BI HONG PHOTOGRAPHY

Merry Christmas!

noreply@blogger.com (Bi Hong) — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 14:33:00 +0000

Walked pass a big illumination decoration in Ebisu Garden Place today.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Yosakoi 夜さ来い

noreply@blogger.com (Bi Hong) — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 14:30:00 +0000

Yosakoi - A modernize traditional Japanese dance. Can you imagine a traditional dance in a disco pub? That's where the event took place today, by YOSAKOI Company (a weird name for a dance group too). These dance is much more energetic compared to the traditional ones, with modern music. And the costume also being modified, a well mix between old Japanese culture and modern dance. That's why, the dance can attract the participation of younger generation and get popular across the country.

Here is the only 3 photos that I managed to get a great shot at. Enjoy!

Emptiness

noreply@blogger.com (Bi Hong) — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 14:08:00 +0000

A feeling of emptiness slip-in silently, without you even noticing her existence. Not until the light go off, when you put your head under the blanket trying to get enough rest for another busy day.

She will whisper into your ear, she will break into your dream and laugh into your face, questioning your decision, your purpose of life, trying to deny everything that you fighting for.

4 walls and a empty soul.

What am I here? Why SHE keep holding me back?

And the only sound that draw me back to the reality is the alarm clock. **ck. I'm going to be late again.....

秋．．．

noreply@blogger.com (Bi Hong) — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 16:01:00 +0000

Photo taken at 昭和記念公園

Tomorrow is another working day...

Autumn is here

noreply@blogger.com (Bi Hong) — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 15:03:00 +0000

Living in Tokyo, autumn can just slip past without noticing. Trapped in the concrete forest and office floor, one can't even notice the leave had turned red. Argh... I need a long vacation!!!

Photo taken at Okutama 奥多摩

More to come soon !!

Be Happy

noreply@blogger.com (Bi Hong) — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 14:05:00 +0000

I don't know what the artist trying to tell when he decide to put a bunch of alphabet on wasabi powder. He even set up a board to warn visitor to be careful after touching the card. But that warning did not scare away the visitor to arrange some positive and meaningful phrase. I spot one that is the most simple and common - "Happy".

Be happy! Be graceful.

Another piece of artwork, in Japanes - "まけるな" which I prefer to translate it as don't be settle and don't be compromised. The kind of attitude that I hope I can hold firmly on, both in life and work.

It sounds contradictional, how can ones be graceful but at the meantimes challenge the status quo?

I don't have the answer, but I guess the following quote from Steve Jobs will be the best approach - "Stay hungry, stay foolish."

Both photos taken at Yokohama Triennale 2011

HELP!

noreply@blogger.com (Bi Hong) — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 15:06:00 +0000

HELP!

Addiction, obsession or pure confusion?

Photo taken at Yokohama Triennale 2011

Matsumoto Castle 松本城

noreply@blogger.com (Bi Hong) — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 14:09:00 +0000

Matsumoto Castle (松本城), one of the well preserved castle along with other 4 which Japanese used to call them 国宝四城 - literary means the only 4 castle in Japan that was ranked as national treasure - Himeji Castle (姫路城), Inuyama Castle (犬山城) and Hikone Castle (彦根城). While Hikone Castle is the only one left on my list. 　

I don't have much knowledge about the architecture of the castle, but what special about the above 4 is that they are original. Whoever been to Osaka Castle or other rebuild castle around Japan will know what I meant. Matsumoto Castle was able to avoid severe damage during war-time, unlike Osaka Castle which have modern elevator in it, most part of the castle has been preserved. The corridor is narrow, ladder is steep. Walking inside it just make you feel like you were in the samurai period of Japan.

It was cloudy that day and definitely add some special atmosphere on the photo which I kind of like.

A secondhand bookstore that mimic the looks of the Castle stood out in the middle of concrete building.

Shop-lots around the castle all have a special touch of creamy white paint

The Symphony of Light

noreply@blogger.com (Bi Hong) — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 15:01:00 +0000

This was an unexpected trip.

