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Summer is cooking full heat in Tokyo so there's no better time to take your photography indoors for a change and get to sharpening some different skills. It's been busy days!! But one major milestone finally achieved as this past week was the launch of the new Tekumi Studios project I've been working on for quite some time. To get the studio kickstarted myself and a friend and fellow photographer, Alan Jiménez Cruz, hosted 3 other photographers in the space to facilitate a 3 hour photo session using strobes, RGB's, LEDs and various props. We were fortunate to have the effortlessly cool Zeroco be our model for the day as you'll see in the photos. The goal? Experimentation in lights and colour mixing. I'm a huge fan of photographers like Polina Washington and Lindsey Adler who work both in and out of the studio creating entirely new universes with their creative use of light and colour so this was definitely inspired by them. I'm posting photos from our setups using mainly RGB's for now as I haven't gotten to editing the flash photos (for another post or watch my Instagram ). As you can see in the photos above we were using a lot of teals, yellow-oranges and violets (a nice triad colour combination) testing different placements of lights. Lighting used in these shots include: - Soonpho P20II RGB LED lightstick - Rotolights AEOS 2 - Pixel G1S RGB LED Video Light But in no way do you need the expensive lighting we had here especially the Rotolights (thanks to Mike for bringing those by) and could just as well make do with some more of the Soonpho lightsticks which blast about 20W of power more than capable of filling up a space this size. I was also using a Haida Blackmist Pro 1/8 to soften the images on my Sony A7III with a 50mm 1.2 GM (oh baby, do I love this lens!!) Throw in a fog machine and disco ball and the retro disco party theme is in full effect! I'm more than happy with what the final images turned out like but let me know what you think in the comments. And if you're in the Tokyo area, join the Meetup group and a growing network of other creatives at Tekumi Tokyo Portrait and Street Photography We have a pretty vibrant LINE group chat where other photographers can share their work and it's a great chance to network and learn some new skills. Working on the next Studio event which will hopefully be in 2 weeks so stay tuned and sign up early as space is limited! Thanks always. - d.

Been a minute since the last post AGAIN! I keep intending to be more frequent on the blog but life's been pretty hectic (that's Tokyo!). One thing some of you may not know but earlier this year I decided to start a Meetup called the Tekumi Tokyo Portrait and Street Photography Workshops group. It was a way for me to get closer to the creative community here in Tokyo and anyone that knows me knows I'm not going to sit around and wait for things to happen or for others to make introductions :) So with that thought, I started the group in mid-February and it's grown to 311 members locals to date today! Since then I've held a weekly photowalk every Thursday evening with the goal of doing a new station on the infamous JR Yamanote Loop line starting with our first event in Shibuya back in late February. Fast forward several months and we're already ready to host VOL.16 later this week and it's been a crazy ride since. Each and every week, creatives and models get together with the intent of collaborating, creating and networking. The output has been unreal and the community is building strong with a lot of our members coming each week. Week 14 brought us to the center of otaku culture and gaming central, Akihabara. This was definitely a highly anticipated station for a lot of us as it's one of the busier stations on the line, plus anime, maids, backstreet bars leaves you with plenty of eye candy that has become synonymous with the Japanese pop culture aesthetic. With that in mind, I'll let the photos do the talking to give you an impression of how it all unfolded including some BTS of the crew in action. And lastly, before I let you go... you just have to check out this video compilation from one of our new members, Taylan (https://www.instagram.com/tay.camera/) and I'm not only astounded by the sheer professional quality but the fact it showed up in our LINE group chat the very next morning!!😮 If you're in the Tokyo area, whether you live here, or passing through and just want to get out and meet a great group of like minded creatives and expand your network, get in touch and sign up through the link to the group here. Next week, Okachimachi station ( a night out in Ameyoko). d.

