Kuni Takanami Photography

Made by hand video

Kuni — Mon, 20 May 2013 06:51:40 +0000

What an inspiring video, celebrating sustainable lifestyles and awesome DIY projects. Enjoy this video:

-Kuni

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Travel gear review collaboration with Angie Takanami and Yahoo!7 Travel

Kuni — Tue, 07 May 2013 05:47:40 +0000

Thanks to Yahoo!7 for this travel gear review column collaboration. My wife Angie tries and tests everything she reviews, and for this column we got to shoot and test the items in the beautiful location of the Maldives.

Read the full post here: http://au.totaltravel.yahoo.com/travel-ideas/news-opinions/news/a/-/17035653/whats-in-the-bag-essential-maldives-travel-gear-reviewed/?src=y7homepage

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Brisbane snaps with MT Warning Music and the Rat Pack

Kuni — Thu, 02 May 2013 11:23:37 +0000

MT Warning invited my wife and I to come shoot behind the scenes on their tour in Brisbane last weekend. I’m saving the best shots for press, but here’s a little look at some of the late night shenanigans that went on when we went to check out the band play live at the Tivoli.

Special thanks: MT Warning, Taylor and Sybil Steele, Tahl, Cathy, Sofitel Brisbane

http://mtwarningmusic.com/

If you haven’t checked out MT Warning’s latest video Forward Miles, take a look:

-Kuni Takanami (Translated by Angie Takanami)

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Sybil Steele interview on Peppa Hart’s blog

Kuni — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 06:30:48 +0000

One of my biggest inspirations and favourite photographers/stylists/producers/directors to work with, Sybil Steele is a huge inspiration in my life and work.

I’ve had the pleasure of working with Sybil on projects such as the Billabong Womens 2013 World campaign, Aila Blue, Angus Stone’s music video ‘Monsters’, and more recently MT Warning’s music video ‘Forward Miles’.

This is a great interview posted on Peppa Hart’s blog: http://peppahart.com/lifestyle/2013/4/26/sybil-steele-interview

Please enjoy the interview, and here’s a few portraits I’ve been privileged to capture of the beautiful Sybil.

-Kuni Takanami (Translation by Angie Takanami)

http://sybilsteele.com/

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Maldives photo shoot for Yahoo!7 sneak peek

Kuni — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 03:01:46 +0000

Back in January, Angie and I spent a week in the Maldives shooting video and stills for Yahoo!7 Travel. It was also part 2nd honeymoon, and our 5-year wedding anniversary. The Maldives have been copping a lot of flack lately, but we were privileged to stay at two very environmentally-conscious resorts “Anantara Dhigu” and “Shangri-La”. We met the locals who were very welcoming and told us of how they rely heavily on the tourism trade for survival.

Here’s a few shots from the trip, the rest will be launching on Yahoo!7 later in the year:

Special Thanks: Yahoo!7 totaltravel, Anantara Resorts, Shangri-La, Etihad, Emirates, Virgin Australia, My Maldives, Camilla, Mutherofallthings, Spell Designs, Makapu’u, Angie Takanami, Kerastase

-Kuni Takanami (Translation by Angie Takanami)

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Local surf shoot, when everything goes right

Kuni — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 11:05:17 +0000

We moved onto a beautiful farm property late last year, and since then I’ve returned to the simple lifestyle in one sense, and jumped aboard technology in another.

Let me explain. When I lived walking distance from the local points, I would wake up early and assess the surf conditions through nature: analyzing wind direction through my bedroom window, checking the amount of sunshine to know if it would be a shooting or surfing day for me, and having had to drive along the coast road morning and night doing the kids’ day care run, I always knew what the ocean was doing.

These days, I retreat from the ocean to the farm, and watch the sun go down off the back deck, surrounded by lush nature and rolling pastures. But assessing the surf is a little more complicated, and requires a good deal of planning on the internet before deciding which way I will turn onto the highway when coming down from the land to the sea each day.

