Tag: Street

Quick visit to Amsterdam

Back in Amsterdam! I´m here again!

A couple of days have been spent in Amsterdam, Netherlands for some education. The feeling when traveling down was quite good. I looked forward to meeting all new colleagues from all over the world but the trip wouldn’t have any romantic “Fault in our stars”-theme, not planned anyway. What I did have was Charli XCX “Boom clap” in the back of my head and that cheered up my mood enough to get me going.

I have been in Amsterdam a couple of times but every time there is something new you haven´t seen before, something new you haven´t noticed or something that changes the way you feel about the city.

When I arrived to Amsterdam there was rain in the air. It was quite cold and like a wet blanket over Amsterdam the city slowed down a bit. Not much but enough to be noticeable.

I guess that basement is a concept that doesn’t exist here in Amsterdam.

To me this is a typical Amsterdam-view. One of the many canals, the typical Dutch houses on the side, bicycles and cars and in the water small boats. This could have been taken anywhere in Amsterdam. I do like it and can walk for hours along the canals, so there is not criticism here!

Looking to close and you will fall into the water. The are no guardrails so I can only guess how many tourist that they have to help out of the water every day… Since the area closest to the canal is usually reserved for parking, the fire department in Amsterdam has a group specialized on car “fishing”.

Love locks. As in many cities they exists here as well. I kind of like the idea to lock your love on a bridge in a special city. Hopefully it works out and how cool wouldn’t it be to go back in a couple of years to find your lock still in place, still there and still keeping its promise.

The nights in Amsterdam is special, very special. If you are coming from Sweden there are so many things that are just strange. The legalization of smoking cannabis has created a totally absurd industry of coffee shops, selling everything you need to fly home without an airplane. I don’t know if it is most popular among the tourists or the locals but most coffee shops where really crowded.

Still, it is very beautiful to walk through the city at night. There is always a lot of people out walking and there is only like one or two ours just right before the clock hit five in the morning when it´s almost quiet. And yes this is from one of those early (or do you way late) hours.

The famous or infamous red light district is where most of the prostitutes works. I find it strange that it is so in the open. There is no closed door, no hiding behind curtains. Girls are sitting on display in the windows just like fashion clothes, electronics or any other “thing” on special bargain.

First time I visited Amsterdam I thought it was a little bit strange but fun. But this time I got really depressed seeing the girls sitting there with a fake smile waiving at you. I just can´t imagine that the girls sitting there grew up without dreams and ambitions. Dreaming of a life full of happiness, meaning and a will to do things better. Life is not always fair but it must have been a long and really hard way for every one of them before ending up in one of the windows at red light. Once there, how do you then find the strength to dream about something else?

I took the image it in one of the many alleys and the love sign just pops out and signals love, like hope in the darkness. But here in Amsterdam I find it a little bit hard to connect the word love on the sign to the kind of love that have the power to move mountains. Here is has been transformed to something else…

This is the proof that I wasn´t alone on my morning/night walk. I suppose that they were coming home from a hard party night in Amsterdam. When it comes to the seagulls I do not count them as company, yet. They really never sleeps, just like the city.

Time to visit Amsterdam´s famous Rijksmuseum. A truly mind blowing collection of art from Vincent Van Gogh, Monet, Rembrandt and hundreds or perhaps thousands of other great artists. The sign the kids are climbing on says, “I Amsterdam” so now you don´t have to guess that.

And there it is. The “Night Watch” by Rembrandt! But do I like it? Answer it unfortunately no. This is not my favorite at all. Before going here I know how Rembrandt usually paints and to be honest, it is not my cup of tea. However this is such a famous painting so I just thought that I would be more, or should be more, how to put it, amazed. No argue about the painting is an impressive painting but it´s not for me, sorry Rembrandt.

Well out on the streets again during the day the real life of the city hits you. Nothing stands still for more than a second or so. Everything moves, everything makes sounds and everywhere you look there are people rushing by. There are bicycles everywhere, and when I say everywhere I really mean it. You need to know where to look, where not to go and be alert to not getting hit.