One thing I hear from people including friends living in different cities is "I never meet other creatives" or "there is no one to go shoot with in my city". While it's true other cities (ie. Tokyo) are blessed with talented people from all over the world, EVERY city has other creatives like you that are looking to collaborate and make friends. I moved to Tokyo amidst the pandemic in late 2020 and with all the restrictions it was tough to meet new people for the first year. But it was killing me not being able to network and connect with other creatives and I decided that I was not going to sit around and complain about it or wait for someone to come knock on my door. So, I started to envision what I wanted my life to look like here and have slowly been piecing together the steps to make it happen. Below, I'll talk about my 5 tips to build and nurture your own thriving creative community no matter where you live. Tip #1 - Define your Community Purpose and Goals It goes without saying that if you don't know why or for what purpose you're bringing people together then neither will anyone else. So first thing first, make your purpose and goals crystal clear. When I started the Tekumi Meetup for Tokyo Creatives in March 2022, my objective was to bring models and creatives of any level together on a weekly basis to get outside and just create art and content. Four months later, and we have about 260 members and get about 15-25 awesome creatives out to each event. And it's growing quick! But everyone knows why we are meeting. While a community can have multiple goals, it’s best to focus on a small number of goals that represent value created for you and your community, and can be tied to specific behaviours and outcomes. Taken from one of our events and filmed and edited by one our community members, Massimo. Content like this is the exact reason I started the Tekumi Meetup group. Tip #2 - Be the Organizer Once you've identified the purpose and goals, the next logical step is getting people together and this is going to take you stepping up and sometimes out of your comfort zone and being the organizer. My most simplest of recommendations is to start a Meetup group in your area. Meetup is active in around 180 countries worldwide so unless you live somewhere like Tuvalu (population est. 11,792 people) I think you're good to go :) If you don't have Meetup or it's not so active then I suggest for you to do your research into how people are connecting in your area as there may be a better local alternative (Craigslist is still free, simple and used by many) Once you've created the group it's time create some events and here you'll want to get your saleperson cap on because you need to make your event sound like a thing people are not going to want to miss. This includes being sure to emphasize the value to the participants. Tip #3 - Focus on Quality over Quantity Don't worry about the numbers and put your focus on meeting the right people. People who are not only going to show up and be valuable contributors to the events but invaluable ambassadors for what you are building. There is no "I" in community (ok, no wait there is). Point is this is a team sport and you need to find invested like-minded people like you to ensure your creative community will thrive. Since I started the Tekumi group, I would estimate that the core group of people stands at about 70% returnees each week. Meaning each week a lot of the same people are consistently turning out which makes it easier for me as an organizer. This is how relationships are forged and that should be one of your primary goals. It’s all about providing people with something they can connect with. Tip #4 - Be socially active (aka a people person) I get it. You're an "artiste" and you want to be left alone in your own creative bubble. These social interactions can be such a drag and who need humans when you can just talk to your beloved pet in the comfort of your home/studio. Am I right? Well, nothing wrong with being the broody artist type if that's your thing but if you're going to meet people and have them, you know, call you back, you're best to start being more active socially. This includes, online and IRL. This also includes knowing how to listen and involve your creative community once you start growing one. Growing a strong creative community is all about building trust with your members. And building trust takes time, patience, and diligence. One thing I like to do, is after every event I suggest we go out to a local bar for some food and drinks. This is a great way to get people to loosen up and not only talk about the things you did that night but to get to know each other in a very casual setting and on a more personal level. Your creative community becomes your friends and this is just a part of building trust. Tip #5 - Collaboration over Competition Lastly, and this is a big one. We are all here to push each other to the next level through collaboration and this should never be seen as a competition. Not within your community or in comparison to other communities. Just do your thing and your tribe will naturally and organically grow. This is another reason why a fellow Tokyo based photographer and friend, Takumi Shyegun and I recently started a new Facebook group for content creators called The Content Creator Hub (join us!). And remember, collaboration doesn't end at your events. For example, we started a chat group where we upload our content and encourage each other through feedback. Also, social sharing and tagging members in your community should be highly encouraged. Competition makes us faster, collaboration makes us better In conclusion.... I firmly believe people are out there looking for connection. And how we connect is through shared mutual interests and goals. There ARE other creatives in your area that are waiting to find their tribe but instead of being the one waiting, why don't you get out there and be the one doing? I hope this post can give a bit of motivation to those who have been thinking about how to build their own communities and if so I'd love hear about the progress on your journey. Thanks for reading! d.

