Last night, I attended the opening reception for the charity photo exhibition organised to raise funds for the people of Northeast Japan who are suffering the fallout from the March earthquake and tsunami.

Though the underlying impetus for the event is nothing to be happy about, it was certainly good to see so many people, particularly from the underwater photo and video community, pulling together and cooperating for the purpose of raising funds.

There was food, drink, a few speeches (No one warned me I had to get up and say something!), and an opportunity to see many people I haven’t been able to spend time with for a while.

Among the highlights of the evening for me was bumping into Tateishi-san, who founded Diver magazine and was the first person in Japan to support my work and help me get established. He has since retired, so it was a rare pleasure to have a chance to catch up with him:

Tateishi-san, who was the first publisher to support me in Japan

Also among the attendees was Ikuo Nakamura, who is one of the most well-known underwater photographers in Japan. I first met him some years ago when he visited Singapore courtesy of a photo exhibit organised by Epson.

Since then, we’ve made it a point to get together every once in a while to brainstorm (i.e., get ridiculously drunk), but my intense travel schedule in recent months has meant that we’re long overdue for another problem-solving session to address the woes of the world.

Me with Ikuo Nakamura

At the end of the evening, the organisers sent the contributing photographers off with a nice present, commemorative sake (rice wine) produced in honour of Dr Hideyo Noguchi.

Commemorative sake in honour of Hideyo Noguchi

The exhibition at Hideyo Noguchi Memorial Hall continues until 31 July, open daily from 12:00 to 20:00. In addition to T-shirts, photo books, and products from northeastern Japan, the photos on display are also available for purchase…with every last Yen being donated to relief and reconstruction efforts.

Just a reminder that there will be a charity photo exhibition starting next Saturday (16 July) in Tokyo at the Hideyo Noguchi Memorial Hall. The exhibit will be open between 12:00 and 20:00 through 31 July.

Admission is free, but 100% of proceeds from all sales and contributions go toward helping the people of northeast Japan, who are unfortunately still a long way off from getting back to life as usual.

Charity photo exhibit to raise funds for the people of
Northeast Japan affected by the March earthquake and tsunami

I’ll be there for the opening reception on 16 July at 18:00, as will many of the participating photographers and volunteers.

If you are in Tokyo, please consider dropping by. For more information, please visit the event site: Charity photo exhibition for Northeast Japan Tsunami Region

It’s been over two months since the earthquake + tsunami + nuclear meltdown + bureaucratic/ political/ corporate bungling disasters struck the northeast of Japan. Even though the story has faded from the headlines of international publications, the consequences of the cataclysmic events continue to ripple through the nation, especially for the people in the affected areas.

Over a hundred thousand people are still displaced, some perhaps for the rest of their lives; local industries have been wiped out; agricultural products are being destroyed due to contamination from radiation; and at least one nuclear reactor has melted down.

The outpouring of direct assistance and financial aid from around the world has been fantastic, and has certainly demonstrated how generous and caring people can be. The people of Japan have also been incredibly responsive and resilient, sending food, supplies, and money, as well as travelling to afflicted areas to provide volunteer labour and skills.

The crisis is far from over though, and in extreme times and circumstances like this, every contribution is meaningful.

To help raise additional funds for the people of northeast Japan, the Hideyo Noguchi Memoral Hall in Tokyo is organising a communal photography exhibition featuring images and video footage from a wide range of contributors, including both professionals and amateurs.

In case you’re wondering, Hideyo Noguchi is a famous doctor/ bacteriologist whose portrait appears on the Japanese 1,000 Yen note. Noguchi-san was born in Fukushima prefecture, which is ground zero for the nuclear reactor meltdown(s).

A handful of my photographs will be among those on display at the exhibit, which runs from 16 July (Saturday) to 31 July (Sunday), from 12:00 to 20:00 each day, with an opening reception on 16 July at 18:00.

One of my photos that will be on display

Admission to the exhibition will be free (thanks to the generosity of several corporate sponsors), but there will be sales of books, images, and products from northeast Japan, with all proceeds to be contributed as financial aid.

If you are in Tokyo and would like more information, click here to see the event site (Japanese), and here to see a Google map to the location.

In a couple of weeks, I’ll be headed to one of my favourite dive destinations, Papua New Guinea!

I’ll be on MV Golden Dawn with the dynamic duo of Captain Craig and Bob Halstead, along with a whole bunch of fun fellow divers who possess both an adventurous spirit and limitless patience (in order to put up with Craig and Bob).

