School Days

Summer break is over and it's back to the books for Sara, well I should say continuing with the books. Summer breaks here in Tokyo include a list of homework, Kanji practice, book reports and craft making tasks all to be completed before returning to school. But even with all the work we still manage to find time to visit festivals and new towns that are a few stops away. One of the coolest things about being in a big city is the number of events that are sponsored especially over the summer. Not to mention the train systems that allow us non-drivers access to locations too far for walking and too expensive for Taxis. Enjoy your summer and these analog shots!

Sara's classroom.

Performers getting ready to put on a show.

Ginza Shopping district.

Speaking of Summer, what are your favorite things to do for summer?

Back to the Basics

It had been several years since I shot any film through my Pentax K1000 and it showed with the first roll. After getting settled in Tokyo, I broke the 'Tank' out loaded a 27 shot roll of 100 speed film and set out to get back to the basics. Unlike shooting digital, you cannot [well I don't] just shoot off 27 shots and get it developed, you need to slow your process down and take time to capture the images you want. It took 3 weeks to get to the 29th shot on the counter, yes two over. I was feeling a little nervous as I couldn't remember if it was a 36 roll or 27, so I started to rewind the film just to be safe. Now I don't know where you've been told but 29 shots should not rewind in 5 seconds. At this point all the film heads know the feeling when you realize the film never caught the spindle. All those images you were excited for, never happened. Just awesome. Only one thing left to do, get a film puller, retrieve the film, reload and try again. This time, after taking the initial shots make sure the film winder turns when you set the film. Cross your t's, dot your i's and then verify your film is proper loaded. The basics indeed.

Here are a few images from around Tokyo:
:Film

:Digital