Selected Photos from the Kin Town Full Moon Festival

5 Motion GIFs Depicting Some of the Action

 

 

It would be impossible to show you all of the 1000 images taken last night.

These photos are an example of what you may have missed.

And, part of the reason, I decided to take photos locally, instead of traveling to another location.

This stage was set-up just a few minutes walk away from my office.

There are probably 1,000 guests sitting down in front, who got cropped out of the photos.

At a shrine nearby, some offerings are made, before the sun goes down.

Off to one side, this gentleman, warms up.

He will be taking a shishimai (lion-dog) to the festival.

Just in case, you've never met a shishimai, here's what the look like.

Two very talented and, athletic individuals, are inside that hairy suit.

Don't ask, who's uncle is in the background. He just wanted to make an appearance.

So, everybody let him.

It wouldn't be a festival, without Eisa and these characters were good at it.

The colors might not be coordinated in this scene but, it sure jumped out at me.

Now, I'm having a tough time deciding what color my next umbrella should be.

What do you think would look best ?

A blue or green umbrella, to replace the one I lost to the last typhoon.

Ya'll know, I'm usually wearing yellow flip-flops !

5 More Action GIFs from an Eisa Festival and Drinking Afterwards

And A New Word in the Vocabulary

 

 

First, a little explanation about how these photos get done.

When I attend one of these events, I'm not out there having fun; it's work.

To get the best photos, you have to move around a lot.

The idea, for me, is to compose photos that make travelers want to visit these festivities.

My cameras, are never in Auto Mode.

All exposure settings are made manually so, I am continuously checking the light meter.

And, most of the time, using a tripod to steady the shots.

Sometimes, the camera gets ripped off the tripod and, I have to sit on the ground.

The knees and elbows become my bi-pod.

There's no telling who the lady in pink, might be but, she enjoyed having her picture taken.

 This part of the Eisa dance, I haven't figured out, yet.

One of these days, I'll have to ask one of my dance instructor friends about it.

Maybe, they are simulating the planting of rice.

After, shooting the photos above, I decided to move where the sun was behind me.

Not too wild about using flash, I wanted to get as many natural light shots as I could.

When the sun went down, I was in the office, downloading cameras.

After a few hours in the sun, air conditioning felt great.

Some amazing photos were captured so, it was a productive day for me and I'm happy.

Next Came Nominication Time

 

 

It's the way a lot of business is conducted in Japan.

Take the Japanese word for drinking: nomi.

Then, combine it with the English word: communication and you get: nominication.

Well, I have unknowingly been doing that for decades but, just learned the word, recently.

 Now, I know what to tell the missus, the next time I'm out 'til 4AM.

In this sort of business, you have to do plenty of nominicating ! 

If you think I'm joking: READ THIS

Photo of the Week: What a Character !

 

 This is one of the photos I shot last Sunday at a school in Kin Village.

At an Undokai  (Sports Day, in Japan) Eisa dancing was performed.

Depending on who you ask, the one clowning around while everyone else is dancing,

would be called either a Gajan Gani, or a Chondara.

The kid was a real lively character.  One of the best I've ever seen.

So, I'm going to do a little searching and see if I can locate him, or her.

To give the character this photo.

Dragonboats, Days Off and Great Friends

A CLOSE-UP LOOK AT A DRAGONBOAT

After a night of taking pictures in the August rain I sat at the kitchen table developing RAW shots until 2AM.

I just checked to see what day it is because I can't remember. It's Tuesday, here, That means it was Sunday night I did the shooting.

It must have been around 8PM when the phone rang. The wife's phone; I don't hear or answer mine. My cell phone is for emails, a watch and a calendar and sometimes, I even use it as a camera, flashlight or something to prop-up a real camera when I get down too low on the ground for a tripod and just need something to position my lens.

I got out of the house just as a few truckloads of Eisa Dancers landed in the street right in front of my house. Before I captured a dozen pictures, it started raining. That slows them down. They took shelter for a few minutes under overhanging eaves of houses along the street. As soon as the cloudburst passes, they're at it again. After a quarter mile and 100 pictures or so I called it a day and went home.

