STAFF BLOG
Archives
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18APR2019
Dry Landscape
- Client Work
We reserved two time slots for our clients before and after open hours at Ryoan-ji, a 15th century zen temple (I believe there was another temple on the site dating back to the 11th century). The temple is most famous for its dry landscape garden. Being able to appreciate a historical monument and world heritage…
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16APR2019
Otagi Nenbutsu-ji
- Client Work
One of the more memorable temples during the project in Kyoto was definitely Otagi Nenbutsu-ji. A Tendai-sect temple in the Arashiyama area of Kyoto, it’s most interesting feature is the 1,200 stone arhat sculptures. The stone sculptures were all carved by amateurs under the supervision of the previous abbot, and each one has its own…
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02APR2019
Photons
- Creative Journal
Not to pull an “Oh! The golden days!”, but as part of the generation that doesn’t fully remember life pre-internet, I feel like there are some important practices that I missed out on. Not necessarily know-how. Again, that’s what the internet’s for. I can find whatever I want to as long as I know I’m…
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30MAR2019
Religious LEDs
- Creative Journal
Here’s an update in dialogue with the post on Tamagawa Daishi: The nooks in the ceiling at Tamagawa Daishi are so layered with soot that they eat light the same way lacquerware does. It’s like staring into a dusty black hole. The tunnel underneath the temple is damp and primordial. Overall, it achieves its…
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26MAR2019
Interrotron
- Technical Journal
We’re trying to get the gear together to setup our own interrotron in the office. Two teleprompters, two tripods, special plates, our go-to camera, and a camcorder. An Errol Morris creation, used to capture incredibly intimate and (depending on the content) unsettling interviews. It’s difficult for people not accustomed to being in front of a…
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20MAR2019
Grassroots Spacecraft
- Client Work
Recently I’ve been in contact with a Japanese Nagoya-based private space venture. They have two really distinguishing characteristics. The first is the mechanism that they are developing. Their concept is a reusable spacecraft that relies on a dual jet/rocket combustion method, allowing the spacecraft to takeoff and land like an ordinary plane and eliminate the…
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19MAR2019
Tunnel Temple
- Creative Journal
I have a temple obsession. They’re really like dictionaries of symbols. There’s a Shingon (Vajrayana Buddhist sect) temple near the office that interests me in particular and I’d like to make a mini-doc on it. The main hall itself is the same as every other temple, maybe even a bit dingier. The real point of…
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12DEC2018
Coffee from Robots
- Miscellaneous
The robots first approached in a procession wearing name tags and Christmas hats to appear more relatable. The remote pilots spoke to us through microphones and could see our reactions of awe in detail through cameras in their foreheads. It was a simple exchange, but devastating once it sank in that our waiter was completely…
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21NOV2018
Chabad In Tokyo
- Miscellaneous
Tokyo is known for its extremes. As we’ve looked to profile facets of the giant hive, we’ve found gifted children, stalwart politicians, and religious leaders who seem just a little out of place in the Tokyo zeitgeist. Though not the first people you think of when picturing disaster relief or community outreach in Tokyo, Chabad…
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18OCT2018
Subtle Intrusion
- Miscellaneous
‘The necessary condition for an image is sight,’Janouch told Kafka; and Kafka smiled and replied: ‘We photograph things in order to drive them out of our minds. My stories are a way of shutting my eyes’ – Roland Barthes We had our first day of shooting recently, and the 3,846 photos that detail every movement…