Tony Llerena Photography

New Blog Location

2011-07-05T10:08:00.000-07:00

Please follow me at my new blog!

http://www.tonyllerenablog.com

Wise man knows he knows nothing

2011-06-28T13:31:00.000-07:00

I've been interested in photography for the better part of 12 years now and extremely serious about it for about eight. I've taken everything from photography classes at the university to seminars at photo stores. I've watched countless hours of training videos and listened to photography podcasts on my daily commute for the last several years. I own MANY books on the subject, not to mention magazines but I will never kid myself into thinking that I know everything there is to know about this art that I love.

Which brings me to my friend and colleague, Michelle Perry. Let me start out by saying that I think Michelle is an amazing photographer whose work and style I admire. I had the good fortune of meeting her at one of the weddings I was shooting last year and we've remained in regular contact, both for support and advice. Funny enough, I was actually warned by the bride that she might be trouble and how right she was!

I was able to sit down with Michelle this past weekend to talk shop for a while. We swapped stories and techniques along with business practices. I cherish the opportunity to network with a peer whom I respect. Long story short, we were going through some of the images from one of my recent shoots and she saw something that I hadn't. She saw an image within an image. After recomposing and editing, we took an image that was good and made it great. The new image, I feel is striking and tender. The emotion was already there, I just needed a different perspective. You can see below the original image straight out of the camera and the recomposed image.

Michelle definitely has a wonderful vision for beautiful images. You need look no further than her portfolio to see some wonderful examples. I can see that I've got a lot to learn. As a matter of fact, I'll probably never stop learning as I try to continue to improve my skills and provide higher quality images.

Tony Llerena - Student of Photography Forever

Patience: Man who catch fly with chopstick accomplish anything

2011-06-07T09:49:00.000-07:00

Miyagi: Man who catch fly with chopstick accomplish anything.
Daniel: Ever catch one?
Miyagi: Not yet.

So I haven't blogged in a while since I've been back because I've been trying to catch up with life and family. There are a few travel photography tips that I've been meaning to share. I'll be posting about a couple of tips and techniques that I used on my trip to Japan and how they helped me to create the best possible images given the opportunities that were afforded to me.

The first tip is have patience. Benjamin Franklin once said that "He that can have patience can have what he will." There are photographers that have waited 12 years to get the perfect shot. Scott Bourne had a specific image in mind when he created "Cranes in the Fire Mist." I'm certainly not suggesting that anyone wait that long to take a picture but I will suggest that you wait a couple of minutes for the other tourists and sightseers to leave the scene so you can get a pure shot of the monument or site you are visiting. The shot above was taken along the Philosopher's Walk in Kyoto. There were many other people around and I do have some shots with folks looking at the shrine. What I noticed is that I was standing in between two groups of tourists and if I waited for the right time, the first group would move on before the next group could make it into the shot. I would only get about 45 seconds of this unobstructed view so I was patient and waited for the opportunity.

Patience applies to all forms of photography. Whether it's shooting wildlife, sunsets, children or weddings, patience can be the difference between a good shot and a great shot.

~Tony Llerena Photography~

A time to reflect

2011-05-31T13:42:00.000-07:00

I've been back home for a few days and I've now had the opportunity to decompress and get over my jet lag. I think now is a good opportunity for me to look back on my adventure while everything is still fresh in my mind and reflect what it meant for me to travel to a country so far and so foreign that it is literally on the other side of the world from everything I've ever known. Here's my list, take it for what it's worth:

Laughter is universal.

So is smiling.

Saying "Hello" in english will make a group of school kids' day... in Japan.

Nonverbal communication can be just as good in a pinch. I played many a game of charades for directions or information.

Don't buy new shoes before a trip. I paid for it with pain the rest of the time I was there.

Pack less than what you think you need. I used about half the clothes I took. In fear of not having enough, I had too much. This goes for photography equipment as well.

The Japanese people really are that nice and helpful.

An iPad is not as good as a laptop. Don't get me wrong, I love my iPad and it's great at what it does (web, email, games, video) but my experiment to use it as a laptop replacement failed miserably. It took me three times longer to edit images and post to my blog and did not have the capability to recover my corrupted card.

Business is business wherever you go. The rules may be slightly different each place you go but for the most part it boils down to trust and making the customer feel appreciated and happy. Under-promise and Over-deliver.

Pride: In your country, in your family, in your job, in your team... in everything. I would walk into Family Mart (convenience store) and be greeted to sounds of cheer and appreciation that I chose their store to shop in. ♫ Sumimasen ♫. There were many escalators that were off, the subway was hot, the lights on the Rainbow Bridge weren't lit and many other examples of energy conservation, all out of respect to the earthquake and tsunami crisis.

No trash cans AND no litter? How can this be? When you go to to Japan, you'd be hard pressed to find trash cans anywhere. At the same time, you'd be hard pressed to find litter either. Pride in your country. There were several occasions where I saw folks picking up trash that was not their own.

Fight for what you believe in. You may never get another opportunity.

Did I say smile? : ) Works every time.

Thanks for joining me on my journey!

Tony Llerena

PS - If you've enjoyed reading my blog, please let me know what your favorite part has been either here or on facebook. I still have a lot of images that I'm editing and I'm trying to figure out the best way to put them out for everyone to enjoy.

