Last night he paid me to come take photos of an artist he was recording for his new record label in a little club in Meguro. Unfortunately, the gear-hire company was late on delivering the recording desk, and he and Macky only got it that afternoon... this photo was taken as Jeff was chanting "I will make this happen" after being unable to get the desk functioning properly during Mikio's set. I shot through the first set then had to leave for a meeting in Shibuya - as I left things got decidedly worse for poor Jeff when he realised the hard disk was full of someone else's music. Haven't heard from him yet today - I felt bad leaving him there but he was in capable hands and hell, I know nothing about mixing desks!

This photo kinda gets his frustration quite well, I think.

Jeff rocks. I'm gonna miss him and Sandi - they are out of here at the end of the month, back to Seattle. Poo.

Andrea & Beck leave tomorrow and an old family friend, Felicity Jenkins is coming to stay for the weekend - we haven't see each other since we were kids but our parents were best friends right up till the end, and they attended both their funerals as well as Decembers ashes ceremony. Anyway, Felicity (Flicka) is working as a professional photographer in Sydney these days - doing really well I think. Can't wait to catch up on the last 30 years or so....

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(Sigsy on Jul 17, 2008 11:41 PM) I love you

(frangipani on Jul 18, 2008 2:01 AM) And I love you...

(sushi on Jul 18, 2008 11:45 AM) Dolls, both of you!

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Technorati Tags: a photo a day, friends

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Technorati Tags: a photo a day, Models, Photography

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Who are they? Champion illustrators (and my old dear friend) Andrea Innocent and (her buddy) Beck Wheeler, on their way back from ICON5, the New York Illustration Conference. They are staying here for a week or so before heading back to Melbourne.

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Aiko. My first ever private student. My old room mate Haruna introduced us back in 2004. Aiko is an angel. She dropped out for a while because her schedule was so busy she kept cancelling lessons at the last minute, but she found me again through a mutual friend, and we're back in weekly classes again.

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Technorati Tags: a photo a day, Photography shoots

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Yummy homecooked dinner of garlic and butter fried asparagus with fresh tofu and a delicious salad. Tofu in Japan is far superior to any tofu anywhere else in the world. So good you can eat it raw. Shame they are not allowed to export it.

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I took this picture of Jon silhouetted in the hallway as we headed out for some cheap, nasty pasta dinner and a beer in the middle of an incredibly long day at the office, a week before the 7/14 BiZ NITE event.

Technorati Tags: Photography shoots, a photo a day, Tiger Music

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1/365: Sunday, July 6, 2008.

As I mentioned earlier, I am worried that my work at Tiger Music will slow down my photography so I have started carrying my camera with me every day.

I'm really impressed with the work my buddy Tyler Ensrude has been doing on a similar challenge using film. He's been shooting a roll of 24 every week, and will do so for a year. The results are great.

Anyway, this particular day has already been mentioned briefly below: I took Sandi, Jeff and their kids to Differ Ariake for the Muay Thai championships on Sunday July 6th. It was my first time at a Muay Thai fight, despite repeated (thwarted) attempts in Thailand to get to some fights. It was exhilarating and we had a lot of fun. The blond guy in the photo above was FIERCE. I knew he'd win the moment he stepped into the ring. Tough, mean, scary, disciplined and hot. I took a lot of photos, I couldn't look away. In this shot, he had just punched the guy to the ground - I got a shot of the poor fella flying through the air but I preferred the look on blondie's face in this one. You can see the determination.

And so we begin the adventure of A PHOTO A DAY.

Technorati Tags: differ ariake, Japan, photo a day, Photography, Tokyo

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(gleek on Jul 17, 2008 5:38 AM) are you adding this to flickr and the 365 photos project? you should! i'm doing 365 self-portraits a year and getting lots of great feedback there. can't wait to see more martine!

(frangipani on Jul 17, 2008 2:51 PM) Heya Gleek. Yes, I did that this morning :)

The other project has no specific deadline but I am just so excited about it that I have to have a little play on it today. I did a photo shoot with opera singer Akiko Otao on Friday, in collaboration with the team at Mint Salon, and it was SO MUCH FUN and gawd we got some great photos.

