Photo of the Week (September 9, 2011) "Street Car" Kagoshima, Japan

Photo of the Week (September 2, 2011) "Fountain Suspended" Kagoshima, Japan

Photo of the Week (August 26, 2011) Japanese Girl Crossing a Stream

Photo of the Week (August 19, 2011) Dragonfly On a Rock

Photo of the Week (August 12, 2011) Early Morning Near the Kita Kami River

Photo of the Week (August 5, 2011) "Clouds" on a Flight from Kagoshima to Tokyo

Photo of the Week (July 29, 2011) Sansa Festival Morioka, Japan

Photo of the Week (July 22, 2011) Traditional Dancers, Morioka Station

As I rushed to Morioka station to catch an express train to Tokyo, I ran into these beautiful traditional dancers in the middle of their routine. I couldn’t resist a couple shots before boarding the train.

Photo of the Week (July 15, 2011) "Dragonfly"

While taking a lunch break recently at Senzoku College of Music in Tokyo, I relaxed near a lilypad pond and took a lot of photos. I was amazed how much activity and great opportunities for photos were near that pond.

Photo of the Week (July 8, 2011) "Morning Dew", Kita Kami River

Because of my new teaching schedule, I’ve been getting up around 4:30am and taking an early morning bike ride. Of course, I bring the trumpet and camera for a nice work-out before teaching. These early morning trips have really turned into quite a good experience for capturing nature at it’s best. Great time to do a long slow warm-up on the horn too.

Photo of the Week (July 1, 2011) "Sunset", Iwate, Japan

Recently, I’ve been reading and studying a lot about shutter speed and aperature size. Been experimenting a lot with lighting. Took about 100 photos during this sunset just trying different settings. Got maybe 10 photos that I felt good about.

Photo of the Week (June 24, 2011) Largo Cafe, Morioka, Japan

Last week, I found a great little French cafe on Chuo Dori in Morioka called, “Largo.” Atmosphere, lighting, vibe, food and drink are great. Jun, the owner, is an extremely nice guy to sit and talk with and a very friendly host.

Photo of the Week (June 17, 2011) Partial eclipse of the moon 6/16/11

Last week we had a lunar eclipse. I woke up at 3:15am to attempt to get a decent shot of the moon. It was my first time photographing the moon and found that I had trouble deciding which settings to use because of the brightness of the moon.

Photo of the Week (June 10, 2011) Hachimantai, Iwate, Japan May 2011

On a recent trip into the mountains of Iwate prefecture, I decided to try my hand at photographing mountain streams and waterfalls.

Photo of the Week (June 3, 2011) Japanese Bee Morioka Park, Japan 4/2011

Walking through Iwate Park looking for signs of spring to photograph, I stumbled on this Japanese bee. It had huge eyes!

Photo of the Week (May 28, 2011) Japanese Eagle (Washi)

Over the past 6 weeks, I’ve had an interesting development during my afternoon practice sessions at the Kita Kami River in Morioka, Japan (Iwate Prefecture). This Japanese washi (eagle) has been showing up everyday about 30 minutes after I start practicing. During the past couple of weeks there have been two eagles together everyday. I did a little reading about them and found out there are less than 300 in Japan now. So, I always have the camera with me and I’m trying to get some shots each time I go there to practice. I was able to get this shot as the eagle circled above me while I practiced. Hopefully, I can upgrade my equipment soon. I really want to get some great photos of these eagles.

Photo of the Week (May 21, 2011) Snow Boarders Hachimantai, Japan 5/2011

On a trip into the mountains of northwest Iwate prefecture last week, I was able to get some shots of young snow boarders at Hachimantai. Yes, it was May 16 and the road had just been opened the day before for the first time this year because of snow!

Photo of the Week (May 13, 2011) Takamatsu Park Morioka, Japan Cherry Blossoms

Storm clouds and cherry blossoms at sundown don’t seem to make a nice couple but, on this day, I thought the color and the emotion created was great. Takematsu Park in Morioka, Japan.

Photo of the Week (May 6, 2011) Sunset Iwate, Japan 4/11

A recent photo from an evening practice session along the Kita Kami River in Iwate, Japan.

Photo of the Week (April 29, 2011) Iwate Koen, Japan

October, 2010 at Morioka Koen (park). Wasn’t a particularly happy day in my life and the raindrops on the leaf made me think of teardrops.