Day 11 - And all we have left are memories

2011-05-27T21:33:00.000-07:00

On our final day in Japan, we had a little time to relax and take in a couple of more sites in Kyoto. One of the most memorable people I met on my trip was Kay. I insisted on capturing a portrait of her and she insisted on letting me know she was too old to be photographed. I would not be denied. This is the same person that insisted on me taking an umbrella when it was raining and was concerned about me when I got back. I gave her the umbrella I bought that day as a gift to remember me by.

The Three Sisters Annex Hotel was a wonderful authentic place to stay. The most unique thing about it is that there's a curfew. The gates close at 11:30 pm and if you're not back in time, you're out of luck. We all made it back in time every night but we heard rumors that some others on a previous trip were not so lucky.

Our final visit was to the philosopher's walk. From Wikipedia: The Philosopher's Walk is a pedestrian path that follows a cherry-tree-lined canal in Kyoto, between Ginkaku-ji and Nanzen-ji. The route is so-named because the influential 20th century Japanese philosopher and Kyoto University professor Nishida Kitaro is thought to have used it for daily meditation. It passes a number of temples and shrines such as Hōnen-in, Ōtoyo Shrine, and Eikan-dō Zenrin-ji. It takes about 30 minutes to complete the walk, although many people spend more time visiting the sights along the way.

There were so many flowers every where we went. Joe in our group was notorious for snapping pictures of just about every new type of flower we passed by.

Most of the animals were extremely domesticated and quite friendly. The three little kitty's were quite content to let me walk right up to them while they were napping so I could take a picture.

After about 22 hours of traveling, back in time mind you, I made it home to my wonderful family waiting for me at the airport. They were a sight for sore eyes. My only wish is that they could have joined me in my journey but my hope is that I was able to "Capture Japan" well enough so they can see what I saw through my lens.

Day 10 - Kampai Nippon

2011-05-26T22:54:00.001-07:00

On our final full day in Japan, our group began the day with a trip to a sake brewery. Unfortunately, we made the trip out but were not allowed to actually see the brewing process. However, we were able to visit the museum and sample some fine sake.

One of the things that I find most interesting about Japanese culture, but more specifically advertising, is that everything is laden with cartoon characters. I've found that it doesn't matter the age group of the target audience, there will be some cartoon character or caricature involved.

The big event of the day was the visit to the Imperial Palace. Kyoto was actually the original capital of Japan before the emperor moved it to Tokyo over 100 years ago. The first thing you notice when you enter the palace grounds is that the compound is HUGE. I fell in love with all of the roofs on the temples and palaces. They are extremely intricate and ornate and I can only guess how long it takes to create one of these masterpieces.

Walking through the palace was wonderful. I loved the colors and textures of the buildings. Many temples in Kyoto are painted orange for good luck.

This is one of the gates to get into the palace. You can see how much care was put into every singe structure.

The devil's in the details.

I got lucky that this crane didn't fly away before I could get a shot. He wasn't camera shy since there were at 14 other people trying to get a picture at the same time.

Our day finished with a wonderful dinner in the heart of Kyoto. I can't believe that one of the things I'm going to miss about Japan is the food. Who knew? :)

- Tony Llerena Photography

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Day 9 - Part II

2011-05-25T21:23:00.001-07:00

So I may have mentioned this before but I'm an extremely picky eater. I had quite a bit of anxiety about eating in Japan before the trip. Ultimately I made the choice to move outside of my comfort zone and try some new foods that I would NEVER try otherwise. I kept a log for historical purposes. Here's the list:

Shrimp sandwich
Quail egg
Ginko nut
Wrapped squid with penlla leaf
Shiitake mushroom shrimp
Egg plant
Cherry tomato
Asparagus
Haddock
Scallops
Crab
Raw yellow tail
Green chili
Blowfish

- Tony Llerena Photography

Day 9 - A day for new beginnings and golden reflection

2011-05-25T01:50:00.001-07:00

Did I say we were slowing down in Kyoto? Well never mind. We have all sorts of things to do and places to see. Our first stop today was a traditional Japanese tea ceremony in which we learned proper tea drinking and serving etiquette, the formal way.

Our host giggled at us pretty much the entire time since we were so terrible at it. There is an art to making good tea and we were probably in the crayon stage.

Luckily we were able to sit at the table and not on the floor since it took us a lot longer than it should have.

Here's Ian whisking the tea, trying to mix the water and tea without creating bubbles.

After you drink the tea, you're supposed to look at the bowl for a few moments out of respect to the host and reflect on the quality of it's craftsmanship. This is very common across

And here's one of the most famous sites in all of Japan, the Golden Palace. The original one was actually burned down but it was rebuilt and in 1987 was recovered in gold leaf. It's actually extremely impressive in person. I can't wait to edit the images at home. I'm not sure if I've mentioned this but all of the images so far have been straight out of camera or edited slightly on the iPad 2.

These koi fish were actually pretty funny. They kept on jumping out of the water trying to eat the leaves on the shore.

For lunch we had sushi that is served on a great big carrousel. It was interesting to see how they actually know what food you're grabbing from the line. Apparently, most everything about the system is automated, including the rice portions.

Here's a shot of the carousel.

This is the most well known zen garden in Japan.

The best part of the zen garden was this little guy. He had this funny little scowl the entire time I was sitting next to him.

Can you see the turtles?

