A collection of Tokyo pets

Hello again from Tokyo

Before we get to the possibly unexpected topic of Tokyo pets, I’d quickly like to mention the return next year of my eight day Winter Scenery and Old School Streets workshop.

Together with my good friend Giovanni, we’ll cover old Tokyo to start off with, along with street photography techniques and building the confidence needed to take candid photos. All of which will have a broader theme of storytelling and image sequencing.

From Tokyo we’ll head to the snow and traditional scenery of the Japanese Alps for landscape shooting as well as more street work. The former also including sunrise and sunset at Japan’s western coast.

And before we return to the capital, we’ll spend several days documenting the wonderfully dated markets and shopping streets of Osaka — a city I wrote about last year. Places like nowhere else in Japan, and the perfect locations to put everything together from the rest of the workshop.

If that sounds interesting, way more details, the dates and some reviews are here. And as something of a taster, this is a small selection of photos I took on the same trip last year.

Tokyo pets

So now, some Tokyo pets. Well, pets and a pigeon.

Small dogs are common sights in the city’s suburbs. Cats too. Especially so in older neighbourhoods. But these are some of the more memorable and occasionally unusual encounters I’ve had over the years.

The man carrying the tortoise remains a real fave. Of all my photos, not just those involving animals. A wonderfully joyous scene that I’m very happy to have captured. An image taken back in 2016. A period in my photography when I’d fully settled on the one camera and lens (Leica M and 35mm) approach I continue with to this day. Something I talked about in the July newsletter if you are interested and haven’t see it.

Also, the older fella with his top off was a lovely and unexpected moment, plus his long since unfinished traditional tattoos hint at all kinds of stories. None of which are likely as lovely as his interaction with the cat.

And finally, the lady feeding the pigeon is another photo I hold dear. It was such a quiet, endearingly intimate scene, with both of them so lost in their own different worlds that they were completely unaware of my presence. Added to that, it was taken in Shinjuku’s Omoide Yokocho, which is now a far busier place as it’s understandably very popular with tourists. A change that makes the photo feel even more special, as it forever freezes a moment, as well as a very different moment in time.

A few comedic and also heartwarming sights that make a nice change of pace from some of the other content these newsletters cover. And talking of which, I hope they continue to be interesting.

Speak to you in the next one.

Cheers

Lee