large iPhone. The good news is that the excellent software Working Copy is a fully featured GitHub client. After playing around with it a little I very much enjoyed it, and decided to buy the app for its reasonable price, as I can use it for more than just my own website. The aforementioned Bear app was to be my editor of choice when writing on the iPad, and so I needed to somehow get my markdown Bear notes into Working copy. So after lots of online searches and trials and errors, and many hours, I had my shortcut up and running, so that I can “share” the post to the workflow, and within about 10 seconds, the post is published online*. Text is converted as required, images are resized and pushed to the repository, and there we go. I still have to figure out two things: 1) comments, and 2) likes. Likes are less important, but thank you for liking! Comments, I may use Disqus. I have a few regulars to the blog that will often comment, and it means a lot to me that people do enjoy the photos and ramblings, or find them useful, or want to discuss things further. I’ll need to build the functionality into the new site, but we’ll get there.

The kicker with this setup is that Apple could break all this functionality with a simple software update. Either I can avoid the software update (rolling back iOS is very challenging), or find other solutions. The good news is that unless things change drastically with GitHub, my site will remain there, hosted for free, and I can then find another solution. Editing directly will always be an option, but using a WYSIWYG editor is intuitive, so I would rather work like this if possible.

That wraps up the post. I have lots more photos from Japan to publish, as well as from elsewhere. I’ll also be taking photos this year and posting them. I will aim for a minimum of 1 post per week. I know that it’s important to be consistent in life, with anything really, and this really is the case for a blog. It’s no good if you land on a blog and see no posts for 2 years, or if posts are every few days, then a few months gap, etc.

So, until next time!

I have had this camera 10 years now. There are better cameras on the marketing (and I want to buy one), but I brought with me the Sony RX1 for its simplicity and size.

Carrying just one camera can evoke a sense of duality, presenting both limitations and freedoms for a photographer. On one hand, the restriction of using a single camera forces the individual to concentrate on mastering the equipment. This limitation cultivates a deeper understanding of its capabilities and nuances, ultimately enhancing the photographer’s skill set. The photographer learns to be resourceful and innovative, adapting to varying conditions with a singular tool.

This streamlined approach can also liberate the creative process. When I walk around without the distraction of interchangeable gear, I am able to immerse myself fully in the moment, directing my focus (nice pun) towards composition and storytelling. The simplicity of carrying one camera encourages me to be more spontaneous. For the egret (or is it a heron?) photo above, I would have loved a big telephoto to zoom in… but I survived, and the resultant photo is thus composed with overall framing in mind when pressing the shutter, rather than looking at the bird directly.

It’s challenging to convey the intensity of the heat in these photos, but the foliage provided much relief.

The NTT Docomo Yoyogi Building (NTTドコモ代々木ビル, Enu Tī Tī Dokomo Yoyogi Biru) is a skyscraper located in the Sendagaya district of Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. At 240 meters (790 ft) tall, it is the fifth tallest building in Tokyo.

The NTT Docomo Yoyogi Building is owned by the NTT Docomo group. Despite the building's name, it is not the head office for the company, whose headquarters are located in the top floors of the Sannō Park Tower. The building houses some offices, but is mainly used to house technical equipment (switching equipment, etc.) for the company's cellular telephone service.

関西のツアーを開始するために大阪に到着した。

天気は良くないですが、私達は傘を持って。暑いからアイスを食べていた。

I am going to write my posts in a mix of English and Japanese, mostly for me to practice. Since visiting Japan again this summer I have started studying Japanese again. It’s challenging, as I do not live there and thus am not exposed on daily basis to Japanese. My listening and speaking skills are lacking, though my reading is now improving.

Weirdly, even with 4 years’ living in Tokyo under my belt, I had never visited the gardens of the Imperial Palace.

Can you see the Cicada in the photo above? 上の写真で、蝉を見えるの？

私の日本での好き物は古い書院造りと和モダンミックスです。

皇居の竹森だ。

八月、木の緑は明るい。たくさん緑の色味があると思う。

白鷺来た。

毎角に綺麗と思う。

お茶の水だ。美味しそうだぜ、飲みたい！

お読みいただきありがとうございました。

It feels like this post has been 6 years in the making—that was the last time I was in Japan. Shame on me. And on COVID19, of course.

How was it to be back? Fantastic. Hardly anything has changed in the last 10 years, which is great. I do notice many small changes, though. Lots more tourists now, though we visited tourist places. When I lived in Japan, no-one was using iPhones… now they have 65% market share.

We went to many places I’ve known over the years, but then many places I’ve never visited. You know how it is—when you live somewhere you tend to not visit the touristic places as much, unless a friend or family member is visiting or there’s some other special occasion.

I treated myself to a new lens, towards the end of the trip. Until then, most photos are at either 28mm, 35mm, or 55mm. I am sure you can tell which!

We’ve not been to Brunnen in around 5 years. It’s a popular resort town on lake lucerne (Vierwaldstättersee), and apparently where Winston Churchill came on honeymoon.

12.00 km hike over Zugerberg gave quite the view, though most snow has left the lower levels of the valley.