A friend got extra Seishun 18 ticket (青春18切符) and we agreed to hang out for a short weekends trip. Then we found out that there will be a fireworks festival at Suwako (諏訪湖), a perfect coincident. And we never guess that Typhoon No. 12 was landing in Japan on the very same weekends.

We were on the edge of canceling the trip, the typhoon headed to the west instead of the original route. Screwed it, we decided not to waste our holiday and sticked to the same plan heading to Nagano Prefecture not knowing what will be welcoming us. Will the train be delayed? Will the firework be canceled? We just made our bet.

Train stopped from time to time and running with the speed of the turtle to minimize the impact of the downpour. Managed to arrived at the destination in time to find out that the show is going to run as planned. Guess what, many people choose not to take the risk, so this was the only firework festival that we managed to avoid packed train and still get to sit on a nice spot!! But there were still 200 thousands attendance, you can imagine how big was the original event.

Although this was my 8th years in Japan, and I almost lost count of how many time I had been to fireworks festival during summer in Japan. I enjoyed most of them but the impact is not as huge as the first encounter when I first came to Japan. However, I had that feeling once again when the last drop of spark vanished into the dark sky. Maybe it was the long journey, maybe it was my first firework at the lake, or it was the joy to see satisfied smile on everyone face despite the frequent natural disaster that strike Japan without giving her a break?

Things changed. Summer came and summer gone. I do hope the tradition will be carried on. Summer in Japan will not be the same without fireworks.

Do enjoy the photo below!

Sneak Peek: The Symphony of Light

noreply@blogger.com (Bi Hong) — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 15:30:00 +0000

A quick sneak peek post before I go to back.

Remember to come back for the full post :-)

黑与白

noreply@blogger.com (Bi Hong) — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 12:49:00 +0000

A series of B&W series of photo when I wandering on the street of Dalian@China.

Make a turn at the famous tourist spot and there is a small street, the one that hide under the shadow of concrete wall, left-out from the trend of economic growth.

Mount Fuji

noreply@blogger.com (Bi Hong) — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 13:53:00 +0000

We were not lucky. The weather was bad on our way up to the mountain. But no matter how bad it was, every group of challengers were set to go. They said you can never predict the weather on the mountain. And you not going to quit the adventures after a long ride from the city.

They rain came and gone within a second, making the hike even nasty mixing sweat and rain. Each step became heavier with oxygen density in the opposite direction. The heavy fog also minimize our vision, unable to tell where we were.

It poured like hell, when we took a short stop at station no.7. Luckily just before we considered to postpone our departure, the rain stopped without any sign.

9p.m. A full 6 hours hike. The mission was to beat the sun. And to be honest, I was pretty impressed with myself :p. I'm still in a good shape despite having a life sitting in front of the computer most of the time.

Our hard work was paid with breath taking scenery on top of the mountain. The cloud was dense and we even doubted that we will miss the sunrise, but god did not disappointed us. It was spectacular.

We wish the journey will ended here. You know what I meant, we have a bus to catch 1500m below us....

On the Top of the Mountain

noreply@blogger.com (Bi Hong) — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 15:20:00 +0000

After approximately 6 hours of endless hiking. I was there - Mount Fuji.

To be continued....

Running Away from the City: Niijima

noreply@blogger.com (Bi Hong) — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 15:01:00 +0000

Hell. When you spent most of the time in a concrete city, and if you have chance to run away from it, don't hesitate.

5 hours ferry ride from Tokyo. Niijima(新島) is an utopia, an small island surrounded by pacific ocean. Its a paradise for surfer, or if you are not hardcore on oceanic sport, you can instead choose to spent whole day lying at the beach listen to the orchestra of the wave hitting hard on the shore. Or even cycle around the island and explore the public hot spring.

Summer + beach. Best combination. right?

