The birds of Kabu Island
August 21, 2010 by Juergen Specht · Leave a Comment
Kabu Island (Hachinohe City)
Kabu Island is an important breeding ground for the black-tailed gulls which are classified as a National Protected Species. From March to August, the amazing sight of 30 thousand gulls flying around the island wildly can be seen.
This is how the local tourist office describes the little spot named Kabu Island (which is not really an island, more a peninsula) in the harbor of Hachinohe City in Aomori Prefecture. While I was already in this area to explore a few Haikyo and Jesus Christ’s tomb, and being a sucker for cheesy tourist attractions I decided to have a look at this place too.
Seeing in the dark
August 14, 2010 by Juergen Specht · 2 Comments
Next Monday I will publishI just published my newest series called “Apocrypha“, here is a preview:
What I saw…
Ironically the picture above is not just a black image, its exactly what I saw while shooting.
But thanks to modern technology, an infrared flash and an infrared camera, this is what my camera saw:
and what my camera saw!
This was definitely the first time I didn’t see at all what I was shooting and had entirely rely on my gut feeling and the instructions I gave in the darkness to my lovely model Sanaxxx and my assistent Ken. Neither of us saw a thing. The results however are amazing!
Adventures of a Japanese construction worker
July 5, 2010 by Juergen Specht · 6 Comments
I love the signs at Japanese construction sites. They just show too vivid the dangers and adventures which await the army of construction workers on their daily duty. While the signs often sport the same text, the illustration always differs ever so slightly. Here is just a small part out of my collection with translations and more commentary. Read more
The candy-colored belly dancer
June 27, 2010 by Juergen Specht · Leave a Comment
The candy-colored belly dancer
The aesthetic of ugliness
June 24, 2010 by Juergen Specht · 1 Comment
I never heard somebody call Tokyo’s winding express ways beautiful, they are usually known as being an eye sore. But there is some beauty in all this fascinating ugliness.
Its getting more and more complicated…
June 8, 2010 by Juergen Specht · Leave a Comment
Making of Remembrance by Ako Specht
My photo shootings become more and more complicated…no Photoshop was involved in this shooting, just a laptop, an old Apple Cinema Display, several different power sources, way too many cables and did I mention software? Yes, that too. My cool model Coma was freezing high in the mountains and the next day she had muscle ache from holding the heavy monitor quite a while, but wow was she great again.
I called this series “Remembrance“, because the remembrance of her came back with startling clarity as symbolized in the infinite picture echo.
The Journey – An homage to the demise of the incandescent lightbulb…
May 27, 2010 by Juergen Specht · Leave a Comment
When I as a photographer get asked what I usually photograph, I have an easy answer: I photograph light.
Since I was young, I was fascinated by light and the incredible variety of it. But one very old light source will now disappear, the incandescent lightbulb. So I decided to make a last shooting I call “The Journey” as some kind of homage.
Toshiba recently announced that they stop manufacturing these lightbulbs, I in fact had a hard time to actually get some incandescent lightbulbs of the old, clear type here in Tokyo. After checking 5 different stores without success, I finally found them in a sixth store and bought all they had. Most stores only sell LED based lightbulbs these days.
Then I suggested the idea and concept of the shooting to the lovely Ella and she agreed to be my model for this series.
Needless to say, I love the result. But then again, I love my own photos :)
The logistics for my shooting are often quite complicated. Finding a location where we have the required privacy, getting electricity into the middle of nowhere and avoiding snakes are just a few of them. The location was easy, because this series was shot on privately owned land and I had the permission of the owner. Electricity, that what this box is for. And the snakes…since the one we saw was rather long and big and I have absolutely no idea about snakes, we relocated to a saver location and I made sure that the model stayed on a path.
“The Journey” is more like a photo story, so make sure you scroll to the end.
The magic box
May 25, 2010 by Juergen Specht · Leave a Comment
The magic box
I’ve made another invention for my photographic adventures…this little magic box. Today I was using it somewhere in the middle of a forest for the first time and it worked just fantastic. More to come!
The Hino / Renault 4CV
May 22, 2010 by Juergen Specht · Leave a Comment
Today at the Tokyo Nostalgic Car Show I came across this Hino / Renault 4CV built 1958 in very good condition. The owner was an old man who originally bought it back in 1958 and kept it all these years…now because of his age and sickness, he decided to sell it. The asking price is 3,3 Million yen. I had a hard time to resist!
The car has an interesting history, in 1953 Hino Motors Ltd. known today as a maker of heavy vehicles such as buses and trucks, tied up with Renault of France and began the local production of the Renault 4CV under its brand “Hino” in Japan. A lengthy documentation with historic pictures can be found here.
More pictures follow below. Read more
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