I like colors, patterns and the funny small things that not everybody have the time to notice. I usually stops and takes pictures of graffiti, signs or other strange objects. Must guess that I sometimes look quite strange, when I take a picture of something and everybody around ask them self, why did he take a picture of that? Or more correct, they see me as a Japanese tourist and that makes it ok to take pictures of strange things.

Might be hard to see in the picture but this house owner had a sign outside saying “Don´t even think of parking here”. Inside behind the windows he had reindeer head staring at you, should you even thing of parking there…

A store that only sells Nutella! Just walking in to the store and let the sweet smell of chocolate fill your whole body, that is amazing (sorry Rembrandt). So until next time going back to Amsterdam I´ll keep this images and my memories close and perhaps I´m back sooner than expected.

Boom clap
The sound of my heart
The beat goes on and on and on and on and

Boom clap
You make me feel good
Come on to me come on to me now

LOVE!

/Thomas Tanisawa

February 27, 2015
Late summer in Budapest

Together with my colleges I spend a weekend in Budapest as a great ending of our much appreciated summer here in Sweden. Just as my mindset was setting in for a long and cold winter it felt nice to have a quick reminder of the summer. It was +20 and the sun was really shining, lovely! This was my first trip to Budapest and it was also a quite short one, so I definitely need to go back to see all the things that I missed.

Our hotel was located on the opposite side of the square next to the great market in Budapest so of course we went in to have a look. Lots of small shops selling everything from meat, vegetables to langos and t-shirt with “I love Budapest” printed on the front.

I just loved this cast iron staircase. I guess a lot of effort went in to this.

Crossing one of the many iron bridges over river Danube. This is the Széchenyi Chain Bridge build 1849. Normally this two lane bridge is jammed with cars but this day there was a special “car free day” in Budapest so you were able to walk in the middle when crossing.

From the Budapest castle there was a nice view over the city.

Three is a crowd…

Here you can see the Budapest castle from the other side of the river.

October 2, 2014
Streets of Dublin

I have had the opportunity to spend some days in Dublin, Ireland and it has been with mixed feelings.

It was my first visit to Dublin and to be honest the first impression was that I do not want to come back here again. It is a city that partially was in ruins mixed with new modern offices buildings in glass and steel. Everything was in high contrast. Large shopping streets with high end stores and just a corner from that, someone has arranged a temporary sleeping place out of cardboard boxes for the night.
That said I would be very happy to come back again to be able to see a Dublin back on its feet economically, starting to rebuild everything that was broken.

The intention for my visit was business so I didn´t have that much time to spend on walking around on the streets. Anyway a couple of hours out walking are better than nothing, at least better than the inside of a conference room at the hotel…

My first impression of Dublin: This is a modern city of steel and glass. Everything looked like it was build last year and that the optimism was in the air.

Out on the street it was a quite cool mix of shops and stores. Large famous brands had stores next door to old-fashioned butchers and pubs. This butcher had a nice mosaic entrance and the offer of the day handwritten on the window.

A lot if the buildings had rich décor and were painted in bright colors. It looked like someone back in the days really cared for the look and feel of the streets. This had unfortunately changed… The will to do it might still exist but the means to get it done was in most cases missing. I didn’t manage to find out what was behind these windows in the Temple bar district, but it definitely wasn´t a “normal” shop.

This is a good example one of the many painted hoses in Dublin’s back alleys. There were several houses that were painted in a graffiti like style that made the whole street just pop out from the ordinary brick red or concrete gray.

This is early morning queuing for the buss. It looked like there was an unwritten rule saying that the safety distance between each person is one pole or more.

As soon as you took a step away from the main streets there was a maze of small streets. Most places looked abandoned and it was a quite depressing to see all hoses that someone a long time ago took the time and care to build, now was left to their own devices. Not even the bright colors could cheer it up.

To me this was a typical Dublin scene. This was a house that here I Sweden anyway, shouldn’t be suited for a public store. But here it was perfect for a second hand bicycle shop. All you hade to do was to claim the lot, paint the house and put up a nicely painted plank around it all!

If you were brave enough, the back alleys continued forever keeping a lot of small secret stores away from the tourists.

