In our continuing series on 'great photo locations' travel photographer and regular australianphotography.com contributor Alfonso Calero describes the delights (and demands) of photographing Tokyo's famous Tsukiji fish markets.
Tokyo's Tsukiji fish market has been my favourite spot for many years. The subtle differences between fish mongers is what adds vibrance to the colourful characters that make up this market. Most of them have been working here for generations. Located just two minutes walk from Tsukiji train station, it’s a great place to spend the morning taking photos, followed by a very fresh sushi lunch. This has been my routine for the last seven years. The variety of closed and open spaces - from the auction houses to the narrow lane-ways - depict an ambience unlike any other fish market in the world. The bad smell of fish is not really apparent, which confirms the freshness of the product.
Creatively, the market has tons of opportunities to shoot a variety of genres like food, interiors, street portraits or a combination of all three. The style of shooting is fast and furious, with not a lot of time to think twice about your content. Food is best shot in natural light, but unfortunately the overhead tungsten lights often leave highlighted spots on the fish, so you need to pick your subjects and ambient lighting carefully. Flash photography isn’t tolerated by any of the vendors. And you can’t touch the product as some types of fish command a hefty price tag! I’ve been coming back for years so I’ve tried to find all of those of which I have taken a photo to give them a copy. It really helps to build the relationships if you can show your gratitude in some way.