You're in for a treat tomorrow. We're going to visit the original Imperial Palace, former capital of Japan!

- Tony Llerena Photography

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Day 8 - I'm leavin', on a midnight bullet train to Kyoto

2011-05-23T09:43:00.001-07:00

Seven days after arriving in Tokyo, our group moved on to Kyoto for a change of scenery and pace. Where we had a hectic schedule in Tokyo early on with business meetings and obligations, we are free to do as we please for our stay in Kyoto. I can't begin to express how long I've waited to be able to go out on my own with no distractions and just shoot.

We went to Tokyo station to catch the bullet train to Kyoto. It's not nearly as busy as the subway but we were all carrying our luggage so the escalators were challenging.

The train itself is quite impressive. It can travel speeds of up to 200km per hour and actually looks more like a jet than anything else.

It was interesting to see how fast everything was going by as we sped through the city. I got lucky and captured our reflection in the windows on a passing building.

When we arrived in Kyoto, the weather was not in our favor. Much like back home, it was raining quite a bit. We checked in to our hotel, The Three Sisters Annex, a traditional Japanese inn. The beds are actually mattresses on the floor, which feels a lot more comfortable than it looks.

Although it was raining, I was not going to let an opportunity get away to go photograph a shrine. As I was leaving, Kay, one of the nicest ladies I've met in Japan so far and our sort of house mom would not let me leave without a map, directions back and an umbrella. I refused the umbrella and told her I would be alright because it was only sprinkling. BIG MISTAKE. (more on that later)

After about ten minutes of walking, trying to figure out where the shrine is, the rain gets heavier. I turned a corner and saw these huge red pillars jutting out of the the skyline above the trees. By now I'm starting to regret not grabbing the umbrella when I had the chance. No matter, I start shooting to my hearts content..

... that is until it starts raining even harder and I realize that there is very little cover at the shrine. After much deliberation and swallowing of pride, I purchased an umbrella at the gift shop. The shrine is called the Heian Shrine and was built in 1895.

Now that I had an umbrella, I was able to go into the shrine gardens to see if there were any good locations to shoot. I'll let you be the judge on whether I found one or not.

You can certainly see how much it's raining in some of these pictures. I was drenched by the time I was done but very pleased with the outcome.

I think there may be some keepers. :)

Epilogue - As soon as I got back to the room, I plugged the compact flash card from my camera into my iPad to see how the images came out on a larger screen. "Card corrupted, cannot read files." WHAT?!? I insert the card back into the camera and I get a card read error, please format the card. Oh no!! To make a long story short, Ian was gracious enough to lend me his laptop and after about seven hours of work, I was able to recover most if not all of the files. I guess it pays to be a "computer genius," as my kids call me, sometimes.

- Tony Llerena Photography

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Day 7 - Play ball!

2011-05-22T10:09:00.001-07:00

Today was our first full free day and final day in Tokyo. The group got together and thought it would be fun to go see a baseball game in Japan. Tokyo is home to the Yomiuri Giants, traditionally one of the best teams in the league. I left my camera at the hotel because I didn't want to risk not being able to enter the game with it. I was able to capture a couple of shots and a video using my iPhone.

The game itself was kind of slow. The first run wasn't scored until the top of the 7th inning. The best part of the entire game was hearing the crowds chanting and clapping little plastic bats together. It's unlike anything I've ever seen at a sporting event before. Check it out for yourself in the video below. Other than the game, all we did was laundry and pack in preparation for the bullet train and Kyoto tomorrow. Looking forward to it.

- Tony Llerena Photography

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Day 6 - The wheels on the bus go round and round

2011-05-21T17:26:00.001-07:00

We were off to another early start this morning. Mt. Fuji is about 2 hours away driving and apparently many other folks in the country had the same idea as we did. Traffic was heavy. It was a beautiful day and our first glimpses of Fuji-no-Yama (ふじの山) were absolutely breath taking. Because of the haze, the only part of Fuji that is visible from a distance is the snow covered top. The view makes it seem as if the top of the mountain is floating in the sky.

Fuji is the spiritual center and often times symbol of Japan. I can certainly see why. I believe it would be impossible for someone to see the mountain for the first time and not be in absolute awe of her grandiose beauty. I feel very fortunate to have been able to see this first hand. Because of the traffic and our tight schedule, we were only able to stop for about 30 minutes for lunch to observe Fuji. It's suffice to say that I did not eat and spent every last second trying to capture the beauty with my camera that I was seeing with my eyes.

The most memorable moment for me at Fuji was meeting an elderly couple who was also photographing the mountain. The gentleman had a Mamiya medium-format camera mounted on a tripod so high that he needed a ladder to look through the view finder. His wife had a 5DmkII which is the camera that I use. I tried striking up a conversation with them using my limited Japanese language skills and unbelievably we were able to understand each other.

The art of photography is it's own form of language. I showed them some of the images I had captured and they told me one of the only English words they knew, beautiful. He was gracious enough to allow me to look through the view finder of his Mamiya and what I saw was an absolutely striking image of Fuji, artfully composed in a way that I was attempting but couldn't quite realize. As I said goodbye, I said arigato sensei and both he and his wife smiled widely. I still have a lot to learn. I could have stayed here the entire day and probably many more but I know that there are many more beauties in Japan waiting for me to see.