Hard to know if someone was building it up or tearing it down…

This is just a few minutes walk from my hotel out on the Point near the O2 arena. Apparently it wasn´t the O2 arena anymore and during my stay the new 3 (three tele company) sign was mounted on the wall. I do not now if it was planned, but it took them tree days to mount the sign.

This building was on the way up, hopefully. It looked however quite abandoned…

This was one of many places in the need of some love and care. When I stood there to take the image, the small cat studied my every move. Maybe I was the first person that stopped for more than two seconds. Can you spot him?

Old classic newsstand! Not everyday you see this, not back home in Stockholm anyway. This salesman had the possibility to read newspapers from all around the world in perhaps 20 different languages, I wonder if he reads a lot of different magazines or if he reads the same one everyday.

The two lads to the right seemed to have more than enough time to plan how to spend the day.

Even if you have bright colors on your shelter it must be more than depressing. Not having a safe and secure place to spend your night is something that I can´t even imagine. Unfortunately this wasn´t a rare sight and you could see people sleeping on benches and in stairways al over Dublin.

On one of the bridges over the canal dividing Dublin in a north and a south half, this man was sitting everyday (at least on the four days I was there but I would be surprised if it was coincidence) with a small cup in his hand. Not saying a word he just sat there hoping for some change coins from by passers.

On the same bridge as the man was sitting there was a lot of so called lovelocks. Couples write their names on a lock and together lock their love, in this case on the bridge. There were a lot of locks on this bridge and on a lot of other places to here in Dublin so there is obvious a lot of love in this city behind the crumbling facade.

I hope that if I return to Dublin in a couple of years all half ready abandoned building were finished and that the city was cleaned up and was given a total makeover of new paint. On top of that it would be nice of the number of locks on the bridges had doubled!

Best regards

/Thomas Tanisawa

September 15, 2014
Fotomaraton 2014

Fotomaraton 2014

I have just completed a photo marathon here in Stockholm… and to be honest it was quite challenging.

The rules are simple. You have one camera and during a period of 24 hours you have to take 24 images. The trick is that you do not know in advance the theme for all the 24 images. You only get four themes at the time and then you need to get to the next “check point” to get your next four themes. So at the start that was on Saturday at noon you got four themes and the location of the next check point. And then you had four hours to figure out what to capture, find the right location, motive. All images must be in the right order so you couldn´t take a picture on theme two before theme one. You are not allowed to edit the images in anyway after taken but you can use any build in functions and filters that the camera has, like black and white, sepia toning and so on.
Anyway, the challenge in this was to keep up a high motivation and creativity during the long 24 hour period… Since I´m not 20 anymore the “after” 00:00 hours was quite hard… I´m used to go to bed… but this night I couldn´t… Luckily I had my photo buddy Joel with me. Without him I would probably just fell asleep on a bench or at McDonalds.

So here are my images, some good and some really “not good”… I have to blame the missing my beauty sleep.

So here are my images taken during the long and sometimes cold 24 hours…

1: Photo marathon

My idea on this one was just that I didn´t want to take a photo on the starting flag, the crowd waiting to get their themes, like a lot of others did. This image on another participant was just there for a second and then he walked of, but it was enough for me.

2: Handmade

This is takes under St.Eriksbron in Stockholm and is famous for its many graffiti and street artists that hang out here, showing expressing their art. This image is taken with a 30 sec shutter time and I running around with a hand held flash.

3: We have all been kids before

My initial idea was to capture someone doing, or rather failing on a skateboard. But I skipped that since I couldn’t find anyone willing to crash in front of the camera…

4: Haircut

At least it´s not just another crazy haircut…

5: The Swedish word “Lagom”

Initially I was imaging this as a woman carrying a handbag with her dog inside of it. However this was the best I found. It didn´t feel right to ask her to put the dog in a bag…

6: Summer flirt

Oh no, this one was a bad one…

7: Ocean

How do you take an inspirational image in Stockholm at the ocean… I guess this was the challenge.

8: Young in the city

At the same time as the photo marathon was going on there was a youth festival, so it should be quite easy to capture something some inspirational, but it wasn´t… It was hard to capture both youth AND the city in the same image.