During this upcoming adventure, we’ll be exploring PNG’s barrier reef system, then winding our way up to Milne Bay and beyond.

But before we head out to sea, I’ll be giving a talk about underwater photography and marine life in Port Moresby on 29 May at the Royal Papua Yacht Club.

Photography talk in Port Moresby on 29 May 2011
Click the image to see more details

I plan on showing a bunch of pretty pictures from recent travels, while trying not to ramble too much. I will have just stepped off the plane that morning, so I’m sure I’ll be tired and somewhat incoherent…but that’s not terribly unusual.

I just realised that the nice promotional graphic (Thanks for putting together the graphic Jason!) doesn’t include any images from PNG. I will definitely be showing some images from my visits to PNG. Here’s a preview:

Spectacular pink and orange soft corals in full bloom

Bright orange Rhinopias aphanes with serious attitude, Papua New Guinea

If you happen to live in Port Moresby, please consider dropping by! There are K13,000 worth of prizes being given away.

If you find yourself in Edinburgh in the near future, check out Into The Deep, an outdoor exhibition of underwater images being held at St. Andrew Square.

Into the Deep exhibition at St Andrew square in Edinburgh

Several of my photographs are on display, including my image of four sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) that received first prize in the Underwater category at the Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition last year.

My photo of four sperm whales

Part of the Edinburgh International Science Festival, the exhibit was put together by Steve and Kathy Bloom, whom I had the pleasure of meeting while I was in the UK in October.

The exhibition is free of charge, and open from 08:00 to 18:00 daily until 1 May 2011.

Photographs above courtesy of Steve and Kathy Bloom.

Sperm whales have been good to me.

More by chance than design, they’ve played a role in every major contest I’ve entered.

Back in the year 2000, I won the grand prize at The Blue Earth Underwater Photo Contest (the largest underwater photo contest in Japan) with my image of a sperm whale with its mouth wide open and a longline hook in its mouth.

A year later, my book Silent Symphony received the International Prize for Books of Underwater Images at The World Festival of Underwater Images in Antibes, France. One of the photographs in the book was of a sperm whale.

This year (I haven’t entered any contests during the interim), I submitted a handful of images to the Veolia Environment Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition (co-organised by Veolia, the Natural History Museum and BBC Wildlife Magazine) and was fortunate enough to have this photograph of four sperm whales selected as the winning image in the Underwater World category:

First place in the Underwater World category of the Veolia Environment Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2010

Being in London for the past few days has been an incredible experience…first, seeing so many beautiful images collected and displayed in a magnificent venue (the Natural History Museum), and second, having the opportunity to meet so many gifted photographers covering the entire range of nature photography.

If you live in London, or happen to be in one of the cities that hosts the travelling photo exhibit in the coming months, I highly recommend making time to see the selected images. They are, in a word, inspiring.

Finally…a huge “Thank You!” to the organisers and sponsors for putting on a terrific contest, arguably the best of its kind in the world, and for giving me the chance to meet so many wonderful people.

Last Friday evening, I did my first-ever talk in Japanese at the National Museum of Nature and Science, located in Ueno Park in Tokyo. My presentation was about sperm whales, and was the last in a series that accompanied a special exhibit about mammals, organised in conjunction with Asahi Shimbun and WWF Japan.

The talk was in the main exhibition hall, adjacent to a large life-size display of a sperm whale head with a giant squid in its mouth. My photo of a real sperm whale with giant squid in its mouth was located in front of the display.

Notice the sophisticated pointer I used.

A lot of people showed up (thank you!), perhaps the most for any of the talks held in conjunction with this exhibition (which says a lot about the high level of interest here in marine mammals).

Given that I had never made a public presentation in Japanese before, I was somewhat nervous, but I got into the groove fairly quickly and didn’t stumble too much (I think).

I did struggle for proper word choice a few times, but fortunately, Yamada-san from the museum’s Department of Zoology was on hand to help me through difficult topics like explaining the inner workings of a sperm whale’s enormous head.

After the talk, I answered a few questions, said hi to friends who were kind enough to drop by and listen to me ramble, and then went out for a couple of beers + great food with Yamada-san and a few other people from the museum.

All-in-all, a terrific evening.

I’d like to extend special thanks to Tamura-san from Asahi Shimbun for inviting me to do the talk, and also to the National Museum of Nature and Science for taking a chance on my Japanese language proficiency!