It took several more hours to reach our next destination, a family tea farm and castle named Ninomaru Chashitsu in Kakegawa. It was interesting to see how they harvest the tea leaves. Apparently the cut only the tops of the shrubs so it looked like there were several rows that had just recently gotten a buzz cut. The farmers are able to harvest three times in a season. We next went to the factory where they process the leaves through an intricate drying process. Finally we traveled to Ninomaru Chashitsu to sample some of the finished product at a traditional tea ceremony, my first.

This is Mai, Keiko's niece. She was too cute and we later found out at karaoke, a spectacular singer. She reminded me of my kids so I enjoyed her being around.

These are the steps leading up to Ninomaru Chashitsu.

Ninomaru Chashitsu was actually really nice. They had some nice gardens that we were able to walk in and enjoy.

The tea ceremony was interesting. It was my first time trying freshly brewed green tea. There are actually two little tea pots, the second one with boiling water had not arrived yet in this image. The bowl in the middle is actually a cooling bowl.

Here's our group trying to figure out exactly what we're supposed to do. Luckily we had some help.

Here's Mai again. I think she been photographed before. She knew exactly what to do and smiled right on cue.

Our evening ended with karaoke in Roppongi. I've never done that before and let me just tell you, if you haven't, you've got to try it. They have individual rooms that you rent out so that you're only singing to friends and family meanwhile food and drink appears magically on the table while you're singing the chorus to Fire and Rain by James Taylor.

Next stop, free day and the Tokyo Giants baseball game.

- Tony Llerena Photography

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Day 5 - Sayonara Gambare

2011-05-20T09:41:00.001-07:00

Today was a VERY early day for us. We went down to the Tsukiji fish market at 4:30 am in hopes of being among the 140 visitors they allowed in to see the fish auction. The Tsukiji fish market is the biggest wholesale fish and seafood market in the world. Unfortunately, we found out that they were no longer allowing visitors to view the auction after the March 11 earthquake. The bad news was quickly dashed by taking a tour of the surrounding marketplace where all of the little shops were. We stopped into a sushi restaurant for breakfast, which I was extremely apprehensive about since I'd never tried raw fish before.

Hi, my name is Tony, I'm one of the pickiest eaters you'll ever meet... well, I guess not any more. :) I had two different cuts of tuna and one piece of salmon along with a couple of "egg temples." They were all pretty great. The salmon was a little chewier than I would have liked but I survived. We had a free morning before our final business visit to American Express.

I really enjoyed the AmEx visit. The staff treated us as they would executives and gave an excellent overview on Japanese consumer credit behavior. Making purchases using mobile phones in Japan is HUGE, so much so that it has been difficult for me to find a store that accepts regular credit or debit cards.

After AmEx, we headed over to McDonalds to try a MEGA Mac. It's very much like a regular Big Mac except it's MEGA!! During the afternoon, we visited the Tokyo Museum which had many interesting relics and displays.

This was a kid's sized samurai outfit I came across. Does this mean they used to let kids fight with swords? I barely let my kids play with kid's scissors!! :)

This little guy had a sign that said "do not take his picture." I felt like they were trying to use reverse psychology so I did.

All of the item descriptions were in Japanese so I must apologize as to why I'm not describing them in detail. Just enjoy them and move along, like I did.

We tried getting tickets to a Sumo Match but they were sold out. Here's a picture of two Sumo wrestlers hugging instead.

Our next stop was the Asakusa district which houses many shops and some spectacular temples. It was quite busy for a Friday evening so we didn't stay long. We wanted to head over to Odaiba before sunset.

Here's the view of the Statue of Liberty, Rainbow Bridge and Tokyo Tower. Unfortunately, the bridge was not lit up but we believe this is in respect to the earthquake and tsunami victims.

I finished the day with an absolutely amazing avocado burger at an eatery in Odiaba. Yes, it is is possible to have too much Japanese food. Variety is the spice of life!

- Tony Llerena Photography

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Day 4 - A coward dies a thousand deaths but a hero only one

2011-05-19T08:32:00.001-07:00

Today was jam packed with business visits so there was little opportunity for photography. What do you mean I'm in Japan for a business course? I thought I signed up for a photo tour? :)

On a serious note, we had three amazing meetings throughout the day. The first was with Dr. Kazunori Suzuki of Chuo University in Tokyo. We discussed Japan's economy from an academic perspective and Dr. Suzuki was able to explain to us how the Japanese people need to adapt to the changing global economy to remain competitive. Second, we met with Michael Alfant, president the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan. Mr. Alfant is an American entrepreneur who has lived in Japan for 22 years and founded several successful business. What I enjoyed most about the visit was Mr Alfant's insight and perspective on business, corporate responsibility, and life in general.

The title of this blog post is a Shakespeare line that Mr. Alafant quoted which really resonated with me, especially in terms of my small, growing photography business. Don't be afraid to get out there and do what you want to do. As long as you do your best and make clients happy to the best of your ability, things will work out.

The final company we visited was Itochu, which is a large Japanese conglomerate made up of many subsidiaries. We met with two former USM students that gave us insight into what working in Japan is like and how companies recruit, train and promote their employees.

We spent our evening in an area called Shibuya, which is considered the " Times Square" of Tokyo. It was quite the sight to see coming out of the subway. In my opinion, this is the "real" Electric City due to the sheer volume of power consumed in a two mile radius. And now what you really came here for... the photography.

