Mike Maceda a.k.a. Atomic Mike rocked the house last night at MyHouse in Hollywood. It was nice to see a DJ that does not need a laptop to rock and enjoys the crowd as much as they enjoy him, hopefully I will have a chance to follow him around more cause he knows how to spell fun!
Gallery Categories: Joshua Dearing, Japanese, 2010, People, Club, Bar, Party, Mio, Atomic Mike
Enjoy these photos of new LA Barbie Girl "Haruna Deejay Barbie," shes rising in fame and I tried to give a side of her we can all enjoy. She recently shot with YONE so check out his rendition of her on his website. My photos tend to have a story that involves the background and his are tight and sexy.
I know a lot of women love the color pink so I created a pink wall here at dEaringfilm. Pink has its roots recently in women's culture as their color but most women will say they like a man to wear just a bit of a aggressive color like pink in his outfit. Heck you have to admit colors like teal and pink really can make you stand out. Anyway I degress... I wanted to get into a little ditty about the Pink Film industry in Japan that has quite a fan base even though it was for all intents killed out by the AV industry; but I really don't know much about it other than I really love the films I have seen. There is a Pink Film Festival here in LA next month that looks quite interesting called "A Pinksummer Night's Dream: Exploring the World of Pink Eiga." I think ill be attending it.
Gallery Categories: Model, Haruna Deejay Barbie, Japan, Japanese, Asian, 2010, dEaringfilm Studio
First off there was a live photo shoot at Siren Studios then the Cali Jammin' "DJ BARBIE + MC H-SLANG * Birthday Bash!" Both had great crowds and especially loved the free food and Wine at the Siren Studios shoot... always a plus. Tokyo Legend YONE was in town for WeSC and was at the Cali Jammin' event @ the awesome J-Lounge.
Gallery Categories: Joshua Dearing, Japanese, 2010, People, Club, Bar, Party, Runway, Makaha, Yone2, DJ Barbie, Mio, Yasumasa Yonehara, Yone
I attended a few events first was a private event where I did not take photos. Then the wildly artistic "Sugar and Spice Art and Fashion Show le premier," where my friends Makaha and Maurice ran the runway. Next was Haruna Deejay Barbie's birthday party at Cabana Club in Hollywood. The night ended with the Human Centipede, at the Nuart Theatre in Santa Monica where Quentin Tarantino was in appearance and Akihiro Kitamura took questions about the movie. Some of those questions can be found on my Vimeo stream.
Gallery Categories: Joshua Dearing, Japanese, 2010, People, Club, Bar, Party, Runway, Makaha, Maurice, Akihiro Kitamura, Yone2, DJ Barbie, Mio, Human Centipede
Life can be short or life can be as long as we imagine it to be. As the years creep up its important to have tried many of the things you set out to do. Hopefully you took the opportunity to do many things that were not in your comfort zone, nothing is given in this life nor do we know what we are truly good at until we give it a spin. Try as much as you are comfortable with once; your body is the greatest tool you will ever own. Regret is something we all have to live with, it teaches us and gives us character.
Go outside,don't even look at this gallery; and live.
Make your moments.
Gallery Categories: Model, Makaha, Japan, Japanese, Asian, 2010, dEaringfilm Studio
David Choe's "Nothing to Declare" is amazing and running at the new Lazarides gallery in Beverly Hills. Its a free show and much better than anything I have seen at LACMA and their multi million dollar expansions in the past few years. Also pix from JFS's "Sake Slam" that happened in Little Tokyo's Chop Suey, it was a great time for all and look forward to their next event.
Gallery Categories: Joshua Dearing, Japanese, 2010, People, Club, Bar, Party, JFS, Japan Film Society, Yone2, Sang-Eon, Little Tokyo, Akihiro Kitamura, Michael Simpson, David Choe
Photography and music go hand in hand. I don't get as much into my photo shoots without playing music for the model and I, it makes us all feel better. When I am taking landscape photos they turn out much better when I am listening to Philip Glass or Ludwig. I saw Starlight Express in Iowa in 1989 and enjoyed it, it was the first time I had ever seen a musical and I loved the music with the motion, I feel this is very similar to photography and acquiring images.