9: Party

My first initial thought was to capture something with a lot of color and movement but it didn´t quite end up that way. I like this one, even if it might be hard to connect it to the actual theme, party.

10: Queer

Quite hard theme… I had no instant idea of what to capture but my thought went in the drag show direction. Then I just saw this image. It´s calm and relaxed and turn out really good with the reflection from the street light.

11: In the backseat

This turned out to be image of a man left in the backseat of the society rather than a couple making out in the backseat of a car.

12: The shadow side

This didn´t really turned out as I wanted. My idea was to get more of the colorful light from the building behind with and less of the foreground, but it was quite hard to move the stadium closer. 30 sec exposure time and again running around with a flash is behind this look.

13: Enlightened

Just an image of the lights from the city. At 2pm creativity is not always on top, at least not mine…

14: Better late than ever

Like the image even though it might not quite match the theme. (and yes that’s me on the box)

15: Dude

All that I knew was that I didn´t want to take a picture of any cool dude on the street. When I passed this man sleeping while sitting under his blanket, I thought that he would be a better dude than a cool one.

16: Spaceship

Ok, this must be the most pointless image I took during the marathon… To my defense I must have looked like a ufo while taking the image. This is what you get when taking a picture of a neon sign while spinning around…

17: Work

Ok, this one is not one of the best either. The construction site was totally empty so my photo buddy had to step in to do some work…

18: Periphery

This one was quite funny to take. It´s me on to the left (in the periphery) and to be able to take the image and be in it I had to run, a lot. The self timer on my camera is 12 seconds and it took me almost 11 second to run to the bench. So in just one second I had to sit down and look relaxed. It took a couple of times to get it right so for me this was the marathon part in the competition.

19: What time is it?

Oh no what a bad one…

20: Travel

I wonder how many other images the jury got in from the train station… So here is another one. The reflection turned out good, too bad that there was a group of people standing behind him.

21: Meeting place

Some lack of inspiration, but I like this one anyway.

22: Old meets new

This is taken in the old town in Stockholm. Beautiful buildings that some people just can´t resist covering with ugly tags…

23: Slussen

I didn´t have any idea of what to capture or if I wanted to capture something at Slussen at all. The one thing I felt capturing was this one. I liked the combination of the guy sitting bellow the stair, the curved shape and the mix of light and shadow.

24: Your participant number

Well let´s say that I just wanted to be able to finish the photo marathon and go home…

To wrap it all up it was a lot of fun!

Will I do it again next year?

Probably…

/Thomas Tanisawa

August 21, 2014
Looking ahead

Looking ahead through the lens of my Leica

Apparently I have a thing for taking photos looking like the ones bellow. Symmetrical with a fixed point or direction towards the horizon. I have never thought of it before and I do not intentionally go out and look for this type of motive. But I have tons of pictures looking like this so I apparently like the angle and the symmetrical element.

These photos are takes with my Leica M9 and 50 summicron.

In this the line towards the horizon is broken up but one could with ease imagine where all the lines would end up.

Like in this one. Shadows, forms, colors and the lines.

In a perfect world I would have waited 0,3 sec so he and his shadow would line up a little more even…

The national museum of modern art in Tokyo has a perfectly designed entrance, and on top of that some really cool exhibits!

Check it out

On the narrow streets underneath the subway lines going from Akihabara there are a countless number of shops and restaurants.

Even this small fish market in Sapporo I managed to capture a frame looking like this. Thins to the left that lines up with thing to he right…

And in this shopping mall, the same photo again.

Ok, this one deviates a little bit from the norm but its quite similar.

On my way to Yanaka. I was told that It should represent the “old” Tokyo. How it looked 50 years ago. I make a post later with some more photos, but I was a little bit disappointed. I do not now if I was told wrong or if I just had the wrong image in my mined of how it should look…

This is taken from Sapporo Tower. Again the same lineup, apart from the high point.

Yanaka cemetery. Beautiful place. Quiet, calm and millions of miles away from Tokyo’s neon and noise. Great escape only a couple of stations away from it all (and this perfect lineup!)

