Happy Holidays!

I have been printing photographs for new portfolio for a while. It's been exciting even though it's exhausting. Through this process, I realized how much I love photography. It's my life!

This year, I traveled a lot. I went to Vancouver, Washington DCx2, Uruguay, Argentina, Japan, Palm Beach, Miami, US Virgin Island, Dallas, Houston, Boston, Detroit, Canada, Portland(OR), etc. I shot three times for Latina magazine. Thanks Latina! I shot twice for LaVie Magazine. Thanks Sunny! Of course I shot hundreds of fashion shows and backstages. All of those jobs gave me confidence and fun. Thank you all for your encouragement and friendship in 2008. I wish you a Happy Holidays!!

Baloon Project

These are photographs of an art project on Park Avenue and 57th street.

Rachael and me!!

We had a good time in Portland, OR.



www.rachaelkubik.com
Well, her website seems under construction now..

Jeff@Flora

I photographed Jeff Chen, the owner/florist of Flora for LaVie, a magazine in Taiwan.

One autumn afternoon

After crazy September(with my exhibit and NY fashion week, etc.) I went to see momo and her daughter Youme. The air was warm and soft. Time flies and things get better.

Thanks!

Thanks guys for coming to the opening tonight!! Photos look great with white frames and real gallery light! I appreciate L'asso having my show too. They are the best in NYC.

show opening tomorrow

My photography exhibition "This is new West" opens tomorrow!
Reception: at L'asso, Mott/Kenmare, New York, 6-8pm, Monday September the 1st!



All photos are for sale. A small portion of profit from the sales would be my beer money.

Joel photographed this. Thanks!!
his Flickr

exhibition!

My photo exhibit opens September 1st, Monday at Lasso in NYC!

taxidermy

Men love this place.

Detroit/Canada#2

Those boys play basketball with rolled plastic wrap and milk crate in a shady alley, when the restaurant they work is slow. They were very nice. To me those nice kids represent hope in Detroit.

momo, Yuji, Youme!

happy marriage and being born!

semifinalist

With this photograph, I am one of semifinalists for the 59th Art of North East(AONE) at Silvermine Guild Arts Center, New Canaan, CT. I hope I win the first prize and join cocktail party.

Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay

So, I am in Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay, which is one of the world heritages selected by UNESCO. This small town, three hours away from Buenos Aires by boat is full of great historic houses. Yes, I am in Uruguay! I just want to let you know that it is summer here. I went to beach today, a perfect summer sunday. People are so nice here. I have had great time. I am going to Buenos Aires tomorrow. By the way, I skipped a lot of story about Vancouver and Tafino, BC, Canada... Maybe later..

Vancouver#4--shrimp dumpling/roast pork noodle soup

02/14/08--i woke up 6am feeling calm. I knew I did everything I could do to get visa. So I was quiet and cooked & ate pancake, which I haven't had for many years. I don't understand pancake. It's like draining flour into your stomach. Anyways, I had an appointment at 10:30 am and arrived at embassy around 9 am. It was way too early. So, I had a cup of tea in nearly empty starbuckes. Time runs slow there. I love it. Afer going through security check as complicated as airports', I finally reached to the room for interview. At first, they took fingerprints. Then, interview. I guess I was nervous that I went into wrong booth. The guy beyond glass looked confused and I realised I even didn't look at number on window. Asap, I jumped in to the right booth. A white guy was interviewer(officer). He asked me what my job was, where I studied, and surprised to know that I went to school in Wvoming. I don't remember the detail of the conversation but it lasted only for a few minutes. It was easy! I got a card to get my passport back on Tuesday, Feb 19th and it was done! Afer that, I felt all the pressure and burden that has been on me for the last 12 months are gone. I had shrimp dumpling/roast pork noodle soupin Chinatown for a reward. It was so good.

Vancouver#3---subway sandwich

So I arrived at Vancouver at 5:30 am. I took public bus to downtown to save some money and checked in at Samesun, a hostel full of Australian and British. My room stung. I haven't stayed this kind of accommodation since 1996, and I felt glad and stupid of myself that I was still comfortable even though I am used to good hotels (I am writing this in hotel St. Regis DC). I wasn't sure if I like Vancouver at this moment because I was so nervous about the next day's visa interview at American consulate. I went to bed early after washing down subway sandwich with a pint of beer. Oh, thank you all for your text messages! They calmed me down. I needed them.

Vancouver#2---some sort of pasta

13Feb2008, my flight to Vancouver took off about 2 am. It was delayed by 5 hours. But I really didn't care because I was happy to see a photographer, Kate Sears, whom I used to work for, on my row in the airplane! She is a great life style photographer and I enjoyed to work with her. She was on her way to Vietnam! Funny thing was that just before getting on board, I called Jonathan, who reffered me to her. It's such a small world even in Big Apple. Anyways, it was a great start of my trip! Oh, I had dinner at 3 am and got sick. It was some sort of pasta. I don't remember Good start?

Vancouver#1

Vancouver was fantastic! I met so many great poeple there. They were so friendly and real. I will be back!!