Gallery Categories: Model, Mio, Japan, Japanese, Asian, 2010, dEaringfilm Studio
Shinichi Osawa is pretty amazing, especially if you hear him live. I particularly like his mix to "Star Guitar" which I can listen to over and over again... his version is Sublime. This photo set is about emotion and feeling what the model is feeling and not as stiff hopefully... less poses and more feeling could be another good name for it. Please buy Shinichi Osawa's "The One+" off of iTunes (or preferred service and format) play it and flip through these photos... that's how I edited them :)
Gallery Categories: Model, Sang-Eon, Korean, Korea, Asian, 2010, dEaringfilm Studio
Kissy kiss kiss. Japonica in Redondo Beach hosted the "SaKuRa 2010 Thank You Party" over the weekend. It was a super small venue so I didn't expect much but was completely surprised by how great the people were and how many people showed up. Lots of ladies and men having a great time, kissing, hugging and partying!
Gallery Categories: Joshua Dearing, Japanese, 2010, People, Club, Bar, Party, Yone2, Japonica, Mio
My favorite book is a ancient book written over a 1000 years ago about observations in daily life, a lot of my photography is inspired by these observations and my wanting to create observations of my own that are much like them. Sei Shonagon's: "The Pillow Book," is not a typical book, its more like what the experts call a Poetic Diary. Its a must read for anyone who loves people observations and behavior.
These shots were taken in "dEaringfilm Studio" and are raw and emotion based given the white background.
Gallery Categories: Model, Io, Japan, Japanese, Asian, 2010, dEaringfilm Studio
JFS; Japan Film Society threw a event for Aaron Woolfolk to show his Short Films from Film School to give his audience a little more background on his feature film coming this Friday "The Harimaya Bridge" @ Laemmle in Los Angeles. Aaron is a great guy and every dollar spent to see this film will help the cause of cross borders film making. Thank you Royal/T for hosting the event, your place rocks!!
Gallery Categories: Joshua Dearing, Japanese, 2010, People, Club, Bar, Party, Royal/T, JFS, Japan Film Society, Aaron Woolfolk, Io
Natural expressions picked up through environments that a person has spent time in are always my favorite to catch. Observers often know a lot about a person's background based on the few default expressions they make. Lily is bleeding with non verbal expression influence from her time in Tokyo. I try to capture the essence of what the person is rather than paste a ideal-set and background into them, but I am guilty as the rest by sometimes injecting my opinion about what I think this person should be.
Tokyo party girls are my favorite people, especially when they are American like Lily. Unknowingly we have quite a few mutual connections in Tokyo, just to show you how small this wonderful little planet is.
Gallery Categories: Model, Lily Kwan Gunawan, Indonesian, Chinese, Asian, 2010, LACMA, Park La Brea, dEaringfilm Studio, Downtown LA
Hopped over to pick up MRB @ the Merry Karnowsky Gallery on La Brea where it was the opening night of Camille Rose Garcia's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and the last night of Victor Castillo's "Strange Fruit" which I absolutely loved. Then off to "On the Roxy" where eyeshine's Maurice Salmin was playing.
Gallery Categories: Joshua Dearing, Japanese, 2010, People, Club, Bar, Party, Yone2, Merry Karnowsky Gallery, On the Roxy, eyeshine
We all went to support Aya Masuda at the La Luz de Jesus Gallery's "Everything But the Kitsch 'N Sync" show. After that some madness at Gonpachi Beverly Hills where we saw Sea "awase" in persom and it was amazing.
Gallery Categories: Joshua Dearing, Japanese, 2010, People, Club, Bar, Party, Michael Simpson, Yone2, Akihiro Kitamura, Gonpachi Beverly Hills, La Luz de Jesus Gallery
Once upon a time in Las Vegas...
Gallery Categories: Joshua Dearing, Filipina, 2010, People, Club, Bar, Party
I love taking pictures of you. Come over we will hang out and ill take some dandy looking images of you, and we will have a good time. There is a lot of love in these images, these are my friends. I hope to see you too in my galleries someday but for the time being enjoy these moments in my life presented in multiple formats and a lot of feeling.
