Author name: John-Paul Menez

I picked up a camera 20 years ago as a young ensign in the Navy looking to bag a few keepers on adventures. Unfortunately, the only thing bagged was a seriously expensive camera addiction.

Tokyo in Monochrome – Part 1 – by John Paul Menez

By / / Photos & Projects / 22 Comments

Maybe it’s the weather mixed from the winds breaking against Mt Fuji.  Maybe it’s the mist rising off of Tokyo Bay in the mornings.  Or maybe it’s the elegant wardrobes of the sleek Edokko who all could pass for ballerinas and boxers, but as many photographers have said – the light in Tokyo falls on the streets and paints the Japanese with a unique brush.  COVID canceled a planned trip to Japan for the Olympics in 2020, but now a window of only a week from the reopening of the country to the start of a new job offered itself in October.  I’ve traveled all over the World, but never as a solo tourist in such a culturally foreign setting.  Thankfully, Tokyo is the safest place on Earth with the most gracious people.  If there was anywhere to be lost as a photographer, Tokyo is it.

Truth and Beauty in Film – By John-Paul Menez

By / / Philosophy & Reflections / 11 Comments

It was my first time in West Texas. Georgia O’Keeffe once said she, “couldn’t believe Texas was real…the same big wonderful thing that oceans and the highest mountains are.” Speeding west on the empty road from Alpine to Marfa as the Sun left me behind in its wake of twilight, I couldn’t help thinking this was the biggest most wonderful part. The Chisos Mountains on the horizon brushed by the light bending into the valley of the badlands shocked O’Keeffe’s sense of grandeur. I felt the same. On cue, the local community radio station started playing Patsy Cline.

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