Actually, I have a 4th project in the works, too - started it last Sunday, but it is way less demanding and has no specific production deadlines.... I've started taking "a photo a day" (to make sure the new job doesn't keep me away from my camera too much), and will be posting them here and up at Flickr from Tuesday (once all these deadlines pass...)

Anyway, we are in need of some more volunteers to help us make Mondays event (all all our other events) run really smoothly, so if you're interested in helping out, please fill in the following form. Actually now is a great time to praise the delights of Google Doc's which is amazing for working collaboratively from the web. For example, this form will feed automatically to the database spreadsheet I've set up, and I receive a notification every time it gets updated. Printable too. AWESOME!

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(MissSin on Jul 15, 2008 10:19 AM) Am loving all the positive & creative energy exploding out of your blog. Can feel the air crackling...

We are still booking presenters so if anyone is interested in doing a presentation or product / services / exhibition / performance launch at next Mondays event, or any of our monthly events can email me at martine@tigermusic.jp

BiZ NITE, French Flavour at Daikanyama Tableaux. July 14th, 2008. 6 pm - late.

What is BiZ NITE?

Tokyo’s fastest growing networking event for creative business people. It's a monthly event which features presentations, showcases, exhibitions, discussion panels, product launches and more from the creative industries in Tokyo. Each sphere of interest in the A-Z of creative industries has a Biz NITE nickname, for example photo biz, ad biz, art biz, DJ biz, design biz, eco biz, NPO biz, fashion biz, movie biz, music biz, net biz, sport biz, success biz, VJ biz, wellness biz. Every month the crowds get a little bigger, and more and more people are making it a regular feature on their monthly event calendar to meet with old friends, meet new ones and see a little of what's going in around the city.

When & Where is this monthly event held?

Biz Nites are held monthly at Daikanyama Tableaux on 7/14, 8/18, 9/8, and venue TBD on 10/20, 11/17, 12/15.

When is the next Biz NITE?

Monday 14 July at Daikanyama/Ebisu Tableaux, 18:00-23:00, with a ‘French Flavor’ to celebrate Bastille Day together.
The venue has a beautiful patio, great food and reasonably priced drinks. In addition to our regular content,
BiZ NITE will host presentations about contemporary French fashion and culture, and about French creative business people's activities in Japan.
We expect around 300 people to attend community presentations and get-togethers in three spaces throughout the venue.

How much?

Entry: Advance: 1000 yen / Door 1500 yen, (Please buy at least one drink) (To qualify for advance, please sign up as a member at biznites.ning.com)

The first 50 people at Biz Nite receive a Skype headset & calling card.

Who is presenting this month?

7/14 (Mon) ‘French Flavor’ BiZ NITE CONTENTS

18:00-22:30 Presentations & Discussions in Three Spaces:

Ad Biz: info soon

Art Biz:

1) “Dr Sketchy's Anti-Art School: an introduction to the divinely seedy underbelly of live sketching ala Burlesque style” with MC LadyElle [www.drsketchytokyo.com]
(Plus: 5 minute burlesque dance performance by burlesque dancer Cherry Typhoon of the Murasaki Baby Dolls at 10 pm)

2) "ICON 5: The NY Illustration Conference: A review, and an Introduction to the works of Andrea Innocent and Beck Wheeler",
a review presentation and slideshow by well-known Australian artists/illustrators/animators
Andrea Innocent (www.otoshimono.org) and Beck Wheeler (www.beckwheeler.net)

3) “Creative platforms to bring different art forms and audiences under the same umbrella” with 4th Skin Arts Network www.4thskin.com

Design Biz:

“WorkVitamins: Why creativity in the office just works” - Martin van der Linden (workvitamins.com, www.vanderarchitects.com)

Eco Biz: info soon

Fashion Biz:

Fashion Biz: “ID SHAPE: new solution for luxury packaging anti-counterfeiting from France” – Lucas Nanini (www.idshape.com)
Lucas Nanini

Movie Biz:

“Surfing DVD Release- Japan’s legendary surfers of the ‘70s enjoy a 2007 reunion in Micronesia” – Michio Degawa (http://www.kooks.jp)

Music Biz:

