My second video for the rather lovely and talented Repeat Pattern, this time for the track “Fuck But Beautiful” from the self titled album out now on Cascade records.
Available on white vinyl and digitally, go order it now!
All real footage shot with a GoPro on the Tohoku shinkansen with some After Effects and Premiere Pro magic to create the effect.
A nod and a dothing of cap to Alani Cruz a.k.a. Rather Make Art for his inspiration.
Repeat Pattern can be found here:-
A music video I did for Repeat Pattern’s “Mud Fonk” track on the upcoming ‘Traces’ EP over on lo-vibes.bandcamp.com
Repeat Pattern can be found here:-
In Hauran, the Northern desert region of Jordan a few kilometers from the Syrian border there are the ruins of a great black basalt city dating from the 1st Centurary A.D. : Umm al Jimal (Arabic: ام الجمال, “Mother of Camels”) also known as Umm el Jimal or Umm idj Djimal.
It is a rare and wonderous treat to walk alone in silence through the huge site as the late afternoon sun fades to sunset.
Of all the places I visited on my trip to Jordan, the solitude of wandering there for a few hours was one of the most calming and surreal.
Much more information about the site can be found over at the great UMM EL-JIMAL PROJECT website.
Music credits:-
Flute – field recording of unknown musician, Petra, Jordan, 2012
Spoken word – Universal Declaration of Human Rights-Arabic by SebaSound studios
used under a creative commons 3.0 Attribution licence
Don’t forget to check out the other posts in the أنا من القمر – Jordan series:-
After the man made wonders of Petra we headed a little further south to the spectacular natural splendor that is Wadi Rum.
T.E. Lawrence described it beautifully in his book “Seven Pillars Of Wisdom” :-
The crags were capped in nests of domes, less hotly red than the body of the hill; rather grey and shallow. They gave the finishing semblance of Byzantine architecture to this irresistible place: this processional way greater than imagination…….
Our little caravan grew self conscious and fell dead quiet, afraid and ashamed to flaunt its smallness in the presence of the stupendous hills.
It is (to use the word again) an awesome place. Red/Orange sand and huge rock formations rising out of the desert. The silence only interrupted by the jeeps of other tourists of which there were thankfully few.
There can be few experiences more calming and beautiful than spending a night on a mattress on a sand dune under the stars as the moon illuminates the mountains around you and waking up at sunrise to the mountains glowing in the morning light.
The video shot again with the trusty GoPro suction cupped to the bonnet of the jeep and some panoramic photos of the stops along the way.
The music was sung and played by an unknown Bedouin musician and was recorded in Petra.
Special thanks to Hussein from wildwadirum.com who was our driver, cooked us a wonderful lunch in an amazing spot and was a very funny man.
Big thank you to the couple who shared the trip with us too ( yep I’m talking about you A and T! ), truly lovely people who became fast friends and made the trip even better by giving us some smart interesting people to share the experience with.
(T thanks for getting us down from the rock bridge! would have been a whole lot scarier without ya ;)
Don’t forget to check out the other posts in the أنا من القمر – Jordan series:-
One advantage of not taking the bus for the 260km trip from Amman to Petra is that you can attach your GoPro to the bonnet of the taxi and take a time lapse of the entire journey.
Mix that in with some stills taken along the way and what you get is the video above.
The two notable stops along the way were:
Shobak Castle – Built by the crusader king Baldwin I in 1115 AD, it withstood numerous attacks from the armies of Saladin before finally falling in 1189 after an 18 month siege. It was occupied in the 14th Century by the Mamluks who built over several of the original crusader buildings.
Siq Al-Barid – Known more commonly as ‘Little Petra’, a 400m long siq (Arabic: shaft or canyon) opens out into larger areas with buildings carved into the rock faces including one known as ‘The Painted House’ which contains some faded but still interesting frescos which are a rare example of Nabataean painting.
Thought to have been an agricultural center, trading suburb and resupply post for camel trains heading to Petra.
Well worth visiting before heading to Petra itself as it gives you a small taste of the wonders to come.
Don’t forget to check out the other posts in the أنا من القمر – Jordan series:-
In my travels there are certain hotels, not the opulent and comfortable but ultimately faceless ones, but the cheaper more full of character ones, that have left an indelible impression on my memory, stories can be told (some not in polite company) about them and occasionally years later I wake up from a particularly vivid dream upset to find that I’m not in the hotel room I was dreaming of.
