Following up from yesterday's "Tea and Sweets in Front of a Temple Garden", where I'm trying to make a dent in my photo backlog from last autumn, today we take a look at the setting for yesterday's post, the Jikkouin Temple (実光院).

The same water basin, but from a different angle with the garden-viewing room in the background, represents this visit on last year's "A Long But Photogenic November in Kyoto" post.

I'd visited with friends Damien and Paul while on a trip to Ohara, a somewhat remote mountain-village area of Kyoto. We'd just come from the most-excellent Housen-in Temple [...]

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This is a followup to my "Subtle · Pastel · Tranquil" post the other day, where I posed desktop-background versions of this cherry-blossom picture (blossoms at Kyoto's Ryouanji Temple (龍安寺), from a trip last spring covered earlier here and here):

Apparently I really liked the scene because I took shots at various apertures, and seemed to do an okay job keeping the camera steady (it was all handheld with a Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 macro), so I went ahead today and put together the animatable display above.

Of course, this is along the lines of what I did a couple of [...]

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It's been stressful for me lately, so I'm posting something tranquil to make me feel better.

On an entirely unrelated subject, here's a protip for folks living in a foreign country: when it comes time to renew your visa (your permission to reside in the country), don't forget; they don't like it when you forget.

(Japan didn't like it when I forget, but they kindly granted me "special permission" to stay, so I don't have to remember again for another three years, but wow, what a colossal paperwork headache I created for myself.)

Continued here...

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Today's post is part four on the Haradanien Garden (原谷苑) in north-western Kyoto (prior parts: one, two, three, and a bonus couple photo shoot). Today's simple post includes three more wigglegrams, adding to those in part three and my first post from the garden.

Another Area of the Garden with someone crouching for a shot (the branch is waving to you) Damien in the garden

To be continued...

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This post is a continuation earlier parts of "Kyoto’s Amazing Haradanien Garden", where in part one I introduced the location, and in part two I explained how it's wonderful even though it's quite crowded.

Folks wanting a couple shot would usually ask someone walking by to take it, but the couple above use a timer. (I tried to get the camera in focus and missed it badly, but I still like the vibe of the shot.)

As I mentioned in part two, the layout of the garden -- criss-crossing paths wandering on a hillside punctuated by dense foliage -- makes [...]

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