Japanese Moments - A Small Travel Series from my M3

<p>Dear All,<br /><br />Summer is now just a faint memory here on the Northern Hemisphere, but at least I finally got around to editing July's CMC "summer moment snaps" from our holidays in Japan - combining Tokyo with a stay at a small beach town called Ito.<br /><br />As usual for longer trips, I brought along my trusty 1955 vintage M3 - even without a meter and being forced to using external finders for my favourite focal lengths, I still keep coming back to it for it's simplicity, small form factor (especially the lenses) and overall nice haptics...<br /><br />Here's the link - 32 pictures in all, and if you stay with me all the way, you'll get to see a smile-provoking picture from a Japanese toilet - I promise :-)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.imagepro.dk/Japan_2012/">http://www.imagepro.dk/Japan_2012/</a><br /><br />Hope that you enjoy it - please feel free to comment !!<br /><br /><br />All the best,<br /><br />Soeren<br /><br /></p><div></div>

<p>Great photos.</p>

<p>Soeren,<br>

They are lovely. There is a playful feel to the images that makes them feel like full of energy and laughter.</p>

<p>Soeren,</p>

<p>Your set of photos are wonderful. I live in Japan. I visit Tokyo quite often. You have done it justice with your lovely photos.</p>

<p>Mike</p>

<p>Soeren, thank you for a wonderful series of photos. I really enjoyed looking at all of these and reading your excellent narratives. I feel as though I actually took a little jaunt through Japan! Thanks very much for sharing these.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Wow, what a wonderful set of pictures. I like the Tokyo Bay picture. Pity that Godzilla wasn't wading through the buildings for you. I would have loved to see that. Your sets are always fantastic. ;-)</p>

<p>Very nice tour! You brought out the cultural ambience of Japan through these pictures and the commentary. Thanks. sp.</p>

<p>Thank you for yet another delightful picture travel diary, Soeren. All the more impressive considering how few exposures you made.</p>

<p>Great set of pictures</p>

<p>Wonderful imaging and what an experience for the kids !<br>

I especially liked the "Hangin In" Monkey.<br>

Thanks Soeren !</p>

<p>I travel to Japan once or twice a year, and to my eye you've captured Tokyo nicely. Much more interesting than the same old shots of Ginza at night. I think you've raised the bar.</p>

<p>Thanks for these Soeren, brightened up my day! Your two are really growing up. I would imagine that the M3 would bring many admiring looks in Japan. The 21mm Skopar is a surprisingly good lens, I love mine and recently bought a Bessa R4A with the 21mm viewfinder.</p>

<p>Another great set of images, <strong>Soeren</strong>, embellished by your text. The variety of your images illustrates the infinite nuances of a great city. I enjoyed the trip.</p>

<p>Thanks for sharing these Soeren,<br>

<br />Wonderful images from the other side of the planet. Great work with the wide-angle and the M3. </p>

<p>Ran a roll through my M3 last week, testing a Xenon 50 f/1.5 in rough condition, probably won't turn out quite as nice. ;) </p>

<p>As always, thank you for posting yet another album. I'm glad that you take care to present your photos as you do. It would be tempting to simply dump them on your PN portfolio - but not for you!</p>

<p>There is much I love about 'high' Asian culture. I have a little book of woodcuts and (translated) poetry about the Tokaido. So serene, so beautiful, so Japanese.</p>

<p>I sold my last Leica a couple of months back. Not because I'm giving up film - no, I just don't use rangefinders for serious work, and the money I got can be better used o something else. I'll keep my Olympus mju II and the mju zoom for casual photos, though. I might even buy a few cheap fixed-lens RFs. Oh, I want a darkroom. And I might even buy a half-frame camera like the Pen...</p>

<p>The poem brings peace.<br>

I'm told there are tall buildings.<br>

Haikus are taller.</p>

<p>A wonderful set of photos. Amazing using only 2 rolls! I mostly shoot digital in a P/S.<br>

Shoot hundreds of images a day..Much to be said for less is more.<br>

Use my Leica M3, mainly for special shoots.<br>

Once again, a really personal album.</p>

<p>Simply beautiful images - amazing captures of moments.</p>

<p>Hi,<br>

Wonderful photos of yours! All the exposures seem to be spot on, under what must be very different lighting conditions and that is what intrigues me most!!<br>

<br />Thank you for sharing these.</p>

<p>Andy.</p>

<p>I love how your children give such freshness and spontaneity to the photographs. Did your son ever wear a shirt while he was over there?</p>

<p>Wonderful photographs- and good story telling too!<br>

I liked the 'chopsticks' and the 'captain's hat' best, but that's picking favorites from a very nicely seen bunch of pictures.<br>

If I may ask, how did you scan the images / what service did you use?<br>

Good luck / good light!</p>

<p>The dome on the shopping mall looks disturbingly like the dome on a tall building in pre-nuclear-bomb Hiroshima. The very building, with the shattered dome, is now part of a memorial. I wonder if the architects consciously made the reference for some reason. It's impossible to understand the Japanese--yet another example. </p>

<p>Wonderful series Soeren, your photos are very nicely presented and well captured to define those specific moments, truly well done.</p>

<p>Wonderful series Soeren, your photos are very nicely presented and well captured to define those specific moments, truly well done.</p>

Thanks, all !!

 

Japan really is a country that is often difficult to grasp for westerners - I'm pleased that my pictures appear to have

conveyed some of the experience.

 

As you might tell, I really do prefer wide angle shots, but on this occasion, I tried to mix the perspective a bit, including the

90/4.0 Rokkor that I almost never use otherwise. The 21 Voigtlaender really is nice - extremely compact and definitely

sharp enough... I had expected to see more film cameras in Tokyo - I actually only saw two Contax'es, one of which was

the 645. But lots of mirrorless digital around.

 

Handling exposure is not that much of a problem, since I tend to try to "think ahead" and set the Exposure, before things

actually happen. And since my film is very forgiving, it usually works out. I also scan at home on a Nikon IV ED, which

allows me to compensate for exposure errors.

 

Finally, thanks also for the kind words about the accompanying text - I try to give some context to the images this way,

and they are of course also quite valuable from a long-term family perspective...

 

Thanks again - further comments are more than welcome :-)

 

Soeren