Now when I have noticed that I usually take these type of motive I need to figure out how to take better ones, or how to change my direction…

/Thomas Tanisawa

January 4, 2014
City walk in Stockholm

Spending a day in Stockholm

Today was a sunny and hot summer day here in Stockholm. I took my camera and went in to town to have some lunch and maybe shoot some pictures. It was almost too warm to be walking around but when the sun finally shines you are not allowed to complain…

Leica M9, 28 and 50 summicron was used.

Looking out from his outpost over the city.

Beach chairs has been put out on Sergels torg for tiered walkers or for those who want to have maximum attention.

Heavy rucksacks in the heat.

Family discussing where to go next.

A silent disapproval.

An umbrella in the sunshine is somewhat of a contrary, but it’s clever.

Just waiting for someone.

On vacation in Stockholm.

In the old part of Stockholm there are lot of small restaurants among the narrow streets where much needed shade could be found.

/Thomas Tanisawa

July 9, 2012
Short walk in Stockholm

Went out on the streets of Stockholm to catch some new shoots in the beautiful weather. The summer 2012 will go into the history as one of the coldest for as far as temperature measurements have been taken in Sweden… Anyway, this day was perfect!

Tourist everywhere. Funny how fast taking digital pictures has taken over from analog and the way that you get instant result on a small screen instead of waiting for a week or so. I once worked in a small photo shop and it wasn’t that unusual that one 36 roll of film contain photos from more than one Christmas…

Slowly walking down the old streets of Stockholm.

This kid has found something on the ground that obviously was a lot more interesting.

The combination high heels and streets made of round stones was a bad idea.

A stop for one of the most important shot for almost every visitor, a portrait with the Swedish royal castle as background.

Tired of walking? Park yourself on a bench and relax while watching everybody else rushing on to the next sightseeing goal.

A more and more common sight in Stockholm, beggars.

/Thomas Tanisawa

June 28, 2012
Hitting the streets of Tokyo II

Here is another round of shoots that I took in Tokyo during vacation. The funny thing about Tokyo is that it is so many different things going on everywhere. There is always a new shopping mall that’s about to open, always some park that is hosting an event of some kind, always something to see. So if you like to take pictures there is always something going on somewhere, you just have to find it.

The strange thing about this man wasn’t the man himself, it was that everybody was trying their hardest not to look at him…

What is the best way to get you message out to the crowd? Shout?

You were not allowed to park you bicycle on this particular location.

An aquarium full of Fugi. The fish contains a deadly poison that shuts down you neural system. There is today no known cure for those who have the unfortunate of eating a peace containing the poison.

I wonder if the fish actually is that good, or if it´s because of the thrill… guess there is only one way to find out.

Chillin!

In one of the many street corners in Tokyo there was a small angel watching.

Outside almost every hotel or shopping mall there were stands for wet umbrellas. Place you umbrella in a slot and lock with the key. Signed by /The management

In making an effort to make the gray streets a little bit greener!

Chillin!

/Thomas Tanisawa

April 19, 2012
Hitting the streets of Tokyo

Went out on the streets of Tokyo to snap some pictures and here are some of them.

It’s funny how everybody is constantly looking at their phones. No one or at least very few speaks in the phone since it is prohibited in most areas but EVERYBODY is using it to read news, play games, watch TV or chat with friends.

Sometimes is convenient with a transparent see through umbrella.

This guy must have been really proud of his position (so was the guy who they made the statue after as well)

A small Tokyo visitor is hiding behind the bench on a safe distance from the camera.

This is a Japanese delivery company ASKUL that in Swedish means something like “Shitload of fun”

/Thomas Tanisawa

April 17, 2012
Streets of Tokyo

Some images taken from our visit to Tokyo during the easter 2012.

To tired to walk?

I just love how house owners in central Tokyo decorates the street outside to make it look nice for everybody passing by.

The first leafs of the season lets the sun pass nearly without giving any shade at all to the ground bellow.

It looked like this girl didn´t pass the latest school test. She surly wasn’t allowed to stand together with her friends…

This is the feeling of being a parent. You constantly find yourself chasing your kids who without any hesitation rushes in to the future.

I guess no one crosses his road without being watched!

/Thomas Tanisawa

April 10, 2012