I heard from a friend today that the plum blossoms at the Kitano Tenmangu Shrine (北野天満宮) in northern Kyoto are at their best, so I thought I'd revisit my went-too-early visit from two weeks ago, last written about here, with more of the same.... blossoms blossoms blossoms.

I prefer the white ones over the pink, so let's start out with some of those...

I'm always amazed at how a tiny change in perspective or composition can make an otherwise similar photo feel completely different. Maybe it's just me, but this next shot, almost identical to the one that leads this [...]

I'd like to share a bit more from my New Year's trip to visit my folks in Ohio. It was notable in particular because it was the first time for my parents to actually meet my wife's parents.

Anthony and I left Kyoto first, having been seen off at the Osaka airport by Fumie's folks...

Anthony had a lot of homework over the break (boo, hiss), so we had to squeeze study in everywhere we could. Here, at the gate while waiting for the plane, he's memorizing Japan's 47 "states" and their capitals...

After a somewhat harrowing flight via Tokyo [...]

Today's post combines a couple of things I've written about recently, Läkerol candy and Japanese pottery, as seen in "Cornucopia of Tasty Läkerol Licorice" and "Failing a New Portraiture Challenge: Reflective Pottery".

The latter post detailed the tough time Zak Braverman and I had photographing some reflective tenmoku pottery by Koji Kamada (鎌田幸二). In the end we were able to rescue enough shots in Photoshop that he could use them to create the invitation cards for a show, and in thanks he gave us each a bowl that he had made but couldn't sell due to some (apparently minor, because [...]

Going back to round out my posts about my first visit to the Hosen-in Temple (宝泉院) in Kyoto's mountain suburb of Ohara last fall, today's post picks up after parts two and three.

The path from the main road is flanked by stalls selling all manner of snacks. These senbei were pretty and, according to Damien and Paul who accompanied me on this trip, tasty; I generally shy away from carbs, so I photographed rather than ate...

We got off that main path and took a back route through village streets that Damien knew, freeing ourselves from the crowded path [...]

Birds lined up on the veranda the other day looked cute. Snapped some shots.