To try with brush and ink is a certain way to throw one self down and then pick one self up. The Brush is the Way! Repeat, repeat, repeat!

Friend, artist and Horimatsu School Deshi Micael grabbed my Nikon D700 and captured this image of myself.  A rare occasion, to see images of  oneself. Especially since I always hold the camera. Dead mans grip!

Linda became one of my first clients up here in Umeå. We started about 5 years ago (I think, correct me if I’m wrong, Linda)  with this backpiece. In the beginning we hurried along greatly but then two pregnancies (congratulations, Linda!) came in the way of completion. Lately we have been able to pick up where we left off and it feels really good to go back in there and apply the new discoveries and techniques I have aquired during these past few years of Linda’s pause from getting Irezumi done.

I really like photographing the clients in front of the mirror like this. It gives a sense of the Floating World that is always present. In which dimension do we really exist? Which image is reality, if any? The Nikon D700 is a master at low light. This image is captured with ISO 800 set (no noise reduction) but I have captured images with a ISO 3200 setting almost as clean as this one. Considering the amount of bad results and hours spent in Lightroom before the D700, I think the asking price for this Boddhisattva of Photography is ridiciously low. Get one! You will not regret it! And do not get a “normal range” zoom for it. A 50 mm is what should be on there most of the time. If any zoom is needed it should be at the far end, a 70-200 or 70-300. In other cases, don’t be lazy; use your feet.

View from outside the Yokohama Tattoo Museum (Horiyoshi III Family).

And then check out the timelapse video one of my clients made during his latest Irezumi session. Go Here!

In a short period of time I have been able to conclude two full backs on clients. Nils is about to become the third one. I plan and hope to finnish it before
leaving for Yokohama in April. This design is based on an Ukiyo-e (woodblock print) by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839-1892).

• Zen-Direct Pointing to Reality by Anne Bancroft. Published by Thames and Hudson.
• Dewdrops on a Lotusleaf-Zen Poems of Ryokan by John Stevens. Published by Shambhala.
• To Cherish All Life-A Buddhist Case for becoming Vegetarian by Roshi Philip Kapleu. Published by Harper & Row.
• Zen:Dawn in the West by Roshi Philip Kapleu. Publidhed by Doubleday Anchor Press.
• The Essential Teachings of Zen Master Hakuin by Norman Wadell. Published by Shambhala.
• Samurai Zen-the Warrior Koans by Trevor Leggett. Published by Routledge.
• Moon in a Dewdrop by Dogen. Published by North Point press.
• The Zen of Creativity by John Daido Loori.
• Bortom Alla Begrepp by Sante Poroma Sensei. Published by Red Dot Publishing. (in Swedish)
• The Recorded Sayings of Zen Master Joshu by james Green. Published by Altamira Press.
• Eat,Sleep, Sit by Kaouro Nonomura. Published by Kodansha Europe.
• Three Pillars of Zen by Roshi Philip kapleu. Published by bantam.
• Sword of No-Sword-Life of Master Warrior Tesshu by John Stevens. Published by Shambhala.
• Essence of Zen by Sekkei Harada. Published by Wisdom Publications.
• Simply Sitting by Philippe Coupey.
• Zen Brushwork by John Stevens. Published by Kodansha Europe.
• The Gateless Gate by Mumon. Published by Walking Lion Press.

To read about Zen is not to be confused with practising Zen, or even understanding anything really. Nevertheless, for us westerners, it seems more probable that we will take on the challenge of anything if we are intellectually informed and reassured before starting. It’s OK. My meditation cushion lives a dusty lonely life most of the time. I forget, I skip, I try to ignore what needs to be done. I am both the Hare and the Tortoise. I look funny that way, spiritually speaking.

However, reading about these matters can make you feel good and that is a good start. Some of you will go further and some will not. Either way is fine in my book. It’s Your life.

This morning I used it for the image above.

This week has been showing around twentyfive below (celcius) every morning so far. Pretty much the whole stretch since new years has been unusually snowy and bitterly cold.
The Nikon D700 has arrived and it is so much more than I could ever hope for in a working camera. With a 50/1.4 screwed on it’s a killer photography machine.

Continued the Bokashi (shading) on fireman Stefan. After making the photograph I realized there were some unexpected, but not unwelcome, spectators.

More often than ever nowadays, it’s clear to me that Irezumi, writing and photography are not separate from one and other. After all, they’re all tools for portraying the Floating World. The photograph above was captured by me on a Yokohama city street on a sticky august day 2009. I really enjoy my photography but where would I be without the all important inspiration and guide from the ones that has come before me?

For a few years now swedish photographer Paul Hansen’s documentary photographic journalism moves me deep down inside. Maybe it is like that with things like this…comes to one self and remains, almost like a shadow that you’re happy to have.

Paul Hansen recently won a big and well deserved award. Please click here you’re interested in the opportunity to view some photography I feel positively strongly about. Simply wonderful.