I WILL GO WHEREVER THERE IS AUTUMN

When I think of fall in Tokyo, I often think yellow instead of red. It probably has a lot to do with ginkgo being the city's official tree.

Getting rather excited because we're getting down to planning an autumn trip. Fall is always a favourite season to travel, I hope the yellow and red will wait.

YOKOHAMA IN BLUE

An old photo outing with K-chan.

Really sleepy today so there's not going to be much words, but I've got a new roll developed and another to be done before I start sorting. Juggling work and play's really something ;)

Promise to upload more up-to-date stuff soon.

Sleep tight.

IT'S COMING ON A NEW YEAR

I was just chatting with a friend on how I miss the pretty coats and boots and caps and scarves that come with winter. I want to live somewhere where I can wear them ;)

I'm sorry I wasn't in time to say merry christmas, but here's wishing you a great 2012, with all the hopes and dreams and love we can muster for the new year. Stay warm and take care.

COZY UP

The combination of hot chocolate and cuddly cat is having its usual soporific effect. Oh and so are looking at beautiful autumny photos. 

I'm already half drooping, so for all friends on the same part of the world... ...good night and sleep tight :)

LITTLE PINK DOTS

While I was shooting the second photo I kept remembering my mom telling me how never to play with my food *lol* I also remember getting scolded when I was young for always nibbling off the sugar flower bits and leaving the plain biscuit behind.

LIFE IS STILL PRETTY GOOD I THINK

It has been a rather rough week but cute kids and dessert never fail to make me smile.

I have been on the lookout for beautiful photo blogs recently. I am very much in love with this blog at the moment, it makes me want to throw down everything and buy the next ticket to London.

Oh and please do share your current photo blog crush with me if you have any. Looking for one by googling is too much of a needle in a haystack (I tried... ...but threw aside the iPad after just 5 minutes *lol*)

Have a great one this weekend ok?

SLEEPY RAMBLINGS

Just got back from some good food, beer and fun at a friend's place, nothing better than a home party I think. There's a purring cat beside me as I type, and I'm getting all warm and sleepy.

Old photo again, I really must hang out more with my camera. Tomorrow, perhaps.

Enjoy the weekend everyone, I'm going to bed.

FIND ME WHERE THE FIELDS ARE

Is it the season already? 

To be honest, I can't remember, my school days in Japan seemed so distant. I have a desperate need to get away from the concrete blocks, packed trains, messy office, sit in an open field, and just be.

DREAMING OF WALKS & HOLIDAYS & SO MUCH MORE... ...

Sorry to have gone missing for a while. Shot a roll while I was out for a walk the other day, can't wait to see how it will turn out! Meanwhile I'm still enjoying everyone's photos with my iphone whenever I can.

Looking at summer photos put me in such a holiday-ish mood. Anyone's been travelling?

SORT OF STUMPED

What do you shoot when you don't know what to shoot? Do you sometimes feel that way too?

I'm trying to find an answer amidst tons of work. Meanwhile just some shots from the archives.

Have a good rest everyone =)

MY VERSION OF SUMMER

I've been enjoying everyone's summery pictures so much that I thought I'll just post some of my own from the archives.

It's funny that living in a country of eternal sunshine, I found it hard to put summer in pictures.

MY FAVOURITE MODEL

A good friend, B who has cameoed in many of my photos before. The cute monkeys go wherever she goes, which means that these two have probably 'travelled' to more places than I've ever been to see.

Talking about travelling, I'll be off to Hong Kong for a month or so for work next week, so posting might get a bit slow here. It's a new job with what I would expect to be a near-vertical learning curve, but after the long break I'm looking forward to some good old-fashioned hard work again (I hope I'll still be saying this after the training *lol*)

I should be free on weekends to do some snapping here and there. It's not my first time to HK so I'll be happy to give all the major sights a miss. Bookmarked a small bunch of interesting places that I hope to check out with my minolta. Will definitely be dropping by here and here.

Update again hopefully soon! Have a great time this weekend =)

P.S>> I can't stop listening to this.

GOLDEN OR BLUE?

I must admit I'm feeling a little sheepish here on several fronts.

Firstly, I didn't know that there was a difference between the golden hour and blue hour until today. I've always thought they were the same thing for the longest time. On hindsight now I'm thinking, how can they be the same when one is golden and the other is blue? Oh and the 3 photos above? That's the golden hour (I think).

Secondly, I've been staring at my Flickr account login page for more than a week now, completely and utterly incapable of recalling my password and username. My computer was in a critical condition a few weeks ago and the hard disk couldn't be revived so gone were all my important stored information too. 

HC was incredulous when I told him I can remember nothing of my Flickr account ("you didn't write it down anywhere?", "yeah I did... ...in my computer") *lol*. I guess I just have a knack for getting into fixes like this. Meanwhile I shall continue to stare at it in hope that some lucky streak of my memory will strike me.

P.S>>

Thanks a lot for all the well wishes for my interviews, they were a little tough (written tests, TV conference interviews etc... ...) but I guess I tried my best. Now to wait for news!

IF WE COULD CHANGE THE WAY WE THINK

"Don’t focus on how you rank in comparison to others — life is not a competition. It’s a journey. We are all on a journey, to find something, to become something, to learn, to create. That journey has nothing to do with how well other people are doing, or what they have. It has everything to do with what we want to do, and where we want to go. That’s all you need to worry about."

Something wise a friend forwarded me recently. Self-help usually don't sit that well with me but I did like some of the things he said.

On the other hand, echoing Brian in his post here, I'm finding it very hard to settle down. I keep starting something and stopping halfway, nothing feels quite right. I talk to my friends in Japan, they're feeling the anxiety on the ground. Praying for things to turn out well.

PENSIVE

I was out when the phone call came yesterday, and the people who immediately came to my mind, HC's little brother, my homestay family, friends, close ex-colleagues. The lines were congested and nothing got through until late evening when the emails started coming in.

Some had been walking for more than 6 hours trying to get home, some were staying over in their offices for the night with the transport down. Some told me of having no electricity in their homes in this winter cold, but luckily none of them were hurt. 

Scarier than the earthquake itself perhaps, were the tsunamis and fires seen on NHK. They are still registering aftershocks and tsunami warnings now.

Our hearts go out to Japan today, there's no need for more words.

AND ALL THAT PINK

I'm not really that much of a pink person so I'm not quite sure why there seems to be so much of that in my photos. Maybe I have some subconscious hidden attraction to that colour... ...I hope not.

TWO BY TWO

From the archives.

Do you sometimes get a headache trying to handle portrait shots? There you have it, landscape photos lining up nicely one after the other in a new post and suddenly... ...a vertical. I guess I could just close one eye and lay it out as it is, but the truth is it irks me (I probably have some hidden OCD somewhere). So here's how I usually deal with vertical shots to keep my peace of mind. Another reason why I love diptychs^^

Hope everyone's having a calm and easy weekend.

NOT RAIN BUT SNOW

Old shots from Shirakawago where we stayed over at one of the beautiful old farmhouses.

Somehow the photos all turned out with a bluish tint from my old yashica.

It has been raining here everyday and I woke up today longing for snow.