Pile of Garbage

A Day in the Park │ GF1 + Lumix 20mm F1.7 │ 20mm F4.0 1/2500s ISO100I get some pretty strange looks when I point my camera at garbage. Not that that deters me. Usually our refuse and how we dispose of it says something about our culture. Here a grate has caught garbage that park visitors have simply thrown into a lake in Madrid. The mess is structured by the shadow of a railing.

Collection │ GF1 + Leica 45mm F2.8 │ 45mm F2.8 1/125s ISO100Someone has carefully removed the labels from these used PET bottles, filled them with water and arranged them on top of a wall. It creates a sort of sculpture from something that would otherwise be thrown away. I took this one in May while visiting Takayama, Japan.

Nameless │ GF1 + Lumix 20mm F1.7 │ 20mm F3.2 1/250s ISO100Nature struggles to reclaim our waste...the guilty party shall remain nameless.

Underground Web

Web │ GF1 + Lumix 7-14mm F4.0 │ 7mm F4.0 1/40s ISO250This is a photo I took in Tokyo's Iidabashi Station. The design by Makoto Sei Watanabe features a network of green tubes growing up the staircase towards daylight.

Kaiyukan

Tentacles │ GF1 + Lumix 20mm F1.7 │ 20mm F1.7 1/40s ISO1000Another one from the Osaka Aquarium. Conditions in the tanks were a "deadly" (for cameras) combination of low light and movement. The best thing to do was to wait for the body to come to rest between one pulse and the next.

Rainy Tokyo

Droplets │ GF1 + Lumix 7-14mm F4.0 │ 7mm F5.6 1/320s ISO100I think this is more typical of my visit to Japan. It didn't really matter that it rained a lot; I have a lot of atmospheric shots to thank for it. I had this wonderful clear vinyl umbrella which allowed me to see even when I pulled the umbrella down in front of my eyes (to keep my glasses dry). That's what gave me the idea for the first photo.

Rainy Tokyo │ GF1 + Lumix 7-14mm F4.0 │ 8mm F5.6 1/250s ISO100

Beach!

Tokyo Beach │ GF1 + Lumix 7-14mm F4.0 │ 14mm F4.0 1/2000s ISO100I never expected to find a beach in Tokyo, but here it is. The view is over Tokyo Bay and the Rainbow Bridge. As you have probably noticed, it was one of the few hot and sunny days I had the pleasure to enjoy while I was in Japan. There's almost a surreal light created by the glare of the mid day sun.