Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Photographing Shinjuku


Shinjuku has lots to offer compared to the other parts of Tokyo.  It's the home of the famous Yakitori Alley, Tokyo metropolitan building, and several other great spots to see and love. The area is full of bright neon lights and the fast past movements of thousands of business men and women, people taking buses to far away locations, and high-end shoppers with garage bands singing their hearts out on the streets. This place has every thing you could ask for and so much more.
       If you are like me and take the train every time you want to get around, this train station is very large and could have you looking for the right exit, real fast!  So, you are out of the train station itching to get some great photos. I am a Landscape photographer at heart and this place has so many look outs. From the walk bridges and tall buildings that surround shinjuku, you could be here for weeks and never find them all.  One of my favorite spots is the Tokyo metropolitan building. The few reasons are 1. It's tall, 48 floors in total. 2. You can see and photograph Skytree, Tokyo Tower, and all the buildings around it. 3. The best reason of all.......  IT IS FREE! In Tokyo this is so freaking rare. The only 2 downsides to this place is the fact that you can't use a Tripod and the south tower closes early. I would say that this place is a very solid place to come and see for an amazing rooftop type shots of tokyo.
If you want to Grab a bite to eat and take a few images, then Yakitori Alley is your next stop.  This place is filled with little hole in the walk type BBQ shops. Think of a 6 x 12 foot little shop with a bar and a few stools for you to sit on and a very interesting person behind the bar cooking and serving beer.  If you want to capture some real honest reactions of random people, then Yakitori Alley is the perfect place for it. The light in side of this place is dramatic and some what bright from all the bar bulbs and neon lights. This is just a fun place to see and enjoy. Must see and do! it's only a 3 min walk out of the east or west exit to the north side of the station.


I could go on about "This spot" or "That spot" but i would rather you go out and explore it yourself. I found that if you just go out and just wonder the streets, you will find new spots that no one has ever thought of shooting before, or you can just find a spot that everyone else has shot to death.


Last thing i would say is that this place is a Street Photographer's heaven. There are all kinds of people that hang around this area of Tokyo.  Am talking about an old lady with a $8,000 hand bag, and god knows how much else she has on her to the homeless guy right next to her. Then right down the street are a bunch of drunk 20 somethings coming out of Yakitori Alley. So please, get out and have fun. It's well worth the trip to this amazing spot!



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