I spent a few hours today in the Murin'an Garden (無鄰菴) in eastern Kyoto, doing a photoshoot with Ting Ting, which you might remember from "Photoshoot at the Peak of the Haradanien Garden’s Awesomeness" two days ago.

Like two days ago, I was with Eric, Gigi, and Damien, but this time Gigi was behind her own camera as well...

I really enjoyed the situation with three photographers and one subject. While someone else is directing Ting Ting to look this way or move that way, I can capture pseudo-candid shots that I'd probably not get otherwise.

For example, early on [...]

It's been a month and a half since my most recent attempt to confound with a "What am I?" Quiz, but I fear today's may confound but may not interest. There's not much to go by. We'll see.

As always, I'll hold replies from public view until I post the answer in a day or three...

I visited the super-duper unbelievably amazing Haradanien Garden (原谷苑) today, in the mountains above the Golden Pavilion temple in northwestern Kyoto. It was my first visit since the photoshoot with John and Ai two years ago.

This time I went with Eric, Gigi, and Damien just to practice portraiture. Gigi wore a kimono she bought yesterday.

I can not begin to tell you how wonderful Haradanien is. When the blossoms are at their peak, such as now, it's 100× better than any other garden I know of, anywhere.

金閣寺の近く、原谷苑、は今メチャメチャメチャ美しいです。 行きにくい所ですが、今週はおすすめです。今日は全然満開でした！

I wanted a different kind of shot of Gigi than [...]

One day of rain changes everything with the cherry-blossom petals. It was lovely yesterday with trees full of blossoms, but today's rain knocked many of them off.

A few days ago, the area seen above looked like this:

Not all areas/trees are affected the same... I think it depends strongly on where each specific tree is in its blooming cycle. Another cherry tree not far away seems unaffected by the rain...

Some varieties of cherry haven't even started to bloom yet, so there's still much awaiting those arriving in Kyoto today (such as Gigi and Eric; Gigi arrived today to [...]

It's been 10 years since I started my blog with "Choosing a Car to Buy in Japan".

That was followed the same day by "Essentials for a First-Time Parent", and then another 10 years and 2,327 additional articles (not counting this one 😉) containing 18,133 photos, as well as other little additions such as the interactive map of blog photos and the sporadically-maintained prettiest-photos photostream.

今日は私のブログの十年記念日です。十年間、2,329件、写真18,133枚。

I would have liked to post something spectacular for my tenth-anniversary post, but having just returned to Kyoto from a long trip to The States, I just don't have the energy.

I did, at [...]