Comments for michael john grist

Comment on Diggnation! by Scott

Scott — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 12:42:41 +0000

w00t!

Comment on Diggnation! by Mike

Mike — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 09:25:37 +0000

Mad props man! You’re leading the way on the English haikyo web!

Comment on A grand but squalid folly- the Queen Chateau soapland by bill

bill — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 00:47:32 +0000

..Great pictures..let me fill you in on this ..as I was in Mito for 3 months in 89..at ramp up to the bubble peak in Japan. In those days I was a mere 21 yrs old..teaching English. Mito was kinda hell for a 21 yr old..it was boring..Japanese there whom were young and had any brains had left and you had a town with a population of government bureaucrats and rice/natto farmers..there was a lack of people between 19 to 40, except what I would call “bozos”..whom were drop out..unable to get into Uni in Tokyo. I taught English at a cramp school..I had being recruited in Tokyo..it paid 400K a month..was 9 hrs a day..included accommodation..I foolishly thought I would master Japanese and learn the culture being in Mito..it was so wrong..I instead as a white guy discovered racialism..this strengthened me in understanding how that felt..In Mito people would avoid the foreigners..they were unkind and not friendly..I would take “kiten sushi”..which is revolving sushi bar and would often have seats next to me keft empty and a queue outside of clients waiting to sitdown..old people dominated Mito..there were rude, horrible and small minded for most of it..but there were some exceptions..some old kind ones whom were exceptions and people under 19 were..high school students..with zeal for knowledge. The soapland and red light boomed in those days..I meet many “touts”..i was in that bar zone drinking at dives sometimes to let ouyt stress..the zone was full of Phillipines and Thailand ladies..brought in by Yakuza..most were cheated and held against their will no doubt..almost zero Japanese and no Koreans..Mito was a farming town and J and K girls could easily work in Tokyo for more and better conditions. The soaplands clients were J old farmers and government guys..that was all Mito had..they were crude, rich ..but low class, chumps for the majority..no doubt they abused those girls..Mito men were known for their rude “kusou inaka” manners..they were hated by Tokyoites or educated Japanese as a whole. Luckily I met a decent J girl on a weekend to Tokyo and got a job there in Finance and moved out of Mito for good..Mito was a terrible..rest is history..I now live in Tokyo still..are successful and happy with a great Family. Funnily the Japanese complain that Mito ids overtaken by Phillipinos..they deserve to succeed there given how they were abused..Phillipinos are married to old farmers there and mixed children take over the land..Japanese young ladies leave Mito for Tokyo..as soon as can..with few exceptions..today Mito is dying..only the old and Phillipinos or poorer races with little choices want to work fields..the racial Japanese in Mito and the whole countryside fear this..but it is reality..one day the foreigners will control here in 50 yrs time, as the old people die out and are not replaced..hope this is useful..best regards everyone..btw..if you like Natto..buy Mito natto..its the best in Japan..only decent thing that ever comes out of Mito!

Comment on Seoul’s ruined Jumbo Jet, the Juan T. Trippe by jonhohx

jonhohx — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 07:29:41 +0000

bloody amazing….thank u for this

Comment on Ruin of a Japanese WWII Shipyard by MJG

MJG — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 01:25:08 +0000

Florian- Ack, jealous! Wanted to check out Gunkanjima when I went to Kyushu, but was unfortunately closed for the winter. Look forward to your shots.

Jason- Yeah, Danny Choo uses a lot of photos. The feeling that I get when I scroll through them is often mixed. Partly I`m thinking- hmmm, I saw this shot several times already, and partly- well, it is a good shot, nice to see a very slight variation on it. So that`s what I was aiming at with this. Especially for a location like this one, which has no minutiae to explore and photograph in detail, just a few money shots to make the most of.

In the next top ten haikyo thing I do, whenever the shipyard gets included, of course it`ll just be the best two or three photos. Those top ten things are the main showcases for me now, drawing the most views.

Comment on Ruin of a Japanese WWII Shipyard by Jason

Jason — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 16:16:23 +0000

After reading your comment I visited Danny Choo’s site for the first time in a long time to see if he posted multiple versions of the same shot, and it seems he does that mostly when photographing those horrid figurines (though he has become a pretty good product photographer I see). Going through his Japan photo posts I did see some similar shots. In general I would say he posts way, way too many shots. It just gets overwhelming and like Gak, I was just scrolling to try and find an end.

I think a lot depends on the style of the post as well. If there is a paragraph of text, or at least several sentences, between each photo, that breaks things up and is to me a digestible photo story, like Chris does at ~icjw.

Then it is if you believe in being a RUTHLESS editor of your work or not. Do you show your shots to someone else before posting them? I usually run shots by Aya to get a second opinion, though of course my own matters most since I look at hundreds of photos a week of other photographer’s work.

I believe absolutely in being a RUTHLESS editor and need to be even more ruthless with my own slideshows on my business site. I read a blog post recently by Scott Kelby I believe, or someone of similar giant stature in the photography world and he wrote how he was checking a person’s online portfolio and the first 15 images or so were great and left him with a very good impression of the photographer. However, there were like 30 more shots and by the end they last were not near the quality or impact as the first and his opinion changed. I took that to heart and immediately deleted dozens of shots from my site, and as I said need to be even more ruthless and delete a couple dozen more probably.

So it just depends on your personal posting and photography philosophies and what impact you are looking to make on your readers, visitors, or if you are a pro shooter, your potential clients.