Gallery Categories: Joshua Dearing, Japan, Tokyo, Japanese, Filipina, Far-Reaching, 2010, Steff Alyce OBrien, Tokyo Night, Fantastic Plastic Machine, Tomoyuki Tanaka, People, Club, Bar, Lily Kwan Gunawan, Michael Simpson, Yone2
Pix from the Contemporary Japanese Cinema Film Festival at USC, Little Tokyo After-party and Koreatown After-After party. Featuring such great Japanese directors as Ryuhei Kitamura, Shunji Iwai, Shinji Aoyama. I really loved Shunji Iwai's Love Letter... a personal favorite.
Gallery Categories: Joshua and You, Joshua Dearing, Japan, University of Southern California, Japanese, American, People, Club, Bar, Yone2, Party, 2010, Yuuki, Ryuhei Kitamura, Shunji Iwai, Shinji Aoyama. Nora
Pretty Pink Princess sits on the hill with many options, the trick is to choose the one where she gets the most flowers in the end. Not everyone has these options or these hills but I am sure she will choose wisely or regret. This universe is the only thing she can know and there is only one chance to live it well as far as we know.
Who knows it may all be a joke, lets laugh as hard as we can.
Gallery Categories: Model, Steff Alyce OBrien, American, Irish, Caucasian, 2010, LACMA, Park La Bread, dEaringfilm Studio
Tokyo Night 2010 was a blast especially because the great Tomoyuki Tanaka (pictured above with me) a.k.a FPM (Fantastic Plastic Machine), was there to spin to give a the crowd a feel for the real Tokyo style. I saw him twice last month in Tokyo and he was on his game reading the crowd and making us all happy. Club Taotou was a great venue even though I heard a few bad things about it it was great for the huge crowd it attracted.
Gallery Categories: Joshua and You, Joshua Dearing, Japan, Tokyo Night, Japanese, Fantastic Plastic Machine, Tomoyuki Tanaka, American, People, Club, Bar, Lily Kwan Gunawan, Michael Simpson, Yone2, Party, 2010
Beethoven has his 9th, I am not ready to call this that but I did enjoy making these.
Some people really like to capture images with groups of photo buddies, while I do love the crowd and the party when I am out taking those types of image there are times it is good to separate from others influence and take photos that say the most about yourself. That being said these images are about the relationship between people in Tokyo but not necessarily people images. I choose to take photos that can paint a picture of the relationship they have with one another in a city that is flooding with people that they have to create a almost Solitude state while dealing with one another in public.
I really love to put my feet to the ground in Tokyo and walk forever with no certain destination. I can walk in almost Solitude without worry of being bothered and go about my business of making images in the giant Metropolis. This is something that is hard to do in other cities I have visited and live in, especially when photographing people on the street. So you could imagine that taking photos that say something about inner city Solitude is best done by putting yourself in the same state when going about capturing them. Cheers (not a pun), and Enjoy!
Gallery Categories: Joshua Dearing, Japan, Tokyo, Shibuya, Ayasae, Roppongi, Yurakucho, Kokkai-gijido-mae, Shiba Park, Minato, Tokyo Tower, Highway, Far-Reaching, 2010
No, I'm not wearing the 3-D glasses because of Avatar... heheh. They give a new meaning to the term Beer Goggles when at a party. Enjoy the pix.
Gallery Categories: Joshua and You, Joshua Dearing, Japan, Tokyo, Japanese, lebaron de paris, Velours, Yasumasa Yonehara, Yone, Mami Tanabe, Vivienne Sato, Party, 2010
Some random shooting around Tokyo hanging out with friends including Yasumasa Yonehara at his Creeps Gallery which is where he conducts quite a few of his shoots and the famous couch that is in so many of his photos. Including a few random observations of cute and neat stuff around Tokyo.
Gallery Categories: You are my Subject, Joshua Dearing, Japan, Tokyo, Japanese, lebaron de paris, Yasumasa Yonehara, Yone, Yoko, Creeps, Far-Reaching, 2010
Some pretty great events in Tokyo are thrown by Tokyo Dandy at pretty much my favorite small little club called the Trump Room; other places are bigger but every time I go to the Trump Room I really like the crowd. I also hung out a lot at my other favorite places like lebaron de paris and Velours.
