Shunkan.org - Blog

Last month I had the chance to work with a Japanese model, the beautiful Michiru-San. Since I had moved into a new house a couple of weeks before, I decided to take some of the pictures in our retro-style villa, which was built in the seventies.

The first two pictures are in front of that cool mural next to a liquor store in Pacific Beach.

Michiru enjoying the California-style greenery at the lavish walkway of our vintage residence.

That location has so many different angles and perspectives to shoot from, so I think this won't be the last time I used it for a photo shooting.

For this shot I used the EF50mm f/1.4 USM on my Canon EOS 5D Mark III, available light only, ISO set to 6400. I prefer using available light over off-camera flash, depending on what I shoot. Btw., Canon has just announced the successor of my camera, the EOS 5 D Mark IV. I can't wait to get my hands on one of these in September at the photokina in Cologne, the world's leading trade fair for photo and video.

Love that old sofa chair! It's a bit run down, but it is also very charming.

Most of the time during the photo shooting we communicated in Japanese. My Japanese is rather basic, while it is sufficient to give simple instructions or explanations, I lack the vocabulary necessary for deeper conversations.

Michiru's displaying some real Japanese cuteness. Actually, being "kawaii" (cute) is very important in Japanese society.

Eventually we went to Torrey Pines where Michiru was exercising some Yoga.

Here I had to crank up the ISO on my camera.

Walking down here was absolutely worth it. Actually Torrey Pines State Reserve makes for a very good hiking location too.

There was not much of a spectacular sunset on that day, but at least the sky tried to show off with some drama.