I'm going to Tokyo

At the end of October, I’m flying from Oslo to Tokyo, where I’ll be staying until the beginning of November. The aim is cultural exchange between Norway and Japan through street photography.

I founded and lead the street photography collective Oslo SPC – Oslo Street Photography Collective, and I’ve been shooting street photography since around the early 2000s.

Equipment

I’m travelling light, as I won’t be checking in any luggage and will only have hand luggage. I could have brought loads of video and photography gear and so on, but I’ve decided to keep everything light.

Nikon Zf – main camera

My main camera is a Nikon Zf, with either a 28 mm f/2.8 or a 35 mm f/2 lens. I considered bringing a flash, but I think I’ve decided against it. I’m still weighing it up, though, so I might suddenly change my mind.

When I was in Thailand, Vietnam and Taiwan, I found that I hardly used the 35 mm lens I brought with me. That’s something I’ll bear in mind when I pack my gear. The less dead weight I have to carry (and store at the hotel), the better. I’m travelling without checked baggage, so every gram counts – not for the airline, but for my back, since I have to carry everything.

Disposable cameras – fun and messing about

I bought four Fuji Quick Snap disposable cameras. I’ve always said I was done with film, after shooting it since early 2001. All I care about is the picture itself; I don’t give a shit how you took it.

After shooting with disposable cameras on disposable-camera photo walks organised by Oslo SPC, I’ve developed a taste for the disposable-camera aesthetic. There’s something raw and animalistic about it, something I miss nowadays with digital cameras.

Anyway, we’ll see if I manage to use up all four disposable cameras in Tokyo.

Video – iPhone 16 Pro

I’m still not sure whether I’ll shoot much video during the visit. In my experience, it’s hard to shoot video and photos at the same time – and do both well. One will always suffer because you also have to think about the other.

But if the mood takes me, I’ll use my phone and the Blackmagic Camera app. To stop my phone running out of storage, I’ve bought a simple USB hub that connects to my iPhone. The hub has a high data-transfer capacity, which means I can record video directly to an SD card.

I’ll use the same hub whenever I back up my photos to the cloud (the Norwegian service Jottacloud). Video is the second priority. Photos come first.

Follow my blog to see what I get up to in Tokyo. The image on the top of this blog is from my last time in Tokyo. It is a selfie on the Fuji X100 (the first one).