This is a statue of Hachiko, Japan's most famous and loyal dog. The story of the bond between master and dog is quite touching and you can read about it here.

I bumped into an old friend of mine from back home, Mr. The Colonel.

A little slice of Florida in Tokyo? Winning!!

Many of the street were very impressive to look at as you can see.

For dinner I had noodles and Spam. That's right, I said Spam. It was Legen... wait for it... just a little longer... dary!

To top it off, for dessert, we had a Krispy Kreme donut, in Japan. How does it get more epic than that?!?

I need to get up very early so I'm off to bed to get a couple of hours of sleep. Vacation Shmacation.

- Tony Llerena Photography

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Day 3 - Networking, Communication and Electri-city

2011-05-18T08:38:00.001-07:00

Konishiwa! Today is the third day of our visit and our group is getting more comfortable with navigating the city each day. Our day began with a company visit to the international consulting firm, Intralink. This was an extremely informative meeting that provided a balanced view on foreign corporate investment in Japan and is a privatized version of JETRO, the organization we visited the day before. It was good to hear a westerner's views on doing business in Japan in terms of differences of culture and competitiveness of markets. From Intralink's website, they "provide companies with a low risk, cost effective and practical means to target these markets, generate new and incremental revenues, and establish a permanent presence through a local subsidiary, acquisition or partnership."

Our next visit was to the international communications corporation Avaya. We were treated to another informative presentation on how the Asian markets differ from the rest of the world and what some of the challenges they face to try to meet the unique needs of the Japanese and Korean cultures.

Our final visit, before I get to the pictures ;), was to Docomo, the AT&T of Japan, where we treated to some of the latest in mobile technology devices and services as well as a futuristic interactive 3D show.

The majority of our day was spent in the Akihabara district, more commonly known as Electric City. This area has many shops and buildings dedicated to technology and gaming. For example, one building that we visited had SEVEN floors of arcades!

I love that you can buy drinks from the vending machines with your phone. Docomo has a partnership with McDonald's that will provide customers discounts if they use their phones to pay for their meal.

Anime and little comic characters were rampant as prizes for many of the arcade games.

I will admit, I tried to win one of these but they're nearly impossible to navigate. They limit the amount of movements you can take instead of giving you a time limit like back home.

There were many business people in this area shopping and this is a common view while crossing at the crosswalk. I shot this one from the hip.

This is without a doubt my favorite shot of the day. I love the way the reflection of the sun barely kisses the sides of the buildings. I also like the silhouette of the ... hey wait, are those people jaywalking?!? Oh, and if you look closely, there's a giant bear in the middle bridge.

MEGA MAC!!! 'Nuff said. No, I have not had one... yet.

Jeremy and Ian played Street Fighter II against each other and I will admit, the arcade was pretty awesome!

Here's one of the little animals I tried to win. :(

Akihabara was fun. Sayonara for tonight!

- Tony Llerena Photography

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Day 2 - Sumimasen

2011-05-17T10:03:00.001-07:00

It's been a very long productive first day with many activities. Our first stop was at JETRO which is the Japanese foreign direct exchange organization.

The rest of the day was wide open and our group chose to go for a walk around downtown. We came across an Aston Martin store and they even allowed some of us to get into the cars! James Bond would be proud.

After lunch we visited the Imperial Palace which was a fairly brief walking tour. Here are some of the forts from the palace grounds. The tour itself was in Japanese but they gave us little recorded devices that had the tour in english. The picture below is one of the hinges from the massive wooden doors.

Our Next stop was Hibiya park which was under construction but had some very nice views. It seemed like a very active place were people come to enjoy tranquility.

The coolest statue we saw was Ginsu of GODZILLA! Jeremy barely escaped with his life even though Godzilla looks way larger in the movies!

Our final stop was the Ginza district, home of the Tokyo Apple store! Eat your heart out Apple fans.

We had a great time in the Ginza district including playing in a game show, escaping a downpour and taking pictures of the Japanese people. One of the things that stands out about the culture is how well everyone dresses. See for yourself.

Our day wrapped up with a wonderful all-you-can-eat dinner with some Japanese guests. My wife can attest that I am one of the most picky eaters you'll ever meet but I've tried some new delicacies and I've been pleasantly surprised. Off to bed now and another full day tomorrow.

Sayonara

- Tony Llerena Photography

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Day 1 - The Longest Day Ever

2011-05-16T07:22:00.001-07:00

And we're off! I'm not sure what day I'm referencing anymore so bear with me. On good advice I was told to not sleep at all before my flight to Japan as it would help with jet lag. I'm not sure there's really anything you can do to prepare for a 13 hour flight (more on that later).

I left my house at 4:30 am EST after some hugs, kisses and "call you soons" and arrived at the airport to little fanfare. :( The weather from Bangor to La Guardia was a little rough, just like our landing but our group was no worse for the wear. The cab ride to JFK was an experience itself as our driver bobbed and weaved through Sunday morning NYC traffic. You can see in the picture that the roads weren't as busy as they could have been.

Luckily (sarcasm) we had a 7 hour layover before our 13 hour flight. In reality, it gave our group some time to bond, play games, and joke around. Many of us were already starting to get punchy from lack of sleep so giggles were easily had. A pretty thick fog rolled in too which looked far more intimidating in person than in the picture.

