Apples. That’s all I previously knew about Aomori, a city in northern Japan, – that they had big apples, and I’d never been there. But then, earlier this year, my boss called from Greenpeace with an assignment, an ongoing photographic assignment spread over a few months which seem like eternity, to document and cover the trial of the so-called ‘Tokyo Two’, and it was going to be in Aomori. I was going to get to know Aomori, or so I thought.

Junichi Sato and Toru Suzuki of Greenpeace Japan, known internationally by their moniker of the ‘Tokyo Two’, are presently standing trial in Aomori on charges of “theft (of a box of whale meat) and trespass”- a debateable point. (Read all about the Greenpeace Tokyo Two case here, the ins and outs, ups and downs, the accusations, the defence, the legal small print).

Now covering court cases are not my speciality. Stand in the rain, long lens, flash, tight and bright, wait for the defendant, the witness, whoever, get punched by a fist that says ‘Mum’ on the knuckles, nah, no thanks. But this Greenpeace stop commercial whaling campaign is one I’ve covered over the years, including my two long assignments in the Southern Ocean covering the work of the whaling fleet and Greenpeace’s protests work against it. And this assignment wasn’t going to be the usual court pics, there’d be meetings, behind the scenes, PR press stunts, a variety of images. A challenge to shoot and document, to cover in an interesting way.

So, now, 5 trips to Aomori later, a few still to come, and my ‘Tokyo Two’ folder is growing. But how to keep it fresh ? How to keep the pics from always looking the same ? After all, press cameras are not allowed across the threshold of the court building. All the action, the details, the drama, the questions, answers, accusations, are inside the building. And I’m outside. In the snow, the hail and rain. Aomori, lovely place.

So every time the defendants go to court, so do I, they wear suits, I don’t. The walk from the hotel to the court building is 200 metres along a non-descript pavement. The same 200 metres every time, the only thing that changes is the baseball caps of the ‘secret police’ who stand and monitor our every movement. The Greenpeace guys walk the 200 metres in the same manner every time, pulling their attaché cases full of their defence documents, separated only by their defence counsel team as due to their bail restrictions they are not allowed to meet unaccompanied from their lawyers.

So by now, a few trips in, I’ve done the defendants walking to court past Greenpeace banners, and walking past a living statue of ‘Lady Liberty’ in a driving snow blizzard, there’s been the long shot on a 200mm, there’s been the slow shutter speed pan and blur. And today a reflection in a large puddle type shot. All sorts of creativity going on.

And then there is other background work. To keep it all interesting for the client, I’m shooting the behind-the-scenes images for a multimedia slideshow (not yet released on the Greenpeace website), Lady Liberty gets ready donning her blindfold and lifting her scales, the Tokyo Two preparing for another day in court, their lawyers working late into the night, the campaign team sprawled in hotel rooms as they assess the days developments from the witness stand.

The meetings, and as much as Aomori loves apples, court cases bring out meetings. Meetings in lawyers offices, meetings in hotel lobbies, debrief meetings in hotel room suites. There are pizza boxes to use as a foreground element to the images, the Pringles crushed into the carpet, the half drunk cups of tea. All details to play with, keeping me amused.

Looking for new images is a constant occupation, carrying the camera at all times, and trying to think of ways to show the seemingly never-ending work of the defence counsel, the stress on the main two defendants of a court case which has lasted almost two years. How to illustrate that Sato-san and Suzuki-san can’t be in the same room at the same time, that these two colleagues can’t by accident find themselves in the hotel lobby unaccompanied by a lawyer, or in an elevator going down. Last night I shot them at windows of the hotel, both the guys on different floors, colleagues, co-defendants separated from each other by bail conditions. Trying to keep the imagery moving, keeping it fresh.

And now as the afternoon session of todays court date draws to a close I sit here typing this, soon the guys will come back out from Court No.1, and I’ll rejoin them. Back to another debrief meeting, and for me, back to looking for new angles trying to keep the case in the media for the client.