Underground Tokyo
Cyberpunk
Street Photography
What’s the Story?
Tokyo’s streets take on another life after dark. The neon lights are set ablaze, bathing the city in hues of blue, red, and violet. Wandering the back streets of Kabukicho, the city’s major red light and entertainment district, one gets a sense of a world hidden amidst the neon haze. Seemingly secret passages lead away from the lights and into an underworld of wires and cramped locales, frequented by the denizens of the night. And in the rain, the atmosphere is all the better.
What We’ll Shoot
We will explore creative ways of shooting street photography in the night-scape of Tokyo’s most colorful districts. In addition to understanding the ideal settings for night street photography, we will also practice setting up panning shots of passing traffic, learn how to creatively use reflections, and how to capture silhouettes while shooting in high contrast or very dark conditions. On this photography workshop, you will learn how to get the most of your camera at night in Tokyo, without the use of a tripod.
Where We’ll Explore
We begin in Shinjuku, one of the hearts of the Tokyo Metropolis. Here we will explore the smoky and bustling Omoideyokocho before heading into the pleasure district of Kabukicho. After exploring its underbelly through our cameras, we will take the metro to Shibuya where we will venture into an old building overgrown with pipes and conduits, a scene straight out of cyberpunk cinema. Finally, we will pass through Dogenzaka, another neon-filled red light district, before ending up at Shibuya crossing.
Bogdan –
I had awesome time with Lukasz – He has a great eye for good scenes and I was happy to learn some of his tricks. Its already my second tour with Eyexplore and I highly recommend to do the Cyberpunk Streets of Tokyo private tour – its 3 hours long but totally worth it!
moodychilean –
Just awesome; in about 3 hours your photography skills will be boosted ( it doesn’t matter if you are a beginner, intermediate or advanced photographer). Lukasz adapts to your needs and your gear. I’ve been doing photography seriously for about 3 years and i learned really a lot in this workshop. It is not just about how to use your gear, is a composition, framing and perception course. Everyone who wants to learn night street photography should schedule a workshop like this in Tokyo.
akatallpaul –
I had only 3 nights in Tokyo. And I spent 2 of them doing the Cyberpunk workshop. And so thankful I did.
Lukasz was very chill and pleasant to hang with. Plus, he wore many hats. Location scout. Photo assistant (when needed). And informative tour guide for Tokyo’s night life, vs. the traditional tours you get during the day. I loved it. I enjoyed getting a better understanding of the people and locations we were shooting in.
Little time was wasted. We would go to various locations. Explore the area. Wait if we had a feeling about a shot or move on if it wasn’t happening. Lukasz was patient with my instincts, but also offered advice/techniques to help me execute whatever shot I was trying to get.
After the first night, I mentioned to Lukasz the kind of “”street”” locations I preferred and he tweaked the second night’s adventure toward those types of locations. I couldn’t have been happier.
My goal was to shoot as much of Tokyo at night as possible, in a condensed amount of time. And the Cyberpunk workshop more than exceeded that goal. Bravo!
akshaya63 –
I’ve done three photowalks with EyExplore in Tokyo over 2 years – Temples & Shrines, Tokyo by Night, and CyberPunk. I learned a lot of new techniques from extremely talented and creative professionals, and I got to see parts (or perspectives) of Tokyo I wouldn’t ordinarily have experienced! I highly recommend EyExplore!
brianlT6726ZZ –
A great introduction to the bright lights and interesting places of Shinjuki and Shibuya. Lukasz is a very accomplished photographer and gave us great guidance on settings and techniques for shooting at night. It gave us a good understanding of the area and the confidence to go out shooting on our own. The tour visits some bar, entertainment and red light areas, great for photography but perhaps not suitable for youngsters.
dinrandir1 –
It was rainy evening, streets were flooded with transparent umbrellas and people under them soaked their faces in neons glows. Lukasz guided me through Shinjuku and Shibuya and helped me to capture those moments. He was giving hints where and how to look, showed me simple but effective technics of changing shutter speed and aperture according to situation. Three hours passed quickly on talks about places we visited, photographic equipment and life in Tokyo. After this workshop I feel hunger for more wandering the back streets with my camera, and thanks to Lukasz I feel more confident. I think this was one of the best experience I had during my stay in Tokyo.
F2309XUchristophers –
Lukasz was a terrific guide and teacher during our time together exploring the backstreets of Tokyo! I learned how to setup my camera for the situation and how to visualize the scenes in new and creative ways.
Codie-Harpell –
Lukasz is an amazing guide and a great teacher. If you traveling to Tokyo and want to get some amazing photos go on this photo tour/class it’s truly worth it. No matter how experienced or inexperienced you are Lukasz will be able to either help you get to the next level of your photography or show you some amazing places you would be hard pressed to find by yourself.
mZ9375EN –
I highly recommend the cyberpunk streets of Tokyo workshop. You get to see many great photography locations that would be normally hidden to the uninitiated. I also learned some new techniques and a good number of practical tips from Lukasz.
BenQ83 –
Great night photography tour through Tokyo. Lukasz knows a lot about photography and the city. The sessions includes various locations to get various street photography shots of Shinjuku and Shibuya. Good for solo traveller but also couples and small group of friends.
Tanveer –
Being an enthusiast photographer, I wanted to explore more of Japan during my time here. I found eyexplore online and my brother and I decided to do the ‘Tokyo Cyberpunk Streets’ course. We were met by out instructor, Lukasz, at the station and from there he took us on a very scenic route of Tokyo. Lukasz was great, he was very friendly and he took us to many locations that we would never even think to explore. This made our experience fascinating (as we really did not know what would be round the corner). Lukasz taught us many new compositional techniques and he explained to us how to get the best exposure in the most efficient way possible. The shots created from these locations were great and Lukasz consistently gave me and my brother feedback on our photos. He told us what we had done well and how we could improve. The ‘Tokyo Cyberpunk Streets’ course was an amazing choice and it allowed us to shoot exactly what we wanted to in Tokyo – the well renowned Tokyo night life. Lukasz was also very accommodating and when I told him that my knowledge of the technical side of photography stretched further than my brother’s he adapted his explaining of things to him. If you are in Japan and enjoy photography, I would highly recommend that you go on one of these courses. There is a wide variety of different courses, so you are able to do what you enjoy. The photographers are knowledgable, friendly and, put simply, just brilliant! They ensure to show you the ‘real’ Japan! Personally, as an amateur photographer, this was one of the highlights of my trip! P.s He even gave us excellent restaurant recommendations. 🙂