Derek Makishima is the ARRI ambassador

Well maybe you are thinking the same thing I am right now, “So you went from being a Hasselblad ambassador to being an ambassador for Arri, what the hell are you doing to get this attention?”  Don’t ask me how I do it, if you know me personally I tend to be very low-key to the point of being invisible in a crowd.

Hasselblad X1D @ PhotoNext

I want to address something that I hear quite often regarding this camera.  I hear a lot of people saying this camera is somewhat of a novelty item, an accessory best coupled with a pair of bermuda shorts and a Tommy Bahama shirt, a rich mans travel camera.  

GOLDWELL COLOR ZOOM 2016

Some of my friends joke with me and say that I change my hairstyle more often than I change my shirt. Perhaps there is a grain of truth here, though greatly exaggerated, but it is true I am in hair salons a lot for work. In fact one of my clients is an internationally renowned for their hair coloring skills and have even competed internationally having been named by Goodwill corporation as the best in Japan…

SAMURAI CHALLENGE 12 APRIL – 5 MAY 2017

I occasionally get to photograph in some really incredible places. This isn’t a problem as long as the subject is just as incredible as the background as you are creating a visual similar by juxtaposing the two together. Yesterday, April 26th, 2017, I was photographing the Tokyo leg of the Samurai Challenge rally.

Instead of a photographing next to some bucolic lake with Mt. Fuji in the background, I found myself in the

SIR PAUL SMITH

If I am photographing a person who gets photographed often they almost automatically recognize and appreciate my camera brand of choice. Andy Palmer, C.E.O. of Aston Martin was one such person who automatically recognized my camera brand though it was his first time seeing an H5 series camera. However, I never photographed a person who is himself a Hasselblad user from time to time.

NATURAL BEAUTY

Some photographers ask me about how I learned studio lighting to which I respond “school.” They may ask what text books I used in class to which I respond, “what books?” In truth when I was going to school I never had a text book that taught me how to set up lights. If I were to make a comparison, my lighting course in some ways was not to far off from a auto shop teacher dumping a bunch of parts on a floor