On the flight to Narita, staying awake was nearly impossible. I tried to read but after 10 seconds, realized I had fallen asleep for half an hour. I tried to watch a movie, but after the first couple of minutes I fell asleep and woke up with only 15 minutes left in the movie. It felt strange, almost as if I was magically moving through time one nap at a time. I wish these naps were more restful but you get awoken on a fairly regular basis by flight attendants asking if you would like something to eat or drink. I'll spare you the rest.

When we landed, getting off the plane felt amazing! Nothing was more amazing than the bathroom at the airport though. I was almost afraid to use it since it was so fancy and full of gadgetry. I won't tell you what happened in there but it was pure magic and I will be having one installed in my home very soon!

After a quick group shot we had a relatively short ride to our hotel. For dinner we walked over to a tiny little shop that sold bowls of Ramen noodles cooked in broth of pork collagen. Sound appetizing? Well it was really good. Since I'm FAR from the adventurous eater, I ate mine with a spiced boiled egg.

I'm off to bed now but we have a full day tomorrow meeting with JETRO and visiting the Imperial Palace.

Sayonara

- Tony Llerena Photography

---
Please stop reading. This section is for my family.

JETJNB-DLY
DEL-Tom Petty's from Gainesville

The day that will forever be known as Japan Eve... or at least until I actually leave

2011-05-14T07:53:00.000-07:00

So all of the months of anticipation and planning will come to a head in the next 24 hours. For those of you that I've spoken to, you are aware of the cancellation of the trip and the eventual reinstatement. The earthquake and ensuing tsunami changed the world (literally) and cost many thousands of lives.

I consider myself fortunate that we have regained the opportunity to go on this once in a lifetime trip so soon after such a devastating event and when emotions and nerves are probably still very raw. My hope is that our group will honor the people of Japan and represent the University of Maine as best we can and have an epic time doing so. I will miss my family, work (a little) and all of the creature comforts that my life has afforded me. I take solace and am humbled by the fact that I am going on a trip that many can only dream of taking and may never be afforded the opportunity. For this I am thankful.

See you in Tokyo.

JETJNB - DLY

Suitable for children of all ages

2011-05-07T23:04:00.001-07:00

So I have a confession to make. I'm going to let you in on my little secret for photographing children. Here it goes. The secret is... the child is in charge. I have little to no control over what they do or where they go. I most certainly can't make a 2 week old nap on cue or a 3 year old stay still and smile.

When photographing any young child you have to get to know them first. They need to trust you. In most cases, I'm meeting the child for the first time. Children shoots usually go one of two ways. The first type is where the child is very shy and won't really take guidance or smile for about the first half hour until he/she/they warm up and begin to trust you. The second type is where the child is extremely happy and cooperative to start for the first half hour and slowly start to get a little cranky.

I have several techniques that I use to keep a child involved and more importantly interested in me. One technique is to find something they want to do it and follow them, even participate. This builds trust.

Having three children myself, I've got tons of experience with little ones and I've never seen a child turn away an adult that wants to play, especially if mommy or daddy say it's ok. Second have them burn some of that excited energy off. Tell them to run to a certain point and see how fast they can run back. It makes for cute opportunities because they'll typically laugh and smile. The last tip I'll give is to relax and take a break. Let the child be for a little while. Maybe you want to take the opportunity to take candids at this point or just observe them for a few minutes.

Any way you look at it, the child will dictate the tone and pace of the shoot. The beauty of these tips are that they works just as well for taking pictures of your own kids as well as those of your friends and families.

- Tony Llerena Photography

不安 (Fuan) about Japan

2011-05-04T09:00:00.000-07:00

I've got less than two weeks to go before my trip and the longest flight of my life and I've got so much to do. Luckily I've figured out which camera gear I'm going to take. This will be the longest I've been away from my wife and family and I'm going to miss them terribly. This is why it was so important for me to get the iPad 2 for the ability to Skype while keeping the weight of my equipment down.

The trip will last 12 days and the major destinations are Tokyo and Kyoto. I will be posting as often as I can to keep friends and family updated throughout the trip about my adventures and travels and hope to create some amazing images. This will be the first time I'll have the unrestricted ability to photograph so I'll be looking to push my own boundaries and go outside of my own comfort zones. I'm also challenging myself by not using a laptop and relying only on my iPad 2 for editing images and posting to the blog. The two apps I plan to use are Photogene for iPad and Blogpress.

Here are some of the places we will visit on the trip:

Tokyo

Imperial Palace
Hibiya Park
Imperial Palace Hotel
Ginza
Akihabara
Edo-Tokyo Museum & Asaksua distric visit
All-Day Tour – Mt. Fuji
Tokyo Giants baseball game

Kyoto

Sake Brewery
General touring, zen gardens and temples

Check back here in the coming weeks for updates.

Just shoot it! Five reasons to go outside right now with your camera.