The “Navrang” in Delhi, The “Hotel California” in Khatmandu, “Thai Thai” guesthouse in Bangkok, The “Regale Internet Inn” in Lahore and The “Z hotel” in Puri to name just a few. The scenes of some of the greatest experiences and the best friendships of my life have begun in these places and many of them will remain with me till I make it to a rocking chair on a porch somewhere to reminisce.
Well now I have a new one to add to my list of places of which I sometimes dream.
I’m speaking of “The Canary Hotel” in Al Weibdeh, Amman, Jordan.
Set in a quiet residential neighbourhood a 5 minute service taxi ride from downtown Amman, The Canary, thanks in large part to it’s friendly and wonderful staff became what all great hotels become to me, truly a home away from home, a base from which to have adventures.
What started as a one night stay after our taxi driver from Petra, Faleh ( A GREAT guy, please use him if you are ever in Jordan, you won’t regret it) dropped us off there turned into me staying for over a week, not my initial plan at all.
It’s a clean , cheapish place (22JD a night for a single, roughly $30 U.S.) with breakfast included, it has some fantastically kitsch art on the walls of the lounge and stair wells, satellite TV in the rooms and the lounge – good for keeping up with Al Jazeera while in the middle east, free WiFi (Take note expensive hotels-Paid WiFi is taking the piss) and some lovely lovely staff. Oh and they have beer!
It also seems to be one of those places that attracts a singularly interesting clientele, from Pakistani helicopter pilots to 80 year old Indian chemical engineers, each with a story to tell.
(It’s also where I met the Australians who I ended up getting rocks thrown at with, and the vet who took me to watch the autopsy of an endangered Arabian Oryx-coming soon!)
Throw all of these things together and you have the kind of hotel that chapters in autobiographies are made of.
The Canary, like all good hotels, has an accessible roof. In this case underutilized except for satellite dishes and water tanks, but after creeping through the tiny room at the top of the stairs where one of the night staff slept I was rewarded with sweeping views of Amman and a perfect spot for what quickly became a daily ritual of watching the sunset. Such a simple pleasure to watch the sun go down and yet one I rarely if ever get to enjoy in my daily life.
So it was everyday, to the strains of the call to prayer, I cracked open an Amstel beer and alone on the roof of my adopted home watched the huge orange sun disappear behind a cityscape that it burnt into my memory.
Special mention has to be made of Samer, the palestinian guy who works the morning shift serving breakfast and manning the desk. I had some truly spectacular conversations with him and quickly felt a bond of friendship unusual in its simple mutual respect.
When I finally left we hugged and I felt genuinely sad to be leaving a friend.
As much as I have liked most of the staff at the hotels that will form the chapters in the autobiography I’ll probably never write, Samer stands alone.
Samer, my brother, I know you will read this, so to you a special thanks. Inshallah we meet again soon.
Canary Hotel, I salute you and I hope some day to revisit your hallowed hallways not just in my dreams.
Some pictures (all shot either on iPhone 4 or the digital Harenezumi):-
The Canary Hotel
Al Karmali Street
Jebel Al Weibdeh
Tel: +962 7 4638353/4638362
Email: canary_h@hotmail.com
Be sure to check out the other posts in the Jordan series:-
Not content with nearly dying at The Australia vs. Jordan football game a few days before, when protests at the American made idiotic, offensive and inflamatory “Innocence Of Muslims” YouTube film erupted across the Muslim world, I thought…………
“Hey!, I’m in a Muslim country, why don’t I go down to the U.S. Embassy?”……..
So, just before the end of Friday prayers I found myself outside the U.S. Embassy in Amman, Jordan (one of the largest U.S. Embassies in the middle East).
The Police presence was huge and intimidating, armored vehicles and hundreds of officers in full riot gear formed a perimeter around the embassy and many more Police were on hand to ensure the protest here did not end up like those in other countries in the region.
(It’s worth noting that not just at the protest but the whole time I was in Jordan the Police were some of the nicest I have ever met anywhere in the world. Usually not my favorite people (somewhere on my shit list between rapists and child pornographers) they were polite, courteous and at no point did I see any displays of unnecessary force which the police in the rest of the world seem to think is acceptable behavior. I’m not saying it doesn’t happen, just that in a month there I didn’t witness it or hear of it from anyone.)
