Stay home shooting report

April 24, 2020

Photographer / Toshiki Nakanishi

Originally, this report was supposed to be about my trip to New Zealand in the fall. However, all plans were canceled due to the impact of COVID-19. I was unable to even go to Tokyo, let alone overseas. There is no doubt that this is a very tough situation for me, as I make my living as a photographer, but even so, I cannot suppress the urge to take photos. So I decided to enjoy taking photos at home.

Fortunately, the studio is located on a hill, so I can see this magnificent landscape from the garden. Just chasing the light and the flow of the clouds, which show various expressions from morning to evening, is busy. I can notice moments that I would normally miss by going out to shoot, and I enjoy making new discoveries every day.

I wake up before sunrise and set up my usual set in the garden. I proceed with shooting while watching the clouds change every moment. It goes without saying, but since it is on the premises, I don't meet anyone, so it is not a case of the three Cs. When shooting from this place, I usually choose a telephoto lens, so I need to be very careful about blurring. However, I don't have to worry about that because it is a red Markins that I trust completely. Only when it is windy do I put an umbrella upwind to protect myself.

I often use high density ND filters for my photography. Because I can't move around much, I can take my time and do my photography. This shot was exposed for about 90 seconds, but there was no blurring at all. I haven't had my Markins overhauled yet, but it still performs as well as ever, and basic operations like stopping and moving are performed smoothly. I guess it's an industrial product with extremely high precision.

Small flowers have started to bloom at my feet. These flowers, known as spring fairies, are very small. I have to attach a macro lens and crawl on the ground to take pictures, but even in such situations the high degree of freedom of the Markins is very effective. In this type of photography where you need to frequently fine-tune the composition, it seems that a 3-way head has no chance of winning.

Since I was planning to show you some overseas works in this report, I would like to conclude by showing you one overseas work.

This is a photo of the starry sky in Pakistan, which I went to cover in mid-February. I negotiated with a local guide, imagining the Milky Way over a mud volcano, and managed to take a picture at night. When photographing the starry sky, I always feel the superiority of Markins in the dark. Even when you can hardly see anything with the naked eye, the Arca-Swiss compatible quick shoe makes it easy to attach. And the fact that Markins stays still even when you're shooting with the lens facing up is an exquisite feeling that anyone who has used it will understand.
I can't tell how long this self-restraint lifestyle will last, but when the restrictions are lifted, I hope to go abroad for coverage again. I'm planning to deliver the next report in the overseas series as announced. I hope you'll look forward to it.

Toshiki Nakanishi

Born in Osaka in 1971, he commuted to Hokkaido while studying, and in 2012 moved to Biei, where based, to take photographs. Continued to create works with agricultural landscapes as a motif, placing importance on the perspective of someone who lives there. In recent years, Been working on a series of photographs that bring out the hidden atmosphere in the landscape by capturing it in a formative rather than emotional way. Also expanded his field of photography to overseas, expanding wareness not only to the landscapes but also to the people who live there.
Member of the Japan Professional Photographers Society, Member of the Japan Landscape Photographers Society, Guiding Member of the Japan Landscape Photography Association, Mind Shift GEAR Ambassador