Been a minute fam. But I'm back and will do my best to update you all on the happenings as they happen in my world of content creation! Let's go! First off, welcome to the new revised site. Honestly, this took me a lot of hours to get it to how I wanted to look which also involved me migrating off of Squarespace and onto Wix. I just found that Squarespace had too many limitations and every-time I hit a roadblock in adding any obvious functions to my site their support was frustratingly non-existent. Wix has plenty more to offer and its ease of use sealed the deal. Give it a try if you're thinking of building your next site! So this one's going to be short but it's pretty exciting. As of today, another Tokyo based photographer and good friend, Takumi and myself have launched a new Facebook group for content creators around the globe! Takumi (https://www.instagram.com/takvmi.jpg/) is well versed in the educational side with his very successful The Creator Pro Academy, so we're gearing up for some big things in this group. It's a private group but anyone can join so we'd love to have you grow with us. The Content Creator Hub is a community of content creators working together to improve their skills, and grow their businesses! Ask for constructive criticism on your work, ask questions, and get BETTER every day! If you know other content creators, creatives or business owners please invite them! 🎬 🎥 📸 🔥 We want to make the group as jam packed with educational material for learning and growth so be on the lookout for how-to videos, Facebook live Q & A's, workshop recordings, polls, questions and more! This is part of a long term vision to build a community of like minded creatives around the world to motivate and learn from. You got nothing to lose and everything to gain so come be a part of the group and join the conversation!

Been a minute since I posted anything new in the blog but it’s been busy days. Good busy and I hope to give some updates here soon! In the meantime, I’ve recently started a new Instagram account dedicated only to portraits and people so aptly named @deniz.people :) I want to see how a new account with a singular direction and focus does in comparison to an older main account which has evolved over the years into where it is today, a mix of street, portrait and travel. Let’s see how this progresses but I’d be blessed if you could give a follow over here.

I’d like to think I’ve seen a fair bit of Japan. From the very northern prefecture of Hokkaido to the southern tip of Kagoshima and a good chunk in between. There are 47 prefectures in Japan and many of them I think can proudly boast their own regional differences and uniqueness. From dialect to local cuisine, weather and even amongst a 97.8% homogenous society, ethnical diversity from the Ainu in the north to the Ryukyuans in the south. Japan can indeed be a fantastical and varied country. But there are probably many more common bonds that tie almost all of Japan together. Aside from the obvious ramen noodles and sushi, countrywide love for the most bizarre festivals (have you heard of the Kanamara Penis Festival?) and more vending machines per capita than anywhere in the world (4.1 million across the country!). If there is one thing that Japan knows and knows well, it’s entertainment. The term entertainment in Japan is diverse and includes everything from shopping, bars, restaurants, nightclubs, karaoke and casually mixed in are the countries more sinful pleasures. Everything from love hotels, host and hostess clubs to, well, use your imagination. It’s where the cities dwellers go to blow off steam from a days work and tourists flock in search of excitement and fantasy. The biggest one in Asia is Tokyo’s own Kabukichō district which has transformed from a residential area to a world-famous red-light district with over three thousand bars, nightclubs, love hotels, massage parlours, hostess clubs and the like. Other well-known districts include Sapporo’s Susukino, Fukuoka’s Nakasu and Shianbashi in Nagasaki. But almost any Japanese city of decent size has and ‘entertainment district’ and regardless of where your moral compass lies they are almost always visually fascinating places to take in. Simply put, to get to the good stuff you’ll have to put away the guide book or any google recommendations and wade deep into places unknown at times of the night where you’ve been told no good can come from. Not recommended advice for almost any country in the world when you’re carrying thousands of dollars of camera equipment alone at night. Simply put, to get to the good stuff you’ll have to put away the guide book or any google recommendations and wade deep into places unknown at times of the night where you’ve been told no good can come from. Unlike other parts of the world where these entertainment activities are known to be clustered together, Japan’s entertainments districts are relatively safe. This is not to say you won’t find trouble because putting yourself in the wrong situation with the wrong establishment can be very costly, although most people are victims of financial scams and frauds like wildly inflated end of the night bills. Crime most definitely exists in these areas but it’s a lot less visible and much less of the violent variety than what foreigners might be accustomed to. Add in a huge splash of Yokochos (Japanese alleys full of bars and