Soon after Friday prayers ended at the Mosque up the road people started arriving and the crowd began to swell. Banners were hoisted and chanting began – “Death to America” and “Allah hu Akbar” being the only ones I actually understood. Even at it’s most crowded point there was maybe only 150-200 protestors there and although the anger was very real, almost disappointingly, I never felt in any danger. Sure there were a few dirty looks from the obviously more hard line elements, but not a single rock was thrown ;)
It’s difficult not to feel some empathy with these protestors, especially the ones in Amman who remained non-violent.
If a Muslim made a similar film about Jesus then I’m sure the Christian right in America would be equally outraged, and that’s even before we take into account the bombing and killing of innocent civilians that’s been perpetrated by the U.S. and it’s allies in the region and beyond.
What happened in Benghazi cannot in any way shape or form be condoned but the demonization of the entire Muslim world by the West and it’s media can’t be either.
It bears repeating that “one mans terrorist is another mans freedom fighter”
Be sure to check out the other posts in the Jordan series:-
The day my wife left Amman was quite an emotional one, on the one hand I was sad to see her go (a few minutes sat on the steps of the hotel fighting back the tears, even though I’d see her again after only 2 weeks) and on the other hand that exhilerating sense of being alone in an unknown foreign country where all that there was was possibility.
Of course the possibility part is great but, it’s the alone part that doesn’t always suit (I’m a pretty social guy) so I wasted no time in inviting myself to sit with the table of westerners enjoying the warm evening in the front garden of The Canary Hotel later that day.
That one small act of pushy friendliness led to friendships that lasted the rest of my time in Jordan (and hopefully for long to come) and to some pretty crazy situations.
The first of which was the Australia vs. Jordan World Cup qualifying match attended by 16,000 people at the King Abdullah International Stadium in Al Qwaismeh, Amman.
The table I had forced myself on turned out to be full of Australian volunteers on the A.V.I. programme who were mostly only in Amman for a few days before heading off to their placements in other places in Jordan and beyond.
A very friendly bunch who after a few beers invited me to join them at the Australia vs. Jordan football match that was occuring the next night and for which they had free tickets courtesy of the Australian embassy.
Having never been to a football match and always in search of a new experience and some new friends, I quickly agreed. Though if I’d known what was going to transpire I may have said I was ‘washing my hair’ that night.
So it was that the next evening the 8 of us (3 men and 5 women) arrived at the stadium in 2 taxi’s after a 20 minute drive. We arranged a spot for the taxi’s to meet us after the game (oh, the wishful thinking!) and headed off in search of the Australian fans entrance amidst a sea of excited and boisterous Jordanian supporters decked out in Jordanian flags and face paint. The presence of the 8 westerners quickly drew attention and we were followed to the gate by hundreds of locals.
It felt overwhelming but not threatening but I guess I should have known from the huge Police presence that even if I wasn’t scared of the crowds the Police knew something I didn’t.
The game itself was quite exciting and it was fun to watch the 90 % Jordanian supporters in the crowd erupt into singing, dancing and flag waving as their team fairly comfortably but a little unexpectedly ended up the 2-1 victors.
It was clear from the noise and fireworks and the huge numbers of people who had scaled the floodlight towers and fences to watch that the figure later given of 16,000 attendance was at least matched by people outside the stadium who hadn’t been able to get in.
The atmosphere had been great and during the game as I headed over to the fence dividing the Australian and Jordanian fans, I passed many Jordanians on the Australian side wearing “I love Jordan” T-shirts yet waving Australia flags and once I reached the fence the Jordanian fans were eager to have their pictures taken and nothing but smiles.
The real story for us however began as we left the stadium after the final whistle.
Even from the small gate of the Australian enclosure to the actual exit gate of the stadium it became clear that the atmosphere was a little different outside. The thousands of supporters who hadn’t been able to get into the stadium were a lot more rowdy and as everyone poured out of the stadium the crowds quickly became huge and the group mentality that I had previously only experienced at large stadium rock gigs began to be felt by all of us as we looked at each other a little nervously and struggled to stay together in a group amidst the chanting and singing.