赤福営業再開にむけて

赤福もどうやらそろそろ営業再開しそうでなにより。三重県保健所（だったっけ）から営業再開のお墨付きももらって、あとは自社の体制を整えるだけとなったようです。同時に大阪と名古屋での赤福生産をやめて配送機能だけ残すということに。ということは生産はすべて本社工場だから、新たな雇用が神宮周辺で発生しそう。これを機に全赤福は人力作り立て指型（五十鈴川の波を表しているんだっけ？）新鮮を売りにしてもらいたい。本店で味わう赤福とお茶一服は日本人の心のよりどころでしょ。赤福を味わいたくて平成おかげ参り大流行くらいの勢いでお願いしたいね。写真は赤福氷。安くはないけどこれもおいしい。餅の柔らかさとかき氷のシャープな冷たさ、そして控えめに感じる甘みが、意外においしい。いや、おいしいだろうなーとは期待してたんだけど、実際食べると想像以上においしい。こんなん英訳するんかな。Akafuku, Japanese's favorite confectionary plate served only in Ise City, Mie Pref., Japan, is ready for re-opeining of their business after being banned for its false practice of production dates and re-used material. Because my parents are from Ise and I have spent so much time there since I was born, I love Ise City. Akafuku is the most popular local sweets in Japan. It's a simple rice cake wrapped with sweet red bean paste. Ha! the previouse sentence is too simple to describe what it is and made me mad because it dosen't tell you none. You know, "rice cake wrapped with sweet red bean paste" is pretty much the words for Japanese sweets when we explain in foreign country what the ordinary Japanese sweet is. And, we ignorantly omit the important part: history and spirit. Those Akafuku people respect Ise Shrine with 2000 years of Japanese history and show on Akafuku ("rice cake wrapped with sweet red bean paste") the shape of the wave of Isuzu River, which is sacred river of Ise Shrine. Anyways, I hope Akafuku get over the bad past soon.

出ました！／Visa Approved!

いやーやっと出ました労働ビザの延長許可。＄１０００の特急申請は効いたぜ。これでもう３年アメリカにいることになるかな。三年前に最初の労働ビザが出たという電話を弁護士からもらったとき、アドビ社のフォトショッププレゼン中で静まり返っているなか思わず『イヤッホーイ、ありがとうございます』と叫んでしまったけど、今回はちょっとトーンダウン。いやーうれしーねー。気づいてなかったけどずっと精神的重圧だったみたい。今日はすっきりしました。I've got H-1b visa (work poermission visa) approval for another three years today! It lift up the burden that has been on my shoulder. This is what all immigrants have to go through. I bet this dynamism accelerates productivity in this country. Time is always limited for temporary visiors here and we try to achieve as much as we could in each time frame. Another three years, splendid years start soon.

Latina

I shot a beautiful girl(she was amazing! very nice, beautiful and professional!) at Estee Lauder office for Latina magazine. Hey, it was my first editorial job under my name! I've shot thousands of photographs but none of them credited my name. photography is not all about name recognition but it's nice. I thought I would get nervous but I didn't at all. The story comes out in April issue. It's called "Cool Creer." Check it out!

ラティーナという雑誌のお仕事拝見記事の写真をきのう撮った。これが初の雑誌仕事。今までに別の人の名前でもっていろんな雑誌に撮ってはいたけれど、やっぱ自分の名前が載るってのはいいね。前日、当日も全然緊張しなかったし、あっさりしたもんだった。こんなもんかな？　それよりも宮沢賢治の”銀河鉄道の夜”のほうが気になる。ジョバンニが近頃眠くて仕方がないという最初のくだりから共感した。自分がこっちに来たころや、うちのおばあちゃんのことを想った。

paparazzi

http://www.guardian.co.uk/weekend/story/0,,2226725,00.html
It's an interesting story about their job.
I have shot some celebrities at fashion shows. I kept telling myself "I am doing this only for my client," while snapping pictures. Well, it's just a job at the end of the day. Not a big deal at all.

長い記事だけど面白いと思った。誰もがあほらしいと思いつつも仕事だからしょうがなくやってる。あーあ、写真家はもっとがんばって高い次元で勝負しなきゃ。自分自身、誰でもいいような写真を撮ってたらだめだなぁ。

Richard Prince

I went to see Richard Prince "Spiritual America" exhibition. Some of "The Marlboro man" photographs looked so normal that I enjoyed them as nice landscape/cowboy photographs. Because those cowboys don't ride a horse but ride an SUV these days, because people are aware of tabaco ads' seductive nature, and because cowboys have been caricatured, "The Marlboro man" photographs are not as interesting as it was in 80's. But, still they are brilliant.　His latest works, Nurses and de Kooning, are far more interesting.

リチャードプリンスの大規模展示を見てきました。有名なマルボロマンシリーズは今この時代にちょっとインパクト無くしたようだけど、アイデアはすばらしい。展示全体（というかリチャードプリンスの作品が）がアメリカに潜む欲望や事実を考えさせるようにできていて、おもしろかった。 それで思い出したのが昔日本でやってたラッキーストライクのTVコマーシャル。あの短いテーマソングは英語でなに言ってんのかわからなかったけど何となく一緒に歌ってたし、♪ラッキースラーイク♪のあとのスライドギターがみょみょみょみょーと鳴るのもアメリカだった。それと砂漠にのびる一本の道。黒いバイクにまたがって疾走！出てる俳優さんのあごは割れていたように思う。白いシャツのすそはちゃんとジーンズに収まっていたしやっぱアメリカだよ！


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