2017 Private Summer Tour of Japan | Portraits and Tea Ceremony with Maiko

Aug 19 | Evan | No Comments |

While traveling to Kyoto for the private and custom tour of Japan, I arranged for a tea ceremony and private portrait session with a real maiko (geiko apprentice) in Kyoto. I’ve taken her portraits many times before and she is almost finished with her apprenticeship and will be a geiko soon, I think by the time I see her again in the 2018 cherry blossom season in Japan! It’s been a wonderful experience working with her over the years and seeing her progression through the maiko/geiko culture and profession in Kyoto.

We met our maiko at her tea house for a short tea ceremony and dance performance. After chatting a little we went to a temple in Kyoto for our portrait session. Having photographed her before in Kyoto at this temple, I knew some of the poses I wanted to try again and some new poses I wanted to try. In this sense, photography locations for me can be similar to returning to a restaurant I like in that I know what menu items I already had and enjoyed but interesting in trying something new.

Taking a step back with restaurants in general, even more so when I do tours in Tokyo and Kyoto as I know my favorite restaurants to eat in Japan but there is always a new place I want to try and visit! Back to photography though! Luckily, with photography, especially now it’s digital, I can try as many poses as time permits and get the instant feedback on how the portraits are coming out. In this case, working with a professional model, our maiko made it hard for us to take bad portraits!

This was actually my first entire portrait session using only my Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II and no nikon gear. After editing in raw and comparing to my portraits of our maiko from the same location last year with my Nikon D750, I’m very pleased with the results!

See more photos below or the full report to see more posts from the custom and private photography tour of Japan.

Private and Custom Tour of Japan | Maiko Portrait Session in Kyoto

Aug 04 | Evan | No Comments |

Just another day of taking portraits in Kyoto! Sometimes I have to take a step back and really appreciate these special portrait sessions in Kyoto as after developing a relationship with a tea house in Kyoto, portrait sessions with a maiko have become a special experience that I’ve been able to offer on almost all my recent photography tours of Kyoto. Taking portraits of a real maiko is always one of the highlights of the tour and an unforgettable experience!

This portrait session was on a moderately hot Summer day in Kyoto. You wouldn’t know it by the sunny weather we had, but it was also in the middle of the rainy season in Kyoto. This means that we had a lot of green to work with! Her beautiful purple kimono looked fantastic with all the green, green and more green!

Japan Photo Guide Kyoto 100

We got lucky at our portrait location in Kyoto as the temple was actually undergoing a little renovation. Between the renovation and being a little away from central Kyoto, we had the entire place to ourselves to take portraits.

It was also really nice for Isabelle to take portraits of her and chat with her a bit as they are very similar in age but lives they lead are so drastically different! After the first two photos below of the two girls together, there are a few portraits created by and courtesy of Isabelle Nazha Photography.

Photo Created by and Courtesy of Isabelle Nazha Photography

2016 Cherry Blossom Photography Tour of Japan | Maiko Portrait Session in Kyoto

May 29 | Evan | No Comments |

If you have stopped by my blog before, you may have noticed my group tours to Japan have participated in a few portrait sessions with real maiko as the subject of our portrait session in Kyoto. It’s rare for visitors or really Japanese as well, to meet a real maiko or geiko (geiko is what geisha in Kyoto are called), so it’s a special experience just meeting a maiko and even more specials to be allowed to take portraits of a maiko.

Photo created by and courtesy of Patricia Pomerleau

Photo courtesy of and created by Patricia Pomerleau

Photo courtesy of and created by Kel Blake Photography

In general, the weather for the 2016 Cherry Blossom trip had been great, with only 2 days with really bad and rainy weather. One of our rainy days in Kyoto happened to be on the day we had a portrait session scheduled with a maiko. Cloudy would’ve been perfect weather to provide soft light for our portrait session in Kyoto, but rainy was almost as nice as we had a location that would keep the maiko covered and protected from the weather, but still could create some nice portraits with mostly natural light.

Photo courtesy of and created by Barna Photo

Photo courtesy of and created by Patricia Pomerleau

As it often is, the portrait session was one of the highlights of our group photo tour of Japan! Below is a gallery of a few more of Patricia’s photos, my photos and also a few by Mami Yasui including some of the behind the scenes and our interactions with our lovely maiko!

: Photo courtesy of and created by Patricia Pomerleau

: Photo courtesy of and created by Patricia Pomerleau

: Photo courtesy of and created by Patricia Pomerleau

: Photo courtesy of and created by Mami Yasui

: Photo courtesy of and created by Mami Yasui

: Photo courtesy of and created by Mami Yasui

: Photo courtesy of and created by Mami Yasui

: Photo courtesy of and created by Mami Yasui

With Tokyo, Hiroshima, Miyajima and Himeji Castle already visited, next up for the 2016 cherry blossom tour was Kyoto, my favorite city in Japan! After Kyoto we would continue our tour of Japan to photography Mt. Fuji and the Fuji Five Lakes, still chasing and photographing the cherry blossoms around Japan! Interested in joining the 2017 cherry blossom tour? Please contact me today to start your trip to Japan during cherry blossom season or any other time you’d like!

2016 Cherry Blossom Photography Tour of Japan | Portrait Session in Kyoto and Tokyo

May 28 | Evan | No Comments |

Photo created by and courtesy of Kel Blake Photography

While in the USA, my main business is small boutique portrait photography studio, so while on these photo tours of Japan, I always enjoy working in a portrait session or two if the other photographers are interested. For the 2016 Cherry Blossom Tour of Japan, we not only had a portrait session with a real maiko like in previous trips to Japan, but also had a few opportunities to take portraits while visiting both Kyoto and Tokyo.

In Kyoto, two members of our group decided they wanted to explore Kyoto wearing traditional Japanese clothes. After arranging for them to each rent a kimono, we went off into Kyoto for a portrait session. Kyoto is literally a picture perfect place for portraits, especially during cherry blossom season in Japan.

Once we returned back to Tokyo we also had a portrait session in Tokyo with a model in and around the Yoyogi Park area. It was a lot of fun taking portraits both in Yoyogi Park and also with Omotesando as the backdrop for some city portraiture in Tokyo.