Hi. My name is David LaSpina.
I like green tea, zen, and haiku, my favorite book is Siddhartha, I often leave tiny folded cranes behind in trains when I get off, and I take photos. Welcome to my website.
Japan
It’s a strange and wonderful place here in The Land of the Rising Sun. On one hand, old Japan is everywhere. Kimono, tea ceremony, shrines, castles, etc. At the same time, there is a very vibrant pop culture that combines modern ideas and practices from the West and makes them into something truly unique. It’s an interesting mix. On the same street you may pass high tech skyscrapers, teens with futuristic cell phones and hand held video game systems, then — boom — an old woman in a kimono spreading water with a ladle in front of a 500 year old shrine.
Photos
Photography is a passion of mine and a large source of my income. I am always taking photos, experimenting with new styles, and learning and trying new things.
My goal is to post one new photograph every single day. I refer to this as my daily photo experiment—or maybe daily photo adventure would be a better name, because though it is tough sometimes, it is also fun.
HDR
This site is most well-known for the HDR photos. HDR is a technique for enhancing photos. Think of it as simply a way of getting more light in photos so that both the darkest areas and the lightest areas are visible. This means no blown out white sky, or no subject swallowed in shadows.
Normally we make an HDR image by combining multiple exposures. Take one photo that exposes for the dark areas, take one exposing for the light areas, and combine them. There is a bit more to it, but this gives you a rough idea.
I don’t always use HDR, but I often do. Personally I believe HDR photography is much closer to what we actually see with our eyes. I think you’ll agree.
Licensing — Using My Photos — Let’s Make A Deal
I freely share my photos with everyone. Everything is under copyright, but I license it all to you under the Creative Commons license. This means people are free to use this stuff on their own, as long as it is not for commercial purposes. Copy and download any photo you like and use it as your desktop, crop it and use it for a banner on your website, e-mail it to a friend, use it for your classroom—whatever.
I require two things in return:
- Give me credit. Credit things to David A. LaSpina. Be sure to include the middle initial because there are other David LaSpina’s out there so it can be confusing.
- Link here to JapanDave.com or to my FaceBook Fan Page
If you do have commercial uses in mind and want to talk about licensing a photo for that purpose, licensing info is here.
Elsewhere On the Web
- My flickr photos
- Get this site’s headlines on Twitter: @JapanDavePhotos.
- My own personal Twitter: @dbooster
- Subscribe to the RSS feed
- Free newsletter
- Japan iPhotography: Only iPhone photos go here. I’d encourage you to check it out if you like more artsy, lofi photography.
Anything Else?
- Contact me about it.