Ooo...I wish I can spent the whole summer at the island. And gosh, I miss my Island so much, when can I go home?

A Japanese Wedding: So & Tomoko

noreply@blogger.com (Bi Hong) — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 15:20:00 +0000

Since I'm based in Tokyo currently, it will be odd not to have a Japanese style wedding in my portfolio.

The chance came, when my colleague asked me to be their photographer. So here is a quick sneak preview post. I hope you like it!

Celebrating KY & XN

noreply@blogger.com (Bi Hong) — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 14:45:00 +0000

Another wedding trip to China, as a friend and as a Uncle Bob kind of photographer.

I played my role well, get out of the real photographer & videographer way, when they are in business. I put my camera down and observed - how the pros run their show.

I definitely missed out a lot of important scene, but what more important than being there and gave them my best wishes?

I would say, this was a very touching ceremony, I myself was trying hard to prevent my tear from dropping too. And this is the moment I think value the most in a wedding.

A big congratulation to KY & XN again. Thanks for having me there and all the best for the brand new journey as husband & wife.

Anticipation

noreply@blogger.com (Bi Hong) — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 05:24:00 +0000

We anticipate a lot of things in our life.

A better career, a great relationship, a caring friend, and the list go on.

And there is a time, you know, when you step out of the doorstep, your entire life will be changing.

This is the moment, I think most of the groom shared. The anticipation mixed with anxiety, a women you love is soon be your loving wife.

Congratulation, my friend!

一蘭：The Strange but Unforgettable Ramen Shop

noreply@blogger.com (Bi Hong) — Mon, 30 May 2011 12:25:00 +0000

The Ramen served in the shop was nice. Ichiran (一蘭) - a Ramen chain store origin from Hakata (博多) where Tonkotsu Ramen (豚骨ラーメン) is the local gourmet. The only strange, or I should say the speciality about this shop is, how it was designed and how the food was served.

They called it 味集中カウンター (literary means a counter seat that you can focus on the food). Ya, direct translation from the Japanese sounds strange, and more strange if you step into the restaurant for the first time, especially with a bunch of friends. The restaurant only have counter seats and the worst part - they are all separated with a tiny wall in between. That's the space, specially design for you with a bowl of ramen. Your friends are not the only person blocked by the wall. The waiter either. You get me right! You can't see the waiter face, the only part you can see is their hand when your order being served.

You are meant to spent your time exclusively with a bowl of Ramen. Only you and the noodles. You can suck the Ramen as soundly as possible without causing any disturbance to others. Oooh, gosh. Sorry to post a such nasty description. But this was the first image that bump into my head. Anyway, FYI, making noise while eating Ramen is 100% normal in Japan. Not a wrong manner on dining table as with some other asian culture.

And, how would I missed a chance to press a shutter in such a strange place?

I dragged the shutter for sec to create a sense of movement in this scene. You can feel the noodle is going to swoop into the eater mouth in no time.

Strage place, but they served good noodle there. Be sure to dine there while visiting to Fukuoka, or even at any of its chain in your city.

Yasukuni Shrine

noreply@blogger.com (Bi Hong) — Sun, 08 May 2011 15:04:00 +0000

Yasukuni Shrine (靖国神社), the most controversial shrine not only in Japan as well as around the world. At the first glance, it looks no different compared with thousands of traditional shrine located all around Japan. But when you pay attention to the details, you will noticed a smell of militarism.

It was late that evening, and I missed the chance to enter the site museum where the stands of the shrine can be examined. To avoid bias comments, for the meantime, forgive me with the photos, and I will write more on it after a second trip to the shrine and some further researches.

Beautiful Girl...the last autumn

noreply@blogger.com (Bi Hong) — Wed, 04 May 2011 06:01:00 +0000

The spring just came and I start missing the yellowish warm autumn.

One of my favorites while working on an assignment last autumn. Experimental portraiture, I would call it. Once you get all the basic covered, is time for some creative juice to kick in, and let the camera go wild. The key for this shot is to get the exposure right, balancing the ambient light of the sun behind the subject and external flash hot shoed on my camera. Boosted up the exposure a bit to add some high key effect to it.

