A New Travel Project

Tomorrow I start on a pilgrimage. I want to keep the details quiet until I arrive tomorrow. There are some clues in this post.

I’m super excited! It will be an adventure and I love an adventure. It’s going to be physically challenging. I also get to travel with friends from college that I haven’t been able to spend much time with in the last ten years.

So stay tuned! I’m hoping for daily posts or updates.

EDIT: JULY 2019

Wow!

That might have been the hardest trip of my life. We averaged about 25km per day. On our longest day, we walked 40km. Sometimes in rained, many days the mud was treacherous. I slipped, did a face plant, but escaped injury. At the end, it was VERY hot.

My travel companions were very fast so there wasn’t as much time for photography as I’d hoped. I’m still working on photos and trying organize things into a cohesive story in stead of an exhausted blur.

I took two cameras:

  • Canon Eos M5 with the 18-55 mm lens and the 22 mm (barely used the second)
  • IphoneXS Max

Because of time constraints, I used my iPhone a lot more than I planned to. I miss the large file sizes the Eos M5 delivered but I’m generally pleased with the iPhone photos.

Update 2022
Deciding what to do with the photos is a long-term plan.

Upcoming Exhibitions Including My First Solo Show

Lori-Ono-photography-upcoming-exhibitions-summer-snowfences-2018

It’s been a productive time behind the scenes and now the fun stuff! I have three exhibitions coming up in the next couple weeks. Two are group exhibitions and the other is my first SOLO show!

I’ll be posting more about each show in the future, but for now, this is the schedule.

Working With Writers, Investigating the Silk of Yukitsumugi.

lorionophotography-lori-ono-orimoto-yukitsumugi-nobuko-suto-japan-weavingI’m excited to announce that I’ve been working with a writer on some articles about Japan that are published in some online Tokyo magazines. I had the privilege of accompanying the fabulous Joan Bailey to do photography when she went to Tochigi to learn about yukitsumugi silk. I have a very keen interest in traditional crafts and artisans in Japan so I was very excited to be working on this.

lori-ono-yukitsumugi-weaving-japan-craftsmanship-loom-lorionophotographyYukitsumigi is a designated intangible cultural treasure in Japan. The complete production of the silk is by hand. It’s extremely labor intensive. Two things that make yukitsumugi unique (other than completely un-automated production) is that the fabric lacks the regular shine of silk since the strands are not twisted; and the pattern is not dyed or painted onto the fabric after weaving. Instead, the threads are dyed before hand, looped and knotted according to complex calculations then dyed. The pattern of the dyed threads emerges as the fabric is woven.

This was my first time to work with Joan and Gaijin Pot and Savvy Tokyo. Our guides were great and the artisans incredibly friendly and generous with their time. I hope to do more stories like these in the future.

You can read Joan’s article at Gaijin Pot here. Joan goes into much more detail about the silk. The photos are by yours truly. Here’s the link for the article for Savvy Tokyo piece.