Tokyo Blade

This past week I had the opportunity to run down to the Shiodome area of Tokyo with the intention of shooting some of the great architecture in the area. At the top of the list was the Dentsu Building. This building has not only a great shape to it, but also a perfect position for some awesome lighting, especially when mixed with the long exposure effects of an ND (neutral density) filter. It takes about an hour or so from my house to get there, so it’s not exactly a quick trip, but not too bad by train really. After finding a good spot, I set up my tripod and camera, and started shooting. Unfortunately, after about 3 shots a security guard came by and told me I wasn’t allowed to take pictures there. Talk about a let down! I’m not sure what the reason was. There are likely a variety of them I suppose, but I think it’s a bad idea to ban photography – especially someone who is clearly trying to make the place look nice. I say that because, if you go do a quick Google search of the Dentsu building, you’ll find mostly uninteresting shots. Not bad necessarily, but not good either. If you allow people to take photos of your property however, you’re more likely to saturate the web with nice photos that might make more people want to come to see it or be interested in it in some form. If nothing else, to me it honors the brilliant architecture of the creator. You wouldn’t take a photo like this of a Walmart, you know? Even if they just asked you to go inside and sign a paper, I’d be fine with that. But telling anyone who comes by that they can’t take photos at all is truly unfortunate. Additionally, since the all the buildings in that area are kind of connected (i.e. share the same security measures), it meant I couldn’t photograph the other buildings either, so they all missed out as well. 🙁

Anyway, off my soapbox now! 🙂 It took me a while to get adjusted to the light and everything, so I really wasn’t sure if I was going to wind up with a photo I could work with once the guard had said I need to leave. Happily, I did! The 3rd and final photo I took turned into today’s shot. I’m pretty happy with it, all things considered.

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