Two of my great passions are language and photography. Recently I have managed ro combine them by using some of my photographs as subjects for free conversation classes at my school, Smith’s School of English, Kawanishi スミス英会話 川西校. I have always checked with the students beforehand; they have always agreed, and then looked at and discussed my photos with great enthusiasm.
I started taking and processing black and white photographs many, many years ago (don’t ask how many), but eventually lack of time to spend in the darkroom brought it to an end. I started taking and printing digital photographs almost 5 years ago, and found this a new and exciting way of expressing myself. While still in England, I took photos mainly around London, where I worked, or along the English south coast, where I lived. I enjoyed catching unusual glimpses of London. On thecoast I loved recording the quietly beautiful nature, as well as the funny behaviour of the people at the seaside. At that time I also made photographs in Japan on my regular short visits. In 2007 I was awarded… a Licentiate of the Royal Photographic Society, and had a collection of my pictures featured in their book “Portfolio One“. Since I came to live in Japan I have taken pictures mainly around my home in Nishinomiyahama where there is a wonderful range of birds, and of people, on the streets of Osaka (an eccentric inspiration) and in Kyoto and Kobe. You can see some of my pictures on my website (not quite up to date) John Coleman PhotoArt. As you can see from my website, I believe that photography can be an art.
I have always used Nikon equipment. For anyone interested, for about the last year I have used a Nikon D3 SLR with 24-70 and 70-200 zoom lenses; they are all brilliant. I process my pictures using Adobe Photoshop. This is to “get them right” rather than to “doctor” them. To get a professional looking print, especially a large one, some processing is always needed.
I would love to hear from anyone who shares my love of photography. I am always happy to help (within my modest range of abilities), so feel free to contact me.
John
Teacher/Owner
John,
I too share your enthusiasm for photography, although I took the opposite route. I started in the digital world and have now backtracked and prefer to take film pictures. Unlike you, I use Canon equipment. I have a Canon Al-1 with a 35-70mm lens and I have a doubler if I need to do “fake” telephoto types pictures. We should get together sometime and take some pictures…
Edward, SSE Ohtsu
I love Nikon too and use a D40 and D70, maybe one day I’ll upgrade but for the time being I’m more than happy with my shots. I have the 18-55mm, the 18-200VR and the Fisheye. I use Photoshop sparingly like yourself for fixing things up. I would love to get together and take some pics some time. As the cherry blossom season is over maybe this fall would be a good time to go out. Maybe we could even offer other Smith’s students that are interested. Could be fun.
Adrian
just checked out your photos…I love the GULLS and the TOTTORI DUNES pic with all the people climbing up the dunes – both are spectacular. I haven’t uploaded many photos recently but if you’re interested please check out some of my older ones at
http://photo.net/photos/adrianshepherd
I will update these in the near future with some nice photos of my kid. Hope people like them.
Adrian