京都市山科区の勧修寺、冬の氷室池（去年の12月). 真冬でも美しい所ですが、夏は全然違うでしょう。

In an article in yesterday's Japan Times, "A heavenly retreat amid the bustle of Kyoto", about the Kajuji Temple (勧修寺) in the Yamashina area of Kyoto, the author waxes about the temple's many botanical wonders, especially water lilies and lotuses. I happen to have gone there in mid December last year, perhaps the most bleak season for the temple.

It was still very nice even then, and remains high on my list to revisit. The article reminds me to post about that earlier trip, and to schedule another one soon.

It really was nice, so now that I'm [...]

Let me say up front that I know the photos on this post are ridiculous. I think the type is ridiculous even when done seriously (e.g. in a "fashion" catalog), but all the more so when done by someone my age. I'm just trying to learn to cut loose a little while also learning about off-camera flash; I'd appreciate if your laughs are with me instead of at me.

この記事はとんでもない写真ばかりですが、友に笑ってくれば嬉しい。この記事のテーマは撮影スタジオのスピードライト(光のストロボ)の試しレポートです。撮影者も撮影対象は私です。「撮影者」の方は本気で、「撮影対象」の方は冗談ポクで遊びです。

As I noted last month in "Trying a Little Formal Portraiture" and a couple of weeks ago in "Impromptu Portraiture Practice", I'm interested in improving my ability to take portraits. [...]

I'm mixing things up today by dipping into the large backlog of stuff I want to post, to my trip last December to the Jingoji Temple in north-west Kyoto.

今日の写真は去年の秋の神護寺(じんごじ、京都市)の裏にある散歩道。

This location is actually only about a mile away from the Kuuya-taki Waterfall that I've been posting about recently, but it's a very mountainous mile and the two locations feel worlds apart. To drive between them, for example, would take a considerable time because it entails a long loop into the city and back.

I'd made a few introductory posts from that trip, including "On The Path To (and From) [...]

I missed most of Kyoto's Gion Matsuri this year, except for one evening when I stepped out for a few hours with Anthony. Unlike last year where I shot with a massive 300mm f/2 lens, this year photography was secondary, so I just brought along a simple 85mm f/1.4.

No particular theme to today's photos... just snapshots I took along the way.

The wall of lanterns above (which are really warm orange, but appear white because the color channels were blown out) is on one of the big yamaboko floats that are a major part of the festival. Up inside [...]

It's been a long week as my boy had surgery to repair a broken finger (all appears to have gone well), so I'll try to get back in the groove with a rambling post on a flash flood in Kyoto last weekend. There were about two hours of intense rain in the middle of the night...

A couple of hours later, the accumulated water had washed down through the mountains to Kyoto...

To give an idea for how much water is rushing by, this is the same bridge seen in this photo from an earlier post:

The elevation descends fairly [...]