restaurants) colourful (drunk?) characters (there’s always at least one like my man on the left) and beautiful neon painting the streets at seemingly every turn and you have an aesthetic that’s visually attracted me from my very first trip out here. Many of the large cities in Japan have a retro-futuristic look and feel to them and these entertainment areas especially always have that old-traditional Showa-era x Ridley Scott cyberpunk vibe that permeates a lot of Japan night street photography especially. “Buncho” before day gives way to night… Recently I was blessed to spend some time in the northern city of Sendai in Miyagi prefecture. Not a place often frequented by tourists but still Japan’s 12th largest city. It was Tanabata festival which for some reason is celebrated 1 month later than the rest of Japan but Sendai’s festival is the countries largest celebration nonetheless. Large parts of the city were beautifully decorated in paper lanterns and scores of people wearing their traditional yukata’s, but I repeatedly found my way back to Kokubuncho, the entertainment district of Sendai. Want to do any shopping? Sunmall Ichibancho Shopping Arcade in Kokubuncho. Want to try local cuisine like Gyūtan (grilled beef tongue)? Hit up Kokubuncho. Kokubuncho, or as the locals call it ‘buncho’ covers a lot of ground and on your next visit to Sendai I’m sure you’ll inevitably find yourself there as well whatever your reasons. Below are a collection of some of my favourite night photos from the trip so I hope I can give you a good feel for it all. More photos up on my Instagram which you can find here. As always, thanks for reading and feel free to leave a comment or question below. d. TECHIE STUFF: I brought a range of lenses with me most nights but I always found myself going between my Sony 35mm 1.8 and the Sony 55mm 1.8 while on this trip. There was enough street light to work with to keep my apertures around 2.5 for the most part as I don’t like to push the max aperture on a lens if I can get away with it. I typically keep everything on Manual as I want full control over all the settings including ISO as I find the Sony A7iii at least tends to max out the ISO first to give you more room in your other settings. This is sometimes unnecessary and can tend to add a lot of grain to your images. I know a lot of photographers might opt for Aperture priority or Shutter priority but it’s just a personal preference and I think I’ve become fast enough on the field now to adjust my settings on the fly as needed. In retrospect I would have loved to shoot with my Sigma 24mm 1.4 to take in even more of the wide streets but that will be for my next visit back!

What kind of traveler are you? Some people love planning a complete itinerary with all the greatest hits a city has to offer. When you’re on a tight schedule this is of course highly efficient and gives the traveler the most opportunity to check off as many sites and experiences as possible. When I first came to Japan I could probably say I leaned more towards that style. Feeling like time was limited and not knowing when or even if I would be back I did the more typical first trip to Japan including the greatest hits of Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka over the course of 21 days. But Japan had me hooked and I would be back over and over again over the course of the next 5 years. Each trip I came out would last longer and my travels became less about feeling like I was in a rush against time as a tourist traveling TO a destination but more about trying to feel the experience of living IN the city while connecting with locals. In my free time, my days were largely unplanned and all I knew was that I had a camera, I was falling madly in love with the Japanese aesthetic and I had an undying desire to take as many photos as I could. The best way to do so was to walk and thankfully I was in one of the most walkable cities in the planet. This is when my mindset towards travel took a different meaning and I started to embrace the concepts of Slow Travel. Slow travel is an approach to travel that emphasizes connection: to local people, cultures, food and music. It relies on the idea that a trip is meant to educate and have an emotional impact, in the present moment and for the future, while remaining sustainable for local communities and the environment. My love for street photography grew in lockstep with my new found love to slow things down. Little to no plans and I had yet to really find a niche in terms of style but as long as I had my camera I felt like anything could happen. Being in less of a rush to capture all the big moments I started to experience and photograph the little moments. The daily life often overlooked and those memorable encounters with locals. Embracing the spirit of Slow Travel, I recently headed off to one of my favourite cities in Japan, Osaka. If Tokyo is proper and Kyoto is refined Osaka is just raw. While the food is cheap and delicious and the streets are teeming with life, the infrastructure is, well, let’s just say the city won’t be winning any prizes anytime soon. Not the prettiest city by usual standards by any stretch but what it lacks in the polished beauty department it makes up for with loads of character from the Showa era buildings and neighbourhoods to the cities quirky inhabitants. And the food! There’s a reason Osaka is known throughout Japan as 