Restless 35 - Recent Posts and Digital Noise
Here are some things I’ve written about and photographed recently: attending two football games while in the UK, my grandfather’s old camera, film photography, and retracing a stretch of the Nakasendo. More in the links below.
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With the rapid advances in AI and its overuse, I’ve become a bit disheartened when viewing digital photos online (how can you prove their authenticity?) and, honestly, many other digital experiences. As a result, I’ve started embracing film photography again and limiting my AI usage to grammar checks for what I write in both English and Japanese, using the privacy‑focused Lumo whenever possible. I think the antidote to the drain on modern life is to avoid all the gloomy news, take breaks from digital, and get back to basics. No surprises there then. That means no streaming music—I now buy CDs or FLAC files and download them to my computer—more books, less Kindle, more rolls of film, and more time away from the computer. More time doing nothing. Saying all that, this 45s Soul & Disco Vinyl Only Mix with Marie Kimishima was an absolute joy to listen to.
It’s only a small step but it feels much better when I do so. Yesterday’s walk from Ena to Nakatsugawa with no music, no smartphone, and a lot of film photography (yet to be developed) was wonderful.
Even the unseasonably hot weather here in Japan reminds me how much I value slowing down and feeling the world directly, away from all the outside digital noise.
Maybe I should make a physical version of this newsletter (with photos) and post it out to you. Would that be of interest?
Anyway, I hope you enjoy what’s below.
Sean.
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The Nakasendō – Ena to Nakatsugawa – seanbreslin.jp
Four years already? Was that how long it had been since I’d walked this section of the Kisoji/Nakasendō? (It was December 19th, 2021). Pandemic times. Not another soul in sight back then.
Hazama Fudouson – Seki – seanbreslin.jp
We used to live just down the road in Inuyama, which meant I often cycled up and over the Kagamigahara Alps on routine bike rides, right past Hazama Fudouson (迫間不動尊) in Seki, Gifu prefecture.…
Four Frames From Film #2 – seanbreslin.jp
I started this back in June. Here are four more from one roll of Fujifilm 400.
The Kodak Brownie Cresta – seanbreslin.jp
My grandfather owned a Kodak Brownie Cresta, and although it was a fairly inexpensive camera, he kept it in immaculate condition.
Aston Villa v Newcastle United – seanbreslin.jp
Every time I’m in the UK visiting family, I try to get to a Villa game to reminisce about my childhood, when I used to stand in the Holte End with my dad most Saturday afternoons.