Gallery Categories: Joshua and You, Joshua Dearing, Japan, Tokyo, Japanese, Trump Room, lebaron de paris, Velours, Yasumasa Yonehara, Yone, Mami Tanabe, Vivienne Sato, Party, 2010
Congratulations!
Today is your life.
You're in Great Places!
You're here and away!
You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose.
You're on your own. And you know what you know.
And YOU are the person who'll decide what to do.
You'll look up and down streets. Look 'em over with care.
About some you will say, "I don't choose to go there."
With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet,
you're too smart to go down any not-so-good street.
And you may not find any
you'll want to go down.
In that case, of course,
you'll head straight to Japan.
It's opener there
in the wide open air.
Out there things can happen
and frequently do
to people as brainy
and footsy as you.
And then things start to happen,
don't worry. Don't stew.
Just go right along.
You'll start happening too.
OH!
THE PLACES YOU ARE!
Gallery Categories: Los Angeles, Pentax 645, Medium Format, Far-Reaching, 2010
Notoriously and generally the Long Beach does not like photography, more specifically the security for the Oil refineries and ports in Long Beach do not want it due to some movie plot George Bush enabling policies. Department of Homeland Security has no law in place about taking photos from publically viewable places so I often enjoy taking photos of the refineries in Torrance and Long Beach. You might notice that in a few of these photos I managed to avoid any altercations with security and capture the Oil refineries in the background.
The world's Endless Desire for Black Gold as a magical potion of movement will have to end at some point and be redirected to a more green power based energy source. The point that this will happen is rapidly approaching and can be slowed down as we practice better more efficient energy use and demand products we use do the same. The best of times are over for the oil industry and they need to be more publically friendly and realize it like Frank Pentangeli said in Godfather, "Those were the great old days, you know... And we was like the Roman Empire... The Corleone family was like the Roman Empire..."
Oil is a magical wonderful potion and we should treat it so and taper down our use of it. We have had a good run Texas Tea, don't be a sore winner.
In other news check out the wonderful model Io in this gallery :)
Gallery Categories: Model, Long Beach, Oil, Io, Japanese, 2010
DJ Hilow and "Top Stage Fashion Show & After Party @ Gonpachi" rocked Beverly Hills with a great event and prelude to the coming event in February "Tokyo Night 2010 @ Claub Tatou." Hope to see you all there!!
Gallery Categories: Joshua and You, Joshua Dearing, Japanese, American, People, Club, Bar, DJ Hilow, Party, 2010
Fun in Ayasae, Shibuya and Roppongi on New Years Eve 2010, all photos taken between 20:00 (8pm for us American) and 10:00(am).
Gallery Categories: Joshua Dearing, Japan, Tokyo, Japanese, People, New Years Eve, Shibuya, Roppongi, Ayasae, Party, 2010
I will be in Tokyo for the next few weeks making photos during the day and shooting clubs and people at night. If you are in Tokyo drop me a email and Ill try to make time for everyone :) I'll be promoting dEaringfilm with shirts and conducting other business. The above shirt design is by Serge Fiedos, with the concept by myself.
Gallery Categories: Joshua Dearing, Tokyo, Serge Fiedos, Party, 2009
The Japan Film Society and Yuzo Presents: An Early Christmas Party!! was a smashing success. It was also a super duper good place to meet the movers and shakers in the Japanese film community in Los Angeles. Here are 79 totally fun images for the members and you to enjoy.
Plenty of good sitings of the Asian film industery in these photos so look carefully :)
Gallery Categories: @ the Party, Joshua Dearing, Japan Film Society, Japanese, American, People, House Party, Party, 2009
I am the director of photography for a short film called "The Light Path." It is a great little multi-weekend project to get me started in real film-making. Its premiering at the EL CID @ 4212 Sunset Blvd in Los Angeles Tuesday, December 22, 2009; 8:00pm - 11:00pm. Come check it out and meet the cast and crew, especially the guy the make it all work Maximilian Law. This gallery is a few of the stills taken from the movie, some of these scenes or actors did not make the final cut but it represents the character of the movie and character is a friend of mine. For more information check out the Facebook page here http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=195982932590 or the official website here: http://www.thelightpath.piczo.com/?cr=6
Gallery Categories: Movie, Film, Maximilian Law, Far-Reaching, 2009
I walk the streets at night with my camera in hand with my trusty "Camera Hand*" grip and nothing else except for a subject. The subject is like a flower in the dark and we have to find the correct amount of light to show the delicate petals. When all other creatures are sleeping my creativity and hunger for perfection is given a meal.
