Hello from Tokyo

[Berndt]

Cheers from Tokyo !!!

I am a freelanced actor and video-/photographer, living and working in Tokyo.

For movies and professional ( in the meaning of paying ) photography, I mostly need to use digital tools, but therefore it is my pleasure and relaxing time, using just real film and analog cameras in private.

Am I a camera collector ? My wife would say so ... hahaha ... but more interested than in collecting vintage cameras, I am actually interested in really using them. I am just interested in cameras, which work ... and I usually try to work on them until they will do so ;-)) Taking pictures with vintage cameras is for me like "viewing the present through the eyes of the past", something, that I consider as very exciting.

I have been too lazy yet for counting all the cameras I own ... so you might forgive me, that I can't present a list or homepage with pictures yet. The thing is, I actually feel more comfortable in the analog than in the digital world ... and I am spending too many hours in front of my MAC anyway.

So I just have a Vimeo portfolio for my movie work yet:
vimeo.com/user494934/videos
a Flickr account, where upload something occasionally
www.flickr.com/photos/30634008@N08/
and my actors profile, which is unfortunately not updated for two years as well:
www.berndtotto.tk/
Getting hard and time consuming, keeping all the web appearances up to date ... and there is Facebook of course. THE communication portal of our times:
www.facebook.com/berndt.otto
Some people hate it, some people like it ... but I learned to appreciate it over the time as it would have been impossible to keep in touch with so many people, I know in any other way.

So ... that's me ;-)) Other hobbies than photography ? Mmmmh ... maybe travelling, my wife and my pets ( sugar glider ).

How did I come to photography ? It was my grandfather, who was crazy for photography himself. He gave me a very simple camera when I was 14 years old ... no distance metering, no exposure metering ... that's what I should learn to take pictures with ... and I did and had fun with that ever after.

Cheers from Tokyo ... and "Yoroshiku onegai shimasu" ( the probably most important japanese expression, impossible to become translated exactly, but meaning something like "please welcome me, please treat me kindly, please have a good relationship with me, etc." ). It is basically used at the end of every communication.

Berndt

[Deleted]

Welcome, Berndt.

Glad to have you on board. This is a loose knit group with all sorts of classic camera interests. And a lot of us just like to chat.

I guess I can forgive you for the MAC

Wayne

[daveh]

berndt, konnichiwa).


I spent a few days in Tokyo a few years back. We went for the wedding of the son of friends, staying at the Shibuya Excel. Loved it.

Dave.

[nikonbob]

Welcome to the board. Never been to Japan but it does look interesting.

Bob

[Randy]

Welcome to the CC. Wow...an actor...

[Berndt]

Thanks everybody for the warm welcome !!!

wayne: You don't like MACs ? ;-) Well, I have to say, that I am also not an addict of the "iWorld" but it was like a blessing for me, buying an iMAC a few years ago after years of using Windows ... but I also have to say, that a computer is really just a tool for me. It must function and I actually don't care, why and how it is doing so ;-)

@ Dave, Bob: Japan is indeed a beautiful country and worth a visit especially in spring and autumn. The cherryblossom is covering the country in a sea of white and pink and the colors of the leafs are so incredible ( especially the red maple leafs ), that it is nearly impossible catching the beauty of the reality on a picture.

I probably already took a million pics, but it is always a challenge ;-) Some of my videos about Japan can be found on my Vimeo page, for example those about cherryblossom and colored leaves:


... for getting the basic idea.

This year, I plan to take only still pictures, mainly on medium format, I guess. Difficult to make a choice if owning so many cameras ... hahaha ... but I definitely want to give my "new" Zeiss Super Ikonta 531/2 a try as well as the really old Kodak No.2 Folding Autographic Brownie ( 1915 ? ), which I have just finished to restore. And ... my favorite TLR, a 1954 Airesflex will be certainly on board as well. It is capable of taking really good pictures ...
www.flickr.com/photos/30634008@N08/sets/72157626512277189/
... and I love to work with it. Bought it for the ridiculous price of about 30 USD.

randy: Well ... it does not provide me a villa in Beverly Hills yet, but it is fun ;-) The only chance for surviving here in Japan as a foreigner ( who are still a rarity somehow ) is selling yourself exactly as what you will be seen here ... some kind of alien or "exotic animal" :-) Some people break by this kind of "friendly racism", others are using it for their advantage ... like me. Quoting the only famous foreign TV star here in Japan, the american Dave Spector:
"Making foreigners cuter takes away the threat of foreigners being more powerful, or having more know-how, or more sophistication. So definitely, they use that in a way to make themselves more comfortable. So I've done things on Japanese TV that are totally silly, or ridiculous. I mean like jumping rope with French poodles. Doing things like the lowest Bozo, circus kind of stuff. But it doesn't bother me at all. A lot of times the foreigners on TV, models and what-not, are compared to pandas. They use that term here--pandas-- because they're cuddly, you can go and have fun with them, and throw a marshmallow and that's about it. And you don't get involved any more deeper than that. But...since I'm making half a million dollars a year, I'm very happy to be a panda. I'd be a much lower animal. I'd be like a sloth, or something, or a hedgehog, you know, for that money. So it doesn't bother me at all."

The difference between me an Mr. Spector is just ... I don't make half a million dollars a year ... hahaha ...