Once we exited the stadium things quickly became less friendly as the women began to complain of being groped by the mass of people that surrounded and followed us as we tried to make our way back to the place we had agreed to meet the taxis. I was very happy I had stashed my camera away in my bag and tightened the strap before we exited as suddenly I too felt hands grabbing at me and trying to take my wallet from my pocket, pulling on my bag trying to remove it from my possession. The crowd seemed to go from mildly threatening due to it size to hostile in a matter of seconds as I found myself pushing guys away as they grabbed at me and the women. We made a b-line for a police car we could see parked 50 or 60 meters away as the grabbing turned into kicks and angry shouts in Arabic. By grace, good luck and the help of a few Jordanian people in the crowd who valiantly tried to protect us we made it to the police car where we and the car were immediately surrounded by hundreds of chanting Jordanian fans.
One of the Australian guys who was much more dark skinned and less conspicuous darted off before we could stop him saying he was going to find the taxi drivers and get them to come closer to the stadium. The 2 policemen, thankfully doing their jobs well bundled all of the women but one (a slightly butch Arab/Australian woman who I hadn’t spoken too much but looked like she could look after herself and spoke fluent Arabic) into the car and pulled off through the crowds taking the women to safety.
Unfortunately that left me, P****** and S**** (the woman) stood in the middle of a crowd of several hundred less than friendly fans about 50m from the nearest entrance back into the stadium.
Before I had time to think several large Jordanian guys surrounded us and tried to deflect the grabbing arms and kicks that began to rain down and shouted what I later discovered to be “RUN” at us in Arabic and pointed to the gate. I didn’t need telling twice. With their help, without which I dread to think what would have happened we made it to the safety of the gate with only a few kicks and punches to remember the short trip by. Inside were thousands more fans streaming out of the stadium but also about 30 policemen and Jordanian army who quickly pushed us off to one side, protecting us, gave us water and cigarettes and apologized repeatedly for their countrymen. An unnecessary but warmly received gesture.
For 45 minutes as the crowds dispersed a little we spoke to the women by mobile phone, relieved that they were ok, smoked nervous cigarettes, listened to the continuing rukus from outside the stadium walls, bonded over what had just happened and waited anxiously for A***, the Australian guy who’d left to get the taxi driver to return.
Finally (and Thankfully) A*** arrived with the taxi driver, both of them looking a little shaken.
Due to the crowds the taxi driver had been unable to get his car anywhere near the prearranged meeting point and had been waiting 5 minutes away realizing that there was little chance of us making it to him unmolested.
As we were all ok and the crowds seemed to have thinned out a little, though I did hear several gunshots and moments before the taxi driver had arrived some disturbance had caused 20 or so police and army men to run out of the gate looking like they were on a mission, the police suggested that we leave with the taxi driver and walk straight to the taxi without stopping and go home.
Once again, I didn’t need telling twice.
The four of us were barely 20 meters from the gate when the first rock flew past narrowly missing my head, I stopped and turned to see where it had come from only to watch the 15 year old, 5 meters away who had thrown it release another one that struck me on the chin. Instictively I yelled out words to the effect of “you little fucker” as A*** rightfully grabbed me and forcefully told me to keep walking and not provoke the gang of youths that was following us.
It was too late, the rocks started to rain down hitting all of us including the taxi driver. I was hit in the back of the head, my shoulder and most painfully in the ankle as we increased our pace and finally made it to the taxi some 3 to 4 minutes away. Helped again by some Jordanian guys, one of whom was a mountain of a man, we jumped into the taxi as the youths surrounded it still throwing rocks and after a few tense moments the taxi sped out of its parking space sending bodies sprawling.
We were safe.
The drive back with the windows down was one of my favorite taxi rides for a very long time.
The dual carriage way in the opposite direction was at a standstill for miles as the Jordanian fans hung out of car windows singing, waving flags and celebrated their countries win over Australia.
As the adrenaline wore off slowly the our taxi became very quiet as we sped back to the hotel.
The beer lubricated post mortem of the evening lasted until way past bed time as we bonded over our recollections of what had just happened and how lucky we were it hadn’t had a far worse outcome. I slept well despite the bruises that night and the heartfelt apologies, free food and gifts I received from Jordanians over the following week have gone a long way to mutating my memories of the evening into just another good travel story that I’ll tell a thousand times I’m sure. But if I’m honest there were a few moments when I was genuinely scared in the way only being a white boy in the middle of an angry mob in a foreign country can make you. My bravado will say otherwise but don’t believe it.