天下の台所 (Tenka no Daidokoro or the Nation's Kitchen). Off I went from my Airbnb located conveniently right beside the very central Hommachi station with no real set plans and headed north towards Yodogawa-ku and the Yodo River. I passed through the major commercial area of Umeda, over the Juso-Ohashi bridge and on the other side of the Yodo River was something entirely different. Starting in the neighbourhood of Juso, I would soon find myself in a part of the city where time seemingly stood still and was certainly not on any tourist itineraries. You didn’t have to scratch too far under the surface (or at all actually, see below) to see some stark contrasts which kind of assured me that I was in the right place. I would set off on a full day of trekking on foot with my camera from Juso to Shin-Osaka to Awaji and finally end up in Kami-Shinjo where I ended the day with a well-earned beer watching the sun begin to close on another day over the Kanzaki River. No doubt, this part of the city is very much LOCAL Osaka as I could count the amount of foreigners I crossed in the day on one hand. I tried to capture the essence of what I felt throughout the day which was like a movie with seemingly no plot or script but its biggest charm was the daily routine of life itself. I would end up coming back the following day as I had an afternoon of portrait shooting with local resident Ruru-san scheduled. Adding a model into the local scenes I had just experienced was like giving the scriptless movie I saw the day before now play out with an entirely new director at the helm. Below are just a few of my favourite shots right around blue hour on the Yodo River Bridge. For more from that shoot please head over to my Instagram page and view the posts here and here. Thanks for reading and any questions or comments feel free to hit me up ! d.

Anyone that has followed my work or has taken a glance at my Instagram page, will notice the obvious. While I always try and keep an open mind as a photographer I lean a lot more heavily towards street and especially night scenes and if we’re going to get real specific a lot of it is Japan based Yokochos and back alleys. The grimier the better. You can just hook those neons into my veins so I can produce content all day (er, I mean night). The more you do something, well, naturally you’re going to develop a certain style over the years both in terms of aesthetics and subjects. As a photographer who is keen on continuous development, this year I made it a goal to start using my street sensibilities I’ve honed over the years and start applying them to actual people who are not only consenting to have their photos taken but actually want them. Yup I’m talking about Portrait work. Full disclosure, it’s an area of photography that has always been of great interest but still in many ways a mystery to me as I sometimes struggle with having to direct a scene rather than just observing one happen like in street photography. There is more at play and definitely a bit more pressure to ‘produce’. If I miss a street shot, nobody cares except me. If I fumble through a portrait shoot with no quality work or I get the edits wrong, or I forgot to check my ISO settings in mid day (yeah, thats happened and all the photos turned out grainy!). Oops. Anyways, lets get to the shoot! Since my move to Tokyo in December of last year I’ve had the opportunity to work on some really cool shoots and this one was no exception. My good friend, Natsuki, introduced me to a Tokyo-based ‘pointillist’ artist Banana Yamamoto. I’ll be honest, I didn’t know a whole lot about him or his work but one quick look at his site and you can see. The man loves dots! He loves them so much he was decked from head to toe, literally, in dots from his shoes, pants, top, hat, gloves and even sunglasses! Actually this was a perfect wardrobe choice for where we were going to shoot and I’ll explain why later. For those that don’t know the current situation in Japan there is a State of Emergency which basically means that everything has been politely ‘asked’ to close down by 20:00 and that no alcohol be served at anytime until the SOE is over. The Japan government doesn’t have the legal teeth to mandate a lockdown of any sorts as per their constitution and usually asking the Japanese to co-operate on a societal level is pretty close to the real thing anyways. That is, until you head out to some of the infamous haunts of Tokyo’s rebels and outcasts, and Kabukicho is probably the capital of all things gone bad (or good, depends on your point of view) in Japan. Technically called an ‘entertainment district’ but in reality it’s Japans answer to sin city, the city that never sleeps and Asias biggest red light district. And of course an absolute feast for the eyes and a photographers wet dream if you love bright lights, neons, strange characters and deep underground culture like I do. Typically speaking, when shooting portraits most people won’t reach for anything lower than 35mm and 55-85mm would probably be considered the sweet spot for most photographers to give a flattering image with that sweet buttery background bokeh. And don’t get me wrong there is a reason it’s the photographers choice as it consistently produces work that make your photos look extremely pro. But the problem with shooting this style is it can be so tight that you don’t get much, if any, of the background. The