Enjoy this quick little photo shoot and expect to see a lot more updates this month that last. I had a lot on my plate last month and was not able to update as much as I would have liked.
*Coming soon :)
Gallery Categories: Model, Sachiko Ishida, Japanese, Little Tokyo, Downtown LA, Actress, 2009
When I think of black and white photography so many great artists come to mind, most of the great masters of photography have done their work in black and white. Among my favorite photographers is Masahisa Fukase who's "Solitude of the Ravens" is one of the most fantastic photo studies ever made. That series of photos seems to exist in a half awake and half in a dream state of mind where the ravens are some alternate form of human existence, this leads well into his current state of being. As eerie as it is to think the truth is that he is somewhere in Japan in a hospital sleeping away in a coma which he has been in for 18 years while people around the globe are enjoying his great works.
This photo series I present contains images shot around Japan that have a special dark or beautiful feeling to me. Even though we exist in a world which color dominates the landscape of photography I feel that black and white images provide more feeling and mood than the same image in color. If you agree or don't agree with me hopefully you can enjoy these images and they take you somewhere and inspire thought.
Gallery Categories: Japan, Tokyo, Akita, Taro Okamoto, Masahisa Fukase, Kenzo Tange, Waseda University, Kamakura, Catholic, Nakagin Capsule Tower, Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Far-Reaching, 2009
As I was picking out my favorite misc photos from summer 2009 and listening to the new Jay-Z album "The Blueprint 3" which was borrowing samples from the Alphaville song "Forever Young" I could not help but to think what my favorite movies of the 1980's were. I cannot imagine the 80's without thinking of Gremlins, Goonies, Spies Like Us, Rocky 4, Transformers the Movie (original animated version) and Return of the Jedi and the influence they had on my life at that time. Much later I learned to appreciate Blade Runner, Big Trouble in Little China, Tampopo and The Princess Bride. These movies all has that 1980's innocence to them that was lost into the 1990's which I have no issue with but it defines a time period quite well.
These images are from either small shoots, some parties I attend or hang outs with people... they don't fit in a gallery of their own but are some of my favorite images I took all summer. Thus this is the theme of the category "You are my Subject" galleries.
Gallery Categories: You are my Subject, Joshua Dearing, Fedora Gang, French, Japanese, Korean, Filipino, Pilipino, Pinay, Malibu, Redondo Beach, Far-Reaching, 2009
Will one of the next great Japanese Movie Directors, Actress or Actors make their break in America? While I can't answer that but what I can say is that the "Japan Film Society" is alive and strong in Los Angeles and gaining support with every event they throw. These events are a good opportunity to network within that community and find people for your motion picture based projects. Check them out at their website: http://japanfilmsociety.org/. Thanks to Winston's on Santa Monica for hosting the event.
Gallery Categories: Joshua and You, Joshua Dearing, Japanese, American, People, Club, Bar, Party, 2009
Dearing: A Post in Four Chapters
I think its nice to defy a great deal of the the normal conventions in life, to live the way you think you should. Its a super easy thing to say this but in practice you face many obstacles that make for a lot of confusion when dealing with others. This is a shoot that I shot mostly from the hip and hoped that that photos would come out good; I was more concerned with energy than perfect focus and framing. I think a lot of the normal photographic conventions are great when a photographer is starting out or shooting weddings or such where people expect a certain look. Eventually we need to insert more into our photos and approach each shoot like its the first day of school and not finals week. SO'B is a fly by day and grin by night kind of person, her funness and attitude is easy to feel from quite a few of these creations.