Oh and the moral of the story? the lesson learned?
Never, NEVER go to football matches, even if you get free tickets.
***Here is a little video from the night, shot on GoPro and Harenzumi (more on this later)……at some point I put all the cameras away and just ran, big wet girl that I am, when rocks are flying at my head my first instinct is to protect the hard earned cameras and stay alive not what the best angle is or how stable the footage is, so sue me.***
Be sure to check out the other posts in the Jordan series:-
I have been cycling for more than 20 years and have always loved it as a form of exercise, as an ecological way to commute to work or just for fun.
I have cycled in several big cities around the world and I consider myself to be a competent and considerate road user.
Until very recently I had never had any kind of accident and have never been stopped by the Police anywhere in the world for breaking cycling laws.
So it is with some consternation that I have recently been seriously considering no longer cycling in Tokyo.
The short film above attempts to elucidate why.
Cycling in Tokyo is far more dangerous than anywhere else I have ever cycled, simply because of other cyclists.
It may sound like vitriol to some but as stated in the video, the vast majority of cyclists in Tokyo are criminally irresponsible in their use of the roads.
Regardless of laws it would seem to be simple common sense, graspable by all but the most idiotic of cyclists that cycling the wrong way down a major 4 lane road at night, with no lights, with headphones on whilst texting on your phone is at best irresponsible, but I see this and comparably dangerous acts on a daily basis.
Breaking a law that places others in serious danger should, I think everyone would agree, carry stiff penalties.
The problem in Tokyo is made much worse by the fact that despite there being adequate laws and penalties in place the Police do almost nothing, even when witnessing these crimes directly. The willful incompetence of the Police makes them complicit in the 150,000 accidents involving cyclist that occur every year.
As much as I love cycling, when the situation is such that even if I obey all the road laws and am considerate of other road users and pedestrians I am still taking my life in my hands due to the stupidity and criminality of others and the seeming inability of the Police to do anything about it, I am forced to consider the worst every time I get on my bike.
I don’t want to stop cycling in Tokyo, but given the situation, what am I supposed to do?
(I would be happy to hear from other Tokyo cyclists regarding the issues raised here in the comments)
A few facts from the voice over in the video in case you missed them:-
In Japan it is Illegal to:-
cycle whilst drunk,
on the wrong side of the road,
with no front light and rear reflector at night,
whilst wearing headphones,
using a mobile phone,
with an open umbrella,
with a passenger over 6 years of age and on most but not all sidewalks.
These crimes are punishable by up to 5 months in prison or fines ranging from 20,000 to 1 million Yen.
However less than 100 people were charged last year, fewer than the number charged for murder.
There are more than 150,000 Accidents a year involving bicycles, one of the highest rates in the world.
Approximately 800 cyclists are killed a year.
40% of cyclist fatalities are caused by cyclists ignoring red lights or stop signs.
More than 20% of all road traffic accidents involve cyclists.
Several pedestrians are killed and about 2500 are injured a year by cyclist on sidewalks.
(Sources:National Police Agency Of Japan and General Insurance Agency Of Japan)
Filmed using a GoPro Hero 2 over the course of 7 days in Tokyo.
I did not go out looking for these scenes, I merely attached the camera to my bicycle whenever I went anywhere and took it with me whilst walking.
So many crimes were recorded that it would have been impossible to include them all, the edited video would have come out at something like 11 minutes!
As an early birthday present to myself I got a new tattoo to add to my growing collection.
This one is special for a couple of reasons:-
The birthday it marks is one of those “big” ones that frankly is disturbing the hell out of me, I know it’s just a number but the less said about it the better.
It is a buddhist quote because my involvement with Buddhism which began over 10 years ago was like taking the red pill – once I’d heard the words I knew nothing would ever be the same again.
It’s in (a stylized version of) Hindi to celebrate the years I have spent in Mother India the country that after all my wandering is still easily my favorite country in the world and feels on some deep level more like home than anywhere.
Unlike all my other tattoos it’s in a place where everyone will see it which is my way of finally saying, screaming “fuck you” to everyone who has ever judged me by the way I look.