subject is purely front and center and thats ok but in this shoot we wanted didn’t want blurred out backgrounds and we wanted the viewer to really feel the craziness of the environment we were shooting in. So, what better lens in my kit to that with then my Sigma 24mm F/1.4 DG HSM Art Lens for my Sony A7iii. I absolutely love the Sigma range for my Sony as I think they provide the best off brand lens for half the price of a Sony lens. 24mm is right at the limit of what would be considered an ultra-wide lens and used primarily for architecture or landscape. When you get much wider you start to get that real fish eye effect… zoomed in to the middle and stretched back corners of the image. Used in portraiture you can get some really unflattering effects like if not careful like small heads and big feet or vice versa. But if done with intention and you understand the advantages as well as the limitations you can get some really great effects. Below would be two examples of how you can keep the subject centered thus looking to be proportional but you can really see how the edges of the corner start to wrap inwards taking in a lot of the surrounding scene which is exactly what we wanted. In the below photos I decided to shoot upwards which while not proportionally correct I think it works for this image. The subject and theme is more fantastical so I think there is more room to bend the norms. So yeah, his hands look bigger than his head, but the viewer is probably too busy processing everything else in the photo to put much thought into that in my opinion. Here is where the 24mm shines though. When making the complete environment the prominent subject that your model just happens to be involved with in some way. It gives the photographer the opportunity to create more of a story. No blurred out bokeh backgrounds here. I think it’s important the viewer gets a good sense of exactly where we are because in a lot of ways it’s unlike anywhere else in the world. When it came to editing, I will admit it was a big challenge as there is an absolute orgy of colour so deciding which should be highlighted, which should be muted and which should be cut all together can dramatically alter the look and feel of your photos. I mentioned earlier the outfit choice which I think worked great here. The dots have a lot of contrast but the fact they were also black and white (aka maximum contrast) really made Banana Yamamoto stand out. It was much easier to make him look like he was popping from the photos so that general principle could be something to keep in mind next time you go out shooting those crazy neon lights in your city or on your travels ( I understand not all of us have places like Kabukicho in our backyard). Little break from the action deep in the labyrinth of Kabukicho alleys . This mama-san gave us a few aggressive yells to get the hell out her way as she was moving between her establishments. We happily obliged of course. Anyways, hope you enjoyed the write up and you could get even just a small glimpse into the seedier and always aesthetically interesting side of my new home city. Stay tuned for more and you can find more photos from this shoot on my Instagram and Facebook page. Arigatou gozaimasu! d.

If you’ve made it here then a big thank you for your support and welcome to my first blog post. A blog?? In 2021? Well, let’s just say this will be a bit of insight into me as a person and more specifically into my photographic journey. Each time I go out shooting on the streets or start playing around in more unfamiliar environments like the studio for example, I want to record and share that with you. Some of you might be grizzled old vets, hyper polished photographers and maybe some of my revelations will give you a good chuckle. On the other hand, some of you might just be getting into photography to which I’m sure you will find some of the information I share with you to be of use. I hope that will be the case and either way you’ll gain something valuable along the way and maybe learn what my favourite animal is or something (it’s the killer whale IN CASE you’re asking). It’s a challenge for a lot of us, myself included, to put into words our experiences. I’ve always been a visual and audio person….words or lyrics? Meh, not so much. But there is a definite power and magic to the written word I’ve ignored for a long time and since I’d like to share my photos here primarily, well a blog just kind of makes sense. And no, this won’t just be a ‘dear diary’ type of thing! I want to share the things I’m learning along the way including tips, tricks and newly discovered techniques to help any and all of you with a passion or interest in photography. BUT, you don’t have to be a photographer as most of my content is geared towards where I live, in the worlds largest kitchen errr metropolis, Tokyo. So if you love Japan, Japanese culture and of course the aesthetics then this might be a great spot for you to get some unique perspectives. Most importantly, don’t be shy. Let me know you’re there so if you’ve got questions or comments, fire away! I’m here to engage and have fun. d. “People have often described me as a blogger. I generally shy away from the term because, to me, bloggers are boring, self obsessed narcissists who use their website mainly as a means to discuss the inconsequential minutiae of their day to day lives” — Anonymous writer