As a kid I used to eat Sardines out of the can with my dad, rather he taught me that it was the preferred way to do so. Does anyone know what the proper way to eat canned Sardines is? We would put a little bit of Mustard on them and walla a instant meal (or was that snack?). Speaking of Mustard my dad told me that when he was growing up and he used to eat French Fried with Mustard the people used to look at him weird because everyone used Ketchup. Well the last laugh is on them with their High Fructose Corn Syrup because unless your Mustard is one of those stupidly fancy or McDonald's Mustards it has no calories at all and tasted better than the Ketchup :)
Don't get discouraged, I for one think that anything can happen if you believe it to be. Remember that if you have the right mindset its not too late to become what you might have become irregardless of your age or gender.
If you can't figure out the title of this galley, then you need to check out the wonderful RGB value of (204, 255, 0) and watch a few old movies with a Lime in your Diet Coke (or drink of choice).
Gallery Categories: Model, Steff Alyce OBrien, American, Irish, Caucasian, 2009
Tomoya is going back to Japan after finishing his masters degree program here in the United States and Akihiro Kitamura is just getting his Hollywood career started, and thats pretty much everything you need to know; hehe.
So take some time to enjoy these strait up nonsensical people having a good time house party photos. I do however love to entertain the crowd with as the Japanese call it "High Tension" :) so enjoy!
Gallery Categories: Joshua and You, Joshua Dearing, Japanese, People, French Maid, Venice Beach, Party, 2009
I never considered myself a flower child, but one might think that growing up in the era which I did and parents of the Hippie era that might be possible. Even though they are both incredibly artistically talented and probably enjoyed that time as much as anyone living in it I'm not sure I would ever call them full fledged Hippies. I think all the Hippies became the Yuppies that everyone hated, my parents never went that route.
Here are a few photos of Mami I took in the Aoyama area in Tokyo, Japan. She has the free spirit and party girl mentality somewhat reminiscent of the hippie era. I really enjoy working with people that are free spirited and never take this kind of stuff serious because it shows in every photo and it looks great.
Gallery Categories: Model, Mami Tanabe, Japan, Tokyo, Aoyama, Japanese, 2009
If our government's social programs some day get in order we might have enough spare money left over to do the kinds of things that have only been seen in dream like waking states in our mind. The universe is ever reaching and beautiful and could do more for the human spirit and mind to see these things and separate ourselves from the things that take up our time, energy and brain that have little to do with what is important for the advancement of our species. The waking state of the human is typically 16 hours per day, a chunk of this time is spent doing regular routines and chores while only a small amount can be spent on the kinds of things that our brains love. Everyone should take just a few minutes each day to give their mind food for its passion of exploration because deep down the seeds of survival of the fittest are rooted in travel and exploration to find better and more livable places. So until our planet can find enough money to at least step on Mars I will never be able to see things you people wouldn't believe...
Here are a few things you may or may not have seen, maybe not even as good as C-beams glittering in the dark near the Tannhauser gate, but are sufficient for our pale blue dot.
Gallery Categories: Japan, Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Akita, The Metropolitan Area Outer Underground Discharge Channel, Taro Okamoto, Joshua Dearing, Mount Iwaki, Far-Reaching, 2009
As the great Piston Honda once said "I'll give you a TKO from Tokyo." Tokyo gave me a TKO from its life and energy, you just have to be out in Tokyo to see what its about. Its like when your a child approaching summer vacation and you hear the neighborhood kids playing outside when you are trying frantically to finish your homework before the sun goes down. You too want to enjoy those precious moments in the sun with your friends. I feel like that in Tokyo, if I'm at my computer uploading or backing up photos I feel like I am missing out on something great happening. Therefore I am a Turtle in the Sun while hanging out in Tokyo, I just have to be out exploring and meeting people because one never knows who you are going to run into. Its a huge city but I bump into people I know over and over again. These photos document my night travels, whether they be in a club or in the alleys of "Club Shibuya,*" I'm out there getting it done! But I digress and to my pleasure Piston Honda also said "Where is the NHK TV camera? Hello, Tokyo!" Well I say, "Hello Tokyo; I am Joshua hear me Snap, Snap, Snap."