2011-04-08T20:00:00.000-07:00

So I had a busy week and I'm feeling a little burnt out, right? Who hasn't felt like that? It's Friday, Friday and I get home and I need to unwind. After hugs and kisses from the family, I need a fix. Here's why I go out to shoot even if it's just around your house :

Therapy - Photography for me is very theraputic. Whenever I get a great shot, I get a rush of endorphins from a sense of accomplishment. I literally feel happy. (Yes, I know the difference between literal and figurative)
Practice - Like any skill, photography is something that you need to work at to get better. Having trouble nailing that focus while at that event? How about getting the right exposure at that picnic? No? Then why don't you take the time to develop those skills when you don't have to annoy people trying to figure out why the image came out so dark when they're back lit.
Experimentation - For me, one of the more daunting things to remember is how to gauge how far my minimum focusing distance for each of my lenses. This is the time where I can try to push each lens to the limit and develop some depth perception memory so I can take better shots more quickly. Most SLRs will not fire when autofocus is on if it can't get focus so knowing how far is just far enough can make the difference between getting the shot or cursing.
Learn how your camera sees - Depending on the focal length you choose, your image can look entirely different. Try shooting something at 200mm and then try shooting the same object at 18mm. Is there a difference? Neither is right or wrong, they are artistic choices that you need to make when creating an image.
Think different - I try shooting objects and subjects that others would probably walk right by on a photo walk. One of the challenges that I'll give myself is "how do I make this ordinary object interesting?" I'm always amazed at the creativity that I come across on other photographers' pages. They make Legos come alive and the real seem surreal. Each one of us sees the world in our own unique way. How can I show you what I see?

In summary, these are a few of the things that I try to do on a regular basis to try to improve. What are you doing?

Issues with Transparent PNG in iOS 4 devices such as iPad 2 and iPhones

2011-04-07T09:51:00.000-07:00

If you've followed my blog at all, you already know that I came up with a work around solution for watermarking images on Apple iOS devices using the photo sharing site smugmug. You can imagine my frustration when you follow the directions to a "t" and the darn thing doesn't do what it's supposed to do. The easiest and, from my experience, most efficient app at watermarking images on the iPad 2 and iPhone is an app called iWatermark. This app works absolutely well when creating a generic text watermark using built in fonts. The problem was in creating a custom image watermark with a transparent background.

According to Plum Amazing, the creators of iWatermark, the way to create a transparent graphic watermark is as follows:

For Graphic Watermarks you can use any graphic. Graphics are either photos that you have taken or graphics that you have created on the iPhone or imported. The signatures we include are .png files. PNG is a format that allows the background to be transparent. Check out the FAQ (below) or Google 'png' and 'transparence' to learn more about making these files. You can make a .png file of your signature and import it to use on your photos.

Once you have imported your graphic watermark you can act on it with any of the items in the edit menu on the left/bottom side of the screen. Change the angle, scale, opacity, etc. To move the watermark just touch it with your finger and drag it wherever you want.

Great! This sounds exactly like what I want to do and I should have no problem since I do A LOT of graphic design for my day job. So, I create the PNG files according to their specifications, alpha channel turned on, and add it to both my dropbox folder and iPhoto in order to sync the file onto the device. You can see the files in the images above and that there is now an album in the Photos app on the iPad named TL Photography Logo that contains seven PNG files.

The first thing I noticed about the individual PNG files is that they all have black backgrounds. How could this be? After some pretty extensive research, I was unable to find a definitive answer but my assumption is that iOS is converting any PNG image processed through iTunes or transferred from any app into a jpeg. When I tried to use one of these as a watermark in both iWatermark and Photogene, the black background remained. After many hours of trial and error and several emails to iWatermark technical support I found that I had discovered a fairly unique flaw in the way that iOS handles PNG images. I wasn't the only one who had experienced this issue. I came across some forums where a similar question was posed but I never found the issue resolved for anyone else.

This bothered me so much because part of the reason I even owned an iPad was to use as a photography tool while traveling. Since I watermark my images before posting to Facebook and my blog, not being able to do so was too big of an issue for me to keep the device and I ended up selling it.

Fast forward a couple of months, and with the ugly breakup of my first iPad behind me, I was able to reconcile the issue because I figured out how to use smugmug's watermarking service as a way around the lack of transparency support in the Photos app in iOS 4. Well, I've owned the iPad 2 for a little over a week now and thought I would revisit the issue to see if anyone had come up with a solution. Zip. Nada. Zilch. Well, on a hunch, and probably based on my extensive trouble shooting background I wondered if downloading a transparent PNG through the Safari app would make any difference since I couldn't recall trying that approach. So I navigated to my blog and downloaded the header, which btw is one of the same PNGs in the Photos app. Next step is to take a look at the PNG in the Camera Roll and... WHAT THE?!?

If you take a closer look at the Camera Roll you can see that there is something definitely wrong with the PNGs downloaded via Safari. There seems to be an overlay of other images instead of my logo watermark. Since this was a different result from anything I'd seen before, I figured I'd give it a shot in one of the watermarking apps to see if it worked. GUESS WHAT!! I'm not exactly sure why or how but I do know that FINALLY it works the way it's supposed to. You can see the final watermarked image edited entirely using iOS and iPad apps without needing to be connected to the internet.

In this case, persistence paid off. I'm guessing that so few people actually need this type of functionality that Apple would never give it any attention. In my case, this made re-purchasing the iPad a bit more gratifying and allowed me to put another feather in my cap.

Fish are friends, not food.

2011-04-01T16:22:00.000-07:00

"Well, you never really know, but when they know, you know, y'know?" - Crush

So it's time for a new tip and today's tip boys and girls is how to get a good image at an aquarium or zoo or any other location that has glass between you and the subject. You know the funny thing about glass? It reflects light! Especially when the other side of the glass is darker than your side. Ever seen those one way mirrors at the police station? You have?!? For shame.