Snow has melted down at lake-level, but there’s still a sprinkling on the top of the mountains…

It’s been rather a busy end to the year, but that’s no surprise. The short daylight hours and other priorities have left photography as a distant thought in the back of my mind, as I keep my camera’s batteries charged, I am more focussed on (re)charging my own batteries rather than stressing about the website.

However, I would like to step up some of the wildlife and landscape photography in the near future. Once again, I ask myself if a new lens will re-ignite some of the fire in that regard.

I do see the benefits in something of a “travel zoom” which would allow me to go on a hike with just one lens as changing lenses when out and about is a bit of a hassle. I can see something 20-70 being useful… any thoughts? Naturally, I could of course just stick to 28/35mm and take photos and see how they go, as well as save my money. Thing is, I am starting to think I would appreciate autofocus more and more, especially in inclement or cold weather.

In other news, I have a new car (new to me). An Audi S6 Avant. And, it’s brilliant. I like it far more than I expected. I should review it – but I should really review my last car also, as that was rather special. In due time.

It’s been a couple of months since we returned from our New York trip, but I’ve been rather busy with other topics and haven’t managed to get to look at some of the photographs I took during the trip.

We had a brilliant time. A shout out to our friend Ernie, who put us up for a couple of nights on the North Fork of Long Island, where we saw countless birds and had a taste of New York beyond Manhattan. Unfortunately I did not have a telephoto with me, and it was rather hot, so you’ll have to wait until next time for the wildlife shots…

And so, without further ado, here are some of the photos from the trip. I hope you enjoy—more to come from the blog in the coming weeks/months… so please stay tuned!

It’s been quite a while since my last post, but that’s for a few reasons. Firstly, I have a new job, starting in September, about which I am extremely excited. More news on that nearer the time, dear reader. Secondly, unlike 2020 and 2021, I’ve been out and about almost non-stop. That includes international travel! I’ve visited the UK four times already this year (after not seeing my brother and his family for 2 years), and will indeed be there again next week, and we’re only half way through 2022. Thirdly, I’ve been so busy with a host of other activities, that sitting down at the computer to write a post or even download photos from the camera has been a real challenge. But, here we are.

I was fortunate to visit Italy on business last week, and took a few photos of the local scenery during my travels. I’d never been to Lago Maggiore before, and wasn’t there for long, but will definitely visit again. There are some rather specials islands that we must visit… but didn’t on this trip.

Instead, on this trip, we visited Rocca di Angera;

also called Borromeo Castle, is a castle on a lakeside hilltop in the limits of the town of Angera in the Province of Varese on the Southern shores of Lago Maggiore. It is visible from across the lake from Arona, where originally stood another castle formerly owned by the Borromeo family

The weather was around 27ºC but extremely humid, with a torrential thunderstorm during our visit.

The castle gardens are absolutely wonderful, and one could easily spend a whole day up here.

In other news, we discovered a new favourite coffee drink “shakerato” which is expresso shaken (not stirred) with ice, and served typically in a martini glass (but not here). It’s delicious and is a firm favourite.

A late-winter 2022 trip to the UK marked our first time to the UK since the pandemic. I would love to say that not much has changed, but Brexit makes my life a challenge on a daily basis, and if you voted for it, I hope you’re happy. Because I’m not.

We visited London for a few days, as I’ve not been a tourist there for quite some time, and I’ve not been there with Danielle before. We had all of these ideas and trips planned, back in 2019. Now it’s 2022 and we’re trying to remember the plans…

We visited the Natural History Museum. Possibly my favourite place in London, when I was growing up. My mother would take us both there for a morning/afternoon/day (no idea how long, we were children with no concept of time), and there is so much to see and learn about. I just soaked it up. It looks a little long in the tooth now; many exhibits are either off due to COVID, or are simply old and out of date. However, fossils are fossils, and there’s loads to see and learn.

We went to Harrods, the TATE Modern, and the British Museum. Loads of walking, and had Peking Duck in China Town.

It’s Spring (not yet officially, I suppose) with blossoms and flowers poking out from the soil.

It's been very cold here of late; with thick fog everywhere.

A very fresh and crisp winter's air.

Somehow, the little ducks and waterfowl are quite content swimming around.

I've a few days holiday to burn through as 2021 comes to an end, as I haven't actually been on holiday for two years. I used Friday to drive to the Nurburgring and have my car serviced.

I've had it over two years but covered a lacklustre 6000 miles in that time. That's what people with multiple cars end up doing, but this is my only car. It just so happens that I have hardly been anywhere.

On the flip side, in the same time, I have done around 15,000 miles on the motorbike.

The garage owner's car is a real showpiece. It's a track car but has some very tasteful modifications. I am considering my next move. Either sell the car and just see what happens in the future, or keep the car and invest a bit more into it.

It's a manual and a V8, and those are basically not being made any more, worldwide. In 10 years, no-one will be making them, and in 50 years there will be only a handful in existence.

It's strange how we often view the world as static, but especially with man-made things, nothing will last forever, and times change. I'm almost driving a relic on one hand, yet many people still drive manual cars.

The third Advent Candle is now lit, nights continue to draw in, and snow sits atop the hills of the Black Forest.

I'm still hoping to take the camera out with me soon and get some photos once more from outside the apartment, but this time of year, with travel restrictions to boot, the chances are few and far between.