*Club Shibuya refers to the practice of hanging out in Shibuya outside of convenience stores or Don Quixote buying cheap alcohol and talking to people that walk by. Its the best experience in Tokyo one can have for a night of unplanned activities.
Gallery Categories: Japan, Tokyo, Japanese, Party, People, Shibuya, 2009
There are a few things that resonate with me when I am in Tokyo, one of them being the motion of the city. Very few cities in the world can match the continuous motion of humans and objects, its utterly addicting to sit and watch or to watch from within the motion. Another layer of the "Tokyo Jungle" is the unique styling of the some of the textures and buildings... intentional or earned that way due to wear and tear. The layers of building over building and wires around poles that some might think are distracting some views but are quite a beautiful thing to behold much like in the tranquility of a forest the overgrowth of vegetation. In this gallery I look at both concepts and try to blend them together showing that the Architect can definitely run with Achilles.
The name of this gallery plays off of the new wonderful Takeshi Kitano movie Achilles and the Tortoise. After his last two movies I was about to give up on him but he completely surprised me once again and made a wonderful movie about a artist who constantly tries to make it his entire life.
Gallery Categories: Japan, Tokyo, Kyoto, Nakagin Capsule Tower, Waseda University, Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Takashi Murakami, Far-Reaching, 2009
I might pass you on the street and ask you to model, I know you for years and ask you to stay put for a few seconds, I could possibly jump out of nowhere and start making pictures, you may recognize me and ask me to shoot you. However we do these impromptu short shoots or photos they deserve a space of their own, so every once in a while I will have a "You are my Subject" gallery and throw all my recent favorites in there.
These photos were mostly taken when I was doing my day and night Wandering around mostly in the Kanto region in Japan. The next series will probably be in Los Angeles, but who knows. Enjoy these moments, I find them better or at least as good as any regular photo shoot because real people make photos. By the way Kanto Wanderer is what I am for sure, heart and soul but its also the name of one of my favorite 1960's Japanese movies by Seijun Suzuki, "Kanto Wanderer."
Gallery Categories: You are my Subject, Joshua Dearing, Japan, Tokyo, Japanese, Osaka, Kyoto, People, Cheki, Kanto, Far-Reaching, 2009
You are not a Party Person, Lomographer, DJ, Snapshot Aesthetic or Sexy photo lover in Tokyo if you don't know who Yasumasa Yonehara is. Yone, which he goes by is the iconic editor and photographer who claims that hes not really a photographer; whose style was blatantly ripped off by American Apparel to propel them to fame (among many individual photographers that try to mimic his style). I had the opportunity to party and chill with him last month in Tokyo and talked a lot about his intentions with photography, editing and art.
The greater Kanto area is over 42 million people and the deeper you get into the central Tokyo 23 wards the more and more each person attempts to have their own individual look. If you so happen to catch a glance of Yone you will know him dead on sight. His classic modified but clearly derived from Los Angeles Latino gangster style with hat turned to the side is a look that he pulls off perfectly in a city that people try to be anyone but the boring Salarymen that overpopulate the Yamanote line. He pulls off his look as the same as he pulls off all of his activities, which include partying all the time at Tokyo night clubs, photographing incredibly beautiful models with point and shoot cameras which include his signature Fuji Cheki camera. I have personally used the Cheki for eight years because I always loved the size of the images better than the Polaroid format. A few of his other activities include being the photographer and editor for ad campaigns with KFC, Zippo, Diesel Jeans and numerous other international brands along with throwing photo/art shows in China and Taiwan at the moment. Most 50 years old should be so lucky, just watch him in a crowd of people; everybody loves him, anyone can admire that kind of love from the people. Still with all this love he is entirely approachable and might even be willing to give you his valuable time.
