With week one of our Japan trip in the books it’s time for quick a report.
After a short, 10 day trip in 2019, I really fell in love with Japan. However, COVID and lockdowns began very shortly after we finished that trip, and I’ve spent the last three years wondering if my enthusiasm for the country was real, or if perhaps I was just nostalgic over the memory of traveling. I’m happy to report that my excitement for being here returned almost instantly. That’s good, since I’m here with my friend Thomas for over a month this time.
What I did not remember accurately from last time, was the reality of flying for 12 hours. Maybe I’m just getting older now, but my body always lands very unhappy after a long flight.
Once through immigration though, I managed to wake up a bit and enjoy the train ride into Tokyo.
4am Walks
The next few days were a blur of jet lag nausea, convenience store food, and sleep. However, those cycles were punctuated by one of my favorite things to do here: walk. And, since my body couldn’t figure out when I was supposed to be awake or asleep, most of those walks happened between 3am and 6am.
There’s nothing quite like strolling through the peaceful alleys of the otherwise bustling city of Tokyo. But doing so in the very early morning hours is even more special, as you feel like you have the whole city of 14 million to yourself.
On one such walk, I found this great shot of the Skytree that I wanted to take in better light. I went there for sunrise three times and never got the pink, puffy clouds I was looking for. Also, it was taken from a steel bridge that sags and shakes when you walk across it. Thomas found a sign posted on it and translated it from Japanese. Apparently it said the bridge is scheduled for demolition. Safety be damned though. I’m back in Tokyo in a few weeks and I’m going to try and get that photograph again.
As our bodies adjusted to the new timezone, we spent more time walking during the day and watching Japanese television during the night, which is it’s own special kind of entertainment. See below.
If you’re thinking that the above character’s face looks a little bit like a butt, your eyes do not decieve you. The show is, “Butt Detective”. Or maybe “Detective Butt”. Not sure. Doesn’t matter.
Yodobashi Camera, Parks, and Sumo
Other highlights from our week in Tokyo include a tour of Yodobashi Camera, which, is basically just a seven floor electronics store covered in text. And I do mean covered. They sell other stuff as well, I bought beer there.
Per our tradition, we walked a number of parks, which are always beautiful and well-manicured.
Lastly, we bought tickets to some sumo wrestling. And while I didn’t know what to expect going into it, it was super interesting, and I had a fantastic time. Unfortunately, I don’t have a good way to describe what it was like, I think it’s the sort of thing you just need to experience.
City Lights & Sky Meat
On our second to last evening, I wanted to find some good raised views of the city, so I did some research and convinced Thomas to wander around with me taking elevators to the tops of buildings. This turned out to be a really interesting decision as we found a cool place to see the city lights. Conveniently, there were also a number of fancy restaurants on the top floor of the building, so we decided to be brave and try one out. (Neither Thomas or I speak that much Japanese. Thomas speaks the most).
After Thomas asked the host if our clothing was appropriate for the restaurant, we were seated, only to find that this was a Japanese BBQ place. We did not know this. It was also $60USD an entree. Oh well, too late.
The menu was strange and felt quite limited. We couldn’t really figure out what to order, so we guessed at some stuff when our waiter showed up. Our first attempted order included a lot of pointing, guessing, and pretty large plate of cow tounge. Lucky for us, our waiter switched to English in pretty short order, pulled out the REAL menu from the stand on the table (which we somehow did not see), and told us we probably didn’t want the cow tounge; He then instructed us to try again. It was pretty funny.
We ended up with some wagu beef, pork and other assorted meats I can’t remember. I had a few glasses of wine and enjoyed the food and the view. This ended up being one of the highlights in the city, so I’m glad we tried it.
Onward to Osaka
We’re in Osaka for two weeks now, so we’ll see what comes of that experience. Thanks for reading!
Artificial Intelligence and AI Art generators have inundated my internet news feeds as of late. And now that I have spent some time experimenting with these new AI art generation tools, I am beginning to understand what all the fuss is about.
So, this article will be a brief summary of what I have found, what kind of an impact I think AI art generators are going to have on both photography and other kinds of art, as well as some predictions about the immediate future.
Before we get into it, I’d like to mention that all of the images in this post were generated by artificial intelligence using the DALLE-2 generator.
First Impressions
If I’m honest, my first experiments with AI and visual art were pretty bad. I couldn’t seem to describe/create anything that looked real, interesting, compelling, artistic, etc… Within an hour, I had pretty much dismissed the entire concept. However, after seeing–yet more articles–on the topic, I decided to give it a second go. Slowly, as I dove deeper, I began to see what all the hype was about.
While these tools do struggle to create life-like imagery (in many cases, the details give it away quickly), I think that that particular aspect of the AI will improve rather quickly.
Currently, where AI art shines is with slightly more abstract concepts.
With a little practice, interesting double exposures, explosion or mashup-looking imagery, landscape pieces, as well as architectural art can be generated pretty consistently. The resolution might not be there yet, as these images are still only 1 Megapixel in size, but that will come with time.
