Those of you still waiting for this month’s tiny cache of ULTRAsomething verbiage will be pleased to know that I haven’t retired — I’ve just been in Tokyo for the past three weeks.
All that eating, sightseeing, eating, photographing and eating left little time for the sort of thoughtfulness that (ostensibly) goes into an ULTRAsomething post. Although, truth be told, I did write an online travelogue (“trog”) throughout the trip. However, since this “trog” was of an even more banal and personal nature than the average ULTRAsomething post, I chose to publish it only for a select few friends and family. Because I had only an iPad with me, I used only iOS apps — PhotoRaw to convert the RAW files to JPG, and Snapseed to process the files for publication via Adobe Slate. The simplicity of the process was quite refreshing, though I’m glad to be back in front of a real computer, where the real curation and editing are just beginning.
So I hope you’ll all forgive the minor delay. ULTRAsomething will be back to its usual lackadaisical publishing schedule next month.
©2015 grEGORy simpson
ABOUT THE PHOTOS: “Yaktori Bar, Shinjuku” was shot with a Ricoh GR my first day in Tokyo, and was processed hastily that same evening using Snapseed on an iPad. This fellow and I (the only two patrons in a small Yakitori Bar on the colourfully named, “Piss Alley”) had an awkward little conversation using an iPhone translator app. He wanted to know how old I was (is this a common thing to ask in Japan?) When I told him, he smiled and tapped out a reply on his iPhone, then held up the translated text for me to read. “You big senior!” it said. I’ve chosen to interpret this as a good thing.
REMINDER: If you find these photos enjoyable or the articles beneficial, please consider making a DONATION to this site’s continuing evolution. As you’ve likely realized, ULTRAsomething is not an aggregator site — serious time and effort go into developing the original content contained within these virtual walls.