Today I made one of those well educated decisions which saw me frothing at the quality of weather, wind and waves. It was a fun shoot just for me, for the surfers, and for the ocean, here’s the result:

-Kuni Takanami (Translation by Angie Takanami)

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MT Warning, Forward Miles Behind the Scenes

Kuni — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 01:57:26 +0000

I was very privileged to be asked to shoot the behind the scenes photography on set for the latest MT Warning music video, Forward Miles.

Directed by the incredibly talented Sybil Steele, with director of photography Paul de Luna, and starring the beautiful Sarah Ruba, we had a beautiful shoot out on the farm where I live with my family.

Here’s a peek from the shoot:

Check out the music video here:

MT WARNING will be supporting The Temper Trap and The Rubens in their upcoming tours. Checkout show dates here - mtwarningmusic.com

Photos by Kuni Takanami - kunitakanami.com
Forward Miles now available on iTunes - itunes.apple.com/au/album/forward-miles-single/id628026815

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Pennywise featuring Kelly Slater, Taylor Steele, and yours truly

KuniAdminLogin — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 06:07:11 +0000

An eventful night a couple weekends back, Pennywise came to the Gold Coast and I was lucky enough to go to the show with good friend Taylor Steele. These guys were my teenage heroes, and I had many surf trips listening to their tracks, so I was stoked to finally get to see them live.

Kelly Slater joined us backstage and during the show Kelly and Taylor joined in the stage antics stage diving into the packed crowd.

Epic night, thanks Taylor, Kelly and Pennywise for the good times.

- Kuni Takanami (Translated by Angie Takanami)

Looks like Tracksmag caught the action on video, check it out:

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Byron Bay BluesFest

KuniAdminLogin — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 10:15:14 +0000

The annual Byron Bay BluesFest hit our local region last weekend, and I was privileged to be asked to shoot the event for Yahoo!7 travel. It was a huge five-day-long event challenged by thunderstorms and heavy rainfall but that did not shy a massive crowd.

Highlights for me were watching Leonardo’s Bride play their final ever gig; discovering young soul extraordinaire Allen Stone; indulging in Bettye Lavette’s incredible stage presence and remarkable voice, 67 years young; Ben Harper’s gripping acoustic set; Ukulele legend Jake Shimabukuro; and without a doubt, the highlight, Manu Chao who played for nearly two full hours without stopping to break once. Amazing!

Enjoy the photos.

I’m very grateful for Yahoo!7 travel for publishing a gallery of my photographs from BluesFest. If you’d like to see more please check out the gallery here: http://au.totaltravel.yahoo.com/travel-ideas/galleries/g/-/16488083/1/bluesfest-2013/

It seems that Manu Chao dropped in at the local Railway Bar on the Saturday afternoon and played a two-hour free live jam session, and then on the Tuesday evening after Easter joined the local drum jammers on the beach as the sun went down. Such a shame I missed that, but what a guy for jamming out with all the local crew!

Thanks to BluesFest, TotalTravel from Yahoo!7, and all the amazing musicians who made this year’s festival such a pleasure to shoot and enjoy. Can’t wait for next year’s event already.

-Kuni Takanami (Translation by Angie Takanami)

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Kuni Takanami Photography Website Launch

Kuni — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 00:00:45 +0000

Hi friends,

Welcome to the new Kuni Takanami Photography website.

Thanks for your patience. I hope you enjoy the new website and follow the journey with me as I shoot my way around the world. I’ll be updating my blog, photo galleries, and positing my first collection of videos (coming soon), so be sure to check back regularly – and don’t forget to share posts that you like.

The above photo is a flashback from an editorial shoot in India just over three years ago. Angie and I travelled around the country for a month shooting lifestyle and the surf culture in India for the Japanese surf culture magazine BLUE. Angie was pregnant with our first son, but that didn’t stop her surfing almost everyday of the wonderful journey.

What I was drawn to most about India was no doubt the colours, contrasts, and the people. Living in such poverty, the smiles of even the filthiest young kids running around in foul conditions made my heart melt. I can’t even remember how many thousand photos I shot on that trip, but I can’t wait to go back and shoot more.

If you like this shot, be sure to check out more of my photos from that Indian adventure in the TRAVEL gallery of my portfolio here on the website.

Can’t wait to share more of my work and inspirations with you all.

Peace,

Kuni Takanami

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