Love how the sun flare turn out and the warm color on it. Yummy!

Tokyo, after one month.

noreply@blogger.com (Bi Hong) — Sun, 01 May 2011 15:53:00 +0000

A quick hit and run post.

Striking for work life balance is a difficult task in Japan. Or my poor time management?

Both of the camera and this blog are covered with dust. Bad sign...

I should be controlling my life and not letting the life consuming me. This is the state of art that I must master.

Under the sakura. Praying hard.

Photo Taken at 青物横丁

Spring is here. Life goes on!

noreply@blogger.com (Bi Hong) — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 15:52:00 +0000

Hardly find a time to write a blog post. I'm not that busy, just still trying to adapt to a new life here in Tokyo.

Spring is finally here, despite all the disaster that struck Japan last month, life does goes on. Tokyo is dimmer than usual due to electrical shortage. Street is more quiet than usual. Some supermarket still run out of mineral water. Other than that, everything seem to be perfectly normal.

The earth plate still move from time to time. The crippled Fukushima plant still make headline here and there. People still concern how the incident will cost their life, their health, their wallet, and some are getting numb with all the dramas.

Whatever it is. Spring do come.

Am I making the right decision?

noreply@blogger.com (Bi Hong) — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 14:53:00 +0000

I have been asking myself repeatedly for the past 2 weeks the same question. Is my decision to head to Tokyo a right call. The Fukushima incident see little progress, the drama will be going up and down for another few weeks or even month, and to be honest I have loosing my hope on TEPCO. Don't get me wrong, I highly respect the people on the ground, risking their life to save the world.

Let's talk about Tokyo. 200km from the nuclear plant. Food and water are contaminated partly depends on the wind, rain and all sort of external factors. Some said the figure is too low to cause any health concern. Some predict the incident will cause thousands of cancer patients in the near future. Some argued that this incident is worst than Chernobyl, some said even the worst case scenario, a complete melt down, direct impact on human health is minor.

Some people trying hard to get back to normal life, some are leaving for good. Some assured me, you worried too much. Some beg me to go back.

Again. Am I making the right decision? Leaving behind my family with worrying news? Am I risking my health for a payroll? I don't have the answer. I really don't.

I hope I won't regret.

The Quake

noreply@blogger.com (Bi Hong) — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 15:50:00 +0000

The ground was shaking. It must be the fault of yesterday's alcohol, I thought. But my lab mates gave me a confused look. And the dizziness grow stronger.

This is not hallucination. The Earth IS moving.

At that moment, we was still joking around - that must be the fault of the M1 building. We were at the 8th floor at one of the most dangerous old building in Osaka University. Our own Professor had told us before, by his calculation, this building will not survive strong quake.

But the shake continued (imagine after one long joke). Table, white-board was waving - it longed for a minute I guessed. A bad feeling struck my gut. The same as 7 years ago, when I was enjoying my holiday in Penang. In that evening, a few countries were drown by strong tsunami caused by the deathly Indian Ocean Earthquake.

The news came in soon. Another big quake has struck Japan. The worst part of it - the same tsunami again swept off a few cities, left alone debris and scene that we hardly recognized. I visited sendai a week ago. It was weird and hard to believe the same airport that welcome me a week ago is now in ruins. Matsushima - ranked as one of the Three Views of Japan, will it survive? I can't imagine. And the citizens? Life, so fragile under the sneeze of mother nature.

We seen a lot of destructive scene on TV, on the net. Troubling and devastative.

We need hope. We need to believe that we can rebuild it, from scratch. Let's pray.

Things will get better.

The Church

noreply@blogger.com (Bi Hong) — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 16:10:00 +0000

Sometimes, simply pressing a shutter can have some surprise too.

Simple picture. Simple sharing. Have a nice day!!