When speaking of his work he details his approach to photography like this "I want it to seem like there are no cameras at all, and I am capturing the real essence of the person." Yone details that he loves photos of real people, and after all only the real people in those real peoples lives can take such great photos of each other. When he showed my his photo compilation of his first very successful magazine "Out of Photographers (1995-2000)," I felt that this was his proudest work because it really exemplifies the style of photography that he loves. The latest and easiest to acquire book "Tokyo Amour" details Yone's famous lo-fi sexy style that the world has come to love and imitate. He claims that everyone likes to look at photos and people are horny, so if you search for his work he uses the "HornYone" or "Horny Yone" moniker at times to brand his style of photography. Companies like lomography once discovering him have been seeking his help since their beginning in the 1990's, in which he threw shows for them in Austria. Yone's style must have rubbed off onto the famous American photographer Terry Richardson after spending a week in Tokyo with Yone in 1996. Take a look at Terry's work, his famous work has been done post that trip to Japan. The beautiful thing about their relationship is their distinctly different approach to a similar subset of photography. Both personalities transcend photography and possibly even their own work, that is one of the many things that is so great about them.
Like any artist, if you like his work support the products that he produces. In America is a little hard to do unless you attend one of his shows, which he has had several.
When in a Tokyo night club keep your eyes wide open for a baseball cap and a group of the best looking women in the club and you might just have a encounter with the horny one :)
Gallery Categories: Yasumasa Yonehara, Yone, Tokyo, Japan, Party, 2009
Old friends make good models too. Vicke has had a tough year and really needed something to get her mood back up. I suggested we take photos; hehe like I never suggest that to anybody. It's probably the first thing I say to someone when I meet him or her :)
So on with it, we shot in Shibuya, Shinjuku and the Yoyogi Koen area. There are some very nice places in Yoyogi Koen and we really enjoyed trying to find the right kind light late at night to get the type of sexy and moody photos we were going for. He funniest thing to me is that she's the kind of person that when people are looking at her she smiles, but I was able to get her without a smile so that I could change her character dramatically for this fun shoot.
My apartment in Tokyo was technically in Yoyogi Koen, but we shot a few kilometers from my place. There are a lot of nice places to live in that area once you go a block or so from Yamate-dori. I really enjoyed getting up every morning and walking two to three kilometers to get to the Shibuya station. Most of my destinations could have technically gone from the Tokyo Metro Yoyogi Koen station or if I was going to Shinjuku I could take Odakyu's Yoyogi-Hachiman Station.
Gallery Categories: Model, Vicke, Japan, Tokyo, Shibuya, Shinjuku, Yoyogi Koen, Japanese, 2009
Miki and I met up in Shibuya at Hachiko, who ever meets anyone anywhere else in the Shibuya area? She is a race Queen and some other stuff, but this was her first time on a shoot other than the standard stuff. She's making her way with her career, which I think, is great; you have to make your moves when you are able to do it. We shot for a few hours total, among the places we shot were the major crosswalk in Shibuya and a few other smaller stations.
So we took a few fun photos and then went on or merry way, we were both pretty tired that day so the shoot only lasted about 2 hours. She's pretty tall for a Japanese woman and her friend that introduced us says she calls her the Japanese Beyonce; I guess its up to you to see if that is correct :)
I have always been fascinated with the crosswalk at Shibuya, I have been told that is 10x busier than Times Square in New York. What that means to me is that pretty much every single every day even in the least busy time in the early morning there will be a decent amount of people crossing it. I'm pretty sure that that cannot be said about many places in the world.
Gallery Categories: Model, Miki Moriki, Japan, Tokyo, Shibuya, Japanese, 2009
I am back from Japan and have got quite a few galleries to put up over the coming weeks. This first one is a bit lighthearted and is part of a new Motif I will be working on called Joshua & You. So if you know me you will probably end up in one of these galleries at some point, and if you don't know me you I hope you will too! Some photos are blurred and no where near perfect and I never intended them to be, but try taking photos drunk and excited like I am in many of these at clubs in Tokyo.
A special thanks to Le Baron Tokyo, Club Velours in Aoyama and all my other club stops. Also thanks to my buddy Yasumasa Yonehara for several of the invites.
Speaking of the upcoming galleries, I will have a write-up on Yone and his unique style along with killer exclusive photos. I will also be throwing up several model galleries along with other interesting galleries of things I find special in Japan. So enjoy this one and check back often :)
Gallery Categories: Joshua and You, Joshua Dearing, Japan, Tokyo, Japanese, Osaka, Kyoto, People, Party, 2009