A photo documentary on one of Japan’s top sushi masters, commissioned by the Wall Street Journal.
Getting up early and spending time at Tokyo’s famous Tsukiji fishmarket is not particularly strange for me but the morning I followed Yamagata-san on his shopping trip turned out to be more frenetic than usual.
Shooting Tsukiji in my own time, as part of one of the photo-tours I do or on a private lesson with a student…. that’s one thing. Following one of Japan’s top sushi masters on his morning shopping run is quite another. For one, everybody who I came into contact with that morning was bowing at Yamagata-san and also at me; such is the respect his years in the trade garners from those in the market. Second, I shot almost exclusively with a 20mm lens for the entire time I was in the market-place. This is, for those who know me, something of a first. Normally my 85mm is glued to my camera. But, rushing to keep up with my subject, following the action as it rapidly unfolded, catching the interaction between shopper and vendor; these things are not possible with an 85mm which, on the D300, weighs-in at 130mm. Wide was the way to go.
It was quite a challenge to shoot. The 20mm AiS is, after all, one of manual-focus lenses and in the dim light of Tsukiji it was a real bitch to focus on a few occasions. Plus, it’s max aperure is just f/3.5. Practically a pin-hole camera compared to the f/1.4 and f/2 lenses I usually shoot there.
Flash would have ruined the atmosphere….
By the end of our shopping trip, sat over a breakfast of tuna steak, rice and miso-soup at one of the market’s workman’s cafes, I could feel my shirt sticking to my back with the sweat I had worked-up.
I headed home to download the morning’s shots, took a quick shower, donned a less sweaty set of clothes and headed off to Nihombashi, Yamagata’s restaurant and the second stage of my day: the lunchtime rush.
Gallery of shots from the day [more here]
The restaurant is, luckily, a little more spacious than some eateries I have come across in Tokyo and affored me a reasonable amount of working space around both staff and customers. First-off, I grabbed some establishing shots with my Tokina 11-16mm super-wide, with the D300 attached to the top of my monopod, complete with cable-release and the whole lot held up above my head close to the ceiling of the room. The Live View feature, with the lens pre-focussed, afforded me a good view of the scene and I got some good overall shots of the room and the clientele.
The rest of the time I was following the action with the chefs, the master himself, the kitchen staff and of course making sure to focus-in on the food and the customers.
Across the spread of shots the paper had asked me to get, I think I used most of the lenses in the bag; 11-16mm, 50mm, 85mm, 105mm macro…. finishing the whole shoot off with a remote flash and mixed ambient light portrait of the master himself.
And by the end of the whole session, watching all the food go by, I was mighty hungry and managed to resist eating the sushi bento Yamagata-san gave me, sharing it with my wife when I got home.
A great commission, lovely people and a thoroughly mouthwatering day. Plus, I made some new friends and great new contacts at Tsukiji who are keen to see my book when it comes out and, I hope, sell them through the official office.
N.B. The feature was in the paper edition of Wall Street Journal Asia this weekend [21st Nov. 2009], as the lead feature in their ‘Weekend Asia’ supplement.
Links
- See a selection of shots online at The Wall Street Journal.
- Visit Yamagata-san’s restaurant website here. And, if you get chance, visit his restaurant too. The food really is top-notch. Try the Maguro-don… it looked awesome.