So, in celebration and to mark the event of getting it a short timelapse compressing the 4 1/2 hours it took into 23 seconds.
Oh and the meaning?
“You will not be punished for your anger, you will be punished by your anger”
The hilarity of which will not escape anyone who knows me.
Huge thanks as always to Abdullah Taqy, my tattooist and dear friend.
Big thanks also to Billy Gomez for the music “Act 1”
soundcloud.com/mindtouchbeats
Fluterscooter & Friends – “The Fast and the Fluterious, Tokyo drift” – Live at the Apple store Ginza, Tokyo, April 17th 2012
A few weeks ago I was contacted by Trevor Williams, a photographer based in Okayama and best known for his lightpainting work and asked if I’d like to film an event that was being put on by “Fluterscooter” (a Julliard trained flute player from the USA with an impressive list of credits) which involved live video lightpainting and various other musicians including a Taiko player and a beatboxer.
It sounded intriguing and I thought it would be an interesting exercise to shoot it and produce a short piece about the show, so I said yes.
The nature of the show, which involved Trevor lightpainting with video using a system he developed himself meant that there were some challenges to filming in that it would be very dark and I couldn’t use additional lighting as it would interfere with his lightpainting system.
Time was also a factor as the whole team including ‘Fluterscooter’ aka Andrea Fisher, would only be at the venue for a few hours before the show, so filming some (very) short interviews and enough B-roll would be a challenge.
In the end, I’m happy with what I managed to produce in difficult conditions, the show itself was interesting, the musicians were all very talented and friendly and that made for a fun evening.
Fluterscooter – Flute
Trevor Williams – Lightpainting
Dokaka – Mouth Music
Kazuhiro Namba – DJ
Eva Kesner – Taiko Drums
Erico Itoi- Keyboards
Masao Hirata – A/V Technician
Adam Munnings – Choreographer / Dancer
Jordan Kilik – Dancer
Special thanks to the Apple store Ginza Staff
Allow me to present a short music video for your delectation.
“I Love You But…” is a song I wrote and recorded more than 10 years ago and it is one of the pieces I still love most from my time as a musician.
I’ve recently been frustrated by a couple of stalled documentary projects and needed to do or learn something new before I went crazy, so I’ve been studying 3D modelling software and After Effects.
Anyway, the video above is the result of my meddling.
Who is the song about? Now, that would be telling………..
A good and ridiculously talented friend ‘Muju’ recently hired me to do a few promo shots of his newest T-shirt designs but being the contrary trouble maker that I am I decided to make a promo video instead – a trick only really pullable when the client is one of your oldest and dearest friends.
Charlie “Two Cute Dogs” Kirk is a 37 year old oxbridge educated Englishman who has been living in Japan for the last 9 years. He has been taking photographs for about 2 years and has been reasonably happy with some of his pictures for about the last year. He recently quit his job as an obscenely well paid lawyer to take a shortish sabbatical in order to scare more people with his flash.
A few months ago I had just finished a fiction short film project and was talking to a friend about what I wanted to do next. Film making had been a logical progression from my photography work and I had decided I wanted to make a short documentary film, but about what?
The friend I was talking to suggested making a documentary on Charlie, a mutual friend of ours who was a photographer we had become friends with in the previous 6 months or so.
At first I didn’t really like the idea, but as we talked more and I thought about Charlie’s personality, his style of street photography and his outspoken and controversial views it began to make sense.
When I first approached Charlie about the idea he was a little reticent, but after seeing my other work and a lot of convincing over many beers he agreed. Initially with some outrageous conditions that then took further “negotiation” to clarify, finally an agreement was reached (that I would have complete and total editorial control and he would just have to damn well live with it).
And so, I began filming him on the street, in bars and at his home.
The short documentary above is the result of that process, one that has at times not been entirely pleasant I might add ;-)
Charlie had several understandable concerns throughout filming:- that the piece would be a character assassination hatchet job designed to paint him in the worst possible light, that by agreeing to it people would assume it was his idea and a blatant attempt at self promotion from someone who hasn’t been shooting for that long and, most amusingly, that he would look fat.
I hope the piece does none of those things, I hope it is an amusing but honest look at Charlie and his style of street photography.
