Some Desktop Backgrounds from Kyoto’s Koumyou-in Temple
NOTE: Images with an icon next to them have been artificially shrunk to better fit your screen; click the icon to restore them, in place, to their regular size.
desktop background image of a peaceful garden view, at the Koumyou-in Temple (光明院), Kyoto Japan  --  Breezy  --  Koumyou-in Temple (光明院)  --  Copyright 2012 Jeffrey Friedl, https://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/160 sec, f/8, ISO 2800 — map & image datanearby photos
Breezy
Desktop-Background Versions
1280×800  ·  1680×1050  ·  1920×1200  ·  2560×1600

Here are a few shots from the Koumyou-in Temple in Kyoto (光明寺, 京都) taken on the same outing as the photos accompanying my Lightroom 4.1 post the other day.

desktop background image of a peaceful garden view, at the Koumyou-in Temple (光明院), Kyoto Japan  --  Simple  --  Koumyou-in Temple (光明院)  --  Copyright 2012 Jeffrey Friedl, https://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 250 — map & image datanearby photos
Simple
Desktop-Background Versions
1280×800  ·  1680×1050  ·  1920×1200  ·  2560×1600
desktop background image of a garden-side veranda, at the Koumyou-in Temple (光明院), Kyoto Japan  --  Veranda  --  Koumyou-in Temple (光明院)  --  Copyright 2012 Jeffrey Friedl, https://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1600 — map & image datanearby photos
Veranda
Desktop-Background Versions
1280×800  ·  1680×1050  ·  1920×1200  ·  2560×1600
desktop background image of a garden-side veranda, at the Koumyou-in Temple (光明院), Kyoto Japan  --  Subtle  --  Koumyou-in Temple (光明院)  --  Copyright 2012 Jeffrey Friedl, https://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/800 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos
Subtle
Vertical Desktop-Background Versions
1050×1680  ·  1200×1920  ·  1600×2561
desktop background image of a garden-side veranda, at the Koumyou-in Temple (光明院), Kyoto Japan  --  Rare  --  Koumyou-in Temple (光明院)  --  Copyright 2012 Jeffrey Friedl, https://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 900 — map & image datanearby photos
Rare
Vertical Desktop-Background Versions
1050×1680  ·  1200×1920  ·  1600×2561

One of the verandas consisted of a single plank of pine more than a yard wide (94cm by my foot-measuring estimation). I'd never seen anything like it; I assume that all the trees big enough to allow this big a plank were harvested long ago.

I talked to a lady that I took to be the owner of the place, who said that the temple building itself was not all that old... within the last couple of hundred years, so it's likely that the wide plank was repurposed from an older building. She didn't know, nor really seem to care.

Unusual Comparison I'm not used to anything making my US-Size-13½ (Japan size 32) feet look small  --  Koumyou-in Temple (光明院)  --  Kyoto, Japan  --  Copyright 2012 Jeffrey Friedl, https://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — 1/400 sec, f/3.2, ISO 2200 — map & image datanearby photos
Unusual Comparison
I'm not used to anything making my US-Size-13½ (Japan size 32) feet look small
desktop background image of detail of a very wide plank of pine, at the Koumyou-in Temple (光明院), Kyoto Japan  --  Knot Uncommon  --  Koumyou-in Temple (光明院)  --  Copyright 2012 Jeffrey Friedl, https://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 900 — map & image datanearby photos
Knot Uncommon
Vertical Desktop-Background Versions
1050×1680  ·  1200×1920  ·  1600×2561
desktop background image of a peaceful garden view, at the Koumyou-in Temple (光明院), Kyoto Japan  --  Garden View  --  Koumyou-in Temple (光明院)  --  Copyright 2012 Jeffrey Friedl, https://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — 1/500 sec, f/1.4, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos
Garden View
Desktop-Background Versions
1280×800  ·  1680×1050  ·  1920×1200  ·  2560×1600

I lead the previous post with a similar shot, but of a different door in a different room, looking out at the same garden from a different angle.

The entrance to the place included a painted cement floor that included leaf patterns seemingly-etched into the surface...

Koumyou-in Temple (光明院)  --  Kyoto, Japan  --  Copyright 2012 Jeffrey Friedl, https://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 4000 — map & image datanearby photos

They were so detailed and lifelike that I have to think they were made by leaves being pressed into the cement before it dried, but that really doesn't seem plausible for something as delicate as a leaf. Maybe someone carefully crafted a bunch of stamps?

desktop background image of what seems to be a leaf imprinted in a cement floor, at the Koumyou-in Temple, Kyoto Japan (光明院)  --  Koumyou-in Temple (光明院)  --  Copyright 2012 Jeffrey Friedl, https://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/250 sec, f/5.6, ISO 6400 — map & image datanearby photos
Desktop-Background Versions
1280×800  ·  1680×1050  ·  1920×1200  ·  2560×1600
desktop background image of a rope woven within a rope, at the Koumyou-in Temple, Kyoto Japan (光明院)  --  Yo Dawg I heard you like ropes  --  Koumyou-in Temple (光明院)  --  Copyright 2012 Jeffrey Friedl, https://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 800 — map & image datanearby photos
Yo Dawg
I heard you like ropes
Vertical Desktop-Background Versions
1050×1680  ·  1200×1920  ·  1600×2561
Incongruous Gate the modern gate was a notable exception to the high-class low-key style of the place  --  Koumyou-in Temple (光明院)  --  Kyoto, Japan  --  Copyright 2012 Jeffrey Friedl, https://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 2800 — map & image datanearby photos
Incongruous Gate
the modern gate was a notable exception to the high-class low-key style of the place

All 3 comments so far, oldest first...

Wonderful. I like the leafs.

— comment by Boris on June 8th, 2012 at 3:10pm JST (12 years, 6 months ago) comment permalink

Wow! I’m not only vastly impressed with the width of that plank, but amazingly, it stayed straight. Usually one wouldn’t use an extra-wide board without re-sawing because of the great danger of warping. Especially when it’s used outside.
Perhaps it was re-purposed from an older building, in which case it was well-dried, but still….it didn’t warp back then either, Absolutely amazing.
I wonder how it’s attached to the joists…from underneath?

— comment by Grandma Friedl, Ohio, USA on June 8th, 2012 at 9:58pm JST (12 years, 6 months ago) comment permalink

Near Sendai, Japan, in the mountains around the city, there are giant cedar trees that are the largest I have ever seen. A friend of mine was from a logging family back in Minnesota and he said he had not seen anything that large in his lifetime. You might be able to find them online.

I learned the leaf impression when I was there in the early 1950s and made all my stepping stones with leaf impressions

— comment by Abraham Lincoln on June 8th, 2012 at 10:42pm JST (12 years, 6 months ago) comment permalink
Leave a comment...


All comments are invisible to others until Jeffrey approves them.

Please mention what part of the world you're writing from, if you don't mind. It's always interesting to see where people are visiting from.

IMPORTANT:I'm mostly retired, so I don't check comments often anymore, sorry.


You can use basic HTML; be sure to close tags properly.

Subscribe without commenting