The best (and only) shot of a blue whale I have

９月２４日（金）国立科学博物館にて、１８：００から３０分マッコウクジラについて講演する予定です。

国立科学博物館の特別大哺乳類展（朝日新聞とWWF Japan協賛）は、７月１０日から９月２６日まで開催されており、すでに８月中旬で、入場者２０万人以上に達しています。

現在、僕が小笠原で撮影したマッコウクジラがダイオウイカをくわえている写真が展示されています。この瞬間を撮らえた写真は世界初です。

マッコウクジラとダイオウイカ

今回のトーク内容は、小笠原とドミニカ国で撮影した写真と映像を見ていただきながら、世界の一番大きな肉食動物と一緒に泳いだ経験、例えば、クジラが発するソナーの感覚、自分のフィンをかじられた瞬間、十数頭に囲まれた経験、ドミニカで出会った「スカー」という特別に触れるマッコウクジラの話などを予定しています。

もちろん、全部日本語で話すつもりです。僕の日本語を動物研究部脊椎動物研究グループ長の山田格さんが助けてくれると思います。

ギャラリートークは無料ですが、博物館の入場に１、４００円がかかります。しかし、金曜日の場合、１７：００以降に二人で入場すると２，０００円です。詳細はこのページを見てください。

皆んなのお越しをお待ちしています。

The National Museum of Nature and Science in Tokyo has been holding a special exhibition on marine mammals in conjunction with the Asahi Shimbun and WWF Japan.

The exhibition started on 10 July and winds up on 26 September. As of the middle of August, over 200,000 people have visited the exhibit!

Female sperm whale with giant squid in its mouth.

My photograph of a female sperm whale consuming part of an Architeuthis giant squid is on display as part of the exhibit, and I am scheduled to give a talk on what it’s like to be in the water with sperm whales on Friday, 24 September, from 18:00 to 18:30.

Since the museum is in Tokyo, I’ll be doing my best to give the talk entirely in Japanese (gulp). Fortunately, Tadasu Yamada from the Division of Vertebrates in the Department of Zoology at the Museum will be on hand to help translate when I exceed the limits of my Japanese vocabulary.

I’m not exactly sure how the talk will go, but I’m planning to take along some sperm whale images and video clips from my recent trips to Ogasawara and Dominica.

If you can make it to the talk, I’ll tell you what it’s like to be in the water next to the largest living carnivore on the planet, to have your fin chewed by a sperm whale, to get ping-ed by sperm whale sonar, to watch a large group of socialising whales, and even to stroke an unusual sperm whale named Scar that seems to seek out human attention.

My talk is free, but there is an admission charge of 1,400 Yen to get into the museum. There’s a special rate of 2,000 Yen for two people together if you enter the museum after 17:00 on that day.

If you happen to be in Tokyo on 24 September, please drop by and say hello! Details are on this page (in Japanese).

Here is the presentation that I gave recently at TDEX on 10 and 11 July at the Queen Sirikit Convention Center in Bangkok (See…this is proof that I did more than just overeat while I was in Thailand!).

The 26.5-minute talk is entitled “The End of Photography”, and it’s a summary of my views on the implications of the switch to digital technology for photographers and other content creators.

To be clear…I’m not referring to pixel-counting, the pros/ cons of CF cards vs. SD cards, which computer to use, which processing software to use, or any other technical issue.

The primary point I’m trying to convey is that the switch from analogue to digital has far-reaching implications for all photographers, most of which we’ve collectively only begun to explore and appreciate.

I believe that the issues I set out are fundamentally reshaping the way we can (and should) conceive, plan and execute creative endeavours.

There’s one thing you’ll have to bear with if you watch/ listen to the presentation.

The plan was to have a video camera record the talk, so I could splice in some video footage to liven up the presentation video and also to highlight the occasions when I was pointing things out on my presentation slides.

As it turned out, the video camera wasn’t actually on when I gave the talk, so there are some “slow” sections during the presentation, when there’s no visual action to go along with my rambling, just a static slide.

Hopefully the content of my talk will prove so compelling and spell-binding that you won’t even notice.

In case you’re interested, I put the presentation together in Keynote (part of Apple’s iWork suite), recorded the audio with a Zoom H4n hooked up to a Sennheiser EW 122-P lavalier microphone via a sound board at the venue.

After the talk, I synced the timing of the slides with the audio track by using Keynote’s built-in Record function, and then used Final Cut Studio (specifically Final Cut Pro and Soundtrack Pro) to edit the audio.

Using Soundtrack Pro made a noticeable difference in audio quality, as the presentation environment was “challenging”, i.e., open area with lots of competing ambient noise, echo, random people walking by, etc.