The Nov/Dec edition of Outdoor Japan features an article with photos by me about Nara Dreamland. I wrote about it on my site here, but the version I wrote for OJ was quite different, emphasizing the adventure, tension, and exhaustion much more. It’s always great to see your work in print, especially with photos. They did a beautiful job with the layout- using the silhouette parts of the Corkscrew ride for text. I’m really pleased. This page on the OJ site tells you where you can pick up your copy of the magazine.
The Toyo Bowl in Sandals
This is the seventh part of my new series of Daily Haikyo Photos. See the first in the series for an explanation. This week’s theme is photos with me in them. This is one of my favorites- somewhere I’d love to have taken a model. Unfortunately it’s (I think) demolished now. The atmosphere was awesome, eerie, calm, and very ruined. I’m wearing sandals in this shot and probably regretting it, since the floor is studded with nails, presumably once in place to keep the alley slats held in place. I almost stepped on one a few times- probably it would … Read More
Blinded by the Light in Negishi
This is the sixth part of my new series of Daily Haikyo Photos. See the first in the series for an explanation. This week’s theme is photos with me in them. With this shot you get double your value- two Mikes at once. It was probably taken around 2am in the morning, after we had spent hours dithering outside the Negishi Grandstand waiting for the nearby base to fall silent and dark. Inside it was pitch black- all the windows were thoroughly blocked up, so that explains other Mike’s extreme shock at the brightness of my camera’s flash. Probably he’s … Read More
Car-capering at Sports World
This is an oldie but a goodie. Who could resist standing on a ruined car? In this instance I stood on them all, especially enjoying being atop the upside down one. The only other chance you might have to do this is in some kind of riot. Much better to have the calm of Sports World to enjoy it in.
Representing the Wildcats in Saurabol
This was a great location for shooting, one we found totally by accident while staying at in the Chongmun resort zone on Jeju Island, South Korea. It was totally overgrown, with some kind of grouse lurking in the bushes. One of them burst out of the undergrowth at my feet- unfortunately I couldn’t catch it on camera. I have another shot of me leaping in this same spot, but perhaps that’s a bit frivolous (for the first week of this daily photo-posting, at least 😉 ). You can see more on Saurabol here. See more Japanese ruins (haikyo) in the … Read More
story craft #14 How Not to Threat
There’s a killer on the loose. He killed five people already. He cuts them to pieces and eats them- yuck. You get home, and the door’s been forced. There’s blood on the floor. Your heart yammers. He’s there, you know it. You round the hallway for the bedroom, and he leaps out, wielding a hatchet, wearing somebody else’s face. You kick him in the crotch. He goes down. You call the police. Hurrah! Feeling fulfilled? Unless that was a spoof movie, you’ve lost the audience forever. It could be a movie or a book, but if you write this, it’s … Read More
The Farthest Shore
The Farthest Shore by Ursula K. Le Guin was the book I was waiting for in the Earthsea series. After the failure of Tombs of Atuan to capitalize on the tantalizing promise of A Wizard of Earthsea, I was desperate to see this book step up to the plate. Ged had to get out there and fight something big, something so large sacrifices were required, something that was threatening the fabric of the world. And Le Guin delivered. Amen. The Farthest Shore tells the story of magic fading out of Earthsea. Reports come back to Ged, now Archmage on the … Read More
Ironic Posing at the Russian Village
This is the third part of my new series of Daily Haikyo Photos. See the first in the series for an explanation. This week’s theme is photos with me in them. I think I never posted this shot anywhere- it’s just too much like a regular tourist shot, though I think I took it ironically. I also took a photo
Looking out of Sun Hills
This is the second part of my new series of Daily Haikyo Photos. See the first in the series for an explanation. This week’s theme is photos with me in them. This is another shot taken by Su Young, this time in the Sun Hills car park. We headed out to Sagamiko Lake in Kanagawa hoping to find the ruined hotel still standing. What I’d been able to research on the Internet suggested it would be very smashed-up, dilapidated, and cool. What we found was the place it had been, and the car park it had used. Lots of sheer … Read More
Surveying Ashiodozan
I’ve got 1000’s of haikyo photos I’ve never used. Occasionally I dip into them to put together a combo post, but for the most part they lie fallow; maybe because I’m in them, or other people are, or they’re not quite as striking as other shots in the set. Still, I think they’re informative, interesting, and I want to use them. Here’s my idea- I post one (usually new) photo a day, for as long as I have good photos left to post. Each week there’s a theme that pulls that set together. It could be that they’re all photos … Read More