Well this is a first...

Welcome! This is the first post on my first blog, and I'm just here to say hi, and to welcome you to the site. I'd first like to introduce myself. My name, as you can probably tell, is Grayson Kai Takashina-Pollock. Mouthful huh? Well I actually go my my middle name and only one of my last names, for a few personal reasons that I won't bore you with. Some of you may be able to tell by my name that I'm part Japanese. I was born in Nelson B.C. Canada, but soon moved to Japan when I was an infant to a small fishing village. I attended school there until I was around 6, then moved with my Mother to Santa Cruz California where I began grade school. My English and reading skills were quite subpar for the first few years as I grew up speaking almost exclusively Japanese. At the same time I also began Saturday school in Cupertino where I did Japanese schooling on top of my normal schooling. I continued Saturday school and finished 4th grade, but stopped due to the increased work loads with both school making it difficult to concentrate on either. My intrigue with photography first began when I was quite young when my Mother bought me a small sony point and shoot that I'd take everywhere. Although I never really had decent equipment until I was older, cameras always had a special place in my heart. But before photography, my first hobbie was skateboarding. I'd always owned one since I was a toddler, although back then, all I'd do was skate myself around on my bum or my knees. I really got into it around 3rd and fourth grade when my Mom's boyfriend began teaching me. The whole skate community was intoxicating. All those older kids cussing, smoking, pulling off tricks etc. It all seems so cool. I began venturing in the community and made friends that skated too, and began getting better and better. But in seventh grade, when my grades dropped significantly due to parental neglect, and general lack of effort, I was sent to live with my grandparents for 3 months, during which I was in the country with no decent internet access, or access to places to skate. I came back to Santa Cruz depressed, and with no interest in skateboarding, but instead in computers. I began coding, and becoming facsinated with the society behind it. I obsessed over various setups, and different programs people wrote, and by the time I was in eigth grade, stil with terrible grades, and now stuck in my room, I yet again found myself depressed. I was again sent to permanently live with my grandparents, in a final effort to turn my habits around. I began the second semester motivated to change. I quickly began maintaing straight A's, and finished with a 4.0, just in time for High School, where it really mattered. As a congradulatory middle school graduation gift I recieved my first DSLR, final rekindling my love for photography. As I go back to Japan every year to visit family during the summer, Osaka presented great photographic opportunity. I photographed everything that interested me, all the while watching countless videos on how to use cameras, etc. I had finally found my passion, and could now explore my artistic vision. It took quite a while to figure out what I wanted, that was until that very summer, in my granfathers study, I found his 40 year old camera equipment in a dusty box. I took the cameras and chose one and asked him if I could keep it. The answer was yes, although the camera was broken and needed CLA, which only took a month or so, by then I was back in the states beginning High School. My grandpa came back from Japan with the camera fully refurbished, and I found the nearest camera store and bought some film. After a quick learning curve with the Sunny 16 rule, I was ready to shoot. I fell in love. Film photography became my passion, although I didn't know what direction I was going to take it yet. Fast forward a month or so to a visit to Spokane WA, with my camera in hand I used a whole role of some 400 speed color film, and excitedly dropped it off to be developed. I finally knew what I wanted to take pictures of. People, people on the street. The pictures I got back weren't exactly the best, but one became my favorite. It was a picture of two people sitting under an overpass (presumeably where they lived) and everything was just right to me. The lighting, the composition, everything. I researched further, and a few visits to blogs, and instagram pages later, I finally knew exactly what style I was going to shoot. Street, I was gonna shoot street photography.

Well that's all for my little intro, but I'll be adding more posts, like some gear reviews, some of my projects, some street photos, and words about my travels.

Cheers,

Kai