It was never intended to be a feature length documentary and as such leaves many questions that I’m sure I could have asked unanswered, it was always intended to be a short look at someone whose photography I like and who is an amusing and interesting character.
I hope you enjoy it, and frankly f%^k what Charlie thinks ! ;-)
See Charlie’s work:-
flickr.com/photos/charlie_kirk/
Music Credits:-
“Stabing”
Fleck e.s.c.
soundcloud.com/fleck
“My Cow Never Loved Elvis”
Decipher/Uchujin/Adrian Storey
“Kawagoe”
DJ Griffin
icompositions.com/artists/DJGRIFFIN
“Norleans Lovas”
Jeris
ccmixter.org/people/VJ_Memes
(used under Creative Commons Attribution share alike 3.0 licence)
Special Thanks to:-
Franck Collin & Danny Griffin
Clemens Schwaighofer, Damon Coulter and Sean Lotman
The utterly unnecessary technical information for those who may be interested:-
Shot on a 5DmkII, with a Sigma 20mm 1.8, Canon 24-70mm 2.8 and Canon 50mm 1.4
Audio recorded with a Rode video mic pro and a Zoom H1
Edited in Premiere Pro and After Effects (gotta love warp stabiliser!) on a Mac Book Pro.
A short trailer for my soon to be released documentary on Charlie Kirk a.k.a. `Two Cute Dogs`, a Tokyo based street photographer.
Music:-
“Stabing” – Fleck e.s.c.
soundcloud.com/fleck
(used with kind permission from Fleck)
Full documentary coming soon!
It gives me great pleasure to present my latest short film, a collaboration with writer/photographer/armchair philosopher and handsome bastard – Mr Sean Lotman.
Written by and Staring Mr Lotman, it was filmed basically in 1 day on a 5DmkII at various locations around Tokyo and Directed, Shot and Edited by me.
The process has been an interesting one as a film maker as I have truly learnt the value of having separate sound/wardrobe/lighting and camera people,as doing it all by myself was, even for a short piece like this, incredibly difficult.
I love doing everything myself, having the control to be able to move a title over by 20 pixels because I don’t like it where it is for example.
But in film making as opposed to still photography, doing EVERYTHING by yourself is not really practical.
A lesson learned.
The music in the film is a Domenico Scarlatti choral piece called ‘Quis Non Posset’ and is performed by the rather wonderful ‘The Tudor Consort’.
(The page for the group is here:- http://freemusicarchive.org/music/The_Tudor_Consort/)
I stumbled across it whilst searching for some choral music to use for the film over on the free music archive, a great resource for Creative Commons licensed music.
Please leave a comment letting us know what you think of the film here or over on the vimeo page:- vimeo.com/uchujin/inpraiseofyoungmen where you can also watch the film in HD (v. highly recommended)
5D in for repair? (*see note below)
No problem, shoot loads of clips using your iPhone 3GS , edit them together in Premiere Pro with some music from your old band and voila a music / personal confession video.
Music – “Plinky One” – The Hawkline Orchestra
(That’s me on guitar that is – and the fantastic singer Rochelle Vincente, now of Product/01 )
*5D mk II mode dial broke off in my hand a few weeks ago. Took it to the Canon service center, 19,000Y ($220 U.S. ish) to repair or 10,500Y ($120 U.S. ish) to replace the dial with the new locking mode dial.
WTF?
New locking mode dial thanks, oh….but that’ll take 2 weeks!! f%&k what am I going to do without a camera!!!!*
DISCLAIMER: This video was filmed and this blog post was written before the events of 11/3/11 in Japan and the subsequent disaster that struck the country. I am publishing it now in an effort to return to some kind of normality.
On October 12th 1960 Inejiro Asanuma the head of the Japanese socialist party was assasinated by ultra-rightist Otoya Yamaguchi during a televised rally.50 years later Right wing groups celebrated the assasination and Yamaguchi’s suicide.
Population of Japan – 127,000,000
Population of Tokyo – 13,000,000
No. of Muslims in Japan (estimate) – 100,000
No. of Japanese Muslims (estimate) – 10,000
No. who converted to Islam NOT for marriage(estimate) – 2 or 300
No. of Japanese Imam’s in Japan – 5
No. of Japanese Imam’s in Tokyo – 1
Abdullah Taqy is the only Japanese Imam in Tokyo.
