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Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — ¹/1250 sec, f/1.4, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Entrance Gate
Joshoko-ji Temple (常照皇寺)
Northern mountains of Kyoto, Japan

Dipping into the several metric tons of pixels that I want to post but have yet to barely even look at myself, a short trip back to late April, to a visit to the Joshoko-ji Temple (常照皇寺, more properly transliterated in English as “Joushoukou-ji”) with Paul Barr and Nicolas Joannin. It was an amazing place, though the harsh sunlight of the hot spring day made for photographic challenges.

I did post just a few shots the day after the trip, in “Pretty As a Peach Blossom”, and some time later some shots that happened to be from that outing to illustrate “Unconventional Camera Bag: Repurposing a Think Tank Photo Retrospective Lens Changer”.

This is the first proper post from the outing, so I'll start with a few shots from the approach to the temple...

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Path to the Entrance Gate
from the public street

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/1600 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Fluffy Sakura
It's been a while since we had any on the blog

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Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/2000 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos

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Nikon D3 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 48mm — ¹/100 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Description Plaque
common at temples and shrines
photo by Paul Barr

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Public Street
near the entrance to the path

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Heading up the path to the big entrance gate....

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — ¹/640 sec, f/1.4, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
“Exposed for the Shadows”
where one shadow is Nicolas Joannin

... and then stepping through...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — ¹/1250 sec, f/1.4, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Outer Garden
just inside the gate

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — ¹/2000 sec, f/1.4, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Bridge and Steps
leading to the (rarely-used) imperial entrance

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Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm — ¹/640 sec, f/5.6, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Waterfall of Moss
rarely-used steps to the imperial entrance
(but they're there should the Emperor of Japan choose to pay a visit)

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 70mm — ¹/640 sec, f/2.8, ISO 220 — map & image data — nearby photos
VIP Entrance and Blossoms
this small unused gate is at the top of the steps

We were a too late for the blossoms' prime, so you can see green leaves mixing in with the blossoms, but it was still quite pretty.

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Garden Detail

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
A Bit Freaky
not sure what's going on here
(I had apparently played with this in Lightroom after loading the images)

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 160mm — ¹/640 sec, f/5.6, ISO 1600 — map & image data — nearby photos
Just Because
I think it's interesting

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Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 170mm — ¹/640 sec, f/5.6, ISO 1250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Nicolas Among the Blossoms

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm — ¹/1000 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
The Blossoms
among many others at the temple

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Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 102mm — ¹/640 sec, f/2.8, ISO 560 — map & image data — nearby photos
Another Interesting Tree

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Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 78mm — ¹/640 sec, f/2.8, ISO 450 — map & image data — nearby photos
Wall Roof
we could use this kind of flourish in American garden architecture

At this point we're still outside the temple complex, and after paying the trivial fee to the friendly owner, your first look inside is actually fairly bland...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 70mm — ¹/640 sec, f/2.8, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
First Look Inside
the public entrance to the building complex

But much beauty and interest await.

Continued here...