The following photo series of samurai masks is the second installment of a series made in response to visiting The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Arms and Armour department.   The first installment is on samurai armour.   The masks evoke something otherworldly to me. While working on this series, I kept imagining them coming into light through smoke and mist; a merging of the ethereal and the physical.   About Samurai Masks   Samurai masks were made primarily of iron and/or leather and were often finished with lacquer to offer protection from the elements and to enhance the beauty and craftsmanship of the piece.  The masks were worn to protect the face … [Read more...]

  On my most recent trip to New York I spent the better part of two days at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the greater part of my first day being spent in its Arms and Armour department. The museum boasts a Japanese collection that is considered to be the most complete outside of Japan.¹ The following series on concentrates primarily on the Edo period - this wasn't intentional, it just seemed to happen that way.   Shooting the following photos proved to be an interesting task. I'm an amateur in all aspects of the process. My post production play tends to be a sort of let's see what happens when I do this in Photoshop type of process mixed with a hey, I wonder if there's a … [Read more...]