You know when you’ve done something right when the chefs crowd around your photo shoot with iphones in hand to snap pictures.
Doing something right!
Tag: food
“ITS ABOUT DAMN TIME!”
Oh how tide does change. I never would have figured my hometown newspaper would call me to do a freelance gig for them. Out of the blue (brah!) Kevin from the San Antonio Express News calls me inquiring on my availability for a quick job the next day. His southern drawl caught me off guard warming me with memories of family, BBQ, and those spring days only found in San Antonio. I quickly jumped at the job and proceeded to tell him of my sorted past with the SAEN and my time shooting for their community newspapers. Sadly, he said, The Sun is no more.
I wrote a while back about my humble beginnings and shooting for the community newspaper ($25 per assignment!) so to get a job from the actual newspaper took me back to my days of desire…days of longing for a staff job at the only reality I knew at that time. In little ol’ San Antone! Leaving to NYC was a distant dream and to think I’d end up in Honolulu was unheard of! I mean only Magnum, Danno and surfers lived in Hawaii, not me.
Kevin and I had a few chuckles as I told him I’d been sitting by the phone for the last 20 years waiting for the Express to finally call.
The job was to cover the change of command ceremony at one of the military base’s where San Antonio native U.S. Coast Guard Rear Admiral Jim Rendon would take over the top position here in Hawaii. The story can be seen here. The ceremony was the usual ho hum of long speeches, a little pomp and some circumstance all topped off with a brass band playing all the old favorites! At the end I grabbed Adm. Rendon, his wife and his parents and posed them for a really informal picture for the paper. After a few snapped, I told they they were all in Hawaii and I needed to see some “shakas.” Sure enough….
and the smiles they produce!
At the end I told the Rendon’s there isn’t much Mexican food on Hawaii but she countered it would all be made in her kitchen. Sadly as the job was over and I drove away, I realized I should have given her my number. Ah the missed opportunities of home cooking!
36 Hours in Honolulu
…0r as I’ve said before, Honoruru…
After several weeks of anticipation, the New York Times (find it here) published my travel piece, written by Jocyln Fujii, on 36 Hours in Honolulu. The piece loads of locations for me to cover but I got to choose the more scenic and most exciting places to photograph.
Of course Masaharu Morimoto, (yes, the Iron Chef…you might remember him from my posting here) made for the most exciting images as his relationship with me allows him to tako…uh…i mean octopus…uh…ham it up (yeah, that’s it) for the camera. Its always great to photograph someone when they do all the work for you.
I shot all over the East Oahu and Waikiki and had a darn fun time doing it. As I’ve been told, its not work when you love what you do.
I was sad some of my hotel work from the Edition Waikiki wasn’t used but alas, you can’t publish it all.
The three floaters just lined up perfectly for this shot. I mean who wouldn’t want to swim around in a pool in Honolulu? Or at least see it on print…
Tsunami Fundraiser
Japan is in bad shape. Tens of thousands are homeless while more than 20,000 are now presumed dead or missing. The Japanese economy is struggling. Entire villages are gone. Its a tragedy beyond what words can describe. The effects will surely surely filter down to the West.
Hawaii, with its large Japanese and Japanese American population, is strongly sympathetic with the tsunami and nuclear tragedy and has done much to raise funds for those in need. Masaharu Morimoto of Iron Chef fame held a fundraiser last night at his restaurant, Morimoto Waikiki. A sellout crowd of 350 people attended and the event raised more than $100,000. Sushi, sake, and songs. A great event all around.
I participated in the live auction by donating two images from my 2010 geisha series. While working in Japan, I was granted rare permission to go “behind the scenes” with an apprentice geisha, or maiko, to document her transformation from normal Japanese teenage into a traditional Japanese entertainer. Access to geishas and maikos is very restricted to Japanese and foreigners find it even harder to meet or even see a true geisha/maiko in Japan. The access allowed me to photograph her applying her makeup, fixing her elaborate hairstyle, and donning a traditional kimono.
Little did I know that this access would help me raise more than $2000 at the auction for the two images auctioned off.
Kristin Jackson, of Jackson Ink, the PR firm which works with Morimotos, holds the the framed image which raised big money last night.
All the proceeds from the event were given to the American Red Cross Japan earthquake and Pacific tsunami relief fund. I feel very proud to have given so little yet made a difference last night. Many of us just sit around and facebook or twitter about how sad they feel but few do anything. We did something. We helped.
We made a difference.
37,000 plus…and a shaka!
37,000 plus images
482.38 gigs to be precise. I’ve been re editing all the work from Japan. I’m worn. I can’t believe I took that many pictures.
So as I edited through some of the outtakes and non assignment locations, I found a few little gems here and there. I’ll be posting individual images in the next few posts.
After being in Japan for sometime, I got tired of eating Japanese food. Yeah sure, I eat that all that Japanese food back in Honolulu but I can easily go to get a cheeseburger (not like a Texas burger mind you) and fries anytime I want. I do have to declare Tanaka Saimin makes a mean cheeseburger with fries.
With that in mind, a month is a long time not to eat, well, as they say, comfort food. I don’t need that much comfort in food as I am very quick to adapt to the local food wherever I travel to (I mean what is American food? burgers, pizza, and chicken wings?) so I never have too much of a breakdown. And besides, Japanese food, including the stuff they make from other countries (Japanese croissants are amazing!!!!!) is mostly near perfect. Yes, there are loads of interpretations (pizza with natto?!?!?!) but we are in a global market so nothing is never or not available. (yes…double negs)
But its still hard to be in Japan and not have a good grasp of Japanese. Most menus in Japan are mostly written in….anyone? anyone? Bueller? Bueller? …. in Japanese. If I was by myself, I was resigned to pointing at pictures on the menu to order or sadly dragging a willing waiter/waitress outside to the front of the restaurant where I could point at the little plastic food models. 
Ah, my big mouth taking a back seat to my index finger… (T_T) it is a bit intimidating for me to be on my own and try to get into the swing of functioning in Japanese. Loads of misunderstood nods, hai’s and wakaranai‘s! I let on I don’t really understand too much but I’ve gotten better. Japanese is just a tough thing to learn.
So when I had the quick chance to pop into a McDonalds in Osaka for a quick bite, I knew I’d get something pretty good (if you consider McDonalds good) and the menu would be in Engrish. The meal might come with a side nori (seeweed) but it’d be a good ol’ processed quality controlled food. Yet, as I read over the menu ( as children and old ladies stare at me from all angles) I couldn’t help but to stick to the Japanese style food and go for this one item on the meal called the Shaka Shaka Chicken.
Hmmm…What might this be? Chicken with pineapple? Chicken wrrapped in spam? Nothing of the sort. It was a fried chicken patty served in a little paper bag in which you’d sprinkle a package of this peppery salt into the bag and then then…shaka shaka! (see instructions on bag) HO…brudda that was way cool and really GOOD. Crispy, spicy, and so American in that unique Japanese way.
I guessed the reference to the shaka was McDonald’s clever way of saying shake shake. They couldn’t (I assume) state shakey shakey because Shakey’s Pizza is still alive and well in Tokyo (hmmm….) and using that term would warrant a nice little law suit. Hence, Micky D’s borrowed the lovable, yet misunderstood, shaka from the Aloha State’s aloha spirit.
Now if we could only get McDonalds US to adapt something as tasty and cool.
How about a badonkadonk burger?
(that killed me…)