The Moment My Mind Changed
The breakthrough moment for me, though, was during the creation of my recent YouTube video on AI art.
Typically, when I finish a video, I upload it and then begin working on the thumbnail image if I don’t already have one (which I did not in this case). In my mind, I had an elaborate photo I was going to take in my apartment, but setting up the lights and taking the photo was probably going to take me an entire evening. I decided since this was–after all–a video on AI imagery, I might as well see if I could use the AI to generate a thumbnail for the video. So, I set myself to that task.
After about 20 minutes of trial and error (instead of an entire evening), I had my thumbnail.
Mind. Blown.
Sure, it has its’ problems. It doesn’t look quite like a REAL image. However, I also could not have created anything like this in my apartment.
The landlord strictly forbids explosions.
Conclusion
I think the story above sums up the entire point perfectly.
These tools are going to save people countless hours, reduce the cost of imagery, and pretty much change the entire landscape of photography and all visual arts. I don’t know when it will happen or to what extent exactly, but I think the writing is on the wall.
Some of this will be great, awesome, useful, and fun. Some of it will be sad, unethical, controversial, and will result in the loss of jobs.
Naturally, as someone who loves photography dearly, I have mixed feelings about this prospect. With that said, I am also someone who takes a great interest in technology. So, at this point, I am excited about the prospect of integrating AI into my creative work over time.
We shall see.
I have this hobby. It’s kind of a strange one.
My friends and I own trucks that we’ve strapped and bolted a bunch of equipment to: tents, water jugs, air pumps… that kinda thing.
Then, we take these trucks and we drive them down roads with big rocks, to places where vehicles don’t really belong. The goal, mostly, is just to get away from civilization. To enjoy the outdoors.
However, since I was abroad for a few months—and also because Southern California is tire-meltingly hot in summer—we hadn’t really done any trips in a while. So, long overdue for some camping, we packed up said trucks and hit the road in search of altitude, epic views, and slightly cooler weather.
Northern-ish Arizona is where we ended up.
On the morning of day one we found ourselves in Sedona. But as the temperatures climbed in the early hours we all agreed to head further north since we definitely didn’t want to spend the day driving around in the heat. So, what happened next?
We spent most of the day driving around in the heat and the crushingly intense Sedona sun. Poorly executed plans, terrible weather, and badly timed decisions are all common threads with our little trifecta.
It’s kinda what we do.
Couldn’t help it though, the area was gorgeous, and Zach discovered he could legally fly his drone, which costs two thousand dollars and apparently can hardly be used anywhere in the United States of America. So, we endured.
As late afternoon rolled around, we rambled our way off the trail, ate some sad burritos, and began our trek further north and up above 7,000 ft.
After a few hours of hunting we found a campsite near a meadow. I hit my gas tank on a rock, and Danny and Zach threw a frisbee while I lazily watched in a chair. Pretty standard drill for our party. They can never get me to join activities; I don’t like activities. Unfortunately, I didn’t take many photos at this location, which I regret because it was quite pretty.
I do this a lot: I sit in a chair looking around at my incredible surroundings while thinking about how I should take some photos. Then I continue to sit in the chair.
Not all was lost though, from that chair I got a photo of Zach and his dog in another chair—score.
The next day we decided to look for a camp spot with a view, but Zach and I were feeling a bit lazy from the long drive the day before. Danny (who is obsessed with his maps made of paper) found a potential location and promised me/us it was only 15 miles and about an hour or so of driving. Danny makes lots of these kinds of promises. We’ve learned become skeptics.
I would like to hold what turned out to be a three hour drive against him, but the spot he found was by far the coolest place I have ever camped. So he was redeemed. Not that he cared one way or another. Danny is very secure in himself.
At this location, we got all setup and I took a nap while Zach and Danny went on a hike. Because I don’t do activities.
I did make some time for an Instagram-style selfie though. It may look as if I am contemplating the gorge, but I am not. Instead, I am wondering if I am standing in a way that looks weird in this frame, because I am not a model, no one is manning this camera, and I can’t be motivated to go back and forth and review the shots over and over.
When my friends returned we were assaulted by two things: mosquitoes and a brilliant sunset. The mosquitoes are why my friends are dressed like actors from Monty Python and The Holy Grail. The sunset is why I ended up getting a bunch of photographs I am really happy with from our trip.
More drones were flown. Beers were consumed, and we spent the evening having a nice chat by the fire. Eventually, we wandered off to bed in our tents. Naturally, I wondering if a bear might attack me in the night, as I always do in these kinds of places. But per the usual, that never materialized. Instead, we awoke in the morning without fanfare, and made the 8 hour trip home. Another beautiful drive.
We had a fantastic time, an epic trip, and some good experiences with some great friends.
I don’t really know how to end this story, so I’ll just leave you the way we started. With a photo.
