A Photographer’s Notes: Exploring Dotonbori with the Nikon ZR

Recently, work had me touring to Osaka, and I used to be fortunate to have a full night free to get out and discover town with my new Nikon ZR. When exploring, I prefer to deal with one or two areas solely, simply to maintain issues easy. So this time I made a decision to take a look at the well-known Dotonbori space for the primary time in MANY years. 

I are likely to keep away from over-crowded locations when I’m out with my digital camera. But for some cause, I actually needed to take a look at Dotonbori this journey, and I’m glad I did! 

Throwback Neon Colors and Design

Walking up from the native station, I used to be first greeted with these wonderful neon indicators displaying the doorway to the Dotonbori space. These neon indicators appear to be a throwback to when the realm was first developed, as they offer off a powerful Showa period vibe of their colours and design. 

I discovered myself filming one signal from all kinds of angles, spending in all probability manner an excessive amount of time on the very first thing I noticed that night time, haha. However, I do actually want the look of the outdated neon indicators a lot greater than the fashionable LED replacements. They simply really feel extra heat and human in a manner. 

Also, follow the author’s exploration of Dotonbori through the video

A Random Weekend Night

From there, I headed down the principle road and was stunned to see simply how many individuals had been there on this random Saturday night time. It was loopy, to be sincere. 

The principal “tourist attraction” of Dontonbori must be the well-known working man Glico signal. This is a big LED signal that EVERYONE desires to get a photograph in entrance of, besides me, apparently. I used to be extra fascinated by individuals watching and capturing pictures of the mass of individuals there. Needless to say, I moved on down the road fairly shortly to see the remainder of the realm.

One distinctive side of this space of Osaka, and in Japan as a complete, is that a whole lot of the storefronts right here have large objects on the surface of their retailers that depict what they’re promoting. Giant octopuses, gyoza, takoyaki, and crabs.

There was even one with what I can solely assume was an enormous face of the well-known chef or proprietor of the store. It’s fairly cool to see and helps rather a lot when searching for one thing to eat. And they’re enjoyable so as to add to photographs as nicely.

All images by Jason Halayko.

Alleyways and Backstreets

But me being me, I needed to get off the principle road and discover the extra slim alleyways and backstreets you may typically discover in these areas. Getting misplaced is par for the course. But it is whenever you cease attempting to “get somewhere” and simply benefit from the technique of wandering and exploring along with your digital camera that you just discover the hidden gems different photographers could have missed. 

All images by Jason Halayko.

I don’t notably get pleasure from taking the “iconic” photographs you see on Instagram nowadays. So this fashion of actually getting misplaced and seeing what I see helps me uncover distinctive spots and moments that aren’t simply replicated by different photographers. 

The final scene of the night time I photographed is an efficient instance of this. While strolling down a random facet road, considering extra about what I needed for dinner than what I needed to {photograph}, I noticed two gents having fun with a dialog whereas sharing a beer outdoors a random store. A easy second, however one I discovered profoundly attention-grabbing and felt I wanted to seize. 

The mixture of the sunshine, the grittiness of the store exterior, and the simplicity of two individuals sharing a drink on a chilly Osaka night time actually spoke to one thing inside me. In the tip, it was simply my favourite shot from the night time. 

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Author and Photographer: Jason Halayko
Jason Halayko is an expert photographer specializing in motion sports activities and portrait images. Follow him on X and Instagram.