AlainPhoto
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Hello Ian
It really depends on what you shoot, but most of the time I do not have the luxury to ask for a pose, you do not stop a geisha in the street to make a portrait !
Especially, during festivals, people are natural and do their thing and I love to froze then in action in an authentic image.
Last but not least, the japanese trend to make always the same pose when they are asked to pose 
So, in general, I think a lot about my subject when I see it and try to make a given image that I try to visualize before taking the camera up. Especially, I try to check the elements I want in the composition and the background first, then I look through the viewfinder and try to get the expression I want. Background and composition are really important, and if they are not as you want before clicking, since I use primes, it is over.  Sometimes I have all my time, and can make a few tries in order to be perfectly ready and get lucky, sometimes it happens very fast and I have to get very lucky. I have to say that the camera is much better than me and I found in the mk3 the reliable tool that the 20D was not (uncentered, lighting fast, cross-precise AF points mostly).
But most of my work is just trying again until I have what I want, because I do not have the talent to do otherwise ! I try to anticipate, and then just try until the image is good. Sometimes it takes some time as festivals only occur once a year, and I cannot be always in holiday !
The little girl on this page, I had all the time to get the composition I wanted, but the background is very poor due to the white kimonos giving back too much light, and the horizontal pole you can see on the background. I had other images with background a bit better, but the kid face was not that great. So, that is luck (that I tried to help by standing in the august sun for six hours with a 4kg camera during two days !).
The setsubun shot (the maiko trowing beans) is another lucky shot, but I went twice to this event, waited a couple hours each time, tried different angles. There are also a total of about 6 hours by train to cover it. After the first time, I new the image I wanted to shot, so I came another time and got my image.
For the lady with the hat (in fact a Kyoto Geisha is playing the role), she is the most difficult character to shoot in the 2000 ones of the Jidai Matsuri : the hat and white silk gives you way too much light, and the opening she makes with her hand is quite small (as explained on the website she wears a uchikatsugi, a long veiled headdress commonly worn by high class ladies of that time to protect their anonymity). Also, she is walking and you have about 30 seconds to shoot, and if you want to catch her look properly you have about 2 to 3 seconds, it is not at all impossible if you are ready. The parade is crowded so you cannot really follow her. Last but not least, the hat is moving so I had to focus on the mouth and not the eyes, otherwise the AF can catch a piece of the hat.
I got the image in a very simple way : I missed it in 2008 and did not get the image I wanted, but went back in 2009 and new what to wait for - I guess anyone would have made the same thing, no secret here.
This year or the next, I hope I can see this festival again, because I really love it, and may ask her (well, the selected Geisha, she changes every year, so you do not know the face you will have) for a portrait while she is preparing, hopefully in the shadows, and maybe use a wider angle like 24 f1.4 if I can get very close (above was 200 f2.0 at f2.5) ...
It may take a while to do the images I want, but I have all my time and it is always a lot of fun, so ...
Sorry for the very long text, I hope it make you understand better how I shoot - no secret, just try and try (and learn japanese too).
Alain
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