So back to photography. At all costs, try not to use your flash. The flash will just about always bounce right off the glass and right into your lens. The same principles apply as shooting in a dark location. As far as camera settings go, you should choose a large aperture and high iso in order to get the fastest shutter speed with the given light. This would be a situation that you might want to use the shutter priority setting on your camera if you have it. That's the Tv setting for Canon shooters. Pick a shutter speed that allows you to stop motion and let the camera do the rest of the work.

So now your saying, "Tony, I took your advice and did all that but my images are STILL blurry!" Well, you're in luck. If you absolutely have to use flash, here's a little trick I learned. You ready for it? Here it goes. Press your lens right up against the glass. That's it! Basically, if the lens is right up against the glass, it might as well be part of the glass and thus no way for the flash to bounce back into your lens. Don't believe me? Try it out. Go to the nearest window of your house, take one picture a couple of feet away from the window with the flash and another one with the lens against the glass. Try it out and let me know how it goes.

Tony

There's no App for that!

2011-03-30T11:34:00.001-07:00

So it's no secret that I'll be flying to Japan in May. One of the things that I have to think about is what to pack. When I originally decided to go on the trip, my first thought was: camera...check, lenses...check, iPad...check. But wait a minute, I had a nagging problem on my trip to San Diego when editing images. I had no way to add my logo as a watermark through the iPad alone. After several months of trying to figure out how to do this, I threw my hands in the air with frustration and after many conversations with the boss, decided to sell the iPad and take the laptop to Japan instead. Not a big deal unless you figure how much the backpack is going to weigh with professional camera gear and a full sized laptop.

I'm not sure how the idea came to me but earlier this week it dawned on me that Smugmug, my photo-sharing site will automatically add a custom watermark to an image uploaded to certain galleries. After some watermark tweaking and a lot of thought, I came up with a system to upload an image to Smugmug, download the properly sized watermarked image ready to post on either Facebook or the blog. Long story short, I'm posting this from my brand new iPad 2!

Take THAT App Store without a properly functioning watermarking app that doesn't do exactly what I need it to do! :)

Please, make yourself comfortable.

2011-03-28T10:11:00.000-07:00

Have you ever seen a picture of someone that obviously didn't want their picture taken or gave a forced smile? That never happens, right? Well I believe that people that are most "photogenic" are the ones that relax and are natural in front of the camera and don't just act it.

Want better images? Relax, have fun. The camera looks both ways so if you as the photographer are stressed and anxious, the images are going to suffer for it.

Should I let you in on my little secret? Shhh, let's keep this between us. Ok, well my big secret is... I love to make people laugh. Phew, that's a relief. I've been known to make jokes even at inappropriate times but that's just who I am and how I deal with stress, even if the joke is at my own expense. Laughing is healthy and it also makes for a great natural image.

Laugh, and the world laughs with you:

-Ella Wheeler Wilcox

So brush up on your jokes and put on a happy face! I'll get you started:

The quickest way to make money at photography is to sell your camera!
How does Santa Claus take pictures?
With his North Polearoid.
A fellow bought a Labrador puppy from the pet store and named him Kodak.
That way he could say he owned a Kodak lab.

Take a hike!

2011-03-19T20:39:00.000-07:00

I know how difficult it can be to take beautiful images while on vacation at a location you've never been to before and may never visit again. These "once in a lifetime" opportunities can be pressure to get a good shot once and forever. I had the great fortune of visiting Greece a couple of years ago when I was really starting to get into photography and learning the fundamentals of a good image. I've read that the first time you visit a location, it's alright to leave the camera behind or to take the standard tourist snapshots. But what if your first time is your only time? Well, the best tip I can give you is to have patience.

We visited the Parthenon towards the end of our trip. There are three words that I can use to describe the visit: magnificent, hot, crowded. I stood before one of the seven wonders of the world and it's almost incomprehensible to think that this structure was built in 432 BC and is still standing. Everyone, and I mean everyone is taking the same exact picture with hundreds of tourists in the foreground. How do I create an image where it looks like I'm the only one there? I wait. Even heavy traffic gets a break at some point. This was probably the only 1/2000th of a moment that no one was standing between me and the ancient temple and I'm glad I remembered to take the lens cap off! :)

The next site we visited was King Leonidas' memorial site at Thermopylae. I had recently seen the movie 300 so I was particularly interested in visiting the ancient battle ground. Again, there were quite a few tourists there so I might have to wait again to get the shot. But wait, what's this? There are quite a few power lines running right behind the monument! Boy do those stand out and look ugly.

Trying to photoshop them out later would be a nightmare since they run the length of the image, not to mention the gradiation of the sky would make it near impossible to make it look natural. So what do I do? I walk around to see if there's another angle. I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to go behind the monument because there are shrubs lining the back of it. Oh well, I decided to take a gander anyway and lo and behold I found a great angle where there weren't any unsightly objects. Turns out that this image of King Leonidas' monument is one of my favorite travel photographs to this day.

The next time you're in Greece or any other exotic location remember these two tips at any popular tourist attraction:

Be patient and wait for your shot. People will eventually move out of the way.
Walk around and don't take the same shot everyone else is taking. You may end up being the one that knows something that no one else knows.