世界でもっともマクロの撮影で有名なダイブサイト、インドネシアのレンベーにて、Zillion主催で僕がフォトセミナー を行います。

レンベーはインドネシアのスラウェシー島の北端にある。１０数年前、レンベーがダイバーの間で知られるようになった。それは、他の場所でめったに見れない生き物がレンベーの海で次から次と発見されるようになったからだ。

例えば、当時話題になったのは、ピグミーシーホース。ほとんどのレンベーのダイブサイトで２種類が確認された。きれいなウミウシ、イザリ魚類、 ヒメオニオコゼ、ミミックオクトパス, ウミテング、ニシキフウライウなどがよく見られる。ニシキテグリの交尾が見られる場所もある。

最近日本のダイビング雑誌でレンベーが紹介されているが、すでに世界中のダイバーにとって注目される場所になったと言えるだろう。

ダイビングは主にスラウェシー本島とレンベー島の間にあるレンベー海峡と呼ばれる海域で潜る。ここは栄養分が多く、魚にとって安全な場所になっている。そのため、珍しい生き物が自然に集まり、ダイバーを飽きさせない。。。捕獲シーン、交尾、産卵シーンなどがよく見られる。

僕はレンベーの海が大好きだ！

このフォトセミナーを通して、僕はこの海を皆さんに紹介し、また写真の撮り方などもアドバイスし、ここの海でいい写真を撮ってもらいたい。

宿泊するリゾートのオーナー は僕のタイの友人です。彼らも写真を撮るから、撮影する側の目線で利用しやすい施設を去年の秋にカサワリレンベーリゾートをオープンした。ここは少人数で、水中写真を撮る人向けのリゾートです。

例えば、経験豊富なガイドが揃っている。一人のガイドに最高３人までのダイバー。船にはカメラ機材を置く専用の場所がある。機材を洗う広い場所が用意されている。カメラセッティング出来る専用の部屋がある。

僕は今まで世界各国のダイブリゾートを宿泊したが、これほどまでに充実した施設は無いと思う。安心して、撮影に集中出来る、且つゆっくり過ごせるリゾートです。

詳細は下記の通り：

• Aグループ：４月１日 から
• Bグループ：４月８日から
• 各グループ: 7泊8日10ダイブ付き
• 予定料金：233,000円 (成田発着)、249,000円(関空発着)
• 特典：フォトセミナー期間中では、Zillion製最新ハウジングをカメラ・レンズ・ストロボ等を一式無料

詳細はこちら。

僕が最近レンベーで撮影した写真を見てください。

では、レンベーで会いましょう！

I’ve been wanting to visit the Solomon Islands for a long time. My good friend Eric Cheng is headed there in September this year aboard the Bilkiki, which is great for him but a real bummer for me because it conflicts with other plans I’ve made. There simply aren’t enough months in a year.

If you’re looking for someplace to go around that time of year, this is probably something you want to consider. The Solomons is an excellent destination for photography, and you can bug Eric for photo tips. I’m sure he won’t mind.

Most of the spaces on the trip are filled already, but there are still a few spots available.
For more information, see here.

Amazon.com is one of the most successful internet companies in existence, and is supposedly quite a progressive company. It’s amazing to find that Amazon is facilitating the sale of shark fin on its website, via third party Pacific Rim Gourmet, which is also a US company.

The practice of finning sharks is illegal in US waters, so by selling shark fins, Amazon is condoning an illegal practice. The international dive community has taken note of this over the holidays, and people all over the world are sending feedback to Amazon.

If you’d like to add your voice, you can emails Amazon’s Customer Service and Investor Relations departments at advantage@amazon.com and ir@amazon.com. You can also add your feedback directly on the product page.

Pacific Rim Gourmet’s email address is customerservice@pacificrim-gourmet.com.

Note: Several hours after putting up this blog post, the shark fin product was removed by Amazon.com. Thanks Amazon for listening to your customers!

Another Note: Divester reports that shark fin is still being sold on Amazon through another company, American Roland Corp. Let Amazon know your thoughts.

Final Note: Amazon has pulled all shark fin products from its site.

The Lembeh Strait is probably the most famous critter/ muck diving spot in the world. I’ve been to many other places with great muck diving, but Lembeh produces some of the most consistent results in some of the most comfortable diving conditions.