The drums of Eisa Dancers were still banging somewhere around the village while I was developing photos. I can tell by watching my Huskies ears or feel the vibrations and if they're really close actually hear something.

I had enough pictures to satisfy me and the camera, bag and tripod were drying out in the air-conditioned living room while I developed at the kitchen table. The AC is for the bride and the dogs. I can live without it. It also comes in handy for sucking the moisture out of a camera bag and strap so, I guess it's worth the krazillion yen a month I waste on my electric bill to keep the dogs and bride happy.

Along came yesterday, which felt like Sunday, to me. I woke up late, pretty much burned out with cameras, staring at computer monitors, getting rained on, shooting festivals and trying to remember what day of the week it is. So, I did something I haven't done in months.

I TOOK A FREAKIN' DAY OFF !

No going online, no Daily Photo or Blog post, nothing. The only time I left the house was the two times between cloudbursts, morning and evening, that I harnessed-up the dogs and gave them their walk. And both times, even though the sun came out before I left the house,

I GOT RAINED ON, AGAIN !

The people in the village call me the Rainmaker.

The wife complains because the dogs come home smelling like wet dogs. I ask her if she'd rather they smelled like wet cats.

The dogs never complain about her smelling like wet people.

Get a towel and dry them and they won't smell like wet dogs anymore. They'll smell like dry dogs, I'll bet !

A few times between listening to complaints, drying wet dogs and changing my wet clothes, I almost went and walked to my office to go online. I knew there would be all kinds of people wondering what happened and 100's of emails stacking up if I didn't visit, like I normally do.

But, I said "I'm gonna try this Day Off routine, just for the heck of it".

I just wanted to see if my website would drop in the ratings, Mr Google, Yahoo and the Alexa Dude would scratch me off their list and all my friends stop following me and nobody ever come to visit my website, ever again.

Well, 100's of emails did stack up. But, 100's of people did visit the website. Even some picked a photo and Thumb'd it Up for me. So, that's why the Dragonboat is here today.

ThumbedUp by one of my many good internet friends (netofriendo, in Japanese), if you get a chance, please visit MUZA-chan's GATE TO JAPAN and say Hello with your Thumb!

Cheers, Mike

What's An Eisa Dance?

Living in Okinawa for over half my life I sometimes forget that things I may see everyday and take for granted would be news to folks back on the other side of the world.   Eisa Dancing?

It's something that has its roots in Buddhist Culture and has to do with Ancestor Worship, old time religious ceremonies, stuff Priests and Priestesses would do at funerals.

There ain't no sense in me trying to explain all the morbid details here when you can Google or Wiki-whatever and see what the experts have to say.

This time of year I get real busy running all over the island trying to keep up with all the Festivals going on and catch as many photos as I can to share with the world. There aren't enough hours in the day for me to keep shooting, developing and posting new material, daily on my blog and website so, I get caught recycling not-so-new material, every now and then.

Well, this picture and the one on my Homepage are brand-spanking new, shot last night, just down the street from where I live.

In fact, I have to chase these gals down and get them to sign Model Releases. I don't throw anybody's photos out for public viewing without their consent, usually.

These gals are no problem. They want their photos on my website. They know, once they sign my Release Forms, they'll get a High-Gloss Print for free and maybe even a framed picture of them will adorn the walls of my bar.

There will be a crowd of anywhere from 30-50 of these characters filling-up my little karaoke bar , singing and drinking 'til the wee hours, every weekend from now until the end of Summer.

See, they're regular customers of mine and if I get any complaints about the photography it'll be from the ones who didn't get their picture taken, not those who did get captured on digital film.

During Obon, the season where all this dancing and drum-beating originated, they even bring the whole gang of twenty-some year olds inside my bar and perform, making a racket that'll split the ceiling plaster.

If you want to know more about Eisa Dancing and see a variety of photos, some that may surprise you, have a peek at Matador Network. I've got to charge my batteries, clean some lenses and get back out on the road before Summer ends.