1) “Panel Discussion: Anime, Games and Urahara Fashion - How can Japanese Pop Culture Drive
Japanese Music Sales at Home and Overseas?" - Moderator & presenter: Nathan Reaven (www.hearjapan.com)

2) “The New French Music Scene – Preview of French Summer Festival Artists”- Sylvain Delange
(Bureau Export de la Musique Francaise a Tokyo, www.french-music.org/video)

Net Biz:

1) “New Contents Delivery and Gallery System”- Tan Tan (http://ikaros-plan.jugem.jp/ )

2) info soon

New in Japan Biz:

“Revolutionary New Instrument – Tenori-on” – K. Sugii (YAMAHA, www.yamaha.co.jp/tenori-on)

Performance BIz:

Performance Biz: “The making of ‘Tunnelvision’ DVD - Choreographed Performance Art in one of the biggest underground locations in the world,
Gaikaku Housuiro, broadcast on NHK” Monique van kerkhof (www.roboudendijk.com)

Photo Biz:

“Unknown France: A tour of the cheese and wine farms of rural France” by photographer, writer and editor, Miki Toyoda.

Sports Biz:

1) “Update on Hakuba MTB Jamboree 8/16-17” ( www.sweetriders.com)

2) “Reporting about Muay Thai Fight Events” – Chisa Yamane (www.jmc-gym.com)

VJ Biz: info soon

Wellness Biz:

’Awaken to New Dimensions’ - Introduction to insightful transformation techniques to tap into your inner balance
and potential through Art of Living“ with Marianne White & Keerthana Mariappan (www.artofliving.org)

22:00-23:30 LOUNGE DJs: James Carstensen (Tokyo Electro – Special French Music Mix), DJ Tawara (ultralounge)

See more information in Japanese and English at http://www.stereojapan.com/ and forum http://biznites.ning.com/

So there you have it, as it stands at this point.... I plan to add all changes to the line up as they occur, so keep checking back for the details.

Please come along and say Hey.

Oh, and PS - if you have a blog of your own, please feel free to mention Niz NITE there too...

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Todays pics were all taken on Sunday, when Sandi, Jeff, M & D & I hit the Muay Thai championships at Differ Ariake, out at Odaiba. So much fun! (zillions more pics to come) Thanks for the tickets, Chisa!

I remember at the beginning of the year writing about my dissatisfaction with life in Japan and how I had decided to try to plug into the foreign community scene some more, to try to get more things happening in both my freelance photography and personal worlds.

In places like Shibuya or Harajuku, I would walk past groups of interesting looking people (Japanese and foreign alike) all hunched over a pile of papers or laptops, excitedly discussing ideas, and it would make me feel so disconnected from the rattle and buzz of this cities' frenetic underbelly of creative industries. Back in Brisbane, that world was my life: making things happen - events, festivals and festival stages, tours, media PR, planting seeds of opportunity, etc etc etc. I realised just how fulfilled that kind of work used to make me feel. I certainly needed a break from the burn out of those last few tours, but I think 5.5 years was perhaps a tad excessive.

Anyway, earlier this year I hauled my arse out from under the radar, and started going to events and parties - often to photograph them (using my existing network of friends and their contacts), and started meeting new people. In that one simple choice, "getting out there", I managed to plug myself back into a vibrant active community of stupendously magnificent creative people who are all about the same thing: getting things done and making things happen. The opportunities being presented to me are so exciting that lately some nights I can't actually get to sleep. I feel utterly alive. Of course, I am also hopelessly weather affected and now that summer is here, the time is right for dancing in the streets.

But this post was never meant to be an ode to how I was lost (erm on holiday) and now I am found. Far from it. It's to talk up the first of the events I have helped co-ordinate with Tiger Music. And to say to those of you who read this blog and need to meet some people and get things moving in their lives, to please revise the notion that networking is a dirty word. Networking is your friend. Networking plants seeds of potential everywhere because you never know how each person is going to pop back into your life with a proposal or suggestion or introduction that could change your professional and personal life. Step into the ring.... (do you like the way my story kinda oh-so-cleverly segues into the pics...?) But I'm going to do that in a separate post now....

I wonder how it's all gonna go?

Technorati Tags: BiZ NITE, Daikanyama, friends, inspiration, Japan, parties, Tiger Music, Tokyo

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