I’m scheduled to visit Lembeh again later this year. I’ll be holding a photo workshop on the new Archipelago Adventurer I liveaboard (from 24-28 March), which is a boutique liveaboard that specialises in cruising only the Lembeh Strait.

[more…]

During the first few days of the year, many people in Japan visit a Shinto shrine to welcome in the new year. This first (and for many people the only) annual visit to a shrine is called hatsumode (初詣).

People visit shrines to make wishes, pay respect to the spirits enshrined at the particular location, spend time with family and friends, and to seek blessings and protection in the form of mamori.

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Traditional fare on New Year Day in Japan is called osechi ryouri (おせち料理). Like the toshi koshi soba you’re supposed to have on New Year’s Eve, most of the food that makes up osechi ryouri carries a meaning.

First, the term “osechi” probably derives from the term osekku (お節句), which refers to the traditional practice of offering thanks to spirits/ gods for the harvest. This involved sharing a meal, and was practiced five times a year.

Eventually, this evolved into a once-a-year event at New Year, and in addition, took on a different signficance. Osechi ryouri is prepared in large quantities and served for the first three days of the new year. This is meant to give housewives a 3-day break at the beginning of the year from the daily chore of preparing meals.

A few decades ago, it was probably quite common for nearly every household to prepare osechi ryouri. There’s a lot of work involved, and it makes sense when there’s a large gathering of people, like two or three generations living together under one roof.

These days, with more single people and young people who live away from home, the number of people preparing their own osechi seems to be decreasing. Instead, you can order your osechi ryouri sets in advance from department stores and other places, and even have it delivered to your home.

I prefer mine homemade.

Some of the things that are quite common in osechi ryouri (and their symbolic meaning based on play on words) include:

• Seaweed roll (昆布巻き) — happiness
• Black soybeans (黒豆) — smooth progress in work
• Chestnut and sweet potato mix (栗きんとん) — accumulation of wealth
• Shrimp — long life
• Red and white fish cakes (かまぼこ) — red and white are traditional celebratory colours in Japan

There’s more, but that gives you an idea. Basically, there’s lots of good, healthy food (plenty of vegetables, not much fried food, and essentially no red meat), and you’re supposed to feast on it for three days, along with healthy portions of sake.

Crossing over from one year to the next in Japan traditionally involves a lot of food. The evening before the new year, you’re supposed to have toshi koshi soba (年越しそば), which translated literally means something like “soba noodles to cross over to the new year”.

This tradition started some time during the Edo period (1603-1867), and it carries a few meanings. First, the soba, or buckwheat, noodles are long and thin, which symbolises a desire/ hope for long life and luck for you and your family.

In addition, the noodles break relatively easily, which is meant to symbolise a break from the passing year’s difficulties, problems, debts and other troubles.

Though many of Japan’s traditions are disappearing rapidly, this one fortunately seems to be hanging on.

And even if you don’t entirely buy into the symbolism, the noodles are delicious.

飼い主から言われた。おせち料理を食べたければ、お風呂に入りなさいと。

それは無いだろうと思いつつ、仕方なく入った。は〜

Eco-minded people around the world know that promoting destructive eating habits like consuming shark fin is a common problem in Asia. Reviews of shark fin restaurants (read: advertisers) in newspapers often appear with glowing praise for shark fin soup.

Fortunately, in recent years, the frequency with which these types of blatant promotion appear seems to have decreased, in large part due to the weight of public opinion sent to the publications in question.

[more…]

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO, part of the United Nations) has released a report indicating that cattle are a more significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions than the entire transportation industry.

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I recently came across the text from a lecture that Michael Crichton gave a few years ago. Crichton’s discussion pertains to rationality, in particular as applied to the modern-day phenomenon of “science by public consensus”, which is of course not science at all, but mob rule by another name.

Crichton takes the unpopular and un-politically correct position that commonly held views of global warming are based not upon science, but on politics, manipulation of public opinion, and quasi-religious extremist faith.

Whether you believe that humanity is the prime cause of global climate change or not, his lecture is worth a read. The substance of the argument is well constructed, and his message applies to popularly held views on most environmental issues.

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