TokyoLand

Thoughts of a Tokyo, Japan-based editorial corporate portrait assignments photographer

10/01/2012
by Jeremy
1 Comment

Portrait tear sheets, pages of fun.

Ladies and Gents, my blog posts are like buses, none for ages, then all at once…and here we have a second offering today, for your delectation, more tear sheets from the desk of a Tokyo-based editorial photographer plying his trade on the cold streets.

First up is a little portrait of Taro Kono, from the Japanese House of Representatives. A politician in other words, from the Liberal Democratic Party. See the full set of photographs of Taro Kono, LDP politician here. This was a 30 minute interview and photograph session, or more correctly, 29 minutes for chat and 1 min for me. And his office was incredibly short of space, due to the messy piles of books and papers laying around. But what can you do ? As Spike Milligan replied when asked what he does by Winston Churchill, he replied “I do my best, Sir”.

And next on the table (below) is another portrait/talking head interview situation portrait. Again, in a room which offered nothing interesting to shoot. Really, quite possible one of the least interesting offices I’ve ever been in. This time there were not even venetian blinds to play with, so I went with tight talking head shots. And here, below, is the final result in the mag.

And lastly this evening, a tear sheet which resulted from a last minute request from a client just before Christmas, did I have anything that can fill two pages for a small photo essay ? Jeez, I’ve piles of stories can fill two pages, ya pays yer money, ya takes yer pick. They went with a story about calligraphy brushes which I’d shot sometime earlier for another magazine. So this was a re-use sale, and actually looks nicer than the first initial commissioned usage by the other magazine. So a resale, just before Christmas, it made the turkey a bit fatter, and the family got new shoes. This calligraphy brush story had been a good one to photograph, a 3 day assignment with a brush maker artisan, a brush selling shopkeeper artisan and a brush using young calligrapher Souun Takeda. Enjoyable and interesting, the type of assignment which is stress free and gives you an insight into professions I knew little about. Once again it’s the joy of being a Japan-based assignment photographer. See the full set of photographs of calligraphy brush making, selling and using here.

Thanks for looking. As of tomorrow at the crack of dawn, I’ll be up with the crows and away out on the bullet train down to the Inland Sea. Perhaps I’ll post from on the road…

10/01/2012
by Jeremy
0 comments

New Year, new tear sheets.

First and foremost Happy New Year to all my esteemed readers.

Sorry for the silence on here but even Tokyo-based assignment photographers need to take a break sometime, if the profits allow, and if there’s been a few crumbs left over after paying tax bills and servicing the equipment that gets knocked about in the daily grind of portrait photography and reportage here in Japan. (I’d just been to Canon to get my cameras cleaned, and now after holidays in exotic, dustier climes I badly need to revisit for another cleaning…)

So, my shop is now open again for business, bring on 2012 I say. This year is going to be busy, I know it already, I can feel it in my bones. I’m excited about the year ahead.

This week I’m off out of Tokyo,  to photograph a two day editorial magazine job down on an island in the Inland Sea, then very conveniently followed by another 2 day photo assignment in Kyoto. It’s good to start the year with some nice assignments. And of course there’s a shed load of editing to be done from the trip I did over the festive season, but that is not so urgent.

Opening the office mail this morning I find a bunch of tear sheets awaiting me. Always good to see them, to see how the art directors have used, or abused, your images. I included one or two here, and I’ll put some more up later. Until then best wishes for the new year, and all it brings you.

from the 'No.1 Shimbun'.

(above) From the No.1 Shimbun magazine of the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan, a re-write of my ‘In My Camera Bag’ piece that I posted here previously, now gracing the column known as ‘The Hack’s Tool Box’. You can download the No.1 Shimbun issue here, and read at your leisure. There are also many good articles about North Korea, and one by ex-Tokyo photographer and correspondent Sonia Katchian.

And below, two pages from an American magazine, featuring portraits of lawyers I photographed in Tokyo, back in November I think. The great thing about being a an assignment photographer is the variety of people I get to meet and photograph, and these lawyers were no exception. It’s always fascinating to get glimpses into others careers and occupations, and businesses, see how it all works.

This above image nearly didn’t happen. As I waited in the busy Shibuya street, in central Tokyo, me with my cameras, and my assistant hand holding a light and umbrella the local security patrol old guys approached. The usual debate about photographing in a public street took place, they wandered off, I shot my portrait when the subject arrived. And just as I packed up, the security came back…phew, Job was done, pics in the camera. Time to say sorry, smile. And leave.

The below pic was another street pic obviously, but no hassles this time, even though it took place near the Japanese Prime Minister’s residence, in a Tokyo district crawling with police on every corner and intersection. Only trouble that day was the utter-greyness of the weather and the day, and the wind blowing. If ever I’d needed a warm up filter and a hairdresser with some hair spray for the subject it was that day. Still, got the photograph, all worked out in the end and appears in the mag as a half page.

There’s a few more tear sheets to come, I only have the actual magazines, I’m awaiting the pdf’s… PDf’s a far easier way to keep tear sheets, they don’t fade and go yellow, and they’re not a fire hazard in the office.

12/12/2011
by Jeremy
1 Comment

Tear Sheets from a wet Friday.

Another day and another editorial assignment tear sheet pops through the letter box. Nicely, here in Tokyo, Japan, magazines which use your photographs send you a copy or two of the magazine. Kind. Courteous. To be encouraged worldwide. This following one was from a photo shoot on a recent wet dark-as-night Friday afternoon, and took place in the extremely clean, spacious modern reception area of the company (most unlike Japanese companies to have clean, spacious, non-beige reception areas).

Photo ©Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert 2011, Tokyo, Japan.

Photo ©Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert 2011. Tokyo, Japan.

The pic used for the cover wasn’t the one I’d perhaps hoped for or imagined they’d use, it’s a crop, but it’s clean and looks nice, so I’m happy. Here’s the rest of the photos from the business portrait shoot if you’re interested.