A chance meeting with a foreign Muslim 12 years ago in Tokyo’s Shibuya district and a life spent studying various religions led him to convert to Islam 3½ years ago.
He completed the Hajj, the worlds largest annual religious pilgrimage, to Mecca in Saudi Arabia 2½ years ago at the invitation of the Saudi Arabian government.
Shortly after, a meeting with the man who started him down his path to Islam 12 years previously led him to becoming the Imam at a small mosque in the Kabukicho area of Tokyo.
His day job for the past 20 years has been as a tattooist and body piercer.
He is soft-spoken and exudes a calmness and friendliness that one cannot help being affected by.
He is truly, 1 in 13 million.
Photography, Audio & Editing – Uchujin/Adrian Storey
I am very pleased to announce that some of the photographs from this photofilm and the photofilm itself are available for licencing through Redux Pictures – HERE
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This project is the culmination of several months of work and religious freedom is a topic I personally feel very strongly about.
The news last year of the Tokyo Police’s leaking of data on to the internet about Muslim residents (Japantimes link) and Abdullah’s own questioning by the Police because of his religion highlight that Muslims all over the world face persecution and prejudice.
Part of my intention in making this photofilm/documentary was to highlight the absurdity of these prejudices.
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*UPDATE December 2012*
I am pleased to add my new short film documentary about Abdullah, shot in Novemeber 2012 for VICE Japan almost 2 years after the original film was made.
I hope you enjoy it!!!
A little video I’d forgotten about from when I borrowed the 15mm from Mr Eiichi Scart.
Mr Ellis reminded me of it on the very same route home after GnT’s last night, so here it is.
(Also wanted to post a little something as I’ve been away filming in Berlin for a few weeks and haven’t had time to edit any of that stuff yet, but it’s coming. Watch this space.)
Music by me from long,long ago
Just a little bit of fun.
Was out with Sean ‘Motionid’ Wood and Jon ‘It’ll All End In Tears’ Ellis a few weeks ago and filmed this test shot for something else I’m working on. Could have used a shoulder rig and being less drunk, but……
Ended up kinda fun (despite the rain on the lens causing a strange reflection in the bottom of the frame) so I thought I’d put it up here.
Principal actor is Mr. Motionid (him of self service beer machine fame;-) and there’s even a cameo by Mr. It’ll All End In Tears (around the 47 second mark).
Music is Joy Orbison “The Shrew Would Have Cushioned The Blow”
A self service beer machine in a Sangenjaya izakaya. Video versdion 2.0.
A short film I made, shot in Tokyo.
Essentially a love story, albeit a dark one.
Not much more to say, except that the excellent music is by Godspeed You! Black Emperor, a track taken from their excellent F♯A♯∞ album from 1997. The track is titled “Dead flag blues” and the film contains about half of its full 6 minutes of gloriousness.
The vocal is from an unfinished screenplay by guitarist Efrim Menuck.
As a side note it turns out this is the 100th post on the blog!
A few weeks ago my Flickr pro account (donated 2 years ago by the lovely motionid) expired.
It was a 2 year period that saw my photography progress dramatically thanks to meeting some amazing photographers and being part of some very interesting and informative groups, there were even 3 or 4 pictures that made it to number 1 in explore, the holy grail of flickr nerds everywhere, and Flickr itself introduced me to almost everyone I call a friend now in this big crazy city.
The love affair is officially over though (not just with flickr), I’ve moved on and won’t be renewing my pro account, in fact I’ll be slowly deleting my Flickr stream.
I am much more interested in posting here on my blog, where I can brand my content in a much more personal way.
So the video above is a look back at one of the most photographically productive periods of my life and a requiem for those heady days of flickr obsession.
It’s quite long, as it contains 489 images, but it’s quite a fun ride if you have a spare 4 minutes.
(The astute among you may notice some images that you don’t recognise from my stream, this is because the video contains all the images I’ve ever posted to flickr including ones I deleted or ones that were private)
The music is by The Red House Painters (now sadly defunct) the track is Mistress (guitar version) and is used without permission, and that is a whole other conversation.
As a follow-up to the last post about the free party in Kibera, it’s another video post, also shot at the same free